Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-08-03
THE POISONER.

IHE
I have said little about poisoning, re.
marks M. de Goron, ex-chief Of detect.
ives Of Paris, in his recently published
Memoirs" not because the crime i.
less common than formerly, but because
science has made it so difficult of detec.
ton and chance SO seldom puts proof
into the hands Of the police.
It was chance, however, that permit
ted me on one occasion to detect a poi
soner.
A commercial traveller, N. x. had his
letters addressed post restante at the
Theatre Francois bureau. One morning,
unexpectedly called back to town, he
was astonished to see at the postoffice
Oh a little blue envelope a handwrit-
ing unfamiliar to him. Opening it, he
read:
MY WELL B%ELovED-I have seen your hus-
band and have observed with satisfaction that
the disease has made serious progress. His
lips are quite white, his eyes hollow, his coun-
tenance ashen. I think we can hope to be rid
Of him in a month.
P. S.-I'l bring another little packet tomor.
row.
The poor drummer at first thought il
a hoax, but rejecting that chance might
have put into his hands the proof Of an
adulterous crime which would have had
a sinister end, he hurried to the office Of
the surete bearing the title blue accuser,
which he handed to me.
I turned it over in my hands, surpris-
cd that criminals who could plan such
an infamous crime should forget the
elementary precautions.
wondered if it were not a practical
joke, merely to make work for the po-
lice. Then I reflected that most big
crimes are discovered by the criminals
imprudence, and l resolved to investi-
gate.
My duty was to solve the mystery.
had the postoffice watched.
Early next morning a pretty young
woman called to get the letter.
She was frightened when an officer
very politely took her by the arm and
led her to a carriage.
No one saw the arrest. The carriage
was already IN its way when the wom-
an demanded:
"Where are you taking me, sir?"
ITO the chief Of detectives, madam. "
She fell back and said no more, but
her hands shook nervously and her lips
were bloodless.
Large, graceful, beautiful, still
young, the woman was dressed with the
severe elegance Of the prosperous bour-
geoise. She was a blond, whose blue
eyes, marked round with blister, and
whose mobile features seemed to mirror
all her reflections.
BY the manner in which she entered
the Office I knew she was a woman Of
the world. She sat down, ~nervously
beating on the table. Her gesture was
abrupt, her voice hoarse, and there waf
an odd look in her eye.
"What do you wish?" she said.
why am ], an honest woman, brought
here?"
I tried to calm her, but her voice be-
came harsher as she cried: "It's infa.
mousl I need not tell you my name"
Then, with due regard to dramatic
effect, l handed her the blue envelope.
She fell on her knees, crying in a
voice broken by sobs: mercy! Mercy
I am an unhappy womanl I am a poi
soner! Yes, I wished to kill my hus-
band! But l alone am to blame. He had
to obey me. Punish no n but me.
"If you knew" she went on, chow
hate my husbandl To see him there, al.
ways near me, ia a torture worse than
death. I love the young man who wrote
that note with all my soul. With him
I am in heaven. But to go home and
endure my husbands embrace, his lips
upon my cheek--it is like fire. At any
cost he must die! I prefer crime to that
agony Of every minute, every second.
But I swear I alone am guilty Punish
me. I have merited death, but spare
him, I pray you'll"
Almost at the moment she seized a
pair Of scissors frou my desk and would
have stabbed herself had not her hand
been staid.
forced her to sit down and told he,
how much better it was that the crime
had been discovered, and by gentle
means I got from the weeping woman
the name and address Of her lover. Then
I babe her wait in a neighboring room
under guard.
I sent out agents to arrest the lover
and meanwhile questioned her again.
She said she didn't know what the pow.
der was. The lover had sent it at her
request for something "slow and sure. "
Two hours later the men brought in
NJ. Leon T., the gayest assassin they
ever saw, they said.
"Well, we'll" he had laughed as he
law the men file in, "this is funny. ]
lever thought it would turn out so com.
SAL"
And all the way to my Office he