The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-10-31
POISON MURDERS
HAVE BEEN RARE
One Per Cent of Total Killings.
Records Show That It Causes Only
(London Times.)

II you look through criminal rec
ords you will be surprised to find how
comparatively rarely poison figures as
a means Of murder. Barely one per
cent of killings are effected by poison.
The case at Lancaster. which has at
tracted widespread attention. has
directed public attention again to the
question Of arsenic poisoning. This
particular drug has at various times
figured prominently in evidence given
in u law courts.
Arsenic poisoning, however, is COM
symptoms are marked and peculiar,
and. in Ease of death. the traces re-
main In the body for an indefinite
time. Some six or seven years ago q
Spanish woman living in Barcelona
confessed to having poisoned her sis
ter with: arsenic fifteen years before.
enough. though nothing but dust was
left. chemical tests proved the pres
ence of the drug in the remains.
In the Maybrick case. the body Of
Mr.. Maybrick was found to contain
arsenic in considerable quantities.
And again, in the so-called Japanese
Maybrick case" when. in 1897. Mrs.
Edith Carew was sentenced to death
at Yokohama for killing her husband,
arsenic was the poison employed
In February last a considerable sem
sation was caused by the poisoned COT
fee mystery at Dalkeith, when two
people were killed outright and twelve
others rendered seriously i'll. Here
again arsenic was the poison which
the murderer had placed in the coffee,
and the mineral vas found in the
bodies Of the deceased at the post
mortem examination.
The fearful epidemic of poisoning
which terrified Italy in the time Of the
Borgias was effected by the use Of ar
senic in solution. Aqua Tofano was
the name given to the liquid.
Perhaps the most terrible poisoner
Marquise de Brinvilliers. One of the
most beautiful women Of the famous
court Of Louis XIV, she was delicate
and refined beyond her age. Yet it
was conclusively proved that she de-
ltberately did to death her father, her
two brothers, two servants, and-more
terrible than all-her W child!
Her sentence was a terrible one.
Clad in a white smock. she was forced
to walk the streets Of Paris. carrying
in her hand q lighted taper, to the
Cathedral of Notre Dame. There she
begged forgiveness. stood by the scat
fold for half an hour. and was after
ward beheaded.
Murder by means Of common poi
.SoAko - Geo. W O0S0NSs 0CVCG41lS
Klosowski. better known as George
Chapman. who poisoned at least three
women before he was convicted and
executed in 1903, used anthony. But
this being also q mineral poison, was,
like arsenic. traceable.
Some years ago the wife mi BROTH
er-in-law Of the Italian Count Bon
martini were indicted for numbering
him: but, strong as was suspicion, and
thickly as evidence of motive piled up
against the accused, the nature of the
poison puzzled the experts.
At last it was discovered to be ECU
rare.'' sometimes known as "wourali,"
This poison. which is the strange dis
covery of the Indians of Guiana. and,
which they have used for generations
past for the purpose of tipping the
darts from their blowpipes, is a vege-
table extract. and is harmless when
swallowed. Blu h slightest drop ap-
piled through, a wound Is as fatal as
the bite of a r~attlesnake. 1t paralyzes
suffocation. because the chest muscles
lose power. =
Another attempt at murder by GU
are occurred in the Hungarian city
Of Prague two years ago. The intend
ed victim was an %innkeeper pamed
Krol, who was on bad terms with his
wife. She. wishing to get rid Of him.
IllhuC AAACAuo Will d yOON8 UOCSVE, dllU
asked him to help her.
/; The plot vas discovered by the
strangest chance. A shopkeeper in
Prague found In the folds of his news
paper a letter. which had got stuck
there by accident in the course Of post.
Opening this. he discovered a packet
of curare poison addressed to Frau
krol, with exact instructions for its
use. 1t was to be boiled and put away
until the intended victim happened to
cut himself: then 1t was to be applied
at ointment to the hurt!
The most terrible of all the weapons
in the hands of the scientific poisoner
are. without a doubt. the culture of
various disease germs. such as typhoid,
cholera and d%iphtheria.
Grips" CRIB BURNS.
Catskill. N. Y. Oct. 30.-The woods
on the m%ountainside near where le-
Rend says Rip Van Wrinkle took his
20-year nap are ablaze today. Many
oNrAo hosrA hoa~ h,,~MAS n,,ou A.,< !.