POISON BY POST.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 8841, 30 January 1907, Page 2

POISON BY POST.

STRYCHNINE IN A GIFT OF SHORTBREAD. " With happy seasonable greeting from an old friend." Accompanying this not was a shortbread cake, neatly packed in a tin box, and on its delivery at the house of Mr William Lennox, a retired farmer, 77, of Woodside, Cumnock, Ayrshire, he, his niece, Miss M'Kerrow, and a caller, Mrs Marcus Bain, wife of the vice-con-vener of Ayrshire, were'about to have tea.. The anonymous gift was put upon the table. All three ate a small portion, and Miss M'Kerrow had only time to remark on the peculiar taste of the cake when she became seriously ill. Mrs Bain and Mr Lennox were also similarly attacked. The cake had been poisoned with strychine. Medical aid was called, and soon three doctors were at Woodside j but, in spite of all they could do, Miss M'KerroAv died in great agony within an hour. The police at once took the matter in hand, but as the only clue is the postmark of Kilmarnock they had little to work upon. The happy message which cloaked the sinister character of a deliberate plot was written in an x obviously disguised hand, and the caligraphy ' was so faint that it could only be read with difficulty. Police inquiries elicited the fact that the shortbread was posted in Kilmarnock, that it was of faotory make, and when purchased was without icing. The icing had obviously been done afterwards by an amateur hand, and strychnine is presumed to have been mixed with it. The police, who took the view at first that the poisoning was accidental, were later convinced that murder was carefully planned, because it is reported that Mr Lennox was directed in the unsigned note to toast the cake in front of the fire, or in the oven, before eating it. The instruction was not carried out. A day or two later, considerable , excitement was caused in Ayrshire by the arrest in connection with the caste of Mr Thomas M. Brown, of Ardnith House., New Cumnook, a village six miles distant from the scene of the tragedy. Chief Constable M'Hattly, accompanied by Superintendent Cunningham and an inspector of the county police, arrested Brown, and conveyed him to Ayr by the afternoon train. Mr Bxx>wn is the husband of a niece of Mr Lennox, who so narrowly escaped death from eating the poisoned shortcake, and cousin of Miss M'Kerrow, who died from poisoning. Bw.vn, until a year ago, was a colliery manager at Lanemark, but, through ill-health, he gave up duty, and -lived in retirement. The arreßt was CONDUCTED WITH EXTRAORDINARY SECRECY. The chief constable and superintendent of Ayrshire, late in the afternoon, proceeded to New Cumnock, where they quietly interviewed tradespeople, and compared the handwriting on the greetings card sent with the cake with various letters. Then .they proceeded by train to Ardnith House, two miles away. Brown was found quietly working in his garden, and was aaked to rive into New Cumnock. This he readily consented to do, never for a moment suspecting that he was to be arrested. Further investigation elided in the officers placing Brown under arrest. The man. chatted and joked with his accustomed freedom. When the news got abroad that Brown, who .comes of a good family, had been arrested, every woman in the village rushed to the station to get a glimpse of the prisoner. So great had become the crowd, that the officers had to seek shelter in the stationmaster's house till the train arrived. On the day after the poisoning, Brown hurriedly drove his ivife to Woodside, the house of Mr Lennox, and urged that Mrs Brown would assist in nursing Mr Lennox. It i* now said that a few days before the poisoned shortcake arrived Miss M'Kerrow received a gift of fish, but as they smelt peculiarly she consigned them to the ashbin. Subsequently Brown was examined by the sheriff. The Ayr Court was crowded, but the case was taken in private. Brown was charged with murdering Grace M'Kerrow, niece of, and housekeeper to, William Lennox, a retired farmer, of Old. Cumnock, and endangering the lives of three others, by sanding through the post a shortbread cake, supposed to contain strychnine, of which they partook! He was represented by Mr John A. MacCallum, an Ayr solicitor, and was remanded, the proceedings being brief. It is understood that accused's solicitor entered a plea of insanity.