Evening star., 1916-07-23

ITS poisoned! Save the bottle.'
With this cry of terror DR.. William H.
Wilson. Philadelphia physician, fell
into a convulsion during which, a quar-
ter of an hour later. he died in great
agony.
Dr.. Wilson had been enjoying a very
prof1ta BILE practice. Tuesday, June %.
1908. he received by express a small
wooden box containing a bottle of ale,
and accompanied by a letter typewrit-
ten upon stationery bearing the head
of a Philadelphia brewing concern.
The letter requested the physician to
sample the product, and inclosed a
blank form of testimonial for his sig
refrigerator and went to his bungalow
at Cornwells. Pa. where he was in the
habit Of treating some of his wealth.
lest suburban patients. Returning
home the night of June 90. he looked
about him for cooling drink, opened
the icebox, noticed the ale and poured
out glassful, which he proceeded to
drink. But he had no sooner swal-
lowed the beverage than he uttered
the alarm quoted. Analysis disclosed
cyanide of potassium. deadly poison,
now common in our criminal annals
but very little known at that time. The
cork of the bottle had been secured
side of the neck, had been impressed a
seal bearing the Letter S. Upon the
letterhead the name of the brewery
firm was f1anked on either side by an
other large S of a different design.
The letter explained that the bottle
q nj q her To nh, nior
and stated that the brewers would ap-
preciate the doctors signature to the
inclosed blank. There was nothing
about the package, the bottle or the
was neatly prepared and bore evil
dence that hundreds of other such
samples had been sent out with identi-
cal letters to physicians.
The following day the coroner re-
ceived a letter postmarked Bristol. Pa.
signed AN injured Husband and
Father" and purporting to be from Dr.
Wilson's murderer. The alleged con-
fession stated:
This letter is true in every detail,
and it proves / am the person who at
tended to this matter. I will tell you
that the ale contained cyanide of potas-
sium and there were two seals with
the letter capital S on the bottle
unturned in their search for the GRIM
inal. The letterhead of the brewery
firm was proved to be a forgery, and a
Philadelphia printer, suspected of the
crime, was arrested but succeeded in
proving his innocence. The authorities
were at their wits end when there was
received at the Phila delphia Office of
the Associated Press note written on
the same typewriter as that which had
produced the letter to the coroner. In
this communication the alleged mur-
derer offered to sell a complete con-
fession of the crime and give the
profits to the six-year-old daughter of
DR.. Wilson. But the detectives, after
futile efforts to trap him, came to
regard this mysterious correspondent
as an innocent person who was hoax
ing them.
year after the crime a newspaper
case received in the mail a long COM
signed. The Executioner."
1t stated:
IT am the person who killed DR.. Will
liam H. Wilson just one year ago today.
For purposes which you will later
l have prepared an article
upon the subject for which I wish an
audience. l shall take the liberty of
expressing you a small box containing
the entire matter and everything per-
tanning to 1t that 1 have
The box was received. 1t contained
the confession" copies of letters used
in correspondence with DR.. Wilson's
widow and certain articles which
caused commotion at police headquar-
ters. One was a steel die marked with
the initial s and bearing a tag which
stated, Seal used on two Impressions
on wax sealing bottle at neck; type
Initial letter of thirty-six point Stuy-
vesant, labeled, The initial used on
each side of the letterhead of the decoy
letter.; several lines of type. set up.
bound together and tagged, Type used
in printing decoy return blank" also a
small bit of wood bearing the impress
sion of hammer. Concerning this las,
the alleged murderer wrote: Il send
you an impression of the same hammer
with which 1 nailed the box containing
the poisoned ale. The wood is of the
same used in the box, this merely to
prove authenticity"
When these articles were compared
with those held In evidence by the
police microscopic examination failed
ho-show any discrepanctes.. The seal