New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-05-28
The Polite Art of Murder.

the stage IN the Criminal Courts Building
has come to its fitting end. For once in
a sensational murder case justice has
marched swiftly and sanely. A strange
being. one Of the strangest in the records
Of local crime, the defendant plainly was.
But the jurors were properly not impressed
by the suggestion of moral idiocy as de-
fence. They brought in the one verdict
consonant with the law and with common
sense.
An uncanny effect DR.. Waite's testimony
gave. The mingling Of good and bad in
him disturbed every common notion OF
what human nature is. A fash Of murder
GUS hatred is not so rare thing. Many
excellent folk are credited with having seen
red at one moment or another in their
lives. But to them the thing was terrible
and alien. a grotesque and unrelated cpl
sode. if deeply disturbing for the time. soon
buried beneath days and years Of normal
doings. To come upon a polite human be
ing. 10 the eye as decorous and friendly as
any other frequenter Of the tennis court
or subway, and to find that he has calmly
lived life Of steady murder and theft,
works a pulling shock How can we be
sure of any one?
Perhaps it may clarity the facts, even If
II does not explain them, 10 cite what is
almost certainly to be rated the most cele-
brated example Of the polite poisoner.
Thomas GriTths Wainwright was his
name. and in his hour he was a good deal OF
man. His present fame is represented by
the brief notice Of his life in the Encyclo-
padia Britannica-about three inches Of
glory, let US say; and Of that repute a
fairly large fraction must be set down to
such reflected fame as comes from the fact
that Oscar Wilde thought it worth while to
write a most charming essay about him
"Pen, Pencil and Poison
\ good deal more than a pOisoner-or
even a tennis player-was Wainwright
AT that. Charles Lamb found him "dnd
and 'Hght-hearted" and rated his writing
"capital." Born in 1894, a contemporary
of much greatness, he grew up to be a
fairly dazzling figure in literary London.
Perhaps his whole life was an affectation
certainly a portion Of his contemporary
success can be laid TO a cultivation Of &C.
centricities. He was a dandy, for one
tbinz. p creature Of beautiful rings,
cameo breastpins and lemon-colored
gloves. Also he was a connoisseur of
things beautiful and true aesthetic, fore
runner Of the whole later tribe of Bun
thornes. He was rich in distinguished
friends, his paintings reached the Royal
Academy, and his essays, rather fantastic
criticisms of art and life, were printed
ard much admired.
Yet, as Wilde puts it,, he was also "a
5orger Of no mean or ordinary capabili-
tics. and as a subtle and secret poisoner
almost without rival in this or any age. "
Strychnine was his weapon; exactly how
many times he used it cannot be known.
in 1929 he poisoned his uncle, Thomas
Griffths. to gain Linden House, a Geor-
gian mansion, where he had passed his
boyhood and to which he was much a.
tached. In August, 1880, he poisoned his
wife's mother. Mrs. Abercrombie, and in
December his sister-in-law, Helen Aber-
crombie. The motive for numbering mis-
nother-in-law has never been revealed
lie killed his wife's sister for the sake of
$4,000. in which sum he had insured her
life. The proof Of murder was not forth
coming at the time, but the companies,
suspecting the facts, resisted payment on
various technicalties, and finally pre-
vailed in a suit boldly brought by Waine
wright to recover his blood money.
The murder of Helen Abercrombie was
perhaps his most astounding crime. Size.
was girl Of twenty, tall and graceful,
and had for a red-chalk portrait oyI
her dee ther-in-law. Years later,
when in te, he gave to a reproach
full fric own explanation of the
crime: "Yes, D., was a dreadful thing to-
do. but she had very thick ankles"
At least one other person fell a victim
10 his strychnine but his murders never
overlook him in his lifetime. 1t was his
fate TO be arrested for a forgery and to be
punished for that alone He forged the
iames Of his trustees TO power Of at
torney in order TO gain some money left
him by his mother, was convicted at Old
Bailey and transported TO Van Diemen's
Land for life.
There is a wealth Of writing concerning
Wainwright. De Quincy, who met him at
dinner at Charles Lambs. speculated
,bout his case; Dickens made him the hero
Of a tale. Hunted Down; he appears "a
Bulwer's "Lucretia" And, as has been
said. Wilde sought 10 immortalize him m.
an essay, oddly prophetic as il proved OF
his own disaster. II all brings the strange
rosoner wildly TO life. But Of illumins-