The Washington times., 1918-09-02

the time / speak of was q detec-
tive sergeant. and II was not un-
usual for me to be sent abroad, for
I happened to be q fair nngutst
you probably do not remember
Il, but there was considerable ex-
eitement over . large number OF
poisoning cases which had occurred
in the villages and small towns ly-
ing to the northeast Of Budapest
on the northern slopes Of the Car
pathians. In fact. The peculiar
points about the cases-or series OF
cases-was that the poison was
mostly used by women who wished
to rid themselves of uncongenial
husbands or undesired children. In
those wild regions crime of this
sort Is easy. and detection Is very
difficult. Poisoning had been studied
as a sort Of art, and handed down
from generation to generation But
1t at times breaks out in certain
regions like an epidemic, and then IL
is taken notice OF, and one or two
palpable criminals are made to suf-
fer-but the source Of the evil Is
not reached. It Is never known
whence the psi0ners obtain their
drugs. You know how the peasants Z
OF Styria-and not Syria alone
make use of arsenic to enable them
to withstand fatigue? Well, It Is
very easy when one has command
OF such drugs to put them to use.
-Four years ago. then, there was
Q particular virulent outbreak Of
this form Of crime. Women killed
their husbands and remarked with
shocking callousness. In a certain
district no one could consider his
or her life safe. And the worst OF
It was the epidemic showed . tend
ency to spread to other cities. In
Budapest itself two or three mystic
rious cases had showed themselves.
and in Vienna the police were en-
Eaged in an investigation into the
death of q young man who had de-
ceived and abandoned q girl OF good
family. Curiously enough there
was n case IN N6W LONh - 7AAAO 80
time, and II was In regard to this
that my services were requisitioned-
An Austrian girl was suspected OF
having poisoned the man who had
brought her to America and the
strange feature of the case was that
though the post-mortem- examinar
tion revealed the presence OF ar
senic, 1t was not In such q quantity
as would have caused death Now
this girl came from one of the vii
laxes In which poisoning had been
rife. and the hypothesis was that
some other drug had been used with
the arsenic, the secret OF which she
obtained in her native village Also,
from some words which she let
drop, It was suspected that there
was some agent engaged in dissent
mating the knowledge OF the pecu-
liar and abominable art in foreign
countries. ----.
an my case, partly for general
information and partly in reference
to this particular case, heapouar-
ters thought well to send msSbGt to
Hungary to investigate matters
Accordingly L travelled first TO
Vienna and then. onward to Buda-
pest In both these places I found
that the police were rather inclined
to nut obstacles In my way. They
pooh-poohed the idea OF the exist
ence of any powerful organization
70 manufacture and disseminate
poisons. You are dealing with
peasants they said; peasants and
CypsieA Such folk hand down .
certain knowledge of herbs from
generation to generation Some old
woman Will Invariably set herself
mn as the Sdoctor" OF the village, and
she IA the one, II she Is malieiously
inclined, to promote all the mis-
chief. As a matter OF fact We have
found such a woman in the village
of RaischAtz, in the center Of the
poisoning district, and 1t Is GER
tainIy she from whom all those
hags have obtained the means OF
putting their husbands out Of the
way. She Is being watched, and
presently we shall have her ar
rested. Then you viii see that the
poisonings win cease. These cases
in the cities are quite independent
of the village crimes" II was quite
useless for me to point out that
there might be somebody behind the
witch OF RaischatZ, and that, though
these cases might be stopped for
time, experience showed that they
vere ant TO recur. met with
ciyility, but no assistance.
aHoweyer, I was not daunted
travelled easily enough to Chamnitz,
and thence to Kaschau. but after
that I knew my difficulties would
begin. Raischatz. I was informed.
Law far from any railway. and /
could only reach II by travelling
for about three days In the 'dih-
rence' which carried the mail and
occasional passengers, and formed
a union between two out-of-the-w1y
railway stations
SIt was at my hrst halting place
on this rather uncomfortable jour
ney that I made an acquaintance
had seen nothing but occasional
peasants during the day.
I'VE had drawn up at dirty inn
for the night, and I was making
the best Of such food as they could
give me and trying to warm my
self before a wretched fire-it was
autumn, and although the days
were bright, II was cold when the
sun went down-when q tall man
entered and gave his orders in an
imperious voice. I looked at him
in some surprise, for had not ex-
pected to see a gentleman IN this
remote part OF the world, and he
was well dressed. and his features
were refined. though anything but
pleasing. He was very dark and
saIIoyT his ewes black and piercing,