POISONING TRAGEDY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 191, 13 August 1931, Page 1

POISONING TRAGEDY.

Officer’s Mysterious Death After Meal. POLICE ADMIT FAILURE. United Press Assn.—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, August 12. The inquest failed to throw the least light on the death from poison of Lieutenant H. G. Chevis, of the Royal Artillery. An open verdict was returned after the widow described the meal, at which the poison was allegedly administered, in detail. The police admitted that they had failed to trace the source of the strychnine or the sender of the mysterious “ hooray ” telegram.

The death of Lieutenant H. G. Chevis, of the Royal Artillery, which occurred on June 21 after eating some partridge which was contaminated with strychnine, was developing into a crime sensation. The police said they knew the identity of a person who bought a quantity of strychnine, and early developments were expected. An apparently baffling clue was contained in a telegram which was received by his father, Sir William Chevis, from Dublin on June 24. It read: “ Hooray, hooray, hooray ! ” The police, however, were convinced that the person who sent the telegram was the same as the person who purchased some strychnine from a Dublin chemist. The identity of this person was said to be known. Lieutenant Chevis and his wife dined in their army bungalow and both ate the partridge. The wife recovered. The partridge was immediately burnt lest it poison the dog, so the clue was lost, but meat in the safe outside the bungalow could have been poisoned without anyone knowing.