The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-07-07

Ike q stone a. soon as the ge1atine dis
solves and the acid reaches the stomach"
20 the terms were accepted, and the
meeting was TO lake place the next day at
. o'clock near q lake-shore resort not far
The seconds decided to take DR. -. a
very famous physician and surgeon. who
pad been medical director on the stan of
L~ouisiana's most distinguished soldier In
after long argument that the doctor was
won over, saying. Yes, IL a man must
surely die. IL can be called heart failure"
onds arrived at the grounds where the
words of one OF the last surviving actors.
me Ill for a month. The memory remains
with me still as vivid as ever De Valliere
and Armand we're both neatly dressed. but
very pale. We of De vallIere's party ar
rived first. Just as the distant city clocks
sounded six the others, I'm two carriages.
came; There were six in all present-the
principals. each having a physician, and the
two seconds The party assembled in a
half circle and listened to the reading of
the conditions. Then the two men faced
There was a look Of hatred in Armand's
eyes that was not In those of his antago-
mist. Both were perfectly cool and COM
posed, and but for their paleness you would
never have guessed that In a quarter OF an
hour one would be dead. Armand's second
threw up a gold half-eagie.
Heads said Armand.
When 1t fell the face on the coin was
down. De Valliere had the first choice.
Pouring out a glass of Chateau Yquem,
his second handed il to him., while one of
the physicians opened an ordinary pill-box.
In II were four black gelatine capsules.
De Valliere took one without looking, and
putting II into his mouth. swallowed it
with a draught of the wine. Armand did
" Five minutes sal. the elder of the
physicians. will disclose whether or not the
poisoned capsule was taken
"HOW we watched The minutes seemed
ageS to US who looked on. What must
they have been to those who were the prin-
FINALLY the time was past. Neither had
swallowed the poisoned one. They tossed
again; Armand won: He reached his fingers
into the box and lifted a pill almost to his
mouth, then suddenly put * back and took
the other, which he swallowed. De Val
liere took the remaining one; Neither
noticed that both had a slight dew upon
their brows: The mental strain must have
watches. De valliere lighted a cigarette.
Armand stood frowningly apart with his
second. One minute passed, then two!
Another would surely prove who was to
smoked his cigarette. A mocking-bird
nearby sang its evening song. The setting
of silent things in day.. but which make
the strange noises of the night. A long
line of brosbeaks were, silhouetted against
the sky, flying to the dense swamp, where
they a their homes.
lone minute more! De Valliere threw
away the stump OF his cigarette. No one
spoke. We all felt that the Angel OF Death
was among us.
Five minutes said one of the surgeons
aloud, closing his watch.
Just then We heard a groan. Armand's
face was purple. He seemed like a man
with apoplexy. His eyes rolled wildly, as
awful in its swift agony. We all ran to
him-all save De Valliere. His physician
and second gently laid him down. -.
He was dead before he touched the
grass, the doctor said.
'"The morning papers announced the sud-
den death last evening OF M. Armand, one
of our most prominent planters and best
known young society and club men, from
heart failure while at Lake Pontchartrain
with a party of well-known gentlemen. The
attack was very sudden. and though an
eminent physician was OF the party pres
ent, il was impossible to mitigate the un-
within a few minutes after he was strick-
en-. The following distinguished families
will mourn the untimely end of NJ. Armand
and then came the usual list.
"If anything unusual was suspected. the
thought never reached the great PUBLIC ear,
and the matter is almost forgotten. But 1
know that on each All Saints Day Louis
De Valliere's gentle wife covers the tomb
of her dead cousin with wreaths and I'M
mortslles. He died so early, she says
sometimes. and I at times-I don't know
quite ~why-feel as though l had somehow
caused his death
The physician who prepared the capsules,
with De Valliere and the gentleman who
reveals the story. were the three survivors
| till two weeks ago. when the doctor died in
Italy, where he had been sojourning for
two years. De Valliere had long since con-
fded his awful secret TO his lovely wife.
and his part had been forgiven and blotted
out with their tears. 1t was TO set at rest
his own conscience that he asked the only
other survivor TO narrate the story in his
will now understand his part in the trag-
edy. while the world at large will never
pierce the real Identity of the actors tnem-
| selves.