Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1912-09-17

SINGULAR
CASE
D FRED YOUNG

1
4 detective, was cent to investigate
j case where = young nnassied man had
resolved bottle Of wine By express.
The seoders name was not ON the
box containing It. and naturally the 70
cipient was suspicipus q It He was
accustomed to drink Wine with his !,
dinner and kept Z 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 1t by sIstake and took a few i
swallows before he noticed that It had /
Z peculiar flavor. He was made vio- |
lentiy III, but recovered. An exani- |
nation Of the contents Of the bottle |,
from which be had drunk was made !
and showed poison.
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 One boy. Questioned him
closely rs to whether no 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. I 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,
50 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, woman who
had lived with them short timc and
could have NO possible motive what
ever for taking hts life.
Desiring to leave no stone unturncd
in eliciting Information. asked for an
| interview with Mrs. Gordon. went
lover ground with her supplemental
~ to that 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 I received a note from the lndy
mentioning a fact she had forgotten
Soon after their marriage her husband
had mentioned discharging man from
/ his employment who had acted very
disagreeably. saying that he would
some day get even with Gordon.
Where had I seen the handwriting
. with which the note had been written
I had not seen 1t, but something like
1t. Nevertheless could come to nc
, conclusion In the matter and thought
no more about 1t at the time. but later
when studying the address on the box
containing the poisoned wine. It STRUCK
| me that there was something in 1t thai
reminded me of the writing Of Mrs
Gordon.
Was she the criminal1
We detectives follow any c!ew. NJ
matter how repugnant. took Mrs
Gordon's note and the address Of til,
, poisoned wine to an expert In chlrog
/ raphy. and he pronounced the latter t.
+ be an attempt to disguise the hand
writing Of the former.
It is only Of late years that insanity
has begun to be carefully studied will
: reference to crime. We first heard o.
:. their relationship In criminal cases o.
> 30 called emotional insanity. We nov
= hear Of It in cases where the symptoms
!; are very subtle.
2 Not for the world would betray thu
:. secret on which had stumbled until
n had gained an insight into whethe
S Mrs. Gordon had really attempted thu
r crime and II she had whether she di,
n 80 in her right mind. knew tina
\ since the birth Of her child the physi
clan who had attended her on that oc
(. C0SlOu uuU ku0OS u9G OtucE viSlIs
: There are two conhdants in families
the doctor and the pastor. concludes
e to conflde my secret to the doctor.
8 called on him In his house an,
e asked him II he had ever noticed an,
: evidence Of insanity In Mrs. Gordon
r He looked at me with very singuia
y expression and asked me why ! wishe
x to know. replied that l desired
: reply to my question. whsreupon b
J; claimed that the secrets Of his profes
: sion were sacred property. Then toll
4 him that Mrs. Gordon had committed
n crime: that she had attempted to po
le SON her husband.
al Not till ! had told him the Who'll
II story did he confess that he had SUI
d pected her ever since the birth OF be
y child Of puerperal insanity. It ha
y shown itself N q feeling Of hatred fc
. her husband. which had been notice
. only by the doctor, He had been loOl
! ing for conhrInatofy aymptoms. b
: had thus far not Aeteetsd any. b