The Portland daily press., 1888-03-17
1T rAs TED BITTER
And So Young Charles Threw Away
the Doctered whIskey 1t Is Alleged
With Which He Intended to Poison
His Father.
Theory of the OFFICERS In the Beal
Case.
rspecial 70 the Press.l

AUGUSTA. March 16.-Kennebec county Is
to have the excitement Of murder trial at the
April term of the Supreme Court the alleged
murderer, Chas Beal, now being inlail charg-
ed with the murder of his father, G. c. Beal,
of Clinton, by poisoning liquor which he
drank, with strychnine. AT the time of the
prisoners arrest but little appeared of the
evidence on which young Beal was detained,
but recently some facts in relation to the
crime have been learned which are now
published for the first time. At the inquest
it was ascertaned from the testimony that
the fatal bottle of liquor was kept in glass
fruit can. a second can being inverted and
placed over it. AS fast as wanted. the
bottles were taken from the barrel and
placed in the glass receptacle until the con-
tents were disposed Of Both the brothers
and other boys in the neighborhood had
been in the habit of patronizing this drink
ing place, but about two weeks before the
poisoning. all these young men seemed to
know that there was danger lurking about
and did not patronize the bottle in the cellar
as frequently as in the past, which was re-
garded as a very significant circumstance.
From what could be gathered and sifted out
from the testimony, it was agreed that the
poisoned bottle of liquor had been placed
In the barrel along with the others,
and perhaps had remained there two. weeks
before it was taken out by Mr.. Beal. Mr..
Carleton very artfully questioned the. ac-
cused, Charles Beal, and intimated to him
that the liquor had quite likely been poisoned
by the manufacturers who had used poison
in building itup. The witness very readily
acquiesced in this and, continuing, stated
that some time previously he had taken
bottle out Of the barrel and on tasting OF the
contents found they tasted hitter and pro-
ceeding to the stable he threw the bottle
down the scuttle.
This was enough for the long headed Off
GERS and the following morning, the testlmo-
ny having been given late at night. they
proceeded to the stable cellar and pitched
over the heap of dressing there. After
reaching a layer at the bottom of the heap
a liquor bottle was found, a mate to those IN
the cellar, and on examining the interior
a grayish sediment was seen cllnglng 10 tne
glass, looking more like rye meal than any
thing else. This was forwarded to PIot.
Robinson of Bowdoin College, together with
the other liquor for analysis, and on subject
ing the sediment to the usual process, 1t was
found to contain two grains OF strycnlne.
This furnished valuable clue for with the
exception of the fatal bottle from which Mr..
Beal drank, that in the barrel did
not contain even trace of poison.
The officers concluded that young Beal treat
ed the first bottle with the intention OF pol
soning his father, but finding that it tasted
bitter threw it away, as the presence OF the
poison would be revealed by the taste. This
theory is borne out by the fact that the aDaly-
sis of the fatal bottle showed that besides
the 20 79-100thS grains of strychnine which
it contained, the chemist found a liberal
quantity of brown sugar present, which had
evidently been employed to sweeten the
liquor and hide the taste of the drug. The
county attorney is making careful inyestl-
CATION of the case