The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-08-08

"No-not the last chance" ex'
claimed Craig, springing to her side
lest she should fall. Then he added
gently, You must come with ME tc
East Point-immediately.
"What-leave him here-alone-ir
the last days? No-no-no. Never.
must see him. | wonder if they have
told him yet
1t was evident that she had lost
! faith in Kennedy, in everybody, now
Mrs. Goodwin" he urged. Come
you must. 1t is a last chance"
Eagerly he was pouring out the
story Of the discovery OF the after
! noon by the little detectaseope.
/ "Miriam," she repeated, dazed
"She-know anything-it can't be-
/ No-don't raise a false hope now"
1T is the last chance" he urged
| again. Come There is not an hour to
waste now"
/ There was no delay, no deliberation
about Kennedy now.
Down the hill our car sped to the
town, with Mrs. Goodwin still protest
! ing, but hardly realizing what was
going on. Regardless of tolls. Ken
needy called up his laboratory in New
York and had two of his most careful
students pack up the stuff which he
| described infinitely to be carried to
East Point Immediately by train.
Kahn, too, was at last found and sum-
moned to meet us there, also.
Impatiently we awaited the arrival
of the men from Kennedy's labor
atory, while we made Mrs. Goodwin as
comfortable as possible in a room at
the hotel. In one of the parlors Ken
needy was improvising, a laboratory
as best he could. Meanwhile, Kahn
had arrived, and together we were
seeking those whose connection with,
or interest in, the case made neces-
sary their presence.
1t was we'll along toward midnight
before the hasty conference had been
gathered; besides Mrs. Goodwin, Salo
Kahn and ourselves, the three FL
mores, Kilgore and Hollins.
Strange though it was. the room
seemed to me almost to have as
sumed the familiar look OF the labor
atory in New York. There was the
same clutter of tubes and jars on the
tables, but above all that same feel
ing of suspense in the air which l
had come to associate with the clear
ing-up of a case There was some
thing else in the air. too. 1t was a
peculiar mousey smell, disagreeable,
and one which made it relief to
have Kennedy begin in a low voice
to tell why he had called us together
so hastily.
81 shall start" announced Ken
nedy, "at the point where the state
left off-with the proof that Mr.. Cod
win died OF conine, or hemlock poi
soning. Conine, as every chemist
knows, has long and well-known his
tory. Here is sample, this colorless.
oily fluid. No doubt you have noticed
the mouscy odor in this room. AS
little as one part of conine to fifty
thousand OF water gives off that odor
it is characteristic"
He paused and we waited expect
antly.
Il have had the body exhumed and
have repeated the tests. The alkaloid
which I discovered had given precise
ly the same results as in their tests"
Ny heart sank. What was he doing
-convicting the man over again?
There is one other test which I
tried" he continued. but which J.
cannot take time to duplicate tonight
1t was testified at the trial that conine.
the active principle of hemlock. is
intensely poisonous. No chemical anti
dote is known. fifth of a grain has
fa,a
injection of a most minute quantity
of real conine will kill a mouse. for
instance. almost instantly. But the
CONNIE which l have isolated in the
body is inert
1t came like a bombshell TO the pros
ecution. so bewildering was the dis
covery.
Il repeat the conine isolated in the
body is inert"
We were too perplexed to question
him.
At one stroke Kennedy had reoper
ed the closed case and had placed the
experts at sea.
Il find that there is an animal CO.
nine as we'll as the true conine" he
hammered out. The truth of this nat
ter is that the experts have confound !
ed vegetable conine with cada scri /:
conine. That raises an interesting
question. Assuming the presence of CO.
nine. where did it come from
He paused and began a new lin, of
attack. las the use of canned goods |
becomes more and more extensive. |
ptomaine poisoning is more frequent. |
In canning. the cans are heated. They !
are composed of thin sheets of iron |
coated with tin. the seams pressed |
and soldered with thin line of
solder They are filled with cook ed |
food. sterilized. and closed. The bac-
terra are usually all killed. but now
and then. the apparatus does not
work. and they develop in the can.
That results in a blown can-the
ends bulge a little bit. On opening.
a gas escapes. the food has a bad
odor and a bad taste. Sometimes peo-
Pile say that the tin and lead poison
them: in practically all cases the poi
soning is of bacterial. not metallic.
origin Mr. Goodwin may have died
Of poisoning. probably did. But II was
ptomaine poisoning. The blown cans
which / have discovered would indi-
cate that"
was following him closely. yet
though this seemed to explain a part