Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1912-10-03
A SINGULAR
CASE
By FRED L. YOUNG

The sender's name was not on the
box containing it, and naturally the re
c1p1ent 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 it by mistake and took a few
swallows before he noticed that it had
a peculiar flavor. He was made vio-
lently Ill, but recovered. An exami-
nation of the contents of the bottle
from which he had drunk was made
and showed poison.
The first thing 1 did was to sit down
with him and in a 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 m He
was happily married, and his wife had
recently presented him with their first
child, a fine boy. I questioned him
closely as to whether he had Tilted any
girl to marry his wife, and he said
there We're 10 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 peer
received. / was told that it was not
the writing of any one he had ever
known, though some one of his &C.
quaintances might have written it, dis
guising the hand. There was no use
giving it to an expert in chirography
until 1 could furnish a specimen of the
writing of some person or persons who
might have committed the crime.
we detectives in cases where we
nave 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 II servant, a woman who
had lived with them q 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. I Went
over a ground with her supplemental
ry to that l had gone over with her
husband, but could not elicit a word as
to relations Mr.. Gordon had had with
any n that could possibly lead to a
motive for murder. But a day or two
later l received a 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 I seen the handwriting
with which the note had been written?
l had not seen it, but something like
it. Nevertheless I 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 nj Of the writing Of Mrs.
! Gordon.
Was she the criminal?
We detectives follow any clew, no
matter how repugnant. l 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.
II Sc 0r1r ~ late ,. tloo
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 1 betray the
secret on which I had stumbled until l
had gained an insight into whether
Mrs. Gordon had really attempted the
crime and if she had whether she did
so in her right mind. l 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 c%onfidants in families
the doctor and the pastor. 1 concluded
to confide my secret to the doctor.
l called on him in his house and
asked him if he had ever noticed any
evidence Of insanity in Mrs. Gordon.
He looked at me with a very singular
expression and asked me why I wished
to know. l replied that I desired a
reply to my question, whereupon he
claimed that the secrets Of his profess
sion were sacred property. Then 1 told
him that Mrs. Gordon had committed a
crime; that she had attempted to poi
son her husband.
Not till I had told him the whole
story did he confess that he had sus-
pected her eve since the birth Of her
child Of puerperal insanity. 1t had
shown itself in a feeling of hatred for
her husband, which had been noticed
only by the doctor. He had been look
ing for confirmatory symptoms. but
had thus far not detected any. He
was very much shocked and suggested
that 1 say nothing about the matter for
the present since the news might affect