Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-08-04
DEATH IN THE VIAL.
THE FIFTH TABLET CARRIED A DOSE
THAT WAS FATAL.
Why the Doctor Had II PremOnition
That Misfortune Had ONcrtnken "a
Wealthy PInnter-IIow the story of
the Crime Leaked Out.

knew anything about, lie said, was
committed by young physician He
was n rising practitioner at place
where formerly lived and, with your
permission, will speak of him simply
as DR.. Smith.
about Il dozen years ago, as nearly
as remember, this young man went
ON Il visit to IL relative in "A ncighbOr-
Ing city, and one afternoon. Oh the
third or fourth day of his stay, he
startled lady member of the house
hold by rcmarking that he had feel
ing that scmc misfortune had over
taken wealthy planter whom they
both knew very well. and whom | will
cab Colonel Jones. The colonel was q
prominent resident of the doctors
home town and had II large outlying
estate. which he was In the habit Of
visiting once a week
ION the day Of Smiths singular pre-
monition he was OH one OF those tours
OF inspection. but failed to come back.
and the following morning his corpse
was found lying in cornlicld. He
had evidently been dead about n
hours. and from the appearance of the
body seemed To have been seized with
some sort of fit or CONFUSION.
"Of course the affair created great
stir. and the police made n pretty
thorough investigation, but the only
thing they found that mcrited any
special attention was small, round
vial In the dead mans vest pocket. 1t
was about the diameter of lead pen
ell by four inches long. and had orig
inally contained couple of dozen
medicinal tablets. which. lying one on
top of the other, filled the little bottle
to the cork \ few still remained in
the bottom.
Upon inquiry It w2s learned with
out trouble that the tablets were n
harmless preparation cf soda, and that
Jones himself had bought them at a
local drug store. That ended suspicion
In that quarter, and. for lack of any
thing better. the coroner returned a
verdict OF death from sunstroke.
There was no autopsy.
Some time after Jones had been
buried" continued the police commits
sioner. IL learned accidentally Of DIR.
Smiths curious prophecy. and II set
me TO thinking. Eventually | evolved
theory. but it was impossible ut the
time to sustain 1t with proof. and for
five or six years kept it pigconholed
in my brain. waiting for something to
happen Meanwhile. TO cvcrybody's
surprise. DR. Smith went To the dogs
He began by drinking heavily, grad
ually lost his practice, and finally
skipped out TO avoid prosecution for
caShlng fake draft. After his flight
learned enough to absolutely confirm
my theory as to Jones death. What
had really happened was this:
DIR Smith owed the old man con-
siderable sum of money and had given
a note. upon which he had forged his
fathers name as indorser. The plant
err was pressing him for payment and
had threatened suit. which meant In
evitable exposure. One day, while
they were converSing. Jones pulled out
I a little glass vial and swallowed one
Of the tablets ii contained, rcmarkinS
that he took one daily. after dinner.
for sour stomach.
THAT suggested IL diabolical scheme
Of assassination. which the doctor pro
ceedpd to PIT into execution. Repair
Ing to his office, be made mp duplicate
tablet Of Strychninr. and. cnCOuntcrlnS
the colonel next day. asked him to let
him have IN. vial for moment. so he
could copy the address Of the makers
from the label
"Jorcs handed it over unsuspccting-
ly, and while his attention was briefly
diverted elsewhere Smith put in the
prepared tablet He placed II under
the top four. thus making il reason
ably certain that his victim would take
it on the fifth day from that date.
Next morning he left town. so as to
be far away WHEN the tragedy was
contaminated. and some mysterious.
uncomfortable impulse evidently led
him to make the prediction that first
excited my suspicion.
when | made certain Of all this. |
located Smith in Oklahoma and was
on the point of applying for an cXtradi-
ton warrant when he anticipated me
by contracting pneumonia and dying
thereupOn returned the case to its
mental pigeOnhole. where il has re-
NAMED ever since"
Pardon ne for asking" said one OF
the listeners. but Is that really true
story. or are you entertaining us with
interesting fiction"
at is absolutely true" replied the
narrator
But how did you learn the part.cu
larS?'
"We.l." said the police commissioner.
smiling smith was like most clever
criminals he had one weak spot He
was fool enough 10 tell Il woman. She
blabbed New Orleans Times Demo
crat.