The San Francisco call., 1910-12-25

description winch mlSnI lead 70 the
perpetrator or perpetrators of this hor-
rible crime
Murder through the medium of poison
is one of the most difficult cases. from
the police point of view, to handle. The
guilty wretch works in the dark COM
pletely, covering all traces as rule
with extreme caution. Poison can be
obtained from druggists according to
law. only through a physicians pre-
scription. This law is constantly broken
by Flnscrupulous pharmacists.
Chief Lees was up against blind
murder case. The poison might have
been purchased in San Francisco, but it
might also have been purchased in
China or some far off country And
then the motive? Who was there in
San Francisco who would deliberately
send a box of poisoned candy to repu-
table persons in the east. thereby caus-
ing three deaths? The case presented
unlimited difficulties, and called for real
terested. for the harder and more in
tricate the case the better he liked to
work upon it. There was nothing too
abstruse for him.
The old man bristled with excitement.
His long white locks fairly stood on
end. The information he received in
answer to his long wire for facts was
meager indeed. There was not clew,
not a seintilla of evidence to work
upon. The first serious question pre-
senting itself to the old master and
which he anticipated immediately was
this: Where lay the jurisdiction TO try
this ease-where had the crime been
committed2 Here in San Francisco or
in the east2
The poison had doubtless been mailed
from here. but the victims had died in
another state. Lees consulted the dis
trict attorney. There were no parallel
cases on record. He clearly realized
that here was a murder case, fraught
with many seriously complicated condi-
tions. All evidence gathered would of
necessity be purely circumstantial
There could be no direct testimony The
fend who mailed the candy must have
had a powerful motive. not merely a
malicious desire to stir up trouble.
What was that motive? Who were the
connections of the deceased in this city?
These and countless other contingent
cies presented themselves. Nothing
was overlooked.
The eastern evidence came to hand.
A skillful. shrewd operator accompa-
MED IL. He brought the box of candy.
the string, the wrapping paper, and the
sample of handwriting, with a full re-
port in detail of the findings of the
coroner's inquest. All the testimony
proved beyond the shadow of doubt
that the victims had been deliberately
poisoned and that the medium of death
was arsenic. There was no possible
chance that mistake had been made
in this respect.
The entire department. every detec-
tive and police officer, was instructed to
visit every drug store in San Francisco.
a man detailed for each. The authori-
ties of the transbay cities Joined in the
ero q drra< cfn axxrif in
the state of California was overlooked,
seeking a recent purchaser of arsenic.
The proprietor of the candy store was
interviewed. He identified the box
easily as having been bought at his
store, bat as far as adding any infor-
nation as TO its purchaser, it was an
utter impossibility. Thousands of like
boxes were sold daily Every employe
was carefully and lengthily examined.
but no clew was as yet to be found
from that source. Every postoffice en-
ploye in the substations became the
medium of cross examination. Event
ually the substation where the box had
been mailed was located The clerk. a
bright. observing young fellow, identi-
fed his particular postmark. Did he
think he could identify the sender of
the package in the event of an arrest?
The date of mailing was easy to ascer-
tain. Perhaps if an arrest were made
some circumstance, possibly the ap-
pearance of the prisoner, would recall
the incident to his memory. Perhaps
II was III perhaps.
The eastern detective brought ont all
the correspondence between Jack Deer
ing, husband of one of the victims of
the poison, and his wife. Deering had
been passing through San Francisco on
his way to the orient. and the letters
were ordinary correspondence. such az
would pass between any married co1A
pie The correspondence was gone owl
with care; the epistles were OF no Ii-
port. But IN one of Deerings letters
he mentioned in casual way that he
had met a rather interesting little
woman in San Francisco, and that her
name was Mrs. Bardin or Bardfne, he
wasn't quite sure. That was all.
slight clew, so the chief thought,
as II was the only local name that
presented itself from the east, and the
only name of any san franciscan men,
toned at all in the correspondence.
He would run this clew down. 1t wass
worth while.
Bardin or Bardine-a rather pecu-
liar name. Who was she? The CHIEFS
grew as he eogitated the clew.
Deering had dropped out of sight. The
records from the steamship Offices
proved that he had left San Francisco
long before the crimes had been COM