Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1903-12-24

checkmated the would-be suicide.
Warde was in despair when he read
this. 1t was the virtual confession
of guilty conscience, and it would
be useless to continue his investiga-
tions. AS soon as he had swallowed
his breakfast he jumped on q street
car and went to the Jail.
Wright was very glad to see him,
and the jailer allowed the newspaper
man and the prisoner to have an in
terview in the rotunda of the Jail.
"You have read the Journal?" said
Wright, with smile.
"Yes, and it knocked me cOld!"
"But l am prepared to astonish
you"
"What do you mean?"
"Why, that account is lie from be-
ginning to end"
swell, am certainly glad to hear
that"
"The fact is, an attempt was made
here in the Jail last night to poison
me-"
"To poison you!"
eyes, to poison me. The drug was
put into my food, and Of course 1 ate
it. 1 noticed a peculiar taste, and
shortly afterward found myself grow
ing very drowsy. / called for the
taller at once and told him thought
l had been drugged. Fortunately he
had doctor here in five minutes who
detected the evidences of morphine
and Immediately took steps to relieve
me. The eructation was preserved
and examined at my request, and the
doctor found that the poison in it
would have rendered me corpse in
less than an hour"
"Have you found the man who made
this attempt?"
'No, and l fear it will be impossi-
BILE. 1t was agreed by the jailer, the
doctor and myself to say nothing
about it until thorough investiga-
ton could be made. The poison could
not have been put in accidentally by
the cook, for no one else in the jail
was effected. The food must have
been poisoned after it was put into
the bowl-my supper was a sort of
gruel-and it must have been done
by the man who handed me my bowl.
l could not tell who did this, as sew
eral of the prisoners volunteer each
day to act as walters"
"Of course" said Warde, "you could
not have personal enemy among
these men,"
certainly not"
ct is evident that this poisoning
scheme was designed outside of the
Jail, and that some one of the prison.
ers was bribed to slip the drug into
your portion of the food"
1T looks that way beyond doubt"
Irving Warde felt that the unseen
antagonist was again at work. He
shivered when he thought of the re-
sources of his adversary, who could
affect the changing of the pistols in
the suburbs south of the city, and
the attempted murder of prisoner
in the jail in the northern part OF
the town. He realized now that 1T
was no ordinary foe that young
Wright had to fight. Shrewd intelli-
gence, an abundance of money, COM
mand of ready tools, perfect I'M
scrupulousness, and murder itself
were all pitted against the man.
The attempt on Wright's life had
one reassuring quality, it convinced
Warde that the mind engineering
these operations was not satisfied
with the case already made out
against the young man, otherwise the
law might have been allowed to take
its course. There were flaws in the
evidence, fatal weaknesses which
might lead to the discovery of the real
criminal; and somehow the life OF
Herbert Wright stood in the way OF
the accomplishment of a yelled pur-
pose. The same motive which de-
manded the life of John L. Wright
now demanded that of his son; and
Warde could not help thinking that
some tremendous issue was at stake,
or some far-reaching programme was
in jeopardy from Herbert's being
alive.
These thoughts were running rapid
" through his mind while Wright
continued to discuss the affair of the
night before; and finally the reporter
asked:
IF you three made up your minds
to keep this thing secret, how did it
leak out?"
THAT / cannot say. The jailer says
the only person who left the Jail last
night was the doctor. The doctor,
who was here quite early, tells
rather curious tale. He says that at
the nearest corner he was saluted by
a rough-lool1ing fellow who wore q