Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-09-19
DEATH IN THE VIAL.
ThG FIFTH TAsle7 CARRIED A DOSE
THAT WAS FATAL.

Why tho Docter Raa . P,emeAialos
That Aisfor rtsns Eiaa OvePtaken q
Wealthy rl~ntcs-Isow the story oi
The Cssne Leaked Oua.
The story was told by n police CON-
missioner Of another city who was in
New Orleans recently on a visit.
The most ingenious murder ever
knew anything about" he said, was
committed by young physician. He
was q rising practitioner at a place
where formerly lived, and, with your
permission. viii speak Of him simply
Rs DIR. Smith.
about = dozen years ago. as nearly
rs remember, this young man went
on visit TO relative In 4 neighbor-
Ing city, and one afternoon. on the
third or fourth day CT his stay. he
startled a lady member Of the hoGse-
held by remarkiug that be had u feel
Ing that some misfortune had over
taken a wealthy planter whom they
both knew ve.y well. and whom l will
call Colonel Jones. The colonel was g
prominent resident Of the doctors
home town and had large outlying
estate. which he was IN the habit Of
visiting once Il week.
"Cn the day OF Smiths singular pre-
nlonition be WAS on one OF those tours
Of inspection. but failed TO come back.
and the following morning his corpse
was found lying In 4 cornfield. He
had evidently been dead about a
hours. and from the appearance OF the
body seemed 10 have been seized with
some sort Of st or convulsiOn.
"Of course the affair created n great
stir. and thc police made pretty
thorough Investigation. but the only
special attention WAS a small, round
vial IN the dsad mans vest pocket. 1t
was about the diameter OF a lead pen
ell by four Inches long, and had orig
ina!ly contained u couple Of dozen
medicinal tablets. which. lying one on
top of the other. filed the little bottle
to rhe cork. 4 few still remained IN
the bottom.
Upon inquiry II was learned with
out trouble that the tablets were
harmless preparation Of soda. and that
local drug store. Thnt ended suspicion
in that quarter. and. for lack Of any
thing better. the coroner returned 4
verdict Of death from sunstroke.
There was no autopsy.
Some time after Jones had been
buried" continued the police commits
sioner. II learned accidentally of Dr..
Smiths curious prophecy. and 1t set
me TO thinking. Eventually l evolved
a theory, but It was impossible at the
time to sustain 1t with proof. and for
FIVE or six years l kept 1t pizeOnholcd
in my brain. waiting for something to
happen. Meanwhile, to everybody'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
cashing a fake draft. After his flight
I learned enough to absolutely confirm
my theory rs to Jones' death. What
had really happened was this:
"Dr. Smith owed the old man a con-
sum Of money and had given
a note, upon which he had forged his
fathers name as indorser. The plant
er was pressing him for payment and
had threatened suit, which meant in
evitabIe exposure. One day, while
they were conversing. Jones pulled out
3 little glass vial and swallowed one
Of the tablets It contained. remarkins
that he took one daily. after dinner. |
FOR sour stomach.
THAT suggested n diabolical scheme |
II assassination, which the doctor pro- |
.eeded to put into execution. Repair |
ng to his Office. he made up duplicate |
ablet Of strychnine, and, encountering /!
he colonel next day. asked him to let |
him have the vial for a moment, SO he
,ouid copy the address Of the makers
rom the label.
Zones handed It over unsuspecting-
y, and while his attention was briefly |
diverted elsewhere Smith put In the |
prepared tablet. He placed 1t under |
the top four. thus making it reason
ably certain that his victim would take |
Il on the fifth day from that date |
Next morning he left town. so As to
be far away when the tragedy WAS
and some mysterious. |
Impulse evidently led |
him to make the prediction that first |
excited my suspicion.
"When | uade certain OF oil this. ! |
located Smith iu Oklahoma and was |
On the point Of applying for AL extradi |
tion warrant when he anticipated me |
by contrac:!n. pneumonia and dying |
thercupou returned the case to its
mental piyeonholc. where il las re-
NAMED ever since"
Pardon me for asking" said one of |
the listeners. "but is that really q true
story. Cr ara you entertaining us with |
fction:"
1T Is absolutely true replied the
narrator.
But how did you learn the part:cu-
IarsY'
Well" said the police commissioner,
smiling. Smith was like most clever
had one weak spot I!e
was fool enough to tell q woman. She
Orleans Times-Deno
crat.
Ate Course Dinners.
A woman lust arrived from Aus