Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-02-12

ieEnnS the weight OF her own quit, en-
deavored to distribute it by getting 9th
ers to share in the same vnlsiny
When the Roman conspiracy-the first il
which poison figured prominently-wa
discovered, thaough the denuuciatiQff o
9 slave, so many matrons we're implicst.
ed that 40 Of them were exceeded, AMI
many more were doubtless priYy to tn:
plot. TofAnis admitted that she hat
been q party to poisoning 500 pee pl,
with her "Msnns Of S.. Nicola OF Rsrf, .
or her "Aqua de Perugia," or "Aqu,
Tofsnis," as history knows It, Halt OF
Italy WAS thrown into q ferment
| Hundreds OF hitherto unsupported
people fed, and the number Of widows
who had made several msrits
ventures, and felt it prudent to keep out
of the way, led even the most charitable
OF mankind to put the worst Of construc.
! tions on the movements of these much
married ladies. When Alexander VI. be-
gan to remark on the uuwonted number
of young widows in Rome the inyestig.-
lions which he set on foot, through the
revelations OF the confessional, resulted
in the discovery that for years the Roman
ladies had been perfectly familiar with
dis Spira," sud even tested in public
over the wonderful virtues of this
death-dealing elixir. Again, when
France was Mortified BY a
like epidemic, the married women
who avenged their wrongs, or Ioosed
their matrimonial bonds, In this fashion
scarcely tried to keep their own counsel,
80 far as their fellow culprits were con-
cerned. Layoison and Lavlgoreux pu5-
hcly piled the trade of fortune tellers,
predicted the death OF husbands, and, in
case their reputation as seers should
suffer, presented their clients with
"powder Of succession" which effectu-
ally settled the question of heirs. The
"Chambre Ardente" was filed with sus-
pected criminals, and the gallows aud
wheel were busy with theIr hide
Gus work. Yet men and women
Of the highest rank practiced the
mystery which they had been taught, hop
ing, either through the ignorance Of the
physician of the period, or she impunisy
with which distinguished Offenders could
perpetrate almost any crime, that they
would escape the well merited fate Of the
humble murderers.
O1e leading chErac .eristic of all poison
ers is the fact that they seldom end their
career Of crims with o single successful
murder. They invariably try q second
and third-almost any number
until the pitcher goes once too
often to the fouutsiD, with the inva-
riable result. The ease and celebrity with
which an enemy or rival or some other
inconvenient person can be removed has
e wonderful charm for certain minds. To
knock person on the head is q rude and
extremely repulsive mode of sssassina-
ton, and il the perpetrator gets of scot |
free the chances are all against him trest- |
ing his ne1t-or, indeed, spy-victim in |
this vulgar fashion. Poisoning, however, |
Is different. Not one of the notorious |
prisoners Of history has been known TO |
murder in any other manner, and all Of |
them have sgain and again had re- |
course TO the same dreGdiuI expedlent |
Pensutier and DeBorzy regarded poison |
as eastern sovereigns and Moorish |
Bash1Ws do to this day-s most SO en- in |
strument OF diplomacy; and in modern |
times Palmer, Wilson, PIitchsrd, Welt |
mann, Edmunos, Cotton, Flanagan and |
Higgins all committed more IMAM one |
crime Of the same character ss that for |
which they were executed. Indeed, il al
most seems that sitter a time hardened |
poisoner will poison persons out OF mere
BrinVillers did her vic
inns to death often for no os-
sensible reason, and the Boz
giss administered deadly drugs to
people evidently for no other purpose
han to watch their gradual disappear
lnce. Bleckbird, the Omaha Iadian
chief, poisoned by wholesale altar a ras-
,ally trader had sold him few ounces OF
'rsenic; he exulted in his newly acquired
power. A jealous Mexican girl will,
Almost without psng, administer to
.ecreant Il YER that deadly vegetable iDfu-
,ion which in few hours makes him 3
'sving mailman for life. The truth Is
hat poisoning rs fine art is almost
extinct. The slow "subtls" drops so
yell known in the middle ages are now
1nfsmiliAr even to the gypsy women,
who for The most psrt use the thornapple
mo other plant poisons. Il is even
what WAS The composition of the
aqua Toiana," though 1t is gene rally
agreed that It was some form of arsenic,
md the still more powerful "Ls Spira"
Is likely to forever remain 8 mystery.
One OF the chief safeguards against Sc
ret poisoning Is the fact that chemistry
las enabled nearly all of the ordinary
= JlbOH5 w OO CAo4Ay bSkCSlCO IL buC UOhyt
.hough questionably there are evaIes-
cent alkaloids which skillful toxlcologist
could administer with LILLE risk of his
rhine fading him out. 1t is, however, q
Tell founded belief that this form OF crime
9 every year getting Tarer snd rarer
Even when perpetrated, the difficulty Of
obtaining the poison and the ignorance Of
lie murderer make detection almost GER
ain. The Liverpool prisoners were 10
Iced 80 hard run for he means Of taking
f their victims that they extracted the
!Isenic cut OF aY-papers, though arsenic
g poison 80 persistent in the body that
,nly tyro would dream OF using 1t for
criminal purposes. There is, neverthe- :
ess, still the will, If only the risks were
ess. After Sir Robert Christison men
,ioned in his evidence In the Palmer !
Vial thst there was 6 vegetable AXIS
old for which 8 chemical test had not
hen been discovered, ne Is said to have
scores Of letters begging the
name Of this substance, though, Of course,
III of the applicants proiessed to be in
;tigated BY scientific curiosity alone.
About twenty five years ago there was
alarm over the report which
affirmed that secret poisoning was by no
means unknown among the English sgri-
cultural population, and more than once
here have been strong suspicious that