The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-08

Mrs. NacourS weak condition she had not
brought servant Despite the poor womans
suffering and weakness / was thoroughly
charmed by the refinement and decacy of her
ma nner and speech, and by the gratitude she
evinced when | was, fortunately. able 10 afford
her some slight relief. Her husbands devotion
and his painful anxiety when subsequently
questioning me. did much to remove the slightly
unpleasant impression he had at first made
The next morning. early, was reused by the
stewardess with a request that L would visit
Mrs. Falcour as soon as possible. found her
terribly weak and exhausted The medicine,
which In the evening had proved somewhat ELL,
caciOus, had apparently lost its power. changed
the treatment, and was again rewarded by
trifiing improvement 1t Is no use to
weary you with details of an illness of this
kind; suffice 1t 10 say that for four days Mrs.
Valcour continued to grow steadily worse. There
were fluctuations. of course, but each morning
found her perceptbly weaker. In vain pom
dered over my books and tried in every way to
give her relief The stewardess getting
worn out with the constant watching, but Mr..
Vacours iron nerves and muscles seemed to
know DO WEAKNESS. | offered to relieve him on
the fourth night, but he would not hear of my
losing my rest. However, l felt SO anxious
about my patient that l told him l should lie
down partly dressed and be ready for "A call at
any moment On reaching my room felt that
| was too anxious to attempt to sleep for while,
and once more L thought over every detail and
symptom of this case. Something in the ftful
mittent character Of the attack bothered me.
For hours sat reading everything had which
could IN any way throw light on the subject. AT
last, weared more from the constant strain on
the eyes than from any other form of fatigue,
lay down my lounge, after as believed then,
locking my door.
II cannot tell you how long had been there,
but at last fell into what We, for the want of
better name, will call a doze The one subject
that had for DAYS filed my thoughts was still so
amnlOVInp | confess |
was scarcely surprised when | turned my head
aud thought saw Mrs. Valcour's form standing
beside me. Half conscious. half unconscious AS
| was, l should probably have taken no further
notice Of what | deemed creation of the brain
had | not seen sudden motion of the figure.
1t held out towards me small bottle. which
had evidently been taken from my medicine
cupboard, the doors Of which were swinging
open AS | half rose to look more closely
at the bottle the figure started. and dropped the
bottle upon the little shelf under the cupboard.
The glass broke with a crash, my eyes followed
the sound and when | looked around the room
again was alone l could almost have
that it impossible for any one to have passed
out of the room and shut the door in the second
or two that my attention was diverted, but am
only telling you facts, and you can draw your
own explanation. jumped from my lounge and
tried tie door 1t was not locked; yet, as | said
before believed [ had locked it. Next pro-
ceeded to pick up the pieces of the broken bottle.
Almost before touched them | had PRESENT.
ment of what had been the contents. [ turned
the piece that held the label, and read the word
Arsenic
INSTANTLY the truth flashed upon me. Mrs.
Valcour was being slowly poisoned by arsenic,
the effects produced by which might easily be
mistaken for an aggravated case of seasckness.
But how had she summoned strength to come to
my stateroom and why had she spoken, in
stead of selecting bottle containing the poison
and holding it before my eyes! If put upon
oath could have sworn that she was too weak
o1Anry hor.l had -loN 1D,I tlo
warning of spirit visitor, how was to account
for the physical power to open the cupboard and
hold the bottle? third solution occurred to
me viz. that had been dreaming; that the APP
pearance was simply creation of my overtired
mind and that sudden lurch of the vessel had
thrown open the cupboard doors open and the
bottle upon the slab My objection to this was
that should have felt the lurch and that the
bottles were held In racks from which the rough
est weather had then seen had no power to
move them
You must not imagine that lost time while
occupied with these thoughts. They came to
me far more quickly than the time it has taken
to tell them. [ passed out into the saloon and
met steward He seemed surprised when
asked if there had been any sudden pitch Of the
vessel, and replied that the night and morning
had been fairly calm. Had he heard anything
about Mrs Valcour? Yes the stewardess had
just left the invalds room, saying she had at
last fallen asleep after a very bad night. |
kno cke0 gently at tine door, and receiving
answer turned the handle and entered. AS the
stewardess said, she was asleep Without dis
turbing her [ noticed the action of the pulse and
heart. Surely this woman, who was SO near
death. was far too feeble to have risen, passed
from her room to mine and returned. Besides,
at the hour OF the morning at which L awOke
she would surely have been seen by some of the
stewards who were cleaning up, and who, know
ing her. would at once have informed me-
Looking round the room / found the glass in
which the medicine had been gwen, not entirely
empty AS | was securing it the stewardess
turned. She told me that Mrs. Valcour had
passed a very bad night. but that Mr.. Val
cour would not allow me to be disturbed. 1t
less than half an hour since she had fallen
asleep. Mr.. Valcour then went to another room
to lie down. The stewardess had remained about
ten minutes later; then, feeling that her
patient was really asleep, had gone on deck for
few minutes. She was positive she had not
been away fifteen minutes, or. at the utmost,
twenty. | asked her to look and see if Mrs Val
cour had moved, and she replied that she was
exactly in the same attitude as when she sank
exhausted to sleep.
After cautoning the stewardess not to allow
any more medicine to be given to Mrs. ValcOur,
as | was going to change the treatment, and to
let me know the moment she awoks, went back
to my room, carrying the glass, which had con-
trived to hide from the stewardess. l divided
the contents into two parts, and tried each by
different tests. The result was the same. Both
contained arsenic in considerable quantities!
"A cold perspiration broke out me. Here
was l, scarcely more than boy brought face to
face with deeply calculated attempt to murder,
and in such position that feared [ was almost
powerless to fight the danger. Even at that
moment it quite uncertain whether my
patient would wake to life or death. And if it
should be the former, how could l prevent her
husbands gaining access to herr To denounce
him as a would be murderer was q terrible risk
to run, and yet came to the conclusion that
had no other resource must go to the captain
and consult him. Armed with the result of my
task, found the captain in his chart-room. His
boy was waiting on him, and, at my request,
was dismissed.
You look very serious, Dr. Shaw Is any
thing the matterP
Yes, Captain will you kindly tell me what
you know of Mr.. NalcourP
Nothing much more than 1 told you before.
| have met him in society in New York, and
know that he is merchant. He seems very
P,t do Cd