Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-07-29
THE DICKENS CASE
1OriCinal.1

from the most remote clew," he said.
That's the Dickens case"
-1'ell me about it,
"Henry Dickens was a very rich old
man. He had a daughter who had
married against his will, and he was
supposed to have disinherited her.
Some one of several nephews and nieces
was supposed to be his heir, but no one
knew. One day he was found dead in
his bed with bottle of prussic acid
on the table beside him. A will was
found leaving 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 send
for me- I looked through the house,
picking up a bit of paper, half
burned match, anything, every
thing that might possibly furnish a
| clew. In the kitchen 1 noticed some
white dust on the floor that looked as
| if -four had been spilled and taken up
| leaving a trace One of the servants
| told me that a tin can Of starch had
| been left on a table the night before.
| It was found where it had been left.
! Of course I took the bottle of prussic
acid, almost surrounded with the label
| on which was in big red letters the
| word Poison over q skull and cross
bones.
81 confess that after looking through
everything, including the private let
tiers and papers, l was as much at a
loss where to begin as before entered
upon my work. I 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 small portion of
it, there was not sufficient interest to
implicate them.
The poison bottle examined with a
magnifying glass. There were traces
on it of something colorless; could
not tell what. 1t might have been a
| powder softened by moisture. I took
the bottle to chemist and asked him
to analyze the substance on the label.
Taking off very small piece of the Ia
bel, he busted himself in his laboratory
while waited.
There's starch in it, he said at
last.
"'StarchY l repeated, thinking.
in this case? All, have it! Professor,
there was some starch spilled on the
kitchen floor
"Indeed? Well, whoever spilled
that starch may have grasped the bot
tie Of poison
"'Can you test for it on the fingers
Of the dead MANI
Certainly
"'Very WELL He is to be buried at
o'clock. It is now g. You had better
go at once
'He did so, I going with him and
waiting below while he went upstairs
to make the test. When he returned
he reported that there was no trace CT
starch on the fingers of either hand.
so far, so good. Probably the dead
man had not held the bottle which he
was supposed to have used to commit
suicide, but some one else had held it,
some one who had upset a tin can Of
starch in the kitchen. 1 went back
with the professor to his laboratory.
"T 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.
"'Are the markings of the thumb and
fingers of different people alike?' l
| asked
81 think not. Investigators in that
line report that they are as different as
the features of human faces.
Il was now in position to bring
strong proof against any one I sus-
pected. But unfortunately there was
no especial reason to distrust any one.
Half a dozen people had been in the
house within twelve hours before the
murder. I 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
bis wifes thumbs and fingers being ex-
amined. This was DONE and they were
J found to be entirely unlike those on
| the bottle. From this time forward
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. 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
I finished the case. It was reported to
me that lunatic in state asylum was