POISONING MYSTERY

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 225, 19 June 1929, Page 11

POISONING MYSTERY

THE CROYDON SENSATION ARSENIC FOUND IN BODIES Australian Press Association. London, June 17. The “Daily Telegraph” says that an analysis of the organs of Edmund Duff shows arsenic In the body. The report has been forwarded to Scotland Yard. The Croydon poisoning mystery, Involving the poisoning by arsenic of other members of the Duff family, Is likely to become a leading case in criminology. [The exhumation of several bodies and evidence in connection with the poisoning of members of the Duff and Sidney families have been creating a sensation for some time in England. Evidence of the discovery of arsenic in the body of Miss Vera Sidney was given when an inquest was held at Croydon on April 27. Miss Sidney died on February 14, about a fortnight before her mother, Mrs. Violet Sidney, with whom she had lived at Birdhurstrise, Croydon. The bodies of the two women were exhumed following the mother’s death. At the Inquest on Mrs. Sidney evidence was given that a quantity of arsenic was found in her remains. The Home Office Analyst stated that In the case of Miss Sidney his examination of the organs disclosed about a grain and a half of arsenic. He considered that she must have taken five grains, “a fully poisonous dose.” Thomas Sidney gave evidence regarding the death of his sister, Vera Sidney, whose body, with that of her mother, Mrs. Violet Sidney, had been exhumed. Sidney was examined on a statement he had previously made to the police. He raised objection to phrases attributed to him, complaining that “words had been put into his mouth” by the police Inspector. Sidney was questioned about a tin of weedkiller found at his house. He did not remember where he bought it, and he did not think he signed for It. At the conclusion of his examination on this point he protested, “Why feature my tin of arsenic and leave out the tin which contained arsenic found on my mother’s premises?” Mrs. Grace Duff, who also was called upon to give evidence, Is the widowed sister of Vera Sidney, one of the dead women, and Thomas Sidney is a brother. Edmund Duff was the husband of Mrs. Grace Duff, and also died under suspicious circumstances.]