A DOCTOR'S SCIENTIFIC CRIMES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2740, 20 November 1894, Page 3

A DOCTOR'S SCIENTIFIC CRIMES.

A story so sensational has been unfolded at the trial of Professor Beaurigard for murder, that had it occurred in the Old World it would have ranked amongst the most remarkable of the cause celebres of the century. The accused was a man of unusually scholarly attainments, a polished linguist, and an admirable entertain.*. As an experimentalist he was both capable and brilliant, aud his lectures on pathological subjects were the most popular feature of the Ecole de Mediciu of Buenos Ayres. Briefly, the story is this : He gave select dinners, to which never more than three gueßts were invited, and it not infrequently happened that the death of one or more of them occurred within 24 hours of the feasts. The mystery attaching to such an occurrence naturally was great, and waß increased by the fact that no trace of poison was ever discoverable in the bodies of the victims. The doctor who examined the bodies attributed death to cholera or yellow fever. When 15 lives had been suddenly lost after the admirably served dinners of Professor Beaurigard it was decided something must be done, and the professor was accordingly put on trial for murder. The case against him was of the flimsiest character, and was on the point of breaking down when the Public Prosecutor asked for an adjournment for a few minutes as some unexpected evidence had been discovered.

Upon the conclusion of the adjournment a little Spaniard entered the court and pointed to the professor, much to the latter's dismay. The Public Prosecutor said a full revelation would be made the following morning, and the case was postponed accordingly. The next morning Professor Beaurigard was found dead m his cell, killed by a drop of deadly poison, successfully concealed by him in a diminutive golden capsule, placed in a hollow tooth, and which had thus escaped the keen eye of the gaoler. The news of the suicide spread like wildfire, and the populace almost fought to get into court to learn what course the authorities proposed to take. The Public Prosecutor resolved to let the whole story come out from the witness box. The Spaniard states he was the professor's butler, and supervised his dinners. At each dinner given to the parties of three, who died within 24 hours after, the professor excused himself just after the coffee, and, going to his laboratory, would return to the pautry with a block of ice, aud crush it into small pieces, and fill three glasses with it, bidding him pour in creme de vienthe and serve. The professor never drank this mixture, but contented himself with a second cognac. When at the last dinner the professor neglected to throw away the ice left over, and, as was his custom, the Spaniard put all that was left in a bottle, and as it gave off an offensive smell when it melted, he brought it to the prosecuting attorney. A chemist then entered the witness box and said that the previous day he had examined the melted ice and found that it was a living mass of cholera germs or bacilli, originally from active cholera and frozen, without, however, affecting cheir activity or poisonous power, and at once upon introduction to the human system came to life, and the party died in * few hours from Asiatic cholera. The prosecuting attorney said the sources of these deaths had thus been discovered. The butler was blameless, for tie was an unconscious accomplice. The reason for the crime could only be that the professor desired to verify his experiments upon his guests.