Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1900-08-14
DEATH IN THE VIAL.
THE FIFTH TABLET CARRIED A DOSE
THAT WAS FATAL.

NE 6tT tRoeet 0NEsNSS - 49,
THAT WAS FATAL
WY the Doctor Haa . Prenoaftiea
That Misfortune HAD Ovsrtaken .
wealthy P1anteF-How the SteFy 81
the Crime Leaked Outs
The story was told by q police COM
missioner Of another city who was In
New Orleans recently on a visit.
THE most ingenious murder I ever
knew anything about" he said, was
committed by young physician. He
was q rising practitioner at a place
where I formerly lived, and. with your
permission. win speak Of him simply
az DIR. Smith.
about dozen years ago. as nearly
as remember. this young man went
on q visit to relative In neighbor-
Ing city, and one afternoon, on the
third or fourth day Of his stay. he
startled a 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 I will
call Colonel Jones. The colonel was
prominent resident Of the doctors
home town and had large outlying
estate, which he was In the habit OF
visiting once week.
ION 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 n cornheld. He
had evidently been dead about "a
hours. and from the appearance OF the
body seemed to have been seized with
some sort Of ft or CONFUSION.
"Of course the affair created great
stir. and the police made pretty
thorough investigation. but the only
thing they found that merited any
special attention was a small. round
vial In the dead mans vest pocket II
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. A few still remained In
the bottom.
upon inquiry II was learned with
out trouble that the tablets were a
harmless preparation Of 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 q
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 DIR.
Smiths curious prophecy. and II set
me to thinking. Eventually evolved
a theory. but II was impossible Mt the
time to sustain II with proof. and for
Eve or six years kept II pigeonholed
In 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
cushing n 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 con-
| siderable sum OF money and had given
r note. upon which he had forged bis
| fathers name rs indorser. The plant
or was pressing him for payment and
| had threatened suit. which meant In
| cvitablc exposure. One day. while
| they were conyerslng. Jones pulled out
a little glass vial and swallowed one
| ~ the tablets IL contained. remarkine
| that he took one daily. after dinner
| for sour stomach.
THAT suggested diabolical scheme
| OF assassination. which the doctor pro
| ceeded 20 put Into execution. Repair
| Ing to his office. he made up duplicate
| tablet OF strychnine. and. encounterinH
| the colonel next day. asked him TO LEI
him have the vial for moment. so he
could copy the address Of the makers
| from the label.
| "Jones handed II over unsuspecting
| ". and while his attention was briefly
diverted elsewhere Smith put In the
prepared tablet He placed II under
| the top four. thus making II reason
| ably certain that his victim would take
II on the nth day from that date
Next morning he left town. so as Il
| be far away when the tragedy was
| consunmated. and some mysterious
uncomfortable impulse evidently led
him to make the prediction that first
excited my suspicion.
| "when I made certain Of all 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 plgeonhole. where II has re
manned 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
'Tt Is absolutely true" replied the
| narrator.
But how did you learn the particu
| larsy'
Well" said the police commissioner
smiling. Smith was like most clever
criminals-he had one weak spot. He
was fool enough to tell a woman. She
blabbed."-New Orleans Times-Demo
crat
Locusts Good TO Eat.