The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1913-08-04
CATIONS
NURSE
BY ELIZABETH WEED


widow with very pretty daughter
He was in bed internationally, for al
times he was quite able to be up ant
about. When he was confined to his
room the young woman had the care
Of him.
The thought entered my head that
perhaps Caxton was sojering In order
to remain In close proximity to the girl,
but was soon convinced that he was
really III. His symptoms not being ia.
! miliar to me, did not know what to do
for him except to give him stimulat-
ing drug-quinine-to help him to throw
Off what was troubling him. But he
did not improve, and / was puzzled
what next to do.
/ had some experience with Indian
| poison cases, though not much, and II
Caxton had not been In the care of a
| girl who treated him with such tender
ness that could not doubt she was In
love with him / would have believed
/ that for some reason or other she was
poisoning him.
Talking one day with the widow, |
! learned that they were not family
indigenous to India, but had come
from Java 1t then flashed upon me
| that | had heard that a Javanese girl
| who loves a man will either have him
or kill him This gave me clew to
Cations case.
From that time forward | watched
htz ,,nruatS avavy also
told Caxton of my belief that his nurse
was in love with him. He confessed
that he had begun to suspect as much
himself and that he had occasionally
treated her with more consideration
than he should have done. | asked
him IL he had noticed that he was bet
ter at such times, and he said that,
come to think of it, he thought he had.
From this | surmised that when he
gave her hope she lessened or discon-
tinued her poison doses.
My problem was to discover If she
was really poisoning him and II so In
what way. In most such cases the
drug is administered in the food.
succeeded in getting samples of the
food the patient was taking at times
when he was in low condition and
Analysed them. but could not find the
slightest trace of anything that should
not have been there. Eastern races
are famous for their methods of poi
soning, and / had during my service
In India gathered some information
regarding them. / therefore kept my
eyes open with view to discovering
some other way by which Cations
nurse was working on him, If she was
doing so at all, of which was by no
means sure.
suggested TO him to get out of the
house. but he said there was no hos
pital for him to go to and he was re-
reiving much better nursing than be
would in his quarters. / saw that 1t
would not be easy to make change,
and the only other way for me to do
was TO solve the puzzle of his illness.
A common way Of administering pol
son in countries where it is much used
Is by means of finger ring. A person
wearing one will clasp the hand Of an
skin will inject poison. / noticed
that Cations nurse wore a ring on her
6uger and suspected that she gave
him doses in that way. / pretended 10
admire the ring and asked her 10 let
me examine 1t. She handed It TO me
without hesitation, and / looked 1t
over very carefully. No. poison was
not administered in that way. The
ring was perfectly plain gold. and II
there had been any injecting apparatus.
however minute, ! would have discov-
cred It
Another Indian method of intiicting
poison is through the air. 1t is often
breathed and sometimes inhaled from
a perfume. There are persons in In
dia who have taken a deadly poison in
minute doses, gradually increasing
them till the poison takers have become
immune to harm and so saturated with
the drug that their very breath is dead
ly to others. / shuddered at the idea
Of Cations nurse being one of these |
But after contriving 10 get so near her
for few minutes that | could take |
her breath felt no unusual sensation |
from 1t whatever. So / gave up this |
clew.
Seeing a plant in Cations room, |
told his nurse to take it out. since the |
perfume OF flowers is considered HARM |
ful to the sick. She obeyed. and after |
that / did not see II in the room again
I'LL one morning | went in to see Cax-
Ion before his nurse had fixed his room |
Tor the day. Then l saw the plant |
Ind asked him how it came TO be |
here. contrary to my instructions. He |
Informed me that his nurse was accus-
toned to bring 1t to his room before
leaving him for the night and taking
L away the first thing in the morning. /
I at once pounced upon this as af-
'ording a solution OF the puzzle. had
heard of the poison plant OF India
Ind how one need only to inhnle its
perfume to be affected by It Picking
J flower from II. took II away with
be and put myself sufficiently under
is influence to convince me that IL
vas being used upon Caxton.
at once informed him of the fact
Ind be was glad to return 10 his quar-
ers, where, as soon as the deleterious
fleets of what he had been subjected
o passed OF. he recovered.
But we never let the girl know that