The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1911-01-05
DEATH IN A KISS?
Jealous Woman Suspected
of Double Poisoning.
CYANIDE IN CHEWING GUM
Kiss of Death Was Probably Given
Fianoe by Man on Eve of Their
Wedding Day at Cum
berland, Md.


terry of the death of Miss Grace Elos-
ser, of this city. and Charles T. Twigg'
OF Keyser. w. Va. her fiance, appears
as deep as it did shortly after the
bodies OF the couple were found on
the settee in the parlor Of the Elosser
residence Saturday, when the mother
OF the dead girl went to speak to her.
Twigg and Miss Elosser were to
have been married Sunday night 1t is
suspected that a jealous woman rival
was the poisoner. carrying out her plot
in a most crafty way.
The mystery began with the discov-
cry on Saturday afternoon OF the pref
" girl and her fiance sitting together,
hand in hand. on a sofa in the parlor
Of their home-both dead.
SO swift, so instantaneous had been
the action of the poison upon them
that they sat is if in life.
The girls mother went into the
room, wondering only at the very long
silence tina, she had noted between
the couple She saw her daughter and
the young man sitting in apparently
the most natural fashion. They were
holding hands and looking into each
others eyes.
Then the mother suddenly gasped
and stepped back. There was some
thing uncanny. she saw, in the intent
ness of the gaze the young man and
woman had fixed upon each other.
There was that which gave a silent.
vague alarm in the fxedness OF their
pose.
She spoke TO them. They did not
answer. She went over TO them. She
spoke again and received no reply.
Then she put a hand on her daugh-
ters head and spoke again.
"Grace-Grace. she said And there
was still no reply. so she gently shook
her daughter by the shoulder The
mother screamed then and ran from
the room. For the girls head had
lolled TO a side and the other woman
had seen that the girls jaw was drop
ped and her eyes fixed in the piteous
gaping of death.
Find the Poison.
Then when others came 1t was found
that the man, too. was dead; that both
had been suddenly and absolutely
stricken. The deadliest of poisons had
ieon the medium.
This was established by the autopsy
Of the coroner's physician, DR.. Thomas
VI. Koon. They had both taken cyanide
Of potassium. The man had more OF
the poison in his system than the girl.
In the holiday season there had been
several boxes of candy in the house.
BIT the medical examination showed
conclusively that neither Miss CLOSER
or her fance had eaten candy.
He had, however. in his mouth
stick of chewing gum. He had taken
scarcely more than two or three bites
on it. 1t had not been masticated into
q pulp. In Miss Elosser's mouth was
no chewing gum.
The strange likelihood is being con-
siCered by the authorities that the
stick Of chewing gum contained the
deadly cyanide. Also that the young
man. with the gum in his mouth, had
leaned forward TO kiss his sweetheart
and that the kiss communicated the
poison TO her lips-a kiss offered In
love that was deadly-the kiss OF
whose tragic character the ardent be-
slower was in all ignorance.
This is the only evidence that the
authorities have so far ned to aid
them in the way of solving the amaz-
ing mystery.
II has been by no means proven that
the chewing gum contained the deadly
poison. But il seems TO be the only
possible source from which the young
man and his sweetheart could have
taken into their systems the deadly
chemical. The candy that was In the
EIOsser home lad been partaken OF by
all the members Of the family without
i'll effect. Moreover, chemical analy-
sis showed all this confectionery to be
harmless.
The tips of the tongues of both
Twigg and the girl who was to have
been his bride were red and infamed,
quite as If they had been burned
bitten. Cyanide. of course, takes in
mediate action. The mere touching OF
a grain of IL to the tip OF the tongue
will cause death instantly.