The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1904-09-10
h DICKENS CASE
IOrlginaI.l

oAS SttNiSCSl CdoC.
81 can give you the case worked up
from the most remote clew." he said.
That's the Dickens case"
"Tell me about it."
Henry Dickens was a very rich old
man. He had a daughter who had
married against his will, and he vas
supposed to have ~disinherited her.
Some n OF several nephews and nieces
was supposed to be his heir. but 10 n
knew. One day he was found dead in
his bed with a bottle of prussic acid
on the table beside him. A will was
found leaving a small part of his for
tune to his daughter, the rest to char
table institutions.
"Opinion was divided as to whether
he had been poisoned or murdered. The
daughters husband. Edward Clarke.
took charge of his effects Immediately,
and the first thing he did was to e
for me. l looked through the house,
picking up a bit Of paper, a half
burned match, a vial-anything, every
thing that might possibly furnish a
clew. In the kitchen / noticed some
white dust on the foo that looked as
IL -four had een spilled and taken up,
leaving a trace. One of the servants
told me that q tin can Of starch a
been left on a table the night before.
1t was found where 1t had been left.
OF course | took the bottle of prussic
acid, almost surrounded with the label
on which was In big red letters the
word Poison over a skull and cross
bones.
II confess that after looking through
everything, including b private let
ters and papers,, | was as much at d
loss where to begin as before entered
upon my work. | did not suspect any
one The daughter was very much cut
up over her fathers death. and her
husband told me that he suspected
that the old mans death was connect
ed with an abOrtive attempt on the
part OF some one to get possession of
his property. Since the daughter and
son-in-law got only a small portion Of
1t, there was not sufficient interest to
implicate them.
The poison bottle l examined with n
magnifying glass. There were traces
on it of something colorless; l could
not tell what. 1t might have been Il
powder softened by moisture. l took
the bottle to a chemist and asked him
to analyze the substance on the label.
Taking off a very small piece of the la
bel, he busted himself in his laboratory
while l waited.
There's starch in it. he said at
last.
"'Starch?' repeated, thinking.
Starch? Where has starch turned up
in his case? All, l have it! Professor.
there was some starch spilled on the
kitchen floor
that starch may have grasped the bot
tie of poison
"'Can you test for it on the fingers
of the dead manT
Certainly
"'Very we'll. He is to be buried at
3 o'clock. 1t Is now 2. You had better
go at once
He did so, 1 going with him and
waiting below while he went upstairs
to make the test. When be returned
he reported that there was no trace of
starch on the fingers of either hand.
so far, so good. Probably the dead
man had not held the bottle which ne
was supposed to have used to commit
suicide, but some one else had held it.
some n who had upset a tin can of
starch in the kitchen. | went back
with The professor to his laboratory.
81 will develop this LABEL he said.
with iodine and see what result we
get
HE did SO. and a blue thumb and
two finger marks appeared. The part
where the two lower fingers had press
ed we had torn away in the first test.
"tAre the markings of the thumb and
fingers of different people alikeT' /
asked.
ct think not. Investigators in that
line report that they are as different as
the features of human faces
81 was now in a position to bring
strong proof against any one 1 sus-
pected. But unfortunately there was
nc especial reason to distrust any one.
Half a dozen people had been in The
house within twelve hours before the
murder. 1 had taken a memorandum
of their names and on looking it over
found no name of any one who could
have had the slightest interest in the
death of Mr.. Dickens. I informed the
son-in-law Of the condition Of things,
and he Immediately insisted on his and
his wife's thumbs and fingers being ex-
amined. This was done, and they were
found to be entirely unlike those on
the bottle. From this time forward l
had valuable suggestions from the
daughter as to those who possibly
might have been trying to secure her
fathers fortune. There were six Of
them. 1 called on each one separately
and examined the thumb and fingers.
None of the marks agreed with those
on the label.
ut was not till years afterward that
l finished the case. 1t was reported to
me that a lunatic in a state asylum was
referring strangely to Henry Dickens.
| went to see him and examined the
markings on his thumb and fingers.