The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1900-08-22
DEATH In THE VIAL.
fHe FIFTH TABLET CARRIED A DOSE
THAT WAS FATAL.

the Crime Leaked Out.
The story was tolt by police com.
missioner of anothe, city who was IN
New orleans recently on visit.
"Tbe most Ingenious murder ever
knew anything about he said. was
committed by n young physician. lie
was n rising practitioner NJ place
where formerly lived. aud. with your
permission, ] will speak of him simply
as DIR. Smith
about a dozen years ago. as nearly
as ! remember, this young man went
on visit to relative In u neighbor.
Ing city. and one afternoon, on the
third or fosrth dny of his stay, he
startled n lady member OF the house
hold by remarking that he had feel
Ing that some misfortune had over
taken wealthy planter whom they
both knew very well, and whom | will
prominent resident of the doctors
home town and had large outlying
estate. which he was In the habit Of
visiting once week.
, "On the day OF Smiths singular pre-
monition he was on one of those tours
Of inspection, but failed to come back,
and the following morning his corpse
was found lying In cornfeld. He
had evidently been dead about "a
hours, and from the appearance Of the
body seemed to have been seized with
some sort OF fit or convulsion.
"Of course the affair created n great
stir. and the police made a pretty
thorough investigation. but the only
thing they found that merited any
special attention was n small. round
vial In the dead mans vest pocket. II
was about the diameter OF n 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. filed the little bottle
to the cork A few still remained I'm
the bottom.
upon Inquiry II was learned with
out trouble that the tablets were
harmless preparation OF soda, and that
Jones himself had bought them M II
local drug store. That ended suspicion
In that quarter, and. for lack of any.
thing better. the coroner returned n
verdict of death from sunstroke.
There was no autopsy.
"Some time after Jones had been
buried" continued the police commits
sioner, 81 learned accidentally Of DR.,
Smiths curious prophecy, and It set
me to thinking. Eventually ! evolved
n theory, but II was impossible Mt the
time to sustain II with proof. and for
five or six years I kept 1t plgeonholed
I'm my brain. waiting for something to
happen. Meanwhile. to everybody's
surprise, DIR. 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 fight
l learned enough to absolutely confirm
my theory as to Jones death. What
had really happened was this:
"Dr. Smith owed the old man a con-
siderable sum of money and had given
n 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
they were conversing. Jones pulled out
a little glass vial and swallowed one
Of the tablets 1t contained, remarking
that he took one daily, after dinner.
for sour STOMACH.
'That suggested a diabolical scheme
Of assassination. which the doctor pro-
ceeded to put into execution. Repair
In 20 tc hn 10 Itna %,
tablet Of strychnine. and, encountering
the colonel next day. asked him to let
him have the vial for a moment, so he
could copy the address of the makers
from the label.
"Jopes handed It over unsuspecting-
ly. and while his attention was briefly
diverted elsewhere Smith put in the
prepared tablet He placed it under
the top four. thus making 1t reason
ably certain that his victim would take
1t on the fifth day from that date.
Next morning he left town, so as to
be far away when the tragedy was
consummated, 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 extradi-
tion warrant when he anticipated me
by contracting pneumonia and dying,
thereupon returned the case to Its
mental pigeonhole, where 1t has re-
mained ever SINCE"
Pardon me for asking" said one OF
the listeners, "but Is that really true
story. or are you entertaining us with
interesting fictionT
at is absolutely true" replied the
narrator.
"But how did you learn the particu
lars?"
"Well," said the police commissioner
smiling. "Smith was like most clever
triminals-he had one weak spot. HI
WAS fool enough to tell a woman. She
blabbed. Orleans Times-Demo
crat