FOUR DEAD MEN AT CARD TABLE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17570, 22 June 1925, Page 12

FOUR DEAD MEN AT CARD TABLE.

FIFTH PLAYER’S TERROR. NEW YORK, May 4. Air Henry Smith, of Minneapolis, is in hospital in a critical condition, suffering from nervous shock, as a result of his experience last evening, the weirdest tragedy the Middle Western city has ever known. Mr Smith was one of four guests invited to a carrl party by Mr William Maher, a prosperous business man. Arriving rather late, Mr Smith, on entering the Maher dining-room, found his host and the three guests sitting round the table, very straight, very still, and looking very solemn. Before them were cards, a bottle, and glasses. Supposing that his friends were playing a joke on him, he gave one of them, Mr Joseph Marrcui, a heavy slap on the back. The man toppled sidewaj-s off his chair as though he had been shot; he seemed to gasp, and then laydead at Smith's feet. Startled almost out of his wits, Mr Smith went to the other men, touched them one by one, and found them all cold in death. Then he fainted. When he came to consciousness again he rushed from the place screaming for help. The coroner has found in the bottle, which contained whisk}*, some red berries, which are believed to be of a deadly poisonous nature. The rest is mystery.