Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1927-04-01
THE
POISONED
BOOTS
By H. M. EGBERT
Copyright By W. O. Chapman.

SUofEO1E0 Louise carey IrQH
the first; but In that l was no DIFF
i ferent from the farmers neigh
bors. John Carey had married a
second time, late In life, when his
three sons were growing up to man
hood. Jim, the eldest, was twenty
Frank, eighteen; Leonard, the young
est, fourteen.
John Carey was rich, and Louise
Brand had been a poor girl in the city
when the elderly man, making a bust
ness trip there, say her working as
a stenosrapher In the lawyers Office.
The courtship was brief, and they
were maSrted three weeks after their
first meeting.
John Carey had been q close-hsted
man, but q good neiEbbor and had
been generally esteemed He fell un-
der the rule Of his young wife. His
sons reseoted the stsapsers presence
In the home. Quarrels Between father
and sons ensued. there was q bad
one a week before t6e iermAFs death.
He changed hs viii, lsav!ng every
thing to his vile, with terefhi0h to
Leonard, the youngest, the 6nls one
who cared for his steppQtheN BE-
tween the two a devoted Attachment
sprang up.
The motive for wurdeTipg John
Careyf Fear lest be shoQid change
his will again. Three days later
Carey came in from the 9etd, where
he had been binding, b Agf spirits.
he had his supper, pulled of his Boots,
complained Of feeling I'll, and lay down
on the lounge. Nobody else was In the
room. When his wife entered, an
hour later, he was dead, his lower
limbs and body terribly swollen.
1t was like snake poison; the ex-
perts said the condition Of the body
resembled that of man who had been
struck by RATHER. But there was no
rattler In the house, though they we're
plentiful In the field. II Carey had
been killed BY a snake, the poison
would have taken effect before he en-
tered his home.
John Darcy was buried, and the few
whispers on the part Of the neigh
bors died away. Jim and Frank had
left the house at the time Of the quar-
rel. They started suit, alleging Undue
influence. They had removed their
personal effects, including some cloth
ing, the property Of their father.
Oose-fsted like him, they did not see
the sense Of leaving his effects to
Louise; and she offered no objection.
1t was just month later that the
second death occurred. Jim Carey had
gone to the stepmother's house to talk
things over with her. Louise Carey
was a sensible woman and had volun-
teered to come to settlement. Ac-
cOrding to her story, they had practi-
cally reached an agreement. She had
given her stepson tea, and he had com
planned that his fathers boots hurt
him and pulled them off. A few mo-
ments later he began to complain. She
ran to the telephone and summoned
the doctor, recognizing the same symp-
toms as those of which her husband
had died. Before the doctor arrived,
1 oii was hNoNt anu H"OltIA'
The boots2 They were a pair of
high, farmers boots, and John Carey
had worn them for nearly year be-
fore his death. If there was poison in
the boots, 1t would have taken effect
long before. Jim had worn them dur.
ing his four-mile tramp from where he
lived to his stepmother's house. 1t
was suspected that she had store of
poison which she had secretly admin
istered. The police ransacked the
house from roof to cellar, but could
find nothing. II was then that l was
called in.
Universally suspected, universally
Stunned, Mrs. Carey lived a wretched
life. The little boys had begun to call
out after her In the street. She would
have left the house but for Leonard,
who believed in her, and to whom she
was passionately devoted resided in
the village, assumed the guise of an
intending purchaser OF real estate, and
in that capacity visited the Carey
farm, to talk over the price Mrs.
Carey was willing to sell, after the
trouble had been cleared up. She
struck me as a sensible woman, and |
had my doubts as to her culpability.
The farmers boots had been thrown
away in the attic, with the rest Of his
clothing. l found an opportunity, by
going to the house when Mrs. Carey
was away, to look at them. 1t did
occur to me that there might be some
snake venom In them, but | assured
myself that this was not the case Be
sides, as most people know, snake ven
ON acts as toxic agent only when in
troduced through AN abrasion. Swal.
lowed, 1t is harmless. And 1t seemed
improbable in the extreme that, even
II there were poison in the boots
there would have been an abrasion on
the foot of each of the two men ex-
actly where the poison would be free
to enter.
And, again. rattlesnakes, for all
their reputation, only innict a maxi
mum of discomfort, not death. l think
the number of cases of fatal rattle
snake poisoning is less than dozen
1t would have been impossible for the
men TO have died in so short time
| Quite by accident, however, ]
learned that circus had passed
through the village six months before
Among Its attractions had been Hin
du snake charmer. who had amusel
and astonished the people until III
circus passed. to be soon forgotten
learned that Mrs. Carey had attendt,