Poison Romance and Poison Mysteries

g to the social position of the lady, the trial was a cause célèbre of the time, and the circumstances of the case were of an extraordinary character. Miss Smith, who

the drug. The worst point against her was the fact of her having possession of the poison; and, irrespective of two previous purchases of coloured arsenic for which she had given false reasons, it was proved that the accused had purchased one ounce, as she said, "to kill rats," on March 18, only five days before the death of L'Angelier. The arsenic sold was coloured with indigo, according to the Act of Parliament. When charged with the crime, and required to account for the poison, she replied

have been swallowed unknowingly, and, therefore, suicide was indicated. The jury accepting this view of the

declined to divulge his wife's maiden name. He kept a small surgery, and is said to have been in receipt of about ￡400 a year from an unnamed source. Some years after, believing that his wife had been recognized, he bought a practice at Hotham, near Melbourne, and they sailed for Australia. Shortly after their arrival, Mrs. Hora left her hu

he cause of her death was gastro-enteritis. Eleven weeks after she had been buried, the body was exhumed and examined. An analysis revealed the presence of one hundred and fifty-four grains of arsenic in the stomach alone. The possession of a considerable quantity of arsenic was brought home to the accused, a