The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-10-16
nurderes possess the requisite skill.

murderes possess the requisite skill.
 Educated people seldom commit de- ! liberate murder" continued the doctor,
 and the uneducated mind instinctively
 associates poison with two substances =
 arsenic and strychnine. They are the
 deadly drugs most familiar to the pulp
 lie, and fortunately are easily affected.
 Murder by arsenic is infinitely clumsy.
 To begin with, the symptoms are mark
 ed and peculiar, and, being q metallic product, it's traces remain in the body
 an indefinite time. Last summer a
 woman in Barcelona, Spain, confessed
 that she had poisoned her sister with arsenic fifteen years before The grave
 was opened and the coffin found to con tain nothing but dust and ashes, but a
 chemict. test showed enthusiastically ! the presence of the drug. Mrs. May brick was accused of killing her hus- band with arsenic, and the test reveal
 ed it plainly in not only the remains but l in certain medicines The demonstra-
 tion was so conclusive that she finally
 arose in court and admitted giving him i a white powder, but insisted that she 1 followed his own express directions. | One of the most ingenious eases of poi son ever heard of occurred some years ago in another state. A young physic- ian plotted to kill a wealthy farmer He knew the latter was taking quinine for a cold, and meeting him one day, asked to see what sized capsules he used. While pretending to examine them he slipped in one containing strychnine. The farmer happened on it nearly q week later, and he died in ] convulsions. An autopsy revealed the l poison, but the affair was deep mys- 1 tery until the doctor committed suicide, | leaving written confession.
 ''The poisonings that occur in novels | and on the stage are usually very anus ins to a student of toxicology," said the physician in conclusion. ''Iremember | in 'San'l of Posen,' which was produced with such success by M. B. Curtis, the drummer hero was temporarily knocked out by a poisoned cigar He took two or three whiffs and over he rolled I would like very much to know the name of a drug that would produce that sort of effect Nearly all the, poisoning in fiction is equally surprising. There is a well-known English romance, in which the heroine inhales the fragrance of bunch of roses and instantly falls dead Needless to say, the poisoned per-
 ! fume is wholly unknown to science An- other story--but I could keep on citing instances all night. Most of the yarns of the Borgias and the Medicis are pure oonsllfne-especially those about poi soned gloves, poisoned tapers and other applications of drugs or things that are touched or handled. The tale of the book which was anointed on the mar gins with some dealy substance and killed the person who moistened his fingers to turn over the leaves has pos sibly foundation of truth but I con- fess would be puzzled to know how to prepare such a volume. Almost any thing that may be used would instantly betray itself by it's taste. In the Mid- 1le Ages powdered glass is said to have been favorte material with which to doctor food, and you'll find some in- teresting data on the subject in the autobiography of Cellini, the goldsmith. It is occasionally used by negroes right 1ere in the South. Of course powdered glass isn't a true poison. It sometimes kills by setting up internal inflamma- ion. Oftener it has no effect at all.- New Orleans Times--Democrat.