The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1900-06-09
TABLET NUMBER FIVE.
The story Of . ReRArkAbIe Murdsr
aad How the Truth About
Il Came Out.

Nho otoNt % heDAFhheie MaFueA
sAd How the Truth About
Il Came Out.
The story was told by police com
missioner Of another city who was
In New Orleans recently on q visit,
says the Times-Democrat.
"The most ingenious murder I ever
knew anything about" he said. was
committed by a young physician. He
was q rising practitioner at a place
where l formerly lived, and, with
your permission. will speak Of him
simply a. Or. Smith. About a dozen
years ago. IS nearly az remember,
this young man went on a visit TO
relative In a neighboring city, and
one afternoon, on the third or fourth
day OF his stay, he startled q lady
member Of the household by remark
ing that he had feeling that some
misfortune had overtaken a wealthy
planter whom they both knew very
well, and whom will call Col Jones.
The colonel was a 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 premo-
milton 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 or
the body seemed 30 have been seized
with some sort of At or oonvulsion.
"Of course, the affair created
great stir. and the police made a pret.
ty thorough investigation, but the
only thing they found that merited
uny special attention was small,
round vial In the dead mans vest
pocket. II was about the diameter
of lead pencil by four inches long,
End had originally contained couple
of dozen medicinal tablets, which, ly-
ing one on top of the other, filed the
little bottle to the cork. A few still
remained in the bottom. Upon in-
quiry II was learned without trouble
that, the tablets were harmless
preparation Of sods, and that Jones
himself had bought them at 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
Al L..
missioner, 81 learned accidentally OF
DR.. Smiths curious prophecy, and it
set me to thinking. Eventually |
evolved theory, but It was impos-
sible at the time to sustain 1t with
proof, and for five or six years / kept
It pigeon -holed in my brain, waiting
for something to happen. Meanwhile,
to everybody's surprise, DR.. Smith
went to the dogs. He began by drink
ing heavily, gradually lost his prac.
tice, and finally skipped out to avoid
prosecution for cashing fake draft.
After his flight learned enough to
absolutely confirm my theory as to
Jones death. What had really hap
pened was this;
"Dr Smith owed the old man q
considerable sum of money and had
given note, upon which he had
forged his fathers name as lndorser.
The planter was pressing him for
payment and had threatened suit,
which meant inevitable exposure.
One day. while they were converslng,
Jones pulled out a little glass vial
and swallowed one OF the tablets IL
contained. remarking that he took
one daily, after dinner, for sour stom-
nch. That suggested diabolical
scheme Of assasAln nation. which the
doctor proceeded TO put into execu-
tion. Repairing 20 his Office, he made
up duplicate tablet of strychnine,
and, encountering the colonel next
day, asked him to let him have the
vial for q moment, so he could copy
the address OF the makers from tho
label. Jones handed 1t over unsus-
pectingly, and while his attention was
briefly diverted elsewhere Smith put
in the prepared tablet. He placed IL
under the top four, thus making 1t
reasonably certain that his victim
would take II 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 predic-
tion that first excited my suspicion.
When | made certain Of all this, To-
Gated Smith in Oklahoma and was on
the point of applying for an extradi-
tlon warrant, when he anticipated mo
by contracting pneumonia and dying.
thereupon returned the case to It's
mental pigeonhole, where 1t has re-
mained 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 hction?"
ut ls absolutely true" replied tho
narrator.
"But how did you learn the psrtic-
ulars9"
"Well," said the police commission
er, smiling, "Smith was like most
clever crimlnals-he had one weak
spot. He was fool enough to tell a
woman. She blabbed."