NARROW ESCAPES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6496, 27 May 1899, Page 1

NARROW ESCAPES.

(Cassell's Saturday Journal.) In the course of a chat, an eminent toxieologist told the Avriter that there are many authentic examples of people snatched from the very shadow of the gallows by poison experts. " Of a truth," said he, "it is far easier to prove — I mean legally prove, for if there be a reasonable doubt, the prisoner lias the benefit of it — a man innocent than guilty ; and in these days anyone would indeed be unfortunate who shall innocently suffer the extreme penalty of the law after a conviction for poisoning. No, the guilty are more likely to escape punishment tiian trie inn> cent to be unjustly condemn*!. "Many years since, a gentleman, wellknown in sporting circles, Avas arraigned for having slowly poisoned his Avife by the covert administration of arsenic. The facts were dead against him, and I, with the rest of the Avorld, did not hesitate to presuppose his guilt. It Avas notorious that he Avas weary s of his wife, his marriaga Avith Avhom had been confessedly one of convenience. She had been in a state of chronic invalidism almost ever since Tier wedding day. Moreover, he was pecuniarily a large gainer by her death, and there Avas no doubt he had frequently purchased arsenic. But, though the case against the prisoner looked so black, his blood - guiltlessness Avas clearly demonstrated. The room in Avhich Ins poor invalid Avife had spent her life, possessed a vividly-green wall-paper, prepared Avith arsenic, and from this it was that she had absorbed the poison that had brought her days to an untimely close. "Another instance I call to mind is that of a man T/hom I myself attended. He died Avith every symptom of poisoning by belladonna (tlhe deadly nightshade). Suspicion fell immediately upon his wife, with whom he lived on exceedingly ill terms, and all the cooked uneaten, food in the house was seized for analysis. No trace of belladonna could be discovered in anything except a rabbit-pie. In it, however, there Avas much, Noav, it is a fact that rabbits can eat the leaves and berries of the deadly nightshade and suffer no illeffects. Should their bodies, though, become thoroughly impregnated Avith the constituents of the herb, they form a most dangerous comestible for man. In the case quoted, my patient had partaken heartily of the death-dealing pie, and it was science alone Arhich saved his Avife from destruction. . "'lf,' I once said to an old lady in a country village, 'this young fellow dies, Avho Avill be the richer "for his death—any- . body ? ' Why, sir,' she ansArered Avith much, simplicity, 'only me and Joe.' Joe Avas the sick man's brother.' " ' Well,' I went on, ' he's been poisoned; Can you tell me what he's been eating ? . " ' Just the same as us,' she replied— 'cold mutton, rice puddin', and a *it o' cheese.' "At my instigation, a policeman was fetched, and all these things Avere placed under lock and key for future examination. It Avas common knoAvledge that the brothers Avere on bad terms. At the time I write of — I beb'eve it is not done so commonly noAV-5-jt Avas usual to cut a cheese with a copper Avire ; a thing harmless enough, of itself, but exceedingly fraught with danger if the said Avire be allowed to remain for any appreciable length of time in contact with the cheese. "Puzzling one day over the recent illness of the young man above mentioned, for I was still far from satisfied as to its cause, I by chance entered a grocer's shop, and the first thing that caught my eye was a large Stilton cheese, almost bisected by a verdigrisy copper Avire. " The true explanation of my late patient's sickness flashed into my mind, and I inquired whether ■ his mother was accustomed to deal there. She Avas. I then called the proprietor of the establishment 'on one . side, drew his attention to the verdigrisy wire in the cheese, and told him how very nearly young D ■ had succumbed."