Worcester morning daily spy. (Worcester, Mass.) 1888-1898, 1898-01-29
GAVE HER A PILL.
Southbridge Girl Forced to Take
One from Strange Man.
An Unexplainable Outrage Perpetrated on
Little French Girl Only Two
Years of Age.
(speelal Dispatch 70 the spy.l

Especial Dispatch to the Spy)
Southbridge, Jan. 27.-The appearance
of a strange man in the tenement of
Joseph Dumas, Jr., who lives near the
mills of the Hamilton Wooden Company,
has caused great deal of uneasineas
among the members of the Dumas Fam
lily, and tonight it is about the only
| theme of conversation upon the streets.
| Early in the afternoon, Mrs Dumas
LETT her tenement to go and pay a
friendly call upon some of the neigh
bors, Just as everybody does IN the
neighborhood in which the Dumas re-
side. She left at home her 1o-year-oh
son, Adelor, and Eva, a bright nttte
girl of two years
| The mother had been away from tho
| house only a few moments when a
stranger entered the house unan-
nounced He told Adelor that he was
doctor and had come to give his ltttia
sister some medicine. why, Eva isn'e
! sick at air. the little chap replied In a
much surprised tone. ooh, yes she is"
| the stranger said ''Your mother has
! Just told me to come in and give her
some medicine"
! The brother protested again, but to no
avail While he was talking, the I'M
| welcome guest had seated himself In a
chalr and was opening bag he car
ried in his hand. From this bag he
TOOK vial containing a colorless LIQUID,
box of black pills and a teaspoon. He
| poured out teaspoonful of the LIQUID,
| then dissolved one of the pills In il.
giving teaspoonful of a very black
\ liquid.
! This dose he proceeded to give to fft-
| fla EiW1 Tho II wi nj a,-s< a,
so did her brother. But the man
grabbed her, held her arms at her sides
ana forced the spoon between her firm
ly-set jaws. Then he held his hand
over her mouth and compelled her to
swallow. This done, he left the house.
| saying that he did not believe it would
| be necessary to call again.
| He went out Of the yard on the run
| and the neighbors who had seen him
enter quite few minutes before, began
TO suspect that something was wrong
| They went to the house and found what
had been done. Immediately word was
sent to Mr. Dumas, who is employed in
| the mill close by. When the father got
to the house, his little girl was appar-
emily dazed. Her head was swinging
| from side 10 side, and she did not ap-
! pear to be aware of what was taking
place about her. Restoratives were ap-
piled and she soon rallied and appeared
to be as lively and bright as ever.
AT supper time it was noticed by her
mother and father that she was not eat
| ing as much as usual. In fact she did not
eat anything, but drank great deal of
r1jlk and water. ,stlf her thirst remained
undated. She was put to bed before I
O'Clock, and instead of waking up two
or three times during the evening she
slept soundly as a. grown person, but
her respiration seemed natural and Mr.
. n holf =
call a physician.
| When representative of the Spy call
led at the house about o'clock Eva lay
in her crib, sound asleep. She was
breathing and her father was unwilling
| to awaken her No physician had been
summoned, nor had the authorities been
notified Of the incident. This the Spy
man attended to.
The man who entered the house is
| described by those who saw him ON the
street as being d large man, with
black beard. He wore long ulster with
canvas Jacket underneath and the felt
boots that are used in chopping wood
during the cold weather. He spoke
French flpently.
After leaving the house he went down
to Globe Village and then back again
to the center Of the town, where an
trace OF him has been lost sight Of 1t is
believed, however, that he went out of
TOWN.. deputy Sh6I1n Jacobs Is now
looking for some tangible thing upon
which to work the case.
No one seems possible to offer any
probable solution to the whole matter
Dumas says, so far as he knows, that he
has not an enemy in the world that
would be guilty of so despicable a thing.
But he congratulates himself that his
little girl is still alive The contents Of
that black pill will never be known I'M
less the unknown man is apprehended
and brought to justice.