Evening star., 1922-08-12


goes to Kennedy to ask his help for her father.
lie seems mad. and talks constantly OF the big
tsh and curse of Mansiche. STAYING at M tlie
salue Atlantic Beach hotel with her ana ne
father is Sonora de Mochc n Peruvian OF
an old Indian family. apd her son Aifonso
Sc seems to have something to do with the
old mans excited state. Kennedy and Jane
son go to the hotel and meet the father Don
Luis. He begins to talk immediatel! OF teru
There was present also an American engineer
named ockwood. who seemed attentive 10
lnez. She seemed to prefer Alfonso. rms
treasure hidden at the time of Pfzarros con
quest. He is said to have LETT curse on an!
native who ever divulged Its Whereabouts m
Kennedy notices something unusual about the
cigarettes Don Lnis offers him and taxes some
uf them away with him. Sonora De Moche
frankly discussed the situation with Kennedy
She said that in the seventeenth century q
Spaniard opened Il mound Of the Indians ana
found much gold. An Indian told him OF It.
little fish, that some day he would show him
the big fish. He died. poisoned by members
Of his tribe and from shas 'ay Wns 'as the tribe
or family of Sonora De Moche. But the year
before her brother had told the secret Later
lie had thrown himself into n lake. 1t was on
this information that Mendoza was going to
work to get the big fish. Craig returns to ms
laboratory and begins experimsnting seha'hs
Jameson ont 20 get Il cat Tor him.
In my absence Craig had set to work
on peculiar apparatus. as though ne
were distilling something from several
of the other cigarette stubs.
placed the cat in the basket and
watched Craig until finally he seemed
TO be rewarded for his patient labors
1t was well along toward morning when
he obtained in test tube few drops
of Il colorless almost odorless liquid
| watched him curiously as he picked
the cat out of the basket and held 1t
gently in his arms. With a dropper he
sucked up bit of the liquid from the
test tube Then he let small drop fall
into the eye of the cat.
The cat blinked a moment and bent
over to observe it more closely Inc
eats eye seemed to enlarge. even under
the light. as # it We're the proferolal
cats eye under the bed.
What did it mean? Was there such
a thing as the drug of the evil eye?
What have you found?" | queried.
Something very much like the So
called weed madness, l think, he
replied slowly.
The weed of madness"" ! repeated.
Yes something like that Mexican
toloache and the Hindu datura, which
you must have heard about. he con-
tinued You know the jimson weed
the jamestown weed? 1t grows almost
everywhere in the world, but most
thrivingly in the tropics. They are all
related in some way, l believe The jim
son weed on the Pacific coast of the
Andes has large white flowers, which
.Xhale i faint, repulsive odor. 1t is a
harmless looking plant with its thick
tangle of leaves, coarse green growth,
with trumpet-shaped flowers. But. to
one who knows its properties it is quite
too dangerously convenient
Il think those cigarettes have been
he
1oloache that was used. | think it must
he some particularly virulent variety of
the jimson weed Perhaps 1t is IN the
preparation of the thing. The seeds OF
the stramoniun. which is the same thing.
contain higher percentage OF poison
than the leaves and flowers. Perhaps
they were used. l can't say"
He took d drop of the liquid he had
isolated and added drop of nitric
acid Then he evaporated it by gem
tie heat and it left d residue "hich
was slightly yellow.
Next he took from the shelf over
his table a bottle marked alcoholic So
luton potassium hydrate. and let
drop fall on it. Instantly the residue
became d beautiful purple, turning
rapidly to violet. then to dark red
and finally disappeared.
..Stramonium all right" he nodded
with satisfaction. THAT was known
as Vitalis test. Yes, there was stra-
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS a trace of hy-
ocyamino. They are all. like atroplne,
mydriatic alkaloids. so-called from
the. effect on the eye. one one-hun :
dred-thousandth of a grain will af.
feet the cats eye. You saw how it
acted 1t is more active than even
atropine. Better yet. you remember
how Don Luis eyes looked
How about the senora", l put IN.
oh" he answered quickly. her
YOU notice that? This concentrated
poison which has been used in Men
doZa's cigarettes does not XIII, at
least not outright. 1t is worse. SLOW
" it accumulates in the system IT
acts on the brain. OF all the dangers
10 be met with in superstitious coun-
tries, these mydriatic alkalolds are
among the worst. They offer chance
for crimes of the most f1endish ma
ture-worst than the gun or the
stiletto. and with little rear OF ue
lection. 1t is the production OF IN
sanity"
Horrible though the idea was l
could not doubt it in the face OF
,raigss Investigations and what l
had already seen. In fact, IT was
necessary for me only to recall the
peculiar sensation / myself had eX-
perfenced after smoking merely few
smffs of one of Mendoza's cigar
cites in order to be convinced of the
possible effect of the insidious poison
contained in the many that ne
smoked
1t was almost dawn before Craig
and l left the laboratory atter ms
discovery of the manner of the
stramonium poisoning. L was thor
oughly tired, though not so much SO
that my dreams were not haunted
by a succession of baleful eyes peer
ing at me from the darkness.
I slept late, but Kennedy was
about early at the laboratory, verify
ing his experiments ana cneekins
over his results. carefully endeavor-
ing to isolate any other of the closely
related mydriatic alkaloidS that
might be contained in the noxious
fumes of the poisonous tobacco.
Though he was already convinced OF
what was going on, l knew that he
considered it a matter of consider
able medico-lcgal Importance to be
exact. for if the affair ever came to
the stage of securing an Indictment,
the charge could be sustained only
by specific proof.
Early in the forenoon Kennedy
left me alon in the laboratory and
visited a South American tobacco
dealer and placed rush order for a
couple of hundred cigarettes, dupli-
eating in shape and quality those
which Senior Mendoza preferred ex-
cept, however, the deadly drug which
was in those he was smoking.
1 had some writing to do apd was
when I suddenly became conscious
OF that feeling of being watched
Perhaps 1 had heard footstep out
side and did not remember it. but al
any rate I had the feeling.
stopped tapping the keys suddenl.