ALLEGED ATTEMPT TO POISON A FAMILY IN OTAGO.

Colonist, Volume XIII, Issue 1280, 31 December 1869, Page 3

ALLEGED ATTEMPT TO POISON A FAMILY IN OTAGO.

(From ihe Tuapeka Times,. December 11.) Some excitement was caused in Lawrence on Wednesday by the intelligence that Inspector-Percy and Constable Purdie had arrived in charge of a man and woman accused of the serious offence of an attempt to poison a whole family. From what we can learn; the facts ofthe case are as follows:—Jane Doigh, the female prisoner, and. her husband,'have been for sometime engaged as servants at the Spylaw Station, Tapanui. Mrs.- Doigh is a very passionate, woman, and has repeatedly quarrelled with Mr. Cameron, the manager of the station, and his wife. On the occasion of one of these quarrels, she said to Mr. Cameron, ° I hope I yet will see you a corpse in your boots." She also threatened Mrs. Cameron on the day of the alleged attempt, and expressed regret to a boy, named M'Grath, at the non-success of the poison. It appears that every facility for the crime of poisoning was offered at the Spylaw Station. In the woolshed a barrel of arsenio was stored without any precautions' to prevent its being at the disposal of every .one about the place. Mrs. Doigh has repeatedly asked both Mrs. Cameron and her husband to fetch her some of this arsenic stating that she wished to poison rats; but both declined to gratify her. She has however, frequently been seen near the woolshed after dusk. Ah'out six weeks ago, Mrs. Doigh got a tin of soda from some, fencers.. Part of this she gave to Mrs. Cameron, who used it for baking purposes without any ill results follciwing, until Saturday, the 27th lilt., when she used it in some flohr to make scones. Mr. Cameron, Mrs. Cameron, and their child, ate some of these about 5 p.m,. and were almost immediately taken ill, and continued sick until midnight. The spmptoms were violent headache and excessive thirst, and were equally marked in the case of the hoy. M'Grath; who had also eaten of the scones. On: the same evening, previous to the family having tea, Mrs. Doigh fed the fowls with some stale home-made bread soaked in water, and next morning four large turkeys an^ eight other .fowls were found to have perished., This arresting constable has in his possession two of the scones left over, and a quantity of tho powder left after baking. No doubt an analysis of these will show whether arsenic was introduced into them or not. As it is, the case is undoubtedly one of strong suspicion, an 4 thoroughly justifies the police for arresting the accused. The female prisoner is described as about' forjy years of age, and is said to "have tbe appearance of an old hand." We understand that the stojnachs of the poultry, alleged to have been poiponed at Spylaw Station, the sconces, and.a portion of the vomit of the sufferers is to be sent to Wellington for analysis. ' Constable Purdie will have to go North in charge.