The Washington times., 1920-12-12

!srs rescued me.
this fashion. and told him he must TO- Z
left him on HIS knees In an attitude of de-
SPAR.
Later in the evening a servant brought
me scrubbed note from Aguilar. saying:
BE at the Hotel des Pins In an hour or
my blood will be on your hands,
could hardly think how to act, for I
knew that the Duke was, indeed, capable
Of taking his life. My guests stili kept
me busy. The fateful hour had already
passed when slipped away from my
guests and fastened to my ever reliable
friend when in trouble. Baron Sascha
Stoeckel, equerry Of the Grand Duke
Michael of Russia. .
Without losing q moment the Baron
went to the Hotel des Pins, and there he
found the Duke in his room, already un-
conscious from poisoning. He summoned
medical aid promptly. and they we're Just
able to pull the poor fellow through alive,
the poison having proved less effective
than he expected. When he had recov-,
cred sufficiently Baron Stocked kindly es.
corted him back to Venice and saw he was,
cared for by adherents Of Don Carlos.
Three months later heard that this un-
happy man had been found dead. myster-.
iously poisoned, before an altar in the
Basllica of st. Mark. have no doubt
that. knowing himself trapped, he had
taken refuge there, and, weary of the:
strr ggle, had ended his life with the con-
tents Of his poison ring "a
Speaking of medieval poison rings re-
calls another Of the interesting episodes
Of my life. My first husband. Count de-
Pourtales. was the owner Of the. Salviad
Palace in Florence. which he had inherited
through his grandmother. an Italian prin.
cess. This psiace is. of course, famous as
one Of the most beautiful and interesting
old buildings in Florence, and had at one
time been in the occupation OF the Medci
family, that most brilliant romantic and
criIne-stained family Of medieval Italy,
that ancient race whose history Is synony-
nous with that Of Florence.
The Medicis were famous for their ex.
traordinary knowledge and use OF poisons.
From the dawn OF medieval history, when
their earliest recognizable ancestor was a
peasant herb DOCTOR they had accumulated
knowledge Of this deadly subject. One de
Medici poisoned his brother and his
brothers wife with slow poisons used so
skilfully that, though the victims knew
what was happening to them, 1t was inn
possible for them to protect themselves
or to prove that they were suffering from
anything but malaria. The Medicis pos.
sessed poisons that would cause death
stretched out for dreadful, long months.
and poisons that would cause death In q
second. The nature Of these poisons is IN
most cases an utter secret to modern SCI
ence.
The Salviati Palace had usually been
tenanted by other members of the Pour.
tales family, but several years after our
marriage we decided to occupy this in.
teresting building for season and study
It's art treasures and legends.
One evening, while living In the palace.
l was dressing In my immense stone
walled bedroom, with deeply recessed
windows. I was going out to a dinner
party at the Strozzi Palace, another yerv.
famous Florentine building. AS was put:
ting the finishing touches on my attire T.
whirled my arm about and struck the walI
rather sharply. l was surprised to hear Il
give hollow sound, for knew that the
walls were generally Of very thick stone.
marked the spot with a pencil, and the
next day I summoned workmen to investi-
gate the mystery. We found that this
part Of the wall was a structure of wood
and plaster that filed up an ancient door
way We passed through the doorway and
found spiral staircase that had perhaps
not been used for three hundred years.
Up the stairway we went, and at the top
found splendid forgotten apartment
Over the mantelpiece was carved the
wellknown arms OF the Medici, Indicating
that It had been in use when they pos
sessed the palace. There were many in
terestng objects here-books. armor.
weapons, tapestry and other things.
or especial interest, however, were two
little earthenware Walls OF curious and
beautiful workmanship. They stood upon
mats OF crimson velvet, edged with gold.
as though they we're Of supreme impor-
tance' We removed the shoppers and
found that each contained a small guam
tity OF grayish crystalline powder.
Suspecting that the powder was a sub .
stance intended for some sinister purpose.