The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-22
LIFE LOSESA CHARM
NOTED DINER OF SAN FRANCISCO
FEARS DEATH, BY POL
S0NING
HE rs WARNED. BY NOTES
Waiter, Too, Adds to His Agitation,
and His Menu Is Now Confined
to Boiled Eggs and a Bit
of Champagne.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 21.-Ned
GreehWay' leader Of dances, good fellow,
clubman, popular bachelor, but, especial
~, lover OF rare Viands and delicate
Flntages, has lost his famous and
precious appetite. Within month he
mas declined two pates, refused to taste
a notable saddle of mutton and waived
away bottle of his own brand of cham
payne because the waiter did not draw
the cork in his presence
Greenway's friends We're alarmed at
ms extraordinary abstemiousness until
1t was explained. He fears poison.
Most people in the clubs and at the
dances will tell you that Ned Greenway
mas not an enemy nor even an ill-wisher
IN the world. For years he has lived and
thriVed in San Francisco, welcome every
where, happy everywhere, with an easy
conscience and most excellent appetite.
his appetite was the pet and pride of
ms lie and the admiration of his friends
1t was not greedy, gorgng, surfeiting,
Unsuitable appetite, but a thoroughly edu-
Gated, refined, sensitive and generally
NICE appetite. 1t was an appetite that
had opportunities and had improved
them, that was acquainted with the ele-
gance of dining, that knew how to use
palate, that did not ignore the delicate
dlsunctons of sauces. Brillat-Savarin
himself might have been proud Of that
appetite. And Greenway was proud
Of it.
Warning in Note.
A month or two ago Mr. Greenway re-
ceived an anonymous note which said:
beware of poison; am laying for you,
and will have my revenge"
Now, Ned Greenway, though past the
heyday Of youth, is an intrepid fellow.
He has led too many cntilIons, made up
too many dinner parties, revised too
many invitation lists, faced too many
beaus and bellies with social grievances,
that he should blanch at threats of VIC
lence and sudden death. He has been
menaced with nearly every deadly weap-
on from hatp MS to dynamite by piqued
persons who We're not invited and who
blamed him for the failure of cards to
arrive But poison is a thing that a man
cannot guard against. Tt is a mode of
death that affects the stomach and ali
mentary canals Shoot Greenway in the
head and he will be content to die Cut
off his arms, or his legs, if you will.
Carve his heart out of his breast, if you
must butcher him. But don't NEEDLE
with his Organ~ of digestion. Respect
his aesophagus. Do nothing to impair
his stomach. Kill him, but spare his APP
petite.
Greenway confesses that this threat,
day after it came he dined at the Bohe-
milan club, and it was noticed that he
showed the salt to a we'll known physi-
clan before using it, and inquired Wheth-
er it did not look a good deal like arsenic.
He asked what was the emergency anti
dote for arsenical poisoning, and, when
enlightened on the point ordered the
waiter to have milk, raw eggs, sweet oil,
lime water and flour and water ready in
case of an emergency. ''And if anything
happens bring them quick said he to
the waiter.
However, the salt was really salt, and
GreenWay'S courage returned But next
day he received a second~anonymous let
ter, and on the day thereafter a third
each bidding him beware of poison. He
read up on antidotes, and carried a list
of them in his pocket for reference at
any time, learned the symptoms of all
/ the common kinds of poisoning and paid
chemist to show him every poison in
stock, so that he might get acquainted
with the general appearance of the
deadly drugs. He would not eat lettuce
without examining it through a magni-
Tying glass to detect any paris green
with which it might have been sprinkled
Whenever he picked up a wine bottle he
hale expected to behold a skull and cross
bones on the label He saw vitrol in the
siphon bottle instead of carbonated wa
ter, and he would not drink a drop until
assured that soapsuds, magnesia and
lime water were within reach
Suspects a Caterer.
Greenway suspected certain caterer
with whom he had fallen out of being
the author of these threatening mis-
siVes. He knows the caterer to be an
eXcitable, choleric creature, and he did
not doubt that the caterer really intend
ed to murder him. Poison. he reasoned.
was an agent of death that would occur
naturally to caterer. But he had no
evidence against the man except his
knowledge that the caterer, from whom
he had withdrawn his patronage, hated
him.
The climax of Greenway's terror was
reached at the dinner given by Rudolph
Spreckles on the evening of the Folger
cotllion. AS he entered the dining room
he shuddered, for he recognized one of
the walters as a former employe of the
terrible caterer.
One may believe that he eyed every
morsel before he committed it to his
mouth, that strange flavor made him
tremble, that he partook of nothing nm
I'll reasonably sure that no poison tainted