Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-12-17
HUMAN RIDDLES
That Have Vexed the World
nv JOHN ELFRETH WATKINS.
The Bravo Mystery

Florence Ricardo, a wealthy, ,fasci-
mating widow. still in her twenties,
ldwelt at BALKAN, on the outskirts of
London. Among her suitors was a
young oxford graduate, Charles Bravo,
a handsome. clever, promising barrister,
the only son of wealthy mother.
Bravo proposed to the charming widow.
but before she would agee to accept
him she subjected herself to a painful,
humiliating ordeal enacted of her by a
paid companion-Mrs. Cox-dwelling in
her house. Mrs. Cox welded an I'M
canny influence over the young widow.
a power which had induced Mrs.
Ricardo to confess to her a secret liason
which. since her husbands death. she
had had with DR.. Guliey. an eminent
| physician, over sixty years of age. And
when young Bravo asked the widow to
! marry him Mrs. Cox persuaded her to
confess this intrigue to her sutton 1t
was to Mr.. Bravo's credit that he read
lily forgave his fearful sweetheart
promising upon his own initiative never
to refer again to that chapter of her
otherwise innocent life. SO the young
I couple We're married and Mrs. Cox con-
| tinued to live with her employer.
| The Braves now had every prospect
for happiness and prosperity. They
We're both blessed with youth health
| wealth and c1everness, and, what was
more than any of these assets. a mas
sionate love for each other. But their
| happiness was not of long standing
| No sooner had they settled down than
t:the husband became seized with an al
| most insane jealousy of his wife's past
| Repeatedly he fell into fits of brooding
followed by periods when he would
tauht his bride with that period of her
life which he had solemnly agreed
never to mention. Again and again she
/ ~ rod hi <,F l.,
which he never doubted. and the more
| MS love for her grew the greater his
jealousy developed along with it. One
spring morning. after the couple had
been married about six months. Mrs.
Bravo drove her husband to his office
| in London. and during the drive he re-
| opened the painful subject of her for
mer adventure. Seeing that he had
caused his wife to weep. he became re-
| morseful, begging her to kiss him.
! which at first she refused to do, but
| presently she yielded. and they had an
| unusually happy reconciliation. In Lon
don that day Bravo had luncheon with
| a friend. who thought him in the best
| of health and spirits. Returning home
| early. he went for a horseback ride
and his mount bolted with him and
shook him up somewhat: but, although
| complaining of the accident. lie dressed
| for dinner. did his wife and her COM
panion, and the three sat down to an
unusually pleasant meal The Braves
retired early to their adjoining rooms,
and some time after the wife had fallen
asleep her companion from another
| part of the house was alarmed by hear
ing Bravo call to his wife:
| Florence! Florence, Hot water"
Mrs. Cox responding to the alarm,
found Bravo in great agony and Mrs
Bravo still asleep in her room. She
awakened the wife, who Immediately
came to her husbands assistance. The
sick man lay stretched upon the floor
ind III
Imuttered that he was in great agony
and she Immediately sent for physi-
icians, and after three had arrived she
sent in to London fer a fourth, the
noted consultant, Sir William Gull who
promptly responded to her call
Obtaining from Bravo a confession
THAT he had taken laudanum for neu-
ralgia of the lower jaw Sir William
ACCUSED the sick man of having taken
some stronger drug, but the sufferer
only muttered:
Il swear ] have only taken laudanum,
ard l can tell you nothing more"
Repeatedly the great physician i'm
portuned his patient to clear up the
mystery, but Bravo in his last state
ment said:
Before God. it was only laudanum"
Throughout his sufferings he treated
his wife with the tenderest affection
and called for her whenever she went
out of his sight. His behavior toward
Mrs. Cox was also kindly, and his en-
Gre attitude was that of a man un-
aware of the source of his suffering
Alter nifty hours of agony he died and
the -post-rnortem. proved that he had
1 been poisoned, not by laudanum but
by forty grains Of anthony, or tartar
| emetic.
After the coroners jury had returned
an open verdict that left the mystery
lunsolved, some of the dead barrister's
Illegal friends petitioned the government
FOR a special inquiry, which was grant
ed This second inquest lasted twenty
three days. and cost an enormous sum,
spent not only by the crown but by the
respective families of Mr. and Mrs,
Bravo Forty-three witnesses were
examined, and the dead mans solicitor
offered reward of $500 for informa ton
showing where the anthony had been
obtained. Some of the most famous
legal minds in Great Britain represent
ed the two families. and so important
was the case that the government sent
the attorney general himself to cross
Examine the witnesses
The only sensation of the hearing was
sprung by Mrs. Cox. who stated that the
aylng man confessed to her. Il have
taken poison for DIR. Gulley (Mrs,
Bravo's former cavalier). Don't tell
| Florence"'
All England waited with bated breat III
/ for the verdict of the jury. which re-
NAMED out two and half hours. This
verdict was:
we find that Mr. Charles Delauney
Turner Bravo did not commit suicide
| that he did not meet his death by mis-
adventure; that he was willfully muir
dered by the administration of tartar
emetic. but that there is not sufficient
evidence to fix the guilt upon any per-
son or persons"
| No one was ever tried for Bravo's
| mysterious death. The fact that the
aged DR.. Guiley's wife was still living
seemed to dispose of any motive that
Mrs Bravo might have had for dispos-
a han 10 IT,
! the police offered a large reward for
evidence leading to the conviction of
the murderer or murderers, but no fur
1 ther light was ever thrown upon the
case, which SO sore1y distressed Mrs
Bravo that she went into decline
| suffering very painful death within a
year after her husbands demise.