POISON MYSTERY.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 142, 18 June 1929, Page 7

POISON MYSTERY.

Further Development In Croydon Case. FIFTH VICTIM. (Australian and N.Z. Press Association.) LONDON, June 17. The "Daily Telegraph" says an analysis of the organs of the late Mr. Edmund Creighton Duff has revealed poison in the body. The report of the analysts has been forwarded to Scotland Yard.

The Croydon mystery, which involved the poisoning of other members of the Duff and Sidney families, is likely to become a leading case in criminology.

Five bodies were exhumed at Croydon on March 21 at the instance of the Home Office. They were those of Mrs. Violet Sidney, aged 69, the widow of a barrister, her daughter, Vera, aged 40, who died on February 19, her brother-in-law, Edmund Creighton Duff, aged 59, who died in April last year, and Mr. Duff's two daughters, Suzanne, aged two, who died in 1904, and Margaret, aged seven, who died in 1919. The deaths of Mrs. Violet Sidney and her daughter Vera were separated by an interval of about three weeks. That of the daughter was certified to have been due influenza. Mrs. Sidney died on March 5, and an inquest on her body was opened a few days later and adjourned till April 4 without any medical evidence being called. The coroner stated that further investigations would be made. At the resumed inquest on Vera Sidney, on April 27, Dr. Ryfi'el, Home Office analyst, stated in evidence that poison was found in the body. A similar pronouncement was later made in regard to the elder woman. An inquest was held on May 2, 1928, concerning the death of Mr. Edmund Creighton Duff, by the Croydon coroner, Dr. H. B. Jackson. He had died after a short illness. It was stated that certain organs had been sent to the Home Office for analysis, as poisoning was suspected. Mr. Duff was for 18 years High Commissioner for Nigeria. His widow said he went on April 23 to Hampshire on a fishing holiday. On his return he said he felt "absolutely rotten." His throat was stiff and sore, and he ached all over. He thought he had fever. His doctor Avas called in, and next day two doctors attended him. He collapsed about midnight and died.