The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-01-10

Three months had passed since Tostiilnle
death. and the pantomine company had dis
persed. but still did not relax my efforts
to unravel the my1:ery and bring the crime
homo. and ut last got clew.
In the employ of q firm of eminent dry
salters who carried on business in one OF
the large towns of the Midlands. was Mr..
William Brinton. who travelled for the hrm
and periodically visited London. This gen.
tleman had married sister, whose name
was Florence Arkwright. She was
an actress. and was professionally
known as Miss Lilly Florence.
while her husband played under his
own name of Spencer Arkwright. They
were both engaged at the Great Novelty
Theater during the run of the pantomime.
and in the course of that period Mr. Will
lam Brintcn had been in London. and had
stayed with his sister and brother-in-law,
who rented house in Brompton. He had
stayed there Turing the season. three or
four times. and on each occasion he had
among his drug samples IN his sample case
small quanty of prussic acid. Now what
was the inference to be drawn from this
factf proportion of the fearful
drug extracted each time from the samples
would in the aggregate make up large
and large quantity mao Ssd Dssd
it for that wicked purposei Not brinton
himself, for was satisfied that he knew
nothing of Slgnorina Iostillni anc nao
never spoken to her in his life. Upon TWO
persons. therefore. my suspicious feiL
Those two persons were Arkwright and his
wife.
Now, in pursuing an inquiry OF this
nature. 1t was of the very nrst importance
10 solution Of the mystery that motive
for the crime should be approximately de-
termjned. and turned my attention 10 en-
deavoring to find If the Arkwrights had
motive for killing the Fairy Queen OF the
Great Novelty pantomime. Arkwright.
shoald state, was young ana handsome
man of about thirty-two or three, with o
most seductive and attractive manner On
the other hand. his wife was q
her " husbands senior by three or
four years. Possibly in her youth
she had been attractive enough. but that
day was passed, and she was passe II not
base. soon learned that the Arkwrights
were IN Unmatched pair. He was fiighty
and fond of female society. and Dis wife
was madly Jealous of him. Here. then. was
what, on the face of it. seemed TO be very
ADEQUATE motive for the crime; for assum-
ing that ArkwriRht had carried on an in
trigue with Signorina Tostllini the assump-
rion that his wife had been spurred on to
commit the CRIME by motives OF fierce Jeal-
ousy was the natural deduction. But 1
intrigue, and / could get no evidence
that such had been the case. Never
theless, the various links that ! had thus
fitted in formed such q strong chain OF cir
cumstancial' evidence against Mrs. Ark
wright that resolved not to lose sight of
her. She had, in my mind. become the GEN.
trail figure of the grim tragedy, and that
she had been enabled to possess herself OF
prussic acid from her brothers samples
seemed pretty conclusive. Now, IL she was
the murderess the only motive, apparently,
that she had for taking the unfortunate
Italians life was jealousy; and yet could
find no living soul who had ever seen any
thing between Arkwright and Tostiiini
that was suggestive Of an intrigue.
On the contrary, evidence was forthcoming
that she did not like Arkwright. at least
say so, but of course, i did not attach any
great weight to that. Nevertheless. could
not prove 1T was not true, and. at last.
decided on having an interview with Mrs.
Arkwright in order that might. If DOS
sible. justify the suspicious entertained
against her. / therefore called upon her
one evening when her husband was out.
She aid not know ne, and. for the nonce,
assumed the role of o theatrical manager
who was anxious to engage ner services
Having sustained conversation for some
time on theatrical matters, l suddenly and
abruptly exclaimed:
by the way. you were well acquainted
with the late Signorina rostilini. were you
mott" 49,,
"Yes.' she answered. with something like
"What sort of q woman was shei"
"a snake,n Kissed Mrs. Arkwright with
peculiar bitterness which to me had a
strange significance.
indeed answered with apparent I'M
concern. Il thought she was very charm
ing woman"
"Did youi Well, you must have been mis-
informed. She was devil"
what makes you say thatT
81 have my reasons"
what are your reaSonsV
"Well. don't know that ] need state
them TO you. You are stranger to me-"
"Shall make q guess at themf" asked
with forced smile. as though had no
more than passing concern In questioning
her, and yet / felt that was gradually
tightening the laws grip about her.
"Oh. if you like" she said lightly, and
with toss of her head:
'.You were jealous of her" remarked,
ing the workings of her face, which began
Enthusiastically to show uneasinesa
And If l were,' she answered, II had
good cause to be So"
Why's"
Because she sought to win my husband
from me-" With this answer she gave her
self completely away, and. rising mp, and
deeply impressed with the seriousness of
the situation, said:
Mrs. Arkwright l have always thought
Tostilini was murdered through motives of
jealousy. 1t is evident that you were jeal-
Gus OF her. and the inference is that you
murdered her. and You obtained the poi
son by abstracting it from your brothers
sample case"
For o moment che looked as If she had
been suddenly turned to stone. Her face
was ghastly; her eyes were wild and rest
less. and she glanced nervously about like
q hunted animal seeking for some means of
escape from it's pursuers Crossing the
room to whore she stood laid my hand
lightly on her arm. saying gently:
Il am detective, my name is Donovan,
and arrest you on suspicion of having
poisoned Signorina Tostilin"
These words broke the spell that seemed
to have fallen upon her. and. with q
strange, almost unearthly, shrek, she
reeled and fell heavily to the floor.
obtained assistance and had her con-
veyed 10 the police station, but it very
soon became evident that her reason had
fled. In fact. she had become 0 dangerous
and hopeless lunatic AS by the law of
England such q person could not be put on
trial. she was sent TO an asylum, where for
many years she was confined, suffering
from acute mania. At last one day, elud
ing the vigilance of her keepers, she
sprang over hedge at the bottom of the
recreation ground. rushed across field
and threw herself into a deep pond. where
she was drowned before assistance could
reach her.
Although. legally. the crime was never
proved against her. no reasonable being
could doubt she was a murderess, and there
was q grim satisfaction IN knowing that
Door TOstilini's cruel death did not 90 nm.