The daily journal. (Salem, Or.) 1899-1903, 1900-09-05
DEATH ri IN THE VIAL.
THE FIFTH TABLET CARRIED A DOSE
THAT WAS FATAL.

why the Doctor Had IA Premonitioi
That Misfortune Had Overtnken
wealthy PInntcr-How the story o
/ the Crime Leaked out.
The story was told 10y police com
missioner Of another city who was II
New Orleans recently on n vlsit
THE most ingenious murder eve
knew anything about" he said. WA
committed by n young physician. liz
was II rising practitioner az plac,
where | formerly lived. and, with YOU
permission. ! will speak Of him simply
as DR.. Smith.
About Il dozen years ago as nearly
as ] remember. this young man went
on visit TO n relative In neighbol.
ing city. and one afternoon. on the
third or fourth day Of his stay. he
startled lady member Of the house.
hold by remnrking that he had feel
Ing that some misfortune had over
taken wealthy planter whom they
both knew very wpll. aud whom | will
call Colonel Jones. The colonel was n
prominent resident Of the doctors
home town aud had Il large outlying
estate. which he was In the habit Of
| visiting once n week
ION the day of Smiths singular pre-
monitlon he was on one Of those tours
Of Inspection. but failed 10 come back
/ and the following morning hls corpse
was found lying In cOruhpld lie
| had evidently been dead about -
hours. aud from the appearance Of the
body seemed to have been seized with
some sort Of NJ or cOnvuslon
"Of course the affair created great
stir, and the police made pretty
thorough investigation. but the only
thing they found that mcrtpd any
special attention was small. round
vial In the dead mans vest pocket. II
was about the diameter of II 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
harmless preparation OF soda. and thal
Jones himself had bought them nj
local drug store. That ended suspicion
In that quarter, and. for lack Of any
thing better, the coroner returned 4
verdict OF death from sunstrokr
There was no autopsy.
"Some time after Jones had been |
buried" continued the police commits |
sloner II learned accidentally OF Dr |
Smiths curious prophecy and II spt |
me to thinking Eventually | evolved
theory. but II was impossible at the
time to sustain II with proof. aud for
i've or six years ! kept II pigcOnholrd
In my brain. wailing for something to
happen. Meanwhile. to eycrybody's
surprise. Dr Smith went to the dogs
lie began by drinking heavily. grad.
unlly lost his practice. and nnally
skipped ont 10 avoid prosecution for
CashlnE n fake draft. After his hight
! learned enough To absolutely confirm
my theory us to Jones death. What
had really happened was this:
"Dr Smith owed the old mnn con.
sum Of money and had given
a note. upon which he had forged his
fathers name ms lndurspr The plant.
Pr was pressing him for payment aud
had threatened suit, which meant IN
'vltable exposure, One day, while |
hey were cOnverslng, Jones pulled out J
/ little glass Vial aud swallowed one
Il the tablets II contained, rpmnrklng
Int he took one daily. after dinner. 4
or sour stomach II
"'rhnt suggested dlabollcnl scheme
4 assassination which the doctor pro.
rcdrd 10 put Into execution Repair
ng to his office. he made up duplicate
nhlrl of Nrychnlnr. aud. cncountcrlng
hc colonel next day. asked him TO let 4
lin hnvc the vial for II moment, NO hc {
rom he label. &
'Jorcs handed II over unsuspoctlng ,
y, and while his attention was briefly
Inverted elsewhere Smith put In the =
prepared tablet lie placed II under
he top four thus making II reason I
hly certain that his victim would take
un the nm day from TINT date $
'rSl morning he left town. so as TO 4,
'V far away when the tragedy was
and some mysterious.
nCoutrullnhle Impulse evidently led
i'm Ia make the prediction that first !
xcIrd my suspicion
When | made certain OF all this, |
lcated Smith In Oklahoma and was
n the point Of applying FOR an cXtradi
Ion warrant when he anticipated me
n contracting pneumonia ana dying
thcuupnn returned the case TO It's
rnjnl plgruuhole, where II has re. |
ian,d ever since"
Pardon me for asking" said one OF
lc list,urrS but Is that really true
tory ~ are you entertaining us with
lt"usting llclionT
1T Is absolutely true" replied the
lrrNtnr
Rat how did you learn the partlcu.
.rSY'
We'll" said the police commissioner.
Milling "Smth was like most clever
'.m.npls he had one weak spot. lie
as fuul rnpugh To tell woman. She
lahl"d 20 Nrw Orleans Times Demo
nat ,
Ate Course Dinners. Z
A woman just arrived from Aus. ,
al'a was recently negotiating with
a agent In London for n house ln one
T the newer districts OF KensingtOn. '
dee asked II II was nice nelghbor- b
al. |