The Dickinson press., 1900-12-08

Why. the Doctor Ead a Prcmonition
That Misfortune Had Ovcrtaken a
Wealthy rlantcr-Iaovv the Story of
the Crime Leaked Ont.
The story vas told by a police COM
M sioner Of another city who was in
New Orleans recently on a visit.
"The most ingenious murder 1 ever
knew anything about" he said, twas
committed by a young physician. He
was a rising practitioner at n place
where l formerly lived, and, with your
permission, l will speak of him simply
Us DR.. Smith.
"About a dozen years ago, as nearly
US l remember, this young man went
on a visit to a relative in 4 neighbour
ing city, and one afternoon, on the
third OF fourth day of his stay, he
startled a lady member Of the house
hold by remarking that he had q feel
ing that some misfortune had over
taken a wealthy planter whom they
both knew very well, and whom 1 will
call Colonel Jones. The colonel was a
prominent resident Of the DOCTORS
home town and had a large outlying
estate, which he was in the habit Of
visiting once q week.
ION the day of Smiths singular pre-
monition he was on n Of those tours
of inspection, but failed to come back,
and the following morning his corpse
was found lying in a cornfield. 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 CONFUSION.
"Of course the affair created a great
stir, and the police made q pretty
thorough investigation, but the only
thing they found that merited any
special attention was q small, round
vial in the dead mans vest pocket. 1t
was about the diameter of a lead PEN
Gil by four inches long, and had orig
inally contained a couple of dozen
medicinal tablets, which, lying one on
top of the other, filled the little bottle
to the cork. A few still remained in
the bottom.
upon inquiry it vas learned with
out trouble that the tablets were q
harmless preparation Of soda, and that
Jones himself had bought them at q
local drug store. That ended suspicion
in that quarter, and, for lack of any
thing better, the coroner returned q
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 it set
me to thinking. Eventually l evolved
a theory, but it was impossible at the
time to sustain it with proof, and for
five or six years I kept it pigeonholed
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 q fake draft. After his fight
I learned enough to absolutely confirm
my theory IS to Jones' death. What
had really happened was this:
"Dr. Smith owed the old man q con-
siderable 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
evitable exposure. One day, while
they were conversing, Jones pulled out
a little glass vial and swallowed one
Of the tablets it 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.
ing to his Office, he made up a duplicate
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.
Zones 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 it 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
consummated, and some mysterious,
uncomfortable impulse evidently led
him to make the prediction that first
excited my suspicion.
"When I made certain Of oil this, ]
located Smith in Oklahoma and was
on the point Of applying for an extradi.
ton warrant when he anticipated me
by contracting pneumonia and dying.
I = thereupon returned the case to its
mental %pigeonhole, where it has re.
NAMED ever since"
;. pardon me for asking" said one of
the listeners, ''but is that really a true
story, or are you entertaining us with
interesting %iction?"
1T is absolutely true" replied the
narrator.
"But how did you learn the particu.
tars?"
"Well," said the police commissioner,
smiling, "Smith was like most clever
eriminals-he had one weak spot. He
was fool enough to tell a woman. She
nrloopo T~os- no~o