The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1899-02-07
death IN THE MAIL"
Famous. Graves Case of high' 'e"''
AGO and Recent PoisoninSs'

AGO and Recent PoisonIn%s'
Historians who have written OF IRE III
tbc middle ages have been pleased 10
treat Of poisoning as one OF the lost "''a'
They refer to Iucretia Borgia, the 9p".N'
Mime. de Brinviliers and Blanca ~
nello as II they had had carried lnoa
formulas as secrets 10 their graves az"
had left no hints behind 20 GUIDE ""u'u
be imltators Ia the preparation o. wv
AQUA Tououa or the Mamma OF -. Men
aias do Rari the Installations with when
they so successfully summoned dea'h 70
relieve them of such persons do "0'0 w
jectionaDdle TO them.
The stories of the subtle use OF such
preparations by the Borgias; or oil Nihe'
dc Brinvillers' experiments upon the pa
TENTS I'm the hospitals are typical oil tne
age when women poisoned as they smieu'
but they do not prove that the pres
emf day criminal is any less deft IN the
handling Of these mysterious destroyers
Of life.
The secret prisoners of tho hreenth
century were skiful without a DOUBT
and they surrounded their work WIN d
certain air Of mystery that was made
possible bv the conditions OF the times
but the PRISONERS Of the nineteenth cen
turv administer their drugs even more
cleverly. And the fact that we have no
Voisins and Filastis to make business
of poisoning people by wholesale TOT
hire is due to our modern methods OF
detection of crime which make such a
trade impossible
Nevertheless we have just as artistic
polsouers to-day and they have found
I'm the mail one OF the most adroit meth
DDS of administering death 20 the an
fortunate victim Of their arts.
The poisoning of Mrs. Kate j. Adams a
few days ago. I'm New York was
striking illustration of the power Of pois-
ons and with its predecessor-the Botkin
case Of California-furnlshes ample evil
dence on which % base the assertion
that the secret pOisOner is not alone a
fifteenth century institution.
The poisoning of Mrs. Adams and the
killing OF Mrs. Dunning and Mrs. Deane,
the crime for which Mrs. Cordelia A.
Botkin IS now serving life sentence Ia
California, were strangely analogous.
In each instance the poisoner sent the
deatn-dealing drug under the guise of a
friendly gift and I'm each instance the
poisoner concealed identity by making
use Of the United States mails
The box OF poisoned chocolates with
which Mrs. Botkin proposed 70 take the
life Of the wife Of the man she loved
was mailed I'm San Francisco and the
arsenic did its deadly work i'm Dover,
Del.
I'm the Adams case the package Of bro
mo settler i'm the silver bottle holder was
dropped into the mail box az an out-ot-
the-way sub-station in New York and
few davs later Mrs. Adams was dead.
killed by the cyanide of mercury that
had been so skilfully mixed with the
In "a a. Pc
derer was actuated by malignant passion
but was clever enough to realize that
the postofice provided the safest method
of reaching the victim with the most
reasonable certainty OF success. So the
deadly drugs were despatched upon their
fatal mission and the success OF these
attempts 10 Kill at n distance has given
the press OF tile entire continent topic
of discussion for weeks past
Successful as they We're in making the
government furnish the facilities for
their crime neither Mrs. Botkin nor the
murderer of Mrs. Adams can claim any
originality in the dispatching VI death
through The mail.
Nearlr eight years ago a Providence.
Il IT, Physician made Use of this same
method OF accomplishing q murder and
SO successful was he that il was only
with the greatest difficulty that the
crime was traced 10 him. The murders
that have attracted so much attention
during the past few weeks and the xii
ling OF Mrs. Josephine a. Barnaby by DR..
r. Thatcher Graves We're so similar that
II Is strange that they have not recalled
the famous old case 10 the public notice
Eight years ago the mysterious poison
ing was the chief topic Of interest and
the phrase Death IN the mail" was on
every tongue.
Mrs Barnabv was the widow Of
prominent and wealthy Rhode Island
clothier. T. B. Baruaby. DR.. Graves was
not only her physician but her connden-
tial adviser when Mr. Barnaby died
and the wife received her portion of the
estate she placed the money in the
hands of Or. Graves for investment and
shortly Afterwards upon his advice. went
10 the west, hoping that the bracing air
Of Colorado would help her 10 regain her
shattered health. with her. as a com
panion, was Mrs Edward S. Worrell. of
Chester. Pa
Some time after Mrs. Barnaby's arrival
I'm Denver she received a package I'm the
mail. IL was a bottle containing liquor.
a large oddly shaped bottle and on the
label was written "With best wishes
Accent this fine old whisky from your
friends I'm the woods" There was moth
ing about the package 70 attract sus-
picl0n FOR Mrs Barnaby had friends In
the Adirondacks OF whom she always
spoke as her friends I'm the woods" and
she never Imagined that the gift had not
come from them
Il was April and a few days later q
cold rain set IN. On the nineteenth the
bottle was opened and twenty-four hours
later -hrs. Worrell was at the point OF
death and Mrs Barnaby was dead The
police investigations showed that The
whisky contained a large quantity OF
aTsenslte OF sodium.
4 nen followed the long search for the
criminal The poisoner had covered his
tracks well and DR.. Graves was one OF
the most urgent in demanding that no
EFFORT be spared 10 apprehend the guilty
nerson. Gradually. however. suspicion
conferred upon him. IN spite Of the fact
that ne was a prominent physicianAwtth
a large practice the police were unable