Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-01-08
NOT FAR FETCHED AFTER ALL.
An Effective Dramatic Episode Suggested
by :oi Actual Occurrence.

AN Elective Dramatic EPISODE SuSSesteo
by sol Actual Occurrence.
An ambitious young playwriter was out
lining the plot of new Eelodrama the
other day, in which he proposed TO make
U.S. OF novel and powerful incident. He
described it rs follows:
Tire villain of this piece" he said, us
such desperate, b,oodthirsty wretch that
his death bg any such orderly. decent meth
DDS as shooting or hanging would amount
almost to an anticlinsax. can't have him
killed by the hero or the heroine. for they
have married and gone away on their we'd
ding tour, and are due to arrive on the
scene just after the villain has died. After
much thought | have decided that the
wretch, shall die the cowardiy death Of a
suicide. He is captured unawares and
locked in prison, but not until his person,
his clothing and the cell in which he is to
be confined have been subjected TO rigid
and repeated search for weapons or other
implements of destruction After being
imprisoned he is carefully watched and is
permitted to have no communication with
the world outside.
las the day for his execution approaches
and the chances of escape grow less and
less, the vigilance of the guards is in
creased. There must be no cheating of the
law; the murderer must pay the penalty OF
his crimes But one evening the prisoner
suddenly picks up the little stool in his cell,
places it near the grated door, and just as
he says TO the guard, You fellows think
you've got me this time, but'-he falls orer
dead!
In the second act he was seen to take
quantity of strychnine, with which he had
intended to poison the heroine, and dis
solve it in Q vessel Of water. With this
solution lie saturated his collar and era
val, and then when they We're dry he put
them On and was wearing them when cast
into prison. Nosuspicion attached to them
and he was allowed to retain them. When
the desperate end came all he had TO do
was to dip his collar and cravat into a cup
OF water, wiring them out and he had
enough poison ut hand to Kill . dozen men.
The idea is . novel one, isn't it,"
- agree with you that it is rovel," re-
piled Il friend who had listened to the re-
cital, but il is improbable, absurd and far
fetched 1t Is too ingenious TO be beliava-
ble.n
THAT is Just where you are all wrong"
interrupted the young dramatist. "As
matter Of fact the incident is not original,
but was suggested by something that hap
pened right here in New York only few
days ego. The newspapers published ac-
counts Of q victim of the morphine habit,
who had in his possession large quantity
Of that drug in suiphate form. He was
afraid it would be stolen or taken from
him, and to prevent its loss he dissolved it
into n solution and then placed i'll the fluid
!, new uadesshirt. The garment absorbed
the solution completely, and after it had
arled the man put il on and wore it. When
he wanted TO use the drug, he merely cut
piece from the undershirt and soaked it in
Il little water and thus quickly procured
the opiate he cravcd. This is true story.
From the miserable fellow with the NOR
phine undershigt it is but an easy flight of
fancy to the villain with the strychnine
cravat. New York Herald.