FEAR OF POISON.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 July 1919, Page 3

FEAR OF POISON.

j NEW YORK, May 28. ; Miss Brenda Tarkington, an Ameri- • can governess employed in the ex-Kai-j serin’‘s households, tells in the New J York American the story visit she has just paid to the former German Empress. “The plight of this woman, shorn of her throne, is pitiable,” writes Miss Tarkington. “She has aged beyond recognition in recent months. To-day her features are hag- ; gard and care-worn. She lives in ter- ! ror for her life. ! “The ex-Empress burst into tears and said: Several extraordinary things have happened to me in recent weeks. One evening towards the end of the first week in February I was having coffee after dinner. I was not feeling very well at the time. After sipping the j coffee, I could not take any more. Shortly before midnight I was alarmed to hear that a servant had been taken ill. I sent my own physician to her, to find out what was wrong. “ ‘After attending the girl he returned and told me she had taken coffee that appeared to contain something with a very bitter taste. An examination of the coffee was made, and my physician found mixed up with it several grains of hyoscine.’ “ ‘ “Your Majesty has had a narrow escape from serious illness/’ was the polite way in which he informed me of a plot to kill me by my servants. I sent for the police. Three of my.most trusted maids were arrested. Since then I have been most careful not to touch food of any desiription without the assurance of my physician that it is perfectly safe for consumption.’ ” Miss Tarkington then relates how the ex-Kaiserin showed her copies of msigned letters she received, snying: ‘Your days are numbered. No power m earth can save you.” The ex-E : mperor is in low health, mable to rest or sleep, the cx-Kaiserin idded.