Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-03-07
POISON PLOTTER
BLAMES SLEUTHs
First of Quartet Accused =
Conspiring Against LlovS
George Testifies
DRUGS ASKED FOR Docs

As voi,,t LONDON, March
As weird story of plotting ana VI,
as ever was attributed To tba M, Nv poisgm
10 close in Old Bailey this .,,.sms sms
Wheh the Crown through Attorna' noon
eral Sir i. Il. Smith. closed its casa yen
lhe quartet accused of consnirins akainR
premier Lloyd George and Minisier 20 na
Henderson i"S'er Arthur
attorney s.. II, Ria. the Indian
VINO appeared as counsel for Nya nst9,
MISS Hetty Wheeldon ana ny
snu ",S' AIRED Mason. the accused ~ ~
,,,',, ,n ms opening statement thu, y.
Wouid call each of the four 10 ~. "e'
lie indicated that the defense sund
persecution by police officials ana ''n,
denCe. ~''iStahtlal ev.
MIS- Alice Wheedon. eldest n, ,h.
spIrators, mother OF Miss TIetty ana. y, ,. con
AIIred Mason, was the first witness 70. "1
defense. "''''eSs ior the
DECEIVED BY SLEI-Tus
Hne sWore that Inspector Gordop =, a..
! oco''ahd yard, approached her as , ~" ="
sclentlous objeCtor" to military ser,,ia. eon
ceaiihg ms true character as a secrs, .., .on'
,, asen,' ana sought to obtain from b.,
poison with which to XIII certain wi
guarding friends of his-other "con.s'Tis uoTis
tlous objectors"--who were imnrisonss en- =
cohcehtsatlon camps, that they ml.ss
escape. '"xm
SubtIe posons, a drop of which vo,.
cause death If introduced in wound ws..
,n sne"'ed as the TOOLS by which the four pot.
ters against the life of Premier rInv. gvs
George and Minister Arthur Uenaar.,,s
sought TO accomplish their end in tes,Ir.asa
offered al the trial ''''ony
Inc crown called two expert toxioo,.
slstS ana pathologsts Both delivered
peWl'uerihg analysis of the effect of variom
Po'sohs round by Inspector Herbert Bootb
OF scotland Yard i'm the possession NJ NJ.
Alice Wheedon. Miss Hetty NheeIdon sns
MI ana Mrs. Arthur Mason. the Quart,
ON trial for the poison plot ''
John WEBSTER. assistant scientific analv..
10 the Home Office, and pathological cham.
ist or repute testified he received fron
'hiet inspector Parker, of Scotland Yard
noN containing four glass walls Two hs
found contained strychnine hydrochIor,,.
ana TWO substance similar to curare 4
poison formerly used by South American
Tor tipping their arrows. He gave technical
evidence OF the extremely poisonous mature
of these drugs
PSYCHOLOGISTS TESTIMONY 4
DR.. Bernard Henry Spilsburs. patholor,,t-
Tor the Home Office, corroborated Doctor
Webster's testimony. He estimated th,t
halt grain of the strychnine hydrochlorats
would he fatal. but said there was no evI.
ueiice OF the exact amount of curare neces.
S%IS 10 XIII as 1t was a rare poison, al
though known as of extreme deadliness.
through both Doctors Webster and Spills.
purN the prosecution Identified the -four
grass walls. Later the Crown will connect
these deadly poison carriers with the a..
tense through Inspector Booth who posed
as r friend of Mrs Alice Wheeldon and
became her confdant in the alleged plot, re.
celVIhg the poison, II is claimed, from her
testimony adduced yesterday indicated
mat the conspirators-among whom ALFRED
mason is an expert chemist kncwn as 4
toNicoloslst, planned to poison Lloyd George
by poisoned nail driven into his boot
Whlle 1t was left outside the door Of .
motel room for cleaning and to do awsY
with Minister Arthur Henderson by .pen5>
tfating his skull with poisoned nah n
| dart" Iy
SCOTLAND YARD EVIDENCE
After laying the ground for it's case By
revelations as TO the various poisons the
crown next proceeded with evidence Of the
scotland Yard agents. who worked on the
case, to show ,interchanGe of letters and
kilograms between the four conspirators to
prove their complete completely Evidence
| was offered to show how the detectives kept
check on every letter mailed by the quartet
copying such messages and reseaing. Sev-
eral of the letters as revealed by the Crown,
discussed a mysterious parcel" and its de-
lay IN arriving at Mrs Mason's home. This
parcel, the Crown proposes to prove, con-
tanned the poison.
considerable amusement was offered IN
the reading of several letters written by
Miss Hettie Wheeldon. Although a school
teacher, she adopted an illiterate style In
writing. One Of these slangily and in mis-.
spelled phrases told about various actvites
OF the War Office and bitterly assailed vafi-
Gus Government officials. Later a cipher
code was adopted for such correspondents
One letter read:
That damned Welshman Ueferring to .
Lloyd George has not got into power.
God strafe his blasted eyes. Amt the
whole caboode nice?