Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-29
By Marvin Dana
MYTH the Swope, the Aus
" TRAN Lieutenant, and


before the public almost at the same time,
and the recent death in California of a woman
serving life sentence for poisoning her sup
posed rival with box of candy, the reader is
pretty sure to be RECALLED with some mention
of the Borgias. But the Borgias, with all
their accomplishments and fnesse, were
scarcely one two-three with Antonio Exili.
The name of Exili is known to few of to-
day, yet it's infamy is of the ages; for he be-
came most learned in the arts of death, and
the fruits of his skill ravaged Europe as with
pestilence.
Exili began his career innocently enough
as an alchemist. The search for the phlloso-
piers stone enthraled him; for many years
he devoted all his energies to attempts at
compromising the elixir of life In the end
he mastered the elixir of death. His vain
efforts to achieve the transmutation of met
ais drove him into the depths of poverty.
Fanatic in his desire to continue the quest
of the unattainable, he became Inscriptions
as to the manner of increasing his resources.
1t was when he was most desperate that
Beatrice Spara came into his life.
His Terrible Teacher
BEATRICE was Sicilian, who became so
- violently enamoured of Exili that she
gave to him all the evil knowledge she
possessed, and this was much. She was OF a
line of prisoners, hereditary masters OF those
subtle poisons that had devastated Italy from
the Saganas to the Borromeos. Already Exli,
in his chemical Investigations, had learned
much concerning deadly drafts and their an
tidotes Now, under the tutelage of Bea-
trice, he learned vastly more; for he gained
precise knowledge of the aqua 1'ofana and
the poudre de succession.
The aqua Tofdnd was a colorless liquid,
having the power of instantaneous death,
while the powder was light and almost i'm
palpable without taste or odor or color,
slower in its effect than was the liquid, yet
irresistibly fatal Doubtless Exili learned
many other deadly secrets, -perhaps that
of the Untori. the anointers of Milan, who
deliberately poisoned a city,-but he found
the aqua Tofana and the boudre de succession
the most efficacious, and to their propaga-
ton he devoted all the malevolent energies
he possessed.
Naturally, such one as Exili was little
likely to prove constant in love. When he
had gained possession of Beatrice Spara' S
secret he fled from Naples, leaving her be-
hind him. The reign of Louis XIV. of
France was now nearing its close, and al
ready the disintegrating force of corruption
was dominant. Therefore, Exili turned his
face toward Paris, confident that there he
would find many ready to barter for his
wares. He was not mistaken. There were
people plenty who desired an active fate in
the form of the poisoner and for time he
throve amazingly. Then at last, become
OVERLOAD, he was suspected of an assassina-
ton and cast into the Bastille.
An Infamous Partner
HERE, as one would suppose. the career of
IL Exili should end. On the contrary, this
was the real beginning of his monstrous his
tory. Along with the poisoner in his cell was
confined a young nobleman of the court,
Jean Baptiste de Gaudin, Seigneur de Sainte
Croix who was the victim of a iettre de cachet
issued against him because of an intrigue he
had carried on with that famous and in
famous beauty, Marquise de Brinvilliers.
The sympathy of criminal instincts drew
Exili to the Frenchman, and he confided to
the nobleman the secret of the boudre de sue
ceSSiOn.