Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-02-18
patsONING EPIDEMICs.

DAH9O ANU
,sws recently published Of the
ls.h;no of an extensive organization
snsbaud poisoners in Austria may
Of 81 interest some j ties upon the
psn;no mania of ;le seventee nth
r-v concerning which Mackey
een some particulars in his "ExtraOr-
G,su Gsvs,y popular d illusions" The art of
clu noisoning, 0 as to make 1t seem
~. ~. he death of the vict i'm had ensued
!Da. natural causes, is certainly as old
Ec,ssk and Roman civilization, and
sSahly of Oriental origin. 1t was ex-
p.;sed in the middle ages, and later by
ae attended witches and sorcerers,an and
s.lly became branch of education
lns~ nc all who had any claim to super
sal ss.snrsl art. The frequency of the crime
= limited at by the passage OF a statute
the time Of Henry VIII, making it
.,s.son, and prescribing as the punish
VI boiling to death. Italy had from an
D u.,,v nariod been the favorite home of
~ s.isrs in murderous drugs. The story
%Incretia Borgia, it need hardly be
ia il for the most part a sheer inven-
.;on by Hugo; there Is no reason to be-
ssys s that she ever poisoned any one, and
ssIs,ander vi and Cesar Borgia we're
-, 40 very much worse than their time.
When the Duke of Guise, in 1913, en-
favored to seize upon the government
JNanIes. and was advised to put Gen
ssro Aunese, Masaniello's SUCCESSOR in
~ nopular leadership, ont of the way,
sbe AGENT who agreed to assassinate him
riscted the protfered dagger with hOr-
y, as "dIsgraceful and unbecoming,"
.Souoh announcing his preparedness to
NE poison. Gennaro, luckily for him,
diued upon cabbage Said, dressed in
oceans of oil. and this saved his life.
Guise described the poison as a "clear
and beautiful water, with no taste at
.ln Ten years later the business
n poisoning had attained to such pro-
noitiops that the pipal government had
toake cognizance of it. The extraOr-
dinary abundance of young widows in
Pome. and the fact that whenever a
married couple lived unhappily together
The husbands death was not delayed,
had attracted popular attention. and the
ecclesiastical authorities were Mortified
Il the frequent number of pOisonings
admitted by women in the confessional.
Il came out that there was q mysterious
society of young wives who met nightly
ior some mysterious purpose at the
house of reputed witch and fortune
hllsr, Hierenyma Spara, and female
arent of the government had no diff
eaty in obtaining admission to the sig
tuhood and purchasing fOm La Spara
syial of "drops," warranted to work a
ure cure in the case of a faithless and
brutal husband. 1t was found to con
nin colorless, tasteless and odOrless
poison, and the vender composed it of
different degrees Of strength, SO that
Death should be brought about after any
wn9d desired from week to six
months. La Spara, La Gratiosa, and
tho members of the sisterhOod were ap-
wehended. The first stood the rack
With irmness, but the second yielded to
the torture and made full confession.
Shs and La Spara, with three young
women who had poisoned their hus-
bands, were hanged; thirty more were
whipped through the streets, and num-
Der Of more influential offenders were
fined and banished. A few months
kisr nine mere husband poisoners were
hanged, and bevy of women, many OF
them young and beautiful girls, scourged
half naked through the streets, but this
severity did not put a stop to the poi.
soning and indeed only served to ad.
ver.ie the poisoners, SO that literally
hoasands Of the victims of jealousy
oove.ousness. or private spite were sent
annually to their graves.
Ihe renders of the poison were mostly
women, and, by all odds, the most noted
their number was La Tophania, a
hg who dealt ia poison from her youth
Nd was instrumental in the dealh of at
lst GOO persons. She was about 20 in
rs, when the viceroy o: Naples found
hat poison styled squets, or "little
nier," was sold freely IN the city, and
nipped in large quantities to all parts
dltaly, ir bottles labeled "Manna of
H. Nicholas of Barri." This "manna''
vH a most miraculous oil alleged to
sozs from the tomb of the saint, and,
bang in great vogne all over the Italian
Fninsula, the customs officials piOusly
nfrained from examining the walls in-
kribed with its name. La TOphania
NJ not easy to catch. Continually
Hanging her residence and disguise,
Fetending to excessive piety and TAX
mg refuge In nunneries for months at a
time, she baffled the viceroy for several
!sars, during which the trade went on
Y bEiskly as ever, it being a noteworthy
arcumstance, by the way, that La Top
hania would make present of her poi
nn to poor women who hated their hus-
bands but could not afford to buy the
uug. After long chase, however, the
Moeroy ran her to earth in convent.
me sb6ess, supported by tho archbish-
Y cardinal Plgnatelli, refused to sur
1oef her, and thus preoipitated con-
IN which the secular official dis
PAVED even more craft and courage
san tne churchmen. The viceroy broke
70 the convent by force and carried
me woman. The cardinal threaten
NO lay the city under interdict and
ave II out, for no peasant would ven-
70 bring provisions to the markets
1Atewn placed under the bans of the
Sufch. The viceroy put guard around
= archiepiscopal palace, SO that if
sn was to be a famine it would be
~ ielt by the cardinal. The cardi-
= o0anged his tactics, and worked
ou Inc mob until it was ready to
sosm tne vlceroy's palace and release
prisoner, and the viceroy retorted
SPle 'ding report that La Topha-
- aau arranged to poison all the wells
~ fountains. That settled the mat
and with the hearty sympathy of
- sopulace she was tortured till a list
-. agents and customers had been
a.ned, and then strangled, her body
R tnrown into the garden of the
seu' whence she had been taken, SO
r,s;l ns clergy might ut least bury it
49, .ae precincts of the sanctuary
&c soe had sought a refuge. The
@an, keysler, however, insists that
= ~ ner In prison at Naples, a little
Woman, in l73O.
rssI polson-aqua della toffanina the
e,sS;, eS;.'ans called it, the name being
s,.ay sa.y corrupted into aqua tophania,
sa 0pnana, the popular fancy find
q s;n analogy between it and Tophet-
&,s uliaf TO that manufactured by La
srrar according to Garelli it was
sasns.s arsenic dissolved in a large
6nn OF water by decoction, with the
I tSs tof some unexplained purpose.
Au y aefo cymbalaria. Hahnemann
Ant,s, was compounded of arsenical
lnaSrss,a saiis, occasioning in the victim
ess;r.4 loss of appetite, 0faintness,
s ~ !. pains In the stomach and vast
NM e i1ngs. Its use had become
= hts..n ~ france as we'll as in Italy by
d. II .I La!i OF the seventeenth CEN
9sss .aat Mime. de Sevigue had to
Ssosasf asf fear that "Frenchmen" and
were cominp In ha racarda,1