IT was once said by a very wise and upright Judge that of all the crimes of which human nature is capable, secret poisoning is the most horrible and the most detestable. The truth of this no one will attempt to gainsay. Secret poisoning means a very cold-blooded and deliberate planning to destroy life—that greatest of God’s gifts—and against it the victim is utterly powerless, for there is no fore-warning, no sudden uprising of passion, no sudden attack. The criminal is silent, secret, and mysterious; and as the deadly tropical snake glides without a sound from beneath some bush or tuft of grass to strike his prey, so does the poisoner proceed with the same deadly and insidious stealthiness to destroy him or her whom he has decided to remove. Formerly the way of the poisoner was easier, fo
