Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1901-04-30
DEATH IN THE VIAL.
THE FIFTH TABLET CARRIED A DOSE
THAT WAS FATAL.

The story was told by police COM
missioner of another city who was in
New Orleans recently Oh ii visit.
"The most ingenious murder l ever
knew anything about" he said, was
| committed by young physician. He
was Il rising practitioner at place
where l formerly lived, and, with your
permission. will speak Of him simply
! as DR.. Smith.
about dozen years ago, as nearly
as remember, this young man went
' on visit to q relative In a neighbor-
ing city, and one afternoon, on the
third or fourth day Of his stay, he
startled 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 will
call Colonel 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.
ION the day of Smiths singular pre-
of inspection, but failed to come back,
and the following morning his corpse
was found lying in corntield. 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 CONFUSION.
"Of course the affair created a great
stir. and the police made pretty
thorough investigation, but the only
thing they found that merited any
special attention was small, round
vial in the dead mans vest pocket. 1t
was about the diameter Of lead pen
ell by four inches long, and had orig
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 q
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
sioncr, 81 learned accidentally Of DIR.
Smiths curious prophecy, and it set
me to thinking. Eventually l evolved
a theory. but it was impossible at the
time to sustain it with proof. and for
five or six years l kept it pigeonholed
in my brain, waiting for something to
happen. Meanwhile, to everybody's
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
I learned enough to absolutely confirm
my theory as to Jones' death. What
had really happened was this:
CDR. Smith owed the old man con
! siderable sum Of money and had given
a note. upon which he had forged his
fathers name as indorser. The plant
err was pressing him for payment aud
had threatened suit, which meant in
eyitable exposure One day, While
they were conversing. Jones pulled out
q little glass vial and swallowed one
of the tablets it contained, remarking
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, encounterinG
the colonel next day, asked hill, to let
him have the vial for moment, so he
could copy the address Of the makers
from the label.
"Jones 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
it Oh 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
| MIN 10 MAKE Tie preOICtiou LHal III
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 will
interesting fiction"
ut is absolutely true" replied the
narrator.
But how did you learn the particu
lars?"
"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. Orleans Times-Demo
crat.
"Cure the cough and save the life.
DR.. Woods norway Pine Syrup cure
coughs and colds, down to the very verge
"a