Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-09-18
Poison Plot for Love.

At San Francisco Miss Florence M.
Campbell, when she confessed to be
| the author of the poison plot that so
greatly excited that city, also gave a
remarkable psychological display.
| From her story we know just how
it feels to dig pit for another's feet
and step into it.
Writing with the wholly imaginary
pangs of arsenical poisoning and gasp
ing with the very real spasms conse-
auent on the use of emetics, Miss
Campbell was sick unto her soul that
she had ever attempted the role OF a
Borgia with Machiavelian trimmings.
She got her idea, of course, from the
Botkin case-that murder which
taught new crime to thousand Jeal-
Gus, crazed women. Dunning, the
husband of Mrs. Botkin's victim, was
newspaper correspondent. Rathom
was also a newspaper correspondent.
The two men were together with the
army before the operations against
Santiago. 1t was very natural that
Rathom should talk over the awful
tragedy in his friends affairs with the
woman who was to him what Mrs.
Botkin was to Dunning. Miss Camp
bell well-born, well-bred, well-edu-
Gated, applied the Botkin reasoning
to her own case and thought she saw
an opportunity to improve on the muir
der that sent Mrs. Botkin to prison
for life. There was a mixed motive
in the case. Mrs. Rathom was threat
ening her husband with divorce suit
because of his relations with Miss
Campbell and the latter thought out
the scheme in part at least, in order
that she might have something with
which to blackmail the injured wife
into silence.
The denouement of the plot was
artistic and exciting.
First the public became aware that
an attempt had been made to poison
Miss Campbell with arsenic in cherries
and that her landlady Mrs Scheib, had
also partaken of the sweets and had
also been made very i'll.
The next step was the testing of the
box of candied cherries.
"There is enough arsenic here to
kill herd of cows was the chemists
report
Then the police made the discovery
that the address on the box was in
the handwriting of Mrs John Rathom,
whose possible motive was no deep Sc
cret.
So far it was all as Miss Campbell
had planned.
Then John R. Rathom entered upon
the scene. He declared his positive
belief that neither his wife nor Miss
Campbell sent the poisoned candies,
but he was not prepared to say that he
did not send them himself.
He made a very frank confession of
his own wrong doings. He admitted
that he had behaved in a disgraceful
way toward both his wife and Miss
Campbell and declared that he fully de-
served any trouble which might come
upon him.
He introduced further complications
into the mystery by revealing a prop
osition which he said Mrs. Scheib, wife
of Mr.. Scheib, with whom Miss Camp
bell lived, had made to him. Mr..
Scheib came after the attempted poi
soning and said in effect:
"Your wife sent this box of poisoned
candy. She has nearly poisoned my
wife and Miss Campbell. You must go
to her and make her pay the doctors
bills, and sign paper that she will
leave the state and not seek divorce
| from you. Then you can get d.
vorce from her on the ground of de-
sertion and marry Miss Campbell"
Scheib stoutly denied that he ever
made such proposition, and declared
that Rathom had utterly distorted
what he said.
1t took a month to disentangle the
ugly skein. During that time Miss
Campbell Indignantly denied that she
had mailed herself the poisoned candy,
but the police plodded along, proved
Mrs. Rathom's innocence and gradually
brought the matter home to Miss
Campbell, and that young woman at
last confessed it all.
''My only object in mailing this poi
sOned candy was because Mrs. Rathom
threatened to use my name and make