The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-07-06
A Doctors Ruse.
IoasinaI-l

"Please call at STA Twelfth street"
'What name?''
"Mrs. Partridge
1 had no patients in Twelfth street
which was not a locality cared to
practice in. | had never heard of Mrs
Partridge and wondered why she had
called me. Nevertheless / responded
I found a woman more than sixty
years of age, whose appearance and
home were by no means preposseSsing
She told me that she was very much
run down and wished tonic. l wrote
a prescription, and she asked me what
1 was giving her. told her the spirits
of gentian. She said she had taken u
great deal of it and It had done her no
good. She had once taken arsenic, and
it had built her up. / wrote new pre-
scription for arsenic. gave ii to her
and hurried away to a very important
case awaiting me.
The next day l received hurry call
to Mrs. Partridge, whom / found
groaning as if in great pain. She told
me that I must have made a mistake
in the quantity of the dose l had pre-
scribed, for she had taken only half a
dose and was in great agony. l asked
to see the bottle containing the medi-
cine. She showed it TO me, and the
dose marked on it was quite enough TO
kill. l suspected something wrong
Her sufferings appeared to be feigned.
THE prescription is with the drug
gist, I suppose ! said.
mo. l always have him return my
prescriptions. 1 prefer to keep them"
Let me see it."
She had stopped grooming and seem
ed to be thinking. Then she opened a
pocketbook that she took from under
the pillow and held it up for me to look
at. 1 reached for 1t, but she drew it
away. The amount of arsenic in each
tablet was fifty times what 1 had or
dered. 1 saw through the game at
once. The amount had been raised.
had fallen into a blackmail trap The
charge. even though false, would great
ly injure me.
How much do you expect for your
sufferings and the prescription" 1
asked.
The woman's expression changed at
once. There was a deviiish cunning
in it.
"A hundred dollars" she said
l felt that it might be wise to pay
the money, but l have a natural dis
like to being feeced. / sat looking at
the woman, thinking of some way to
thwart her.
Il suppose I said presently, 81
ought to indemnify you for my mis-
take, especially as I have caused you
to suffer. But if 1 don't it will require
a long time for you to collect by law"
But your reputation"
"The damage to that I may outlive,
but you will not live long enough to
get the damages
What do you meanw anxiously.
you are suffering from disease
that will soon kill YOU"
II suffering from a disease! What
disease?" she asked, turning white as
a sheet.
Something that few practitioners
would recognize 1t is my speciality"
For heavens sake. what it is?'
"a necrosis of the pericardium."
ooh, doctor!''
'It won't kill you Immediately
"How do you know I've got it?'
"By the color of the cuticle. That's
where the disease first shows itself.
Only a practiced eye can see it. You
will soon feel phthisis in the cerebel-
lum, them
"But can't you stop it,"
81 could stop it, but the world is bet
ter without such people as you. Then
you will experience hernia, aneurism
and other troubles in the
"Never mind those things, doctor; /
don't understand them. Do give me
something to help me-
She was now sufficiently frightened
for me to deal with her concerning the
prescription.
ST think I'd better let you alone. You
might, after all, get your damages If
you can find a lawyer who will push
the case for you
"Oh, DOCTOR you're cruel! I'll do any
thing you wish. Here's your prescrip-
ton. Take it,
I took it and examined it closely.
"You could never collect a cent on
this 1 said 1.-The place where you
took out the ink with acid and wrote
the amount you wished can be detected
by ony one expert in SUCH matters.
You would go to JAIL
But QO1l I Will " COllcCL OH IL
oh, doctor, save me!'
1 folded the prescription and put it
in my pocket. 1 was now getting angry
and considered the question of punish
ing the woman for her Offense by keep
ing her in misery. l would have re-
assured her at once, but thought it best
not to give her any advantage in know
ing that had tricked her by a tumble
of meaningless medical terms.
what assurance have 1 that you
will not play your game on some one
elseT' / asked.
"Never-on doctor"
you are right. We doctors can look
right through you and discover any,
break in the system that will carry you
off. 1 will forgive you this time, but
see that you don't practice your devil
try again."
I always keep a case of bread pills
in my satchel for imIeediate use and
gave her couple of dozen. telling her
to takJA three lay for two days then