The herald., 1912-10-24
A SINGULAR
CASE
BY FRED L. YOUNG

box containing it, and naturally the re
cipient was suspicious of it. He was
accustomed TO drink wine with his
dinner and kept a bottle on his side
board. The bottle he received he put
in the same place intending to look
into the matter. One evening he got
hold of il by mistake aud took a few
swallows before he noticed that 1t had
a peculiar flavor. He was made viO-
lently ill, bX recovered. An eXami-
nation of the contents of the bottle
from which he had drunk was made
and showed poison.
The first thing | did was to sit down
with him and in long interview drew
out all the information he gave me
that might furnish me with a clew.
But unfortunately no clew was to be
extracted from anything he said. He
had no enemies. man or woman. He
was happily married, and his wife had
recently presented him with their first
child. a fine boy. questioned him
closely as to whether he had Tilted any
girl to marry his wife. and he said
there were no such complications, even
remote. in his case.
MY next move was an examination
Of the handwriting Of the address on
the box in which the wine had been
received. | was told that it was not
the writing of any one he had ever
known, though some one of his ac-
quaintances might have written it, dis
guising the hand. There was no use
giving it to an expert in chirography
until could furnish specimen of the
writing of some person or persons who
might have committed the crime.
We detectives in cases where we
have no clew usually begin at home,
so to speak. and work outward. But
in this case there seemed nothing for
me to investigate within the household.
1t consisted of Mr.. Gordon, the man
upon whom the attempt at murder had
been made; his wife. who loved him
dearly, and one servant, a woman who
had hved with them n short time and
could have no possible motive what
ever for taking his life.
Desiring to leave no stone unturned
in eliciting information, ! asked for an
interview with Mrs. Gordon. l went
over a ground with her supplemental
ry to that l had gone over with her
husband, but could not elicit word as
to relations Mr.. Gordon had had with
any one that could possibly lead to a
motive for murder. But day or two
later l received note from the lady
mentioning a fact she had forgotten.
Soon after their marriage her husband
had mentioned discharging a man from
his employment who had acted very
disagreeably, saying that he would
some day get even with Gordon.
Where had | seen the handwriting
with which the note had been written
l had not seen 1t, but something like
it. Nevertheless l could come to NO
conclusion in the matter and thought
no more about it at the time, but later
when studying the address on the box
containing the poisoned wine, it struck
me that there was something in it that
reminded me OF the writing Of Mrs
Gordon.
Was she the criminal?
We detectives follow any clew, nc
matter how repugnant. i took Mrs
Gordon's note and the address Of the
poisoned wine to an expert in chirog
raphy, and he pronounced the latter to
be an attempt to disguise the hand
writing of the former.
1t is only Of late years that insanity
has begun to be carefully studied with
reference to crime. We first heard OF
their relationship in criminal cases OF
so called emotional insanity. We now
hear of it in cases where the symptoms
are very subtle.
Not for the world would betray the
secret on which had stumbled until
had gained an insight into whether
Mrs. Gordon had really attempted the
crime and IL she had whether she did
so in her right mind. knew that
since the birth of her child the physi
clan who had attended her on that oc.
casiOn had made her other visits
There are two confidants in families
the doctor and the pastor. concluded
to confide my secret to the doctor.
| / called on him In his house and
asked him IL he had ever noticed any
evidence OF insanity in Mrs. Gordon
He looked at me with a very singular
expression and asked me why wished
to know. replied that | desired q
reply to my question, whereupon he
claimed that the secrets Of his profes
sion were sacred property. Then told
him that Mrs. Gordon had committed q
crime; that she had attempted to poi
son her husband.
Not till / had told him the whole
story did he confess that he had sus
pected her ever since the birth Of hel
child of puerperal insanity. 1t had
shown itself in a feeling Of hatred fol-
her husband, which had been noticed
only by the doctor. He had been look
ing for confrmatory symptoms, but
had thus far not detected any. HI
was very much shocked and suggested
that | say nothing about the matter fol
the present since the news might affect
the patients husband.
j was glad enough to throw the re
sponsibility all upon his shoulders. H'
told Gordon that he suspected his wife