Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1916-01-06
FATAL POLITICS OF DARK ACES
Poisoning Was Customary Way
to Get Rid of individuals.
Com pa risen Of Certain Historic Muir.
dcrs with the Present Day En-
dcnVors Of Warning Nations
TO Poison Entire Armies.

II is interesting to-day. when the op-
posing armies are renewing their OPP
poncntS On bloc by the use of poisonous
Vapors, to recall the horror evoked by
the deeds of PRISONERS in the past. The
names Of the Borgias and the Medici arc
to this day held up to the detcstation or
mankind. Yet these and their like only
poisoned individuals; the lighting forces
to-day are compelled 10 cndcavUr to poi
son entire armies,
Their wholesale methods will doubtless
20 to enrich the annals of historical pr
soning. For poison has played u gtvst
part in history The employment OF
poison by the ancicnts is graphically and
terribly illustrated in the deaths Of
Socrates. ncmosthcncs, Hannibal and
| Cleopatra whilst in the reign Of Ayta-
NerXcs II Momnon, r. e. iO5-I4
! lhrysa poisoned the queen, Statirs, by
/ cutting food with Il knife poisoned on
one side.
In the early part of the Christian era
nuuberlcss professional prisoners arose,
and for Il long time exercised their trade
with impunty. "poisoning," says
| Well-knuwn authority. was so much III
use as :, political engine that Agrippina
GA. D. 20 refused to eat of some apples
offered her at table 10y her father-in law,
| Tiberius"
1t is a curious fact that Agrippina
! whilst refusing to partake of these ap-
pies from her fear of being poisoned,
was herself guilty of the poisoning Of
Claudius; but poetic justice WAS meted
out To her in the death (by POISON VI
her son, Britaunicus
1t was at this time, too, that the in
famous Locusta fourshed She is said
to have supplied. with suitable direc.
tons, the poison by which Agrippina got
rid Of Claudius; and She was also the
principal agent III the preparation Of the
poison that was administered to Britain
nicus by order of his brother Nero.
1T was the custom of the Romans to
drink hot water" says Wynter Blythe;
"a draught nauseous enough to us, but
from fashion or habit, considered by them
a luxury. And as no two mems tastes
are alike. great skill was shown by the
slaves in bringing the water to exactly
that degree of heat which their respec.
tive masters found agreeable.
"A slave brings water to Britannicus:
it is too hot: Rritannicus refuses it. Tho
slave adds cold water: and it is this cold
water this is supposed to have been
an extraordinary lividty spreading over
the corpse, which they attempted to con.
! ceal By painting the face
There has come down to us a curious
document said to have been drawn out
by Charles de Mauvais King OF Navarro.
which shows how arsenic was much IA =
vored as a political weapon by crowned
heads in the fourteenth century. 1t IA
a commission of murder given to a cer-
tain Wouderton.
Go thou to Paris. Thou canst do grea'
service If thou wilt. Do what I tel
y thee. | will reward thee we'll Thol
Y shalt do thus There is a thing which 1.
called sublime arsenic If a man eat q
0 bit the size Of pea he will never sur
1 vive. Thou wilt find It in Pampeluna
g Bordeaux. Bayonne, and in all good
towns through which thout wilt pass, al
l the apothecaries shops.
Take it and powder il: and when
5 thou shalt he in the house Of the King.
and of Valois. his brother. the Dukes OF
Z Berry, Burgundy, and Bourbon, draw
70 near and betake this to the kitchen, to
y the larder. to the cellar. and in other
= places where thy point can be best gain
! ed Put the powder in the soups. meats
= or wines. provided that thou canst do Il
! secretly. Otherwise, 90 IL not
Wouderton, failing to accomplish his
task. was detected. and executed in 1884
, No better example Of this dread In
which prisoners We're held can be quoted
than the fact that at so late a period as
Il the reign of Henry VII extraordinary
precautions We're thought necessary fol
: preserving the life of the infant heir. II
j was ordained that no person, of whatso
ever rank. except the regular attendants
a in the nursery, We're to approach thu
Y cradle. except with an order from thu
n Kings hand Moreover. everything IN
= tended for the royal infant was boiled. Il
# prevent all risk of poison as far as pos
n sible.
;. One of The more recent instances o.
l. political poisoning is that of the Sultar
- Abdul-Aziz, who died May 80 1876. BY
: reason of his advanced ideas he wa!
e forced to abdicate the throne; and fou
h days later the unhappy sultan was found
n dead. 1t Is almost certain by foul play
j. From Answers