Amador ledger., 1900-12-14
DEATH IN THE VIAL.
THE FIFTH TABLET CARRIED A DOSE
THAT WAS FATAL.

Why the Doctor Had q PremonittO1
That Misfortune Had overtaken q
Wealthy PIanter-How the story o.;
the Crime Leaked ONT.
The story was told by police com
missioner Of another city who was ir
New Orleans recently on a visit.
"The most ingenious murder I ever
knew anything. about" he said, "waa
committed by young physician. He
was a rising practitioner at a place
where formerly lived, and, with you
permission, will speak Of him simply
as DIR. Smith.
about dozen years ago, as nearly
as 1 remember, this young man wen
on visit to a relative in neighbor
ing city, and one afternoon, on the
third or fourth day of bis stay, hs
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 1 will
call Colonel Jones. The colonel was 8
prominent resident Of the doctors
home town and had a 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 touri
of inspection, but failed to come back
and the following morning his corpse
was found lying in cornfeld. He
had evidently been dead about n
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
special attention was 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 or
top of the other, filled the little bottle
to the cork. A few still remained IL
the bottom.
upon inquiry it was learned with.
out trouble that the tablets were q
harmless preparation of soda, and that
Jones himself had bought them at 8
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, 'T learned accidentally of DR.
Smiths curious prophecy, and it sci
me to thinking. Eventually I 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'e
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 fake draft. After his flight
1 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
eyitable exposure. One day, while
they were conversing, Jones pulled out
little glass vial and swallowed one
of the tablets it contained, remarkine
that he took one daily, after dinner
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, encounterine
the colonel next day, asked him to let
him have the vial for 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 1t under
the top four, thus making it reason.
ably certain that his victim would take
1t 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 1 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 pigeonhole, where it has re-
mained ever since"
Pardon me for asking" said one of
the listeners, "but is that really true
story, or are you entertaining us with
interesting fctionT
"It Is absolutely true" replied the
narrator.
"But how did you learn the particu-
larsT
"Well," said the police commissioner,
smiling, Smith was like most clever
criminals-he had one weak spot. He
was fool enough to tell woman. She
blabbed. New Orleans Times-Demo-
crat.