The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1894-09-07
ssndsns Byr1ss Win doubtless .os upon i,

Superintendent Byrnes sat In HIS office
and was just lighting cigar when his
most trusted sergeant entered with dis
patch that had Just been received from the
Tenth precinct, acquainting him with the
fact that a woman, name unknown, resi-
dence unknown, description unknown, had
|secured possession of an ounce of arsenic
for purposes unknownl
Briefly the dispatch recounted the facts.
without, of course, referring to the agony
of mind under which !, poor drug clerk
lived, moved and had my wretched being
Captains and s+rgeants of police do no,
possess the romantic qualities in a highly
developed degree end cannot be expected
10 supply nerve tihgling romance to theil
associates Their lives contain much trag
edy ara comedy, and with them everyday
existence is 80 essential that their keer
isanse of the dramatic in life grows dull.
A general alarm was sent out to each o.
the 81 precincts, and within three hour.
every membe Of the force on duty was
engaged In a house to house canvass fol
I"lae woman with the ounce of arsenic"
In five hours time the entire city was
lin commoLion. Thousands of men ant
women had visited the pharmacies ant
tho all night dispensaries to have theil
medicines examined, in order that they
might be assured as to their character
Hundreds of pounds of harmless bakinl
powders, soda, borax and other arsenical
like salts were consigned to the sewer, il
lorder to render assurance doubly assured
Many nervous and hysterical women pass
ed the night In sleepless dread and fear.
When the morning opened, of course til.
papers were filled with the startling an
nounoement. Several of them gave the in
icident sensational headings that addet
greatly to the general alarm and threw
several feeble minded people completed,
of their mental balance.
Meanwhile l had not ceased in my eff
forts Finding job printing Office OF
Sixth avenue that was open all night,
hail 5000 large posters printed bearing tn,
fearful and startling heading, "Your lif,
lis In dangerr' At the bottom Of the fam
ing announcement was this concluding
line: "You are about to dep
Visiting several theatcrs, finally founC
a bill poster who undertook to post l ,00t
of these notices during the next two day!
and nights. At the end of that time th,
: appalling information that death was loos,
in the town and stalked among us in in
visible presence was encountered on every
shop windows. The theatrical manager
: hastily got together and gave the use O
every billboard they owned or controlled
In the entire city. The elevated railroat
advertising company generously permitted
the use of two of its most prominent space,
at each station. The drug stores ever
consented to display the alarm circular II
their windows, always adding line tina
! was very humiliating to me-"This neve
could have occurred in our pharmacyih
AT the end of the third day ambulance
calls were quadrupled In number, coming
from people who believed they had beer
poisoned, and insisting upon being takel
to public hospital.
The practicing physicians of the cit,
were greatly o9erworked. Any body VIII
suffered from pain in any part of hi
body instantly imagined that he had swal
lowed some of the deadly salt, and tina
nothing stood between him and eternit,
but the highest medical skill
On the following Sunday nearly ever,
preacher in New York and Brooklyn refer
red to the impending calamity, for as til
days heightened out assurance increased
that the calamity would far exceed all an
ticipated proportions. Why this was no
body could explain, but the entire commu
nifty of greater New York felt that 1t wa
living over loaded mine, liable to be ex
ploded at any moment.
so great was the suspense among mem
bers of tho newspaper profession that on
city editor went crazy. and another sho
himself out of sheer chagrin that he coul,
not discover ''the woman with the ounc
of arsenicl'
During all these days /, the innocen
cause of SO much human misery, hardl,
slept or ate. For more than a week new
er had my clothes off. actually forgo
/ Emily
Womanlike, reading of the notoriety in
. to which had suddenly sprung, she call
ed at the store to see me. She even spok
4 of me with sympathetic kindness and lief
word of greeting and hope with the DO
who delivered the prescriptions.
; My nervousness continually increased
!. When | looked at myself in the glass,
was shocked to see how pnle and thin
] had grown. | felt that the strain coul
l not much longer continue.
My worst premonitions were verified.
r fell very i'll and was taken from my col
s and cheerless hall room-where, Ia my dc
j lirium, l raved and benloaned my fate
to the home of Emily's mother. There sh
e and the faithful girl nurscd me back t
: life, But as reason fully returned the oil
distress re-entered my mind, and in m
I weak and feeble condition, when alone
t would burst into tears and bemoan til
! carelessness that had brought me SO nue.
: Indebtedness.
e One cheerless afternoon relief came.
n was cured in an instant.
: The little colored boy at the pharmac
y came rushing into the house, eoatless
e breathless and hatless having run the en-
tire distance from the drug store, He In
: sisted on seeing me, and although agains
d the Doctors orders pushed his way int
: my sickroom. In accents that were almos
r inaudible, because of his shortness O
. breath, he exclaimed;
= "l'ze found her. cullyl''
8 "Where2n I literally shrieked, sittin
I up in bed, for knew as well as il he ha
talked an hour that he referred to 18th
e woman with the ouncs of arsenic.''
n IVY, she's de wife of de jsnitor on on
t top tloor''
n mot over the drug store!n
Q Cert
Emily's mother was not quick enougl
o to catch me, for fell back in n dead faint
+ Within an hour had revived, and weal
r as thought had been had found strengt1
i, to rise, dress myself and go to tho oil
store, where, two steps at jump, clint
= ed the five flights of stairs that led to tn
n ianitor's apartments.
!. There l saw the woman and regaine
+ possession Of the package with feelings c
0 infinite relief.
t She had not opened itl-Joseph Simr
i son in London Tit Bits.
l.
An Arabian Horse Story.
A pretty Arabian story ia fold To tbi