Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1894-11-15
Dougherty in White Clay Greek hundred;
lot owned by Henry d ana e. II Walter
at Fifth and Clayton streets, this city.
NOT FAR rercHeD AfTeR ALL.
An Effective Drnmatic Episode Suggested
BY an Aetual Occurrence.

BY M actual Occurrence.
An ambitious young pagwfiter was out
lining the plot Of new melodrama the
other day, in which lie proposed 70 make
use Of @ novel and powerful incident. He
described it as follows;
THE villain of this piece, he said sis
such desperate, bloodthirsty wretch that
his death by any such orderly decent meth
DDS rs shooting or hanging would amount
almost to an anticlimaX. I 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 cowardly death of q
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 10 q 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.
"As 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 tho
law; the murderer must pay the penalty Of
/ his crimes. But one evening the prisoner
suddenly picksu the little stool III 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 over
/ deadi
In the second act he was seen to take a
/ quantity of strychnine, with which he had
! intended to poison the heroine, and dis
| solve it in q vessel Of water With this
4 Ba ta1 Il a. flar
vat, and then when they were dry he put
them on and was wearing them when cast
| into prison. Nospspicion attached to them
and he was allowed to retain them. When
the desperate end came all lie had to do
was to dip his collar and orayat into a cup
Of water, wiring them out and he had
enough poison att hand to kill dozen men.
The idea is a novel one, isn't itgn
II agree with you that it is novel, = re-
piled friend who had listened TO the re-
cital, "but it is improbable, absurd and far
fetched. 1t is too ingenious 10 be belieya-
ble.n
THAT is just where you are all wrong
interrupted the young dramatist. "As a
matter of fact the incident is not original,
but was suggested by something that hap
pened right here in New York only a few
days ago. The newspapers published ae-
counts Of victim Of the morphine habit,
who had in his possession a large quantity
OF that drug in sulphate form. He was
afraid it would be stolen or taken from
him, and to prevent its loss he dissolved il
into n solution and then placed in the fluid
a new undershirt. The garment absorbed
the solution completely, and after it had
dried the man put it on and wore it. When
he wanted to use the drug, he merely cut a
piece from the undershirt and soaked it in
a little water and thus quickly procured
the opiate he crayed. This is a true story
From the miserable fellow with the NOR
phine undershirt it is but ain easy flight o.
fancy to the villain with the strychnine
cravat. New York Herald.