The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1905-01-09
THE DICKENS CASE
foriginal.

I once asked a detective to give ne
Ills strangest case.
Il can give you b case worked mp
from the most remote ciew.' 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 was
supposed to have disinherited her.
Some one of several nephews and nieces
was supposed to be his heir. but nc 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
liable institutions.
Opinion was divided as to whether
ne had been poisoned or murdered. The
..augnter's husband, Edward Clarke.
took charge of his effects Immediately.
ind the first thing he did was to send
for me. l looked through the house.
picking up a bit of paper, a half
urned match, a vial-anything. every
thing that might possibly furnish a
clew. In the Kitchen | noticed SOM
white dust on the oor that looked a.
If our had seen 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.
1t was found where it had been left
OF course | took the bottle of prussr:
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 the private lei
ters and papers, | was as much ut a
loss where to begin as before entered
upon my work. l did not SuSpect any
one. The daughter was very much cut
UP over her theirs death, and her
husband old me that he suspected
hat 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
s~on-in-law got only a small portion of
it, there WIS not sufficient interest to
duplicate them.
The poison bottle l examined with Al
ma%gnifying glass. There We're traces
on it of something c~olorless; l could
not tell what. 1t might have been a
pONttNl ~ I LVCh
the bottle to a chemist and asked him
to analyze the substance on the label.
Taking of a very small piece OF the la
bel. he busted himself in his laboratory
while / waited.
There's starch in it. he said at
last.
".Starch?' repeated, thinking.
Starch: Where has starch turne up
In this case? All. 1 have it! Professor
there was some starch spilled on the
kitchen foor.'
Indeed? Well, whoever spilled
hat starch may nave grasped the bot
tie of poison
"'Can you test for it on the fingers
Of h dead man.?
Certainly
VERY well. He is to be buried at
8 O'Clock. 1t is now .. You had better
go at nee.
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 vas no trace OF
starch on the fingers of either hand.
$50 far. SO good. Probably the dead
man had not held the bottle which ne
WAS supposed to have used to commit
suicide. but some n else had held it
some one who had upset ii tin can OF
starch in the kitchen l went bach
with the professor to his laboratory
81 will develop this label he said
with iodine and see what result W.
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.
care the markings of the thumb and
fingers of different people aIike?' ]
asked.
81 think not. Investigators in that
line report hat they are as different AZ
tie features of human faces
II was now in a position to bring
strong proof against n one | sus
pected. But unfortunately there was
no especial reason to distrust any one
Half a dozen people had been in he
house within twelve hours before tic
murder. 1 had taken a memorandum
Of their names and on looking it CTer
found no name of any one who coulC
have had the slightest interest in rhe
death of Mr.. Dickens. l informed the
son-in-iaw of the condition of things.
and he immedia tely 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 or
b bottle. From this time forward
had valuable suggestions from the
daughter as to those who possibly
might have beer trying to secure her
fathers fortune. There were six of
them. l called on each one separately
and examined the thumb and fingers.
None of the marks agreed with those
on the label.
"It was not till years afterward that
I finished the case. 1t was reported TO
me that a iunatic in a state asylum was
referring strangely to Henry Dickens.
went to see him and Examined the