Poison Romance and Poison Mysteries. C. J. S. Thompson

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СКАЧАТЬ natural causes, but is always the result of somebody's act. Whenever any one is accused of having practised witchcraft, or of having committed any other crime, Calabar bean or Muavi is used to decided the case. The taking of these is the great trial by ordeal, and, usually, except when the accuser is a witch doctor, accused and accuser have both to submit to the test. Chiefs, however, may appoint a deputy to undergo the ordeal in their stead. Muavi consists of a specially prepared drug, usually made by scraping the wood of a certain tree known to the witch doctors; this is mixed with water, and both parties swallow the decoction. In a very short time the drug begins to act. Vomiting sets in, followed by convulsions and death. Of course, in most cases the result depends on the dose given. Sometimes both accuser and accused are seized with vomiting; in that case the natives say that the medicine has been badly prepared, and the operation is repeated. At other times both die; in that case also the medicine was no good, but the trial cannot be renewed, as may be readily understood. When the guilt of one of the parties has been established by his death, his property is at once looted, his wife and children being killed. So great, however, is the faith of the natives in the infallibility of the Muavi test, and they so fully believe that in case of innocence they will be proof against the deadly effects of the drug, that they will never hesitate to submit themselves to the trial; in fact, they will frequently volunteer to go through it, and insist upon taking muavi even when falsely accused. From this account it will be easily seen that the witch doctor who prepares the muavi can easily get rid of any person he may wish. In some districts the drug used for the trial, instead of causing death, when it has not acted as an emetic, merely causes purging; but the result is the same, as the man is at once put to death." This is probably due to a weaker decoction of the drug having been prepared. The same traveller states, in many instances his own men have offered to take muavi in order to refute the slightest charge. Trial by ordeal, which still survives in the Dark Continent, was practised by other and more civilized nations in the early Christian era.

CHAPTER III

       Table of Contents

      ROYAL AND HISTORIC POISONERS

      Poison appears to have been employed as a political agent from a very early period of history, and numerous stories have been handed down of royal personages who used this secret and deadly method of ridding themselves of troublesome individuals, and removing enemies from their path. They also, at times, became the victims of jealous rivals by the same nefarious means.

      One of the earliest traditions we have of this kind is that of Phrysa, who poisoned the queen Statira during the reign of Artaxerxes II (Mnemon), B.C. 405–359, by cutting her food with a poisoned knife. The notorious Nero doubtless resorted to the use of poison more than once, as may be inferred from the story of the death of his brother Britannicus, who, it is said, was poisoned by his orders. Britannicus was dining with his brother and the Imperial family, and, as was the custom of the Romans, hot water was brought round by slaves to the table, the water being heated to varied degrees to suit the taste of the drinker. According to the story, the cup of water handed to Britannicus proved to be too hot, and he gave it back to the attendant slave, who added cold water to it, which addition is supposed to have contained the poison; for no sooner had he swallowed the draught than he fell back gasping for breath. His mother, Agrippina, and Octavia, his sister, who were also at the table, became terror-stricken, but Nero, unmoved, calmly remarked that he often had such fits in his youth without danger, and the banquet proceeded. It is thought probable that the poison given was prussic acid in some form.

      A curious superstition existed in early times, and is still entertained by the ignorant, that if the body rapidly decomposes after a sudden death it is to be attributed to the effects of poison. So when Britannicus died, it is recorded that the Romans attempted to conceal his discoloured face by means of paint. During the Roman period, poisoning was reduced to a fine art, and the skilled or professional poisoner obtained large amounts of money for his services.

      The Borgias' favourite method of administering a lethal dose was by means of a species of hypodermic injection.

      The greatest craft and cunning used to be exerted in order to introduce poison into the system, and there are many old traditions concerning the subtle methods employed, although a number of these are doubtless more legendary than correct. Thus Tissot states that John, King of Castile, owed his death to wearing a pair of boots which were supposed to have been impregnated with poison by a Turk. Henry VI is said to have succumbed through wearing poisoned gloves and Louis XIV and Pope Clement VII through the fumes from a poisoned taper. King John is supposed to have been poisoned by matter extracted from a living toad placed in his wassail bowl, while Pope Alexander VI is said also to have fallen a victim to poison, "after which," according to the chronicler, "his body presented a fearful spectacle."

      A document drawn up by Charles, King of Navarre, throws some light on the systematic manner in which the poisoning of obnoxious persons was carried out in mediæval times. It is in the form of a commission to one Wondreton to poison Charles VI, the Duke of Valois, brother of the King, and his uncles, the Dukes of Berri, Burgundy, and Bourbon. It runs: "Go thou to Paris; thou canst do great service if thou wilt. Do what I tell thee; I will reward thee well. There is a thing which is called sublimed arsenic; if a man eat a bit the size of a pea, he will never survive. Thou wilt find it in Pampeluna, Bordeaux, Bayonne, and in all the good towns thou wilt pass at the apothecaries' shops. Take it, and powder it; and when thou shalt be in the house of the King, of the Count de Valois his brother, and the Dukes of Berri, Burgundy, and Bourbon, draw near and betake thyself to the kitchen, to the larder, to the cellar, or any other place where thy point can best be gained, and put the powder in the soups, meats, or wines; provided that thou canst do it secretly. Otherwise do it not." It is satisfactory to learn that the miscreant who was intrusted with this diabolical commission, was detected in time, and executed in 1384.

      It is related of Charles IX that, having suspected one of his cooks of stealing two silver spoons, he resolved to try the effect of bezoar, which at that time was highly recommended as an antidote to poisons. So, thinking a good opportunity had arrived for testing its properties, his Majesty administered to the unfortunate cook, first, a large dose of corrosive sublimate, and then a dose of the reputed antidote; but the unlucky man fell a victim to the experiment, and died in great agony in seven hours, in spite of other efforts to save him.

      There is an old tradition that King John also figured as a poisoner, and got rid of the unfortunate Maud Fitz-Walter by means of a poisoned egg. The story is a romantic one, and is related by Hepworth Dixon in "Her Majesty's Tower." "In the reign of King John, the White Tower received one of the first and fairest of a long line of female victims, in that of Maud Fitz-Walter, who was known to the singers of her time as Maud the Fair. The father of this beautiful girl was Robert, Lord Fitz-Walter, of Castle Baynard, on the Thames, one of John's most powerful and greatest barons. Yet the King, during, it is said, a fit of violence or temper with the Queen, fell madly in love with the fair Maud. As neither the lady herself nor her powerful sire would listen to his disgraceful suit, the King is said to have seized her by force at Dunmow and brought her to the Tower. Fitz-Walter raised an outcry, on which the King sent troops into Castle Baynard and his other houses, and when the baron protested against these wrongs, his master banished him from the realm. Fitz-Walter fled to France with his wife and other children, leaving poor Maud in the Tower, where she suffered a daily insult in the King's unlawful suit. But she remained obdurate, and refused his offers. On her proud and scornful answer to his overtures being heard, John carried her up to the roof and locked her in the round turret, standing on the north-east angle of the keep. Maud's cage was the highest and chilliest den in the Tower; but neither cold, solitude, nor hunger could break her strength, and at last, in the rage of his disappointed love, the King sent one of his minions to her room with a poisoned egg, of which the brave girl ate and died."

      Bluff King Hal at one period of his life was apprehensive of being poisoned, and it was commonly believed that Anne Boleyn attempted СКАЧАТЬ