Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-04-23


committed suicide by means Of dose OF
strychnine concealed III Il knot OF her
handkerchiof-a consistent pOlsoner TO
the last-on hearing the verdict OF guilty
which the jury pronounced against her.
Captain Weiss recovered and has since
married again.
Another famous case Cf slow poisoning
was that OF DR.. Pritchard. of Glasgow,
who IN 15tj poisoned his wife and his
mother-in-law, Mrs. GaylOr, by the con-
stant administration OF small doses OF
antimony. In this instance every detail
of the surroundings seemed 10 guard the
poisoner against detection. The murder;
however. vas discovered and Prltchard
was tried. found guilty, and hanged. Be-
fore execution he made full confession
Of his double crime, alleging intomperance
and q species of terrible madness a.
the sole motives for lts commission. But
the lives Of both of his victims has been
insured in his favor. and he was undouDt-
edly impolied Dy that circumstance to
commit the dreadful deed.
A NoBLEMAN POIsONER.
The aristocratic French pOisoner. Dr..
Couty, de la POmmerals. made away with
one of his female patients, Madame de
Pauw. by causing her TO take an immense
dose of dlgitallHe. poison up TO that date
iAnN. lNtiJ unhuOMu III AllT htilihiN -.
crime. lie had induced Madame de Paw
TO insure her life for q large sum tor his
beneht. and he had SO managed matters
that the possibility OF any suSpiclOn beng
directed towards hlm, far less the danger
OF actual detection, appeared wholly
averted. Moreover, diGltallne, when once
absorbed into the system, Is exceedingly
difficult 70 discover In tact, the post-mQr-
TEN examination revealed no traces Oh tDe
a. lFfH OH 10 g. tfs4r
Madame de PauY had taken the fatal po-
ton, she was attacked with violent nausea,
and the substances rejected by her stOm-
ach were administered TO a dog. The AMI
NAL died with all the marked symptoms OF
poisoning by digltalne. ana his rare lur-
nished the final evidence hy which the
murderer YVES convicted His crime was
proved, and he was gullotlnod Just one
month from the date OF the commission OF
the deed. OF noble birth. highly educated,
elegant In person and IN manners, he tur-
nishcd a striking example OF the welI-oorn
society assassln-a persOnage usually sup
posed to exist solely IN tue pages OF ro-
nance, but far more common in real lie
than is supposed.
DR.. Edme Samuel Ca5talgn, whose ca
reer Is said to have furnished hlntS 10
Alexandra Dumas for tnat OF Madame de
Villeroit IN Monte CristO.' was the pre-
decessor or NJ. de la Pommerals, his crime
and its punishment dating as far back as
ls23. He killed by means or acetate OF
morphia two young brothers. Hlppoiyte
and Augu5te Ballet, who were ms intimate
friends, in order 70 get possession OF their
fortune. Dr. Castaign was q member u a
highly honorable family of Atencon, was
we'll educated, and enjoyed an unDlemlsh-
ed reputation up To the moment or the ulS-
cOyerV of the crime.
One of the most shocking cases OF mur-
der by poison on record Is that OF the klll-
ing by the Count De Bocarme IN 1851 at his
Chateau de Bitrcmarkt, IN Belgium, OF ms
brother-in-law. Gustaye FOugnles. Many
points of resemblance with tins deeh pre-
sented themselves IN the Lamson poison
lug case. In both instances the victim
was the brother-ln-law OF the murdered
and was an Invalid and a cripple. The
motive in each case was the desire TO OBJ
tain possession of tho property OF the
murdered youth. The poison employed
by NJ. de B0carme was nicotine. He was a
skilled chemist and prepared II himself
from tobacco, of which IL ls the active
principle.
PoIsONIyGs OF RECENT TINES.
DR.. Lamson employed aconltino 10 end
the life of his poor young brother-in-law,
Percy Malcolm John. administering the
poison to him in the shape OK pulls and IN
that of gelatine capsule. presumably
filed with sugar, but containing ehough
aconitine TO terminate life in four hours
after 1t had been swallowed. Ihis is one
of tine very few noted murders by poison
In which an American Of good birth aud
education has figured as the assassin. The
evidence adduced in bis defence as to his
mental condition was such as 10 leave
grave doubts of his sanity in the minds OF
those who studied the AFFAIR dispassion-
ately. but the details of the crime were so
atrocious that the jury refused TO take
that portion Of the evidence into conside-
ration and DIR. Lamson was duly banged.
Pruss.c acid is q poison that ~ seldom
employed by murderers. 1t acts with such
dire suddenness as to create suspicion in-
evitably and is peculiarly easy OF detec-
tiOp, One Of the very few celebrated