London Police Sensation

Hokitika Guardian, 14 November 1922, Page 2

London Police Sensation

CHIEF COMMISSIONER POISONED. . LONDON, Nov. 11. Sir William Horwood, Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan- Police, while dressing for the Lord Mayor’s banquet, suddenly collapsed at Scotland Yard. Three doctors were called in, and later it was found necessary to remove him to St. Thomas’s Hospital. The police authorities announce that his illness is due to the malicious administration of poison in ' chocolates. The miscreant is not yet known. Sir William Horwood has been repeatedly tl reatened hy Bolshevik extremists, and there is a suspicion that they placed a corrosive poison in his luncheon. lie narrowly escaped death. Only his fine physique and the fact that doctors were near at hand to give repeated administrations of oxygen saved him. His condition is still seri-

Later. Sir William TTorwood’s condition is still dangerous.

It is understood that the poison, either arsenic or strychnine, was contained in a box of chocolates • posted in London to Sir William Horwood? He and .Miss Drysdnle, his confidential secretary, ate some of the chocolates. Miss. Drvidnlc noticed an unpleasant taste, and ate only one. Sir William Horwood unsuspectingly ate several, and the seizure occurred fifteen minutes later.