The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-15
USED POISONED GLOVES.
FavOrite Weapon with Anarchists,
and Monnrchs Now Go Barehanded
From London Mail

FavOrite Weapon with Anarchists,
and Monnrchs Now Go Barehanded
From London Mail.
Those well acquainted with court circles
know that most monarchs avoid wearing
gloves whenever possible This habit is not
a mere within or freak Of fancy, but has
sound reason at It's bottom. In a word.
gloves afford an extremely easy way to
assassination. When person is poisoned
one generally looks for the traces IN the
stomach. of the victim; few physicians
think of looking elsewhere for the fatal
drug on this account the young Russian
emperor has been warned by more than
one of his ministers against wearing any
gloves that have not first been subjected
to careful tests.
Many of those known to be leaders of
the nfhilist movement are living in Italy,
notably at Milan, which is a hotbed Of an
archism and revolution. While there they
have, according to the reports of secret
police, spent most of their days In the
public library of the ancient capital of
Lombardy. referring frequently to books
relating to toxicology.
For long time the works which they
appeared TO favor most were those pub
lished In the sixteenth, seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, when poisoning was
carried to a point Of perfection altogether
unknown In modern times. More than
once did the attendants of the library,
who had been warned by the police to
keep an eye on their Russian readers, OBJ
serve that slips of paper had been left in
the books marking chapters on poisoning
by rubbing a deadly substance on the in
side OF gloves which, penetrating the open
..ff atrI 49,
duced either slow or instantaneous death,
according to the character of the poison.
Not much attention was directed by the
Russian authorities 70 these reports from
Milan until about a year before the death
of the emperor, when Count Tchereme-
tien was killed by pair Of poisoned
gloves. The count, one Of the wealthiest
and most powerful noblemen in Russia,
was an intimate friend Of Alexander. One
day, summoned In haste to the emperor,
he snatched up from side table in the
ante-chamber his sword, white astrachan
bonnet and gloves, which as usual were
laid out all ready for him.
The gloves were exactly like those he
always wore, even to the extent of being
no longer quite fresh They had evident
ly been clumsily impregnated with poison,
for while standing before the writing ta-
BILE in the library talking to the emperor
he suddenly fell to the floor with a look
lures, exclaiming: my hands, my
handsW
The emperor leaped over the table,
raised the count from the floor, and laid
him on a lounge, calling for assistance as
he did so. At first the physicians be-
lleved that the count had cuccumbed to
heart disease, but when the emperor, In
describing the incident mentioned, the ex-
camatlon uttered by the dying man, their
attention was drawn to his hands
When ungloved, the counts hands gave
forth a strange, pungent, aromatic odor
and were swollen and discolored. II was
only then that II dawned upon the medl-
cal men that the count had been assas-
sinated by means Of his gloves. on being
subjected to chemical analysis II was
shown that the gloves had been impreg-
mated with poison derived from an
Abyssinian vegetable substance little
known in Europe.
II Is said that the present emperor has
had one narrow escape from poisoning by
this means. and the fact that some time
ago two of the greatest European author
tiles on texicology. one from Berlin and
the other from Paris, were called 10 tho
Peterhom palace, on the Gulf OF Finland,
gives color to the story.