Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1900-08-09
DEATH IN THE VIAL.
THE FIFTH I ABLET CARRIED A DOSE
THAT WAS FATAL.

Why the Doctor Had PremonitiOn
That Misfortune Had Overtaken a
Wealthy Plnnter-How the Story OF
the Crime Leaked Out.
The story was told by a police COM
missioner of another city who was in
New orleans recently on a visit.
"The most ingenious murder l ever
knew anything about" he said, was
committed by young physician. He
was rising practitioner at a place
where l formerly lived, and, with your
permission, l will speak of him simply
as DR.. Smith
about dozen years ago, as nearly
as | remember, this young man went
on a visit to a relative in 4 neighbour
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 a wealthy planter whom they
| both knew very well, and whom l will
call Colonel Jones. The colonel was
prominent resident of the doctors
home town and had a large outlying
! eSldle, WHICH he was Ill tne uuDlI 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 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 convulsion.
''Of course the affair created a great
stir, and the police made a pretty
thorough investigation, but the only
thing they found that merited any
i special attention was small, round
vial in the dead mans vest pocket 1t
was about the diameter of 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 was learned with
out trouble that the tablets were
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 a
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
theory. but it was impossible at the
time to sustain it with proof, and for
five or six years | kept it pigeonholed
in my brain. waiting for something to
happen. Meanwhile, to everybody
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 a fake draft. After his flight
l learned enough to absolutely confirm
my theory as to Jones death. What
had really happened was this:
) CDR. Smith owed the old man a 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 We're conversng, Jones pulled out
a little glass vial and swallowed one
Of the tablets it contained. remarking
for sour stomach.
"That suggested diabolical scheme
of assassination. which the doctor pro.
ceeded to put into execution. Repair
ing to his office. he made up 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 tC
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
ton warrant when he anticipated me
by contracting pneumonia and dying
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 true
story, or are you entertaining us with
interesting tiction?"
2 sit is absolutely true" replied the
narrator.
. But how did you learn the particu
ars?"
Well" said the police commissioner
smiling Smith was like most clever
i criminals--he had one weak spot. H,
!. was fool enough to tell woman Sh,