CENTIPEDE OF DEATH

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12532, 18 April 1935, Page 3

CENTIPEDE OF DEATH

GREAT DETECTIVE’S MOST BAFFLING CASE. When Baron fde Zeidler, a wellknown French racehorse owner, was found dead in his stables at St. Cloud it- seemed obvious that lie had been kicked to death by one of bis horses, for the marks of a. horse’s hoof were plainly visible on his face and neck. ITaid not M. Bertillon, the astute French detective, noticed the marks of tho hoof were in such a position that they could not have been made by a horse, a very ingenious murder might have gone undiscovered. He eventually found out that tho Baron bad been killed with an implement consisting of a horseshoe attached to a long stick, and his body dragged to the stables. A CORSICAN’S CRAFT. This is one of the amazing methods used by murderers that Mr IT. Ashton-Wolfe describes in his book. “The Thrill of Evil” (Burst and Blackett, London), in which lie tells of French crimes in which lie bellied the Paris Smote. On one occasion they were tracking a ruthless Chinese murderer, and had raided a house, where lie was believed to he with one of his intended vie t.ims. “With a rush wo were inside.” writes Air Ash ton-Wool ie. “T caught might bf -a horrible shrunken Chrnnman. who was peering with a cruel, gloating expression into the next flat. A right hook from Bannister ('•mother detect 1 vo) sent him sprawling to the floor, and Bertillon at mice darted past. “ ‘Quick,’ lie shouted, ‘into the next flat, lint beware, "there is a giant centipede gripped in FI Khofir’s neclc.’ ” Tt war; afterwards discovered that the claws of a eenlipede were treatel with a violent: unison, and the creature was lowered, hv means of a silken cord, through a hole in the eeili.n" upon the person to lie attacked. The claws hv themselves were c.ap"hle of causing instant death. CATS’ CLAWS POISONED Scarcely loss gruesome was the murder of Sven Larsen and Ids wife, by his brother. Both 'died* from tetanus bacilli. The murderer had discovered that the bacillus was present in quantities near the bungalow where riiey lived, and had rubbed the claws of .his three favourite cats in (the soil. “'Both his brother and his wife were very fond rtf animals,” writes Mr Ashton-Wolfe, “and I imagine he would pull the cats away brutally whilst they were caressing them, causing the poor things to cling desperately with their claws and thus produce the fatal scratches. Afterwards he cleaned the claws with carbolic.” A Corsican evolved an ingenious plan to kill his wife and the man with whom she had r uu away. The couple were found dead in front of a Ere, poisoned with cyanic acid. How it was administered was a puzzle until a perforated metal cyl : nder wagj discovered amongst the ashes in the grate. This tube had been filled with sulphuric acid and cyanide, and then inserted in a hollow fire-log. .When the fire heated the metal, flic deadly ga.s spurted out. To disguise the fact rtf an international murder the criminal had caused a number of robberies to he committed by a similar idea using a pois on, the fumes olf which, sent the householders to sleep.