St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-20
wretch denounced them all and con-

fessed her crimes.
Pope Alexander VII. ordered Spara,
Gratiosa and three others to be executed
at once; within the month he sent sew
eral others of them to their last account,
and the remainder he baniShed forever.
1t was in 1868 that this band of secret
murdererS was broken up and destroyed.
Meanwhile the prime villain was still
at large, exercising her terrible voca-
ton not only at Naples, which was her
headquarters, but in various parts of
Haly For many years she evaded the
pOlice,and the custom house officers
with her bottles of poison in her lug
gage, and death after death in the most
mysterious way was reported.
TOfana In the Tolls.
sAtlast, by mere accident, it was dis
covered that little old woman, volu
bic and lively talker, was the infamous
wretch who carried death far and near.
In her luggage were found bottles
labeled 'sManna of st. Nicholas of Bari"
and embellished with the saints por-
traits just as if it had been registered
trade mark. At Bari, where st. Mich
OlaS WAS buried, the monks pretended
that an offspring, with miraculous
healing properties, welled out OF his
grave. This oil or mamma was sacred,
and no policeman or custom house of
ticer dared lay profane hands upon it.
No wonder, therefore, that the chatty
ing oil about was allowed to pass un-
molested.
AS soon as the terrible secret was dis
covered, Tofana fled to a convent which
had the rightof sanctuary. Gen. Thaun,
yicerOy of Naples, gave orders for her
arrest, but the sanctuary could not be
broken, and all the religious bodies in
Naples seemed determined to protect
the wicked old wretch who had set re-
llgion at defiance. The contest between
church and state was continued with
bitterness, until at last Gen. Thaun lost
patience and tore the wretch out of
sanctuary by main force. This was in
1909. At first. Tofana maintained her
innocence; but, on being put to the tor
ture, confessed ultimately to no fewer
than 600 murders! Short work was
made of her after this, and she was con-
demned to be strangled. just before
her death she also confessed that she
had, only day or so before her arrest.
sent two boxes of her ''manna" to
Rome, addressed to initials. All haste
was made to the Eternal City, and the
boxes were found as described, but no
one ever claimed them.
The Mysterious Poison.
What was this poison? 1t is known
as Tofana Water aqua della Tofana);
but what was its composition? There
have been many conjectures on this
subject, some of them of the widest
description. First, that it was princi-
pally composed of the saliva of mad
people; second, that it was nitric acid;
third, that it was a preparation OF poppy
and Spanish fly; fourth, that it was
sugar Of lead and Spanish fly; fifth.
that it was extract of snapdragon, a
men, however, are disposed generally
to believe it to be an artificially dis
guised preparation of arsenic, and
Giuelli, head physician to the Emperor
Charles vi, stated that his imperial
master, who saw the official report of
the trial, told him it was preparation
of crystaliZed arsenic dissolved In wa
ter with Herba Cymbalaria.
Whatever the poison may have been
the reports as to its action would seem
to have been exaggerated. for no known
poison would work precisely as re-
pOrted--at once SO bland and so deadly:
while, on the other hand, we think we
are speaking with the sticteSt scientific
accuracy when we state that the mod
ern Psychologist would undertake to de-
tect every and any poison administered
in fatal dose, If the case were pre-
scented to him within reasonable time
after death.
When there is a marriage the wife