The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-10-31
Poison Put in Saucepan.

Now, who was in the house when the count was absent. from half-past T to a quarter to 9 that Sunday night? :? The magistrates, true to their theory of accidental death. had apparently made no inquiries in June, lS47. But the counts demands for an inquiry in November, is47. had led to something --indeed, had very nearly led to the death of this nobleman, On November a. ts47.s there was to be an official in- 0uiry by his request, at his house, and among his domestics. At $ o'clock on November 2, the cook was busy In her Kitchen, when Stauff came in and asked her to light fires in the upper rooms. She declined and went on with her work Stauff suggested to her that a plate needed washing, and while she washed 1t he stirred the sauce in a pan. She turned her head from a phial into the sauce. She questioned him. he denied the charge, and she pretended to be satisfied. When he left the kitchen she tasted the sauce and did not like 1t; more- over, it was of a strange color She sent for the family doctor who, on analysis, declared 101-2 grains of verdigris, enough to poison man Stauff was then incarcerated, but only on a charge of intending to poison his master. His Idea was that if the count died of poison. on the eye of the arrival of the official inquiry. the cynical public would infer that the death by verdigris was suicide, the nobleman being unable to face reearch The Due de Praslin (tne mysterious Spectre of the Catacombs in Haw- thorne's "Transformation'D poisoned himself after murdering the duchess. The public however, held that he had really escaped to the Catacombs, where he lodged and haunted Miriam that is, his English governess, in had been found. This. however. is a Aggression.
 We have observed thar the Counts position was sensibly improved when Stauff was arrested for trying to poison him. But in the Sherlock HOlmeses of Germany tho counts case probably looked blacker than ever. What more probable than that the count was guilty. that Staff knew damaging evidence against him. and that the count had induced the cook to put poison in the pot. and then the baneful drug? The count being an aristocrat and Staun "a man of the people" Gas Homer says in his dis dainful way.) the people must cer- tainly have argued on these lines.
 It had come out as slowly, as every thing else in these distant days, that the jewels of the countess had been stolen from her bureau. The count said that in his grief he had never thought of noticing this circumstance. Perhaps a son of the people might have taken the jewels, but the count was no less likely to have done so as a blind. for who codld suspect an aristocrat of petty theft? Thus Stauff and the count were almost equal favorites for the verdict of guilty; the intelligent public laying a shade of odds on the count.
 Not for years were the inquiries made that should have been made in June. Is47 It then came out that the cook was also the countess "sulvante" or remine de chambre"-she doub- led the parts. On the fatal day the countess had gone into the kitchen at 2 D. m. and told the cook and femme de chambre" that she might take a holiday till g D. m.. At 9;S0 the counts valet had seen the countess in the laundry hanging out the clothes" for the mangle. From s:s0 10 4;45 and from 4:3o to 5:3o the countess and staune were alone in the house. At