Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1907-05-15
AN AUTHORS REAL.
DETECTIVE WORK.
[Original.1

[Original.l
I am q writer of detective stories
My work has Slapped my confidence in
circumstantial evidence, for there Is NJ
J case, however strong, against an ac
cused person that | cannot frame rs
strong a theory for the defense. Hav'
ing. made this statement to friend
who is Il practical worker In prison re
form, he told me that he had seen q
woman whom he believed to be limo
cent serving Il life sentence for having
poisoned her husband. He asked me t.
visit her and ii l came away with the
same opinion as himself to interest my
self in her behalf. consented.
l found Mrs. Julia Ringland pretty
woman of thirty. had a long convec
sation with her. not with view t.
learning of her guilt or Innocence from
her arguments. but to make up my
mind upon the hi her plane of intui
ton. 1t did not spenSe:, me to be pos
sible for a refined person. as Mrs. Ring
land was. If guilty of frightful crime
to appear to ne to he innocent. After
a long conversation left her perfectly
sure that she was being punished for a
crime she had not committed. This
conclusion had nothing to do with any
appeal whatever to my reason.
This Is 4 synopsis OF her case: She
married Peter Ringland, man twenty
years older than herself, stin=y
crusty note shaver Of the olden type
Ringland. never in good health. at last
gradually sank away AMI died. What
he died of no one knew. for he was to-
mean to have doctor. He was buried
and his wife proceeded to take posses
sion Of his estate
One day Ernest \. Par~ons received
at his club through the mail note
signed Julia kinglun>l, Of whom he
had never heard. In it she admtte
that she loved him. but would not per
NIT him to be near her so long as her
husband lived. The note ended With
the single word "Wait."
1t happened that there was anothe:
Parsons IN the club, Edward A. Par.
sens. The note had been addressed t.
E. a. Parsons and had fallen into the
wrong hands. The Parsons who re
ceived it talked about it, Its existence
reached the ears of Peter Ringlantrs
relatives. and they accused the widow
Of having poisoned her husband. The
body was exhumed. the stomach ana
lyZed and arsenic found in sufficient
quantity to kill several men. The note
and the arsenic were the main points
on which the prosecuting attorney ST
cured u conviction.
My proving Mrs Ringlands limo
cence depended solely upon one point
her husband must have taken ar
senic without the knowledge Of any
one else. The attorney for the defense
had taken this position. but could ad
duce no proof that Ringland had eve'
bought a grain of arsenic In his life
He had investigated every drug store
In the suburban town in which Ring
land had lived, but not one had ever
sold the drug to the deceased.
One day a possible solution to the
problem occurred to me. Ringland was
SO stingy that he might have bought
the drug wholesale. The theory was
certainly farfetched, but l determined
to Investigate the wholesale druggists
thoroughly. There We're five of them
in the city. l went to all Of them and
asked if they had had any account
with Peter Ringland. Not one of them
had ever had such an account on its
books. Besides, they would not have
sold the goods to any one not in tn y
drug business, certainly not at the
wholesale price. Since had made up
my mind that proving Ringland's pur-
chase of the drug himself was the only
possible way of establishing his wild
Ow's innocence, l determined to push
further In my investigations. Was it
not possible that Ringland had had the
drug sent to him under an assumed
name7
I requested every wholesale drug
store in the city to make up state
ment Of all the arsenic it had sold
In the town where Ringland had lived
within two years prior to his death.
There were number of quantities of
arsenic on one of the statements that
had been billed to the Ridgewood
pharmacy. The items arrested my at
tentton. for the articles were all
arsenic. inquired for the Ridgewood
pharmacy and was told that it did not
exist and never had existed. Then !
knew l had found what I had been
hunting for.
I still had to produce proof that
Rfngland had received the goods. l
had the matter hunted up at the ex.
press Office and found receipts for
packages signed ''The Ridgewood Phar-
macy, per p. r." in Peter Ringland's
handwriting. The dates of shipment
and the receipts accorded exactly.
Armed with this evidence, the lawyer
who had defended Mrs. Ringland in
court, wor'iing with me. secured a
pardon for her, the only means availa-
BILE Of doin /, her justice. or, rather, of
getting her out Of prison. There are
no words or phrases capable of ex
pressing her gratitude to me-
Once out Of prison. Mrs. Ringland
went to wolk to discover a reason for
her husbands taking arsenic and learn
ed that mary years before, when much
run down IL health. it had been recon-
5000 Rifles @ .ss,l