The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1910-04-16
MORE VICTIMS IN
THE POISON CASE
Additions to the Long List Who
Have Been Sacrificed
in Austria.
NEf.
STRANGE TALE UNFoLDED
DEALS WITH AN ARMY OFFICER,
WHO, IN THAT CAPACITY, WAS
WELL LIKED, GUT he LED A
DUAL CAREER.
NSpecial Cable from the International
News Sery.ce)

NSpccial Cable from the International
News Serv:ce.)
Vienna, April 18-There are two
more victims to be added to the long
list of persons whose lives have been
sacrificed or careers ruined by the
Hefricher poison case.
They are Solomon Tuttmann-an Of
ficial of the court-martial before which
Lieutenant Hofrichter is being tried
and his sister, Sofie Tureced, a poor
dressmaker, who have been arrested
for smuggling letters from Hofrichter's
cell to his relations. Their motives
seem to have been merely compassion
for the prisoner.
These letters show the astonishing
ingenuity of the man who. as Lieuten-
ant Hofrichter. was liked and general
ly esteemed as hardworking IL not
very brilliant officer. while under the
name OF "Dr. Haller," he led a Sec
0nd life, in which he-as is alleged
made practice OF decoying young
girls, and also conceived diabolical
scheme for poisoning fifty officers of
the general staff to make way for his
own promotion. One OF the officers,
It will be remembered. fell into the
trap and died.
Contemplated suicide.
The intercepted letters written by
Hofrichter In his cell indicate that his
thoughts have been turning towards su-
icide. This is change of attitude,
for when he was arrested last Decem-
ber repeated opportunities were given
him to do away with himself. He,
however, consistently refused to make
use Of the loaded revolvers which
were placed conveniently by his side.
Now he has been making attempts
and partly succeeded in them-to
smuggle poison into his CELL It Is.
however, possible that he wished the
poison not for suicide, but to assist him
ty In asking his wife to insert the pol
son In flowers, which he requested in
order. as he said, to place them on
the altar which he had erected in his
cell, 10 reminiscent of the ''Dr. Haller''
hase of his earlyier Jekyll and Hyde
chase Of his earlier Jekyll and Hyde
ters to his wife reads:
II should like to commit suicide, but
will not, as I must work for you and
the child (born during his imprison-
ment.) You can save me. Listen!
Get me a. quickly az possible some at
ropine or hyocyamine. Victor or un-
Gle will obtain 1t for you. Not liquid,
but solid. Put 1t carefully in a small
quill and seal it up with wax. Put
this quill In a carnation. The calyx
will hyde IL well. Then tie the calyx
around with thread, as they do In
florists shops. In another flower put
henbane seed, loose, without quill.
Poison on Flowers.
The Clerical newspapers which had
hitherto strongly supported Hofrichter
on account of the religious hysteria
which he had manifested since his ar
rest. are furiously indignant at the
cunning which underlay his requests
for flowers for piOus purposes. It
appears that some poison actually
reached him thus or in some equally
Ingenious fashion.
II appears. also, that newspapers had
been smuggled into his cell. The au-
thorities believe that Hofrichter was
ON the brink of confession before he
came to know Of the violent Press cam
paign which was being conducted on
his behalf. From that day. 1t is said.
he quite altered the course Of his de-
fence. having read that he could not
be condemned to death unless he con-
fessed. whereas II he confessed he
would Be liable to death by strangula-
tion. The Reichpost states that the
prisoner actually established commu-
nication with two Vienna newspapers,
and that an inquiry into the matter
was being made. This may account
for the columns of detail of the secret
court-martial proceedings which have
been divulged. At Hofrichter's house
at Linx an astonishing collection Of va
rious poisons and drugs is said to have
been discovered by the police.
Z