The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-07-14

| Despite all this, so perfect was her skill in
| disguise and 80 unlimited her fertility of re-
| source that she might have evaded pursuit,
after all, had it not been for one of those slips
| that the cleverest Of criminals seem to make
sooner or later.
A smart yoang chemists assistant at FASH
ionable watering. place one evening on the pier
made the acquaintance of a very pretty girl,
| who said that she was studying chemistry for
| the science and art examinations.
This turned the conversation on chemicals,
| and she ended by asking him to get her guam
wanted for an experiment. and which she
could not buy because she was stranger in the
town.
The chemists assistant was a sharp young
fellow, and he saw the chemical she asked for
was not in the syllabus of the science and art
department..
He told his employer of the occurrence the
some crystals of harmless salt. which resem-
bled what she had wanted somewhat.closely.
"This is not what asked you for" she said
as soon as she looked into the packet
"No, you can't make prussic acid out of that
miss, but it's safer to play WITH" cooly replied
the youth, and as he spoke, a man who had
been leaning over the rail of the pier few
yards away moved silently up behind the girl
pinioned her arms to her side and held her
down to the seat.
The detective called cab on the esplanade
and the three got in and drove to the police
station, pulling up the windows to avoid any
possible observation as they went through the
streets
When the cab reached the station there was
cabman got down and opened the door, and as
he did SO he staggered back, and fell gasping
for breath to the pavement.
Inside the cab, Marie s. sat with her two
would.be captors-dead, and On the face of
each corpse there was the same expression that
there was on the features of the dead man who
was taken out of the carriage at Paddington.
When the clothing of Marie s. came to
be searched, the mystery was solved by the dis
covery of one of the most Internally ingenious
contrivances that ever served the purpose of
murder. Inside the dress, just above the waist
band on the right.hand side, were found two
small rubber-ball pumps, such as are used for
ordinary spray producers From these two
tubes led up to bottle suspended around the
neck
This had two compartments, and two necks
closed by rubber corks, through which ran
thin tubes, which ended in the mouths of the
two golden seIpents coiled in the form Of
brooch.
The horrible apparatus was so arranged that,
on working the ball-pumps by pressing the
right arm against the side two jets of vapor
COuiu Ue projected from the seIpentS mOutns'
These jets when united formed what was practi
cally vapor of prussic acid, which would be
blown directly in the face of any one within
couple of feet of the brooch, and would of
course kill them almost instantly.
To the wearer of the brooch there would be
little or no danger, provided she held her
breath for couple of minutes and moved
quickly away, as the gas mixes very rapidly
with the air, and is soon lost. In confined
space like the cab the atmosphere could soon
be so saturated that it would be death to breathe
it.
All this was. of course, told to me after my
release, which was effected Immediately after
the mystery was cleared up.