The War Terror Page 29

  CHAPTER XXIX

  THE LEAD POISONER

  It was a gruesome recital and I was glad to leave the baths finallywith Kennedy. Josephson was quite evidently relieved at the attitudeCraig had taken toward the coroner's conclusion that Minturn had beenshocked to death. As far as I could see, however, it added to ratherthan cleared up the mystery.

  Craig went directly uptown to his laboratory, in contrast with ourjourney down, in abstracted silence, which was his manner when he wastrying to reason out some particularly knotty problem.

  As Kennedy placed the white crystals which he had scraped off theelectrodes of the tub on a piece of dark paper in the laboratory, hewet the tip of his finger and touched just the minutest grain to histongue.

  The look on his face told me that something unexpected had happened. Heheld a similar minute speck of the powder out to me.

  It was an intensely bitter taste and very persistent, for even after wehad rinsed out our mouths it seemed to remain, clinging persistently tothe tongue.

  He placed some of the grains in some pure water. They dissolved onlyslightly, if at all. But in a tube in which he mixed a little ether andchloroform they dissolved fairly readily.

  Next, without a word, he poured just a drop of strong sulphuric acid onthe crystals. There was not a change in them.

  Quickly he reached up into the rack and took down a bottle labeled"Potassium Bichromate."

  "Let us see what an oxidizing agent will do," he remarked.

  As he gently added the bichromate, there came a most marvelous,kaleidoscopic change. From being almost colorless, the crystals turnedinstantly to a deep blue, then rapidly to purple, lilac, red, and thenthe red slowly faded away and they became colorless again.

  "What is it?" I asked, fascinated. "Lead?"

  "N-no," he replied, the lines of his forehead deepening. "No. This issulphate of strychnine."

  "Sulphate of strychnine?" I repeated in astonishment.

  "Yes," he reiterated slowly. "I might have suspected that from theconvulsions, particularly when Josephson said that the noise andexcitement of the arrival of the ambulance brought on the fatalparoxysm. That is symptomatic. But I didn't fully realize it until Igot up here and tasted the stuff. Then I suspected, for that taste ischaracteristic. Even one part diluted seventy thousand times gives thatdecided bitter taste."

  "That's all very well," I remarked, recalling the intense bitternessyet on my tongue. "But how do you suppose it was possible for anyone toadminister it? It seems to me that he would have said something, if hehad swallowed even the minutest part of it. He must have known it. Yetapparently he didn't. At least he said nothing about it--or elseJosephson is concealing something."

  "Did he swallow it--necessarily?" queried Kennedy, in a tone calculatedto show me that the chemical world, at least, was full of a number ofthings, and there was much to learn.

  "Well, I suppose if it had been given hypodermically, it would have amore violent effect," I persisted, trying to figure out a way that thepoison might have been given.

  "Even more unlikely," objected Craig, with a delight at discovering anew mystery that to me seemed almost fiendish. "No, he would certainlyhave felt a needle, have cried out and said something about it, ifanyone had tried that. This poisoned needle business isn't as easy assome people seem to think nowadays."

  "Then he might have absorbed it from the water," I insisted, recallinga recent case of Kennedy's and adding, "by osmosis."

  "You saw how difficult it was to dissolve in water," Craig rejectedquietly.

  "Well, then," I concluded in desperation. "How could it have beenintroduced?"

  "I have a theory," was all he would say, reaching for the railwayguide, "but it will take me up to Stratfield to prove it."

  His plan gave us a little respite and we paused long enough to lunch,for which breathing space I was duly thankful. The forenoon saw us onthe train, Kennedy carrying a large and cumbersome package which hebrought down with him from the laboratory and which we took turns incarrying, though he gave no hint of its contents.

  We arrived in Stratfield, a very pretty little mill town, in the middleof the afternoon, and with very little trouble were directed to thePearcy house, after Kennedy had checked the parcel with the stationagent.

  Mrs. Pearcy, to whom we introduced ourselves as reporters of the Star,was a tall blonde. I could not help thinking that she made aparticularly dashing widow. With her at the time was Isabel Pearcy, aslender girl whose sensitive lips and large, earnest eyes indicated afine, high-strung nature.

  Even before we had introduced ourselves, I could not help thinking thatthere was a sort of hostility between the women. Certainly it wasevident that there was as much difference in temperament as between thebutterfly and the bee.

  "No," replied the elder woman quickly to a request from Kennedy for aninterview, "there is nothing that I care to say to the newspapers. Theyhave said too much already about this--unfortunate affair."

  Whether it was imagination or not, I fancied that there was an air ofreserve about both women. It struck me as a most peculiar household.What was it? Was each suspicious of the other? Was each concealingsomething?

  I managed to steal a glance at Kennedy's face to see whether there wasanything to confirm my own impression. He was watching Mrs. Pearcyclosely as she spoke. In fact his next few questions, inconsequentialas they were, seemed addressed to her solely for the purpose of gettingher to speak.

  I followed his eyes and found that he was watching her mouth, inreality. As she answered I noted her beautiful white teeth. Kennedyhimself had trained me to notice small things, and at the time, thoughI thought it was trivial, I recall noticing on her gums, where theyjoined the teeth, a peculiar bluish-black line.

  Kennedy had been careful to address only Mrs. Pearcy at first, and ashe continued questioning her, she seemed to realize that he was tryingto lead her along.

  "I must positively refuse to talk any more," she repeated finally,rising. "I am not to be tricked into saying anything."

  She had left the room, evidently expecting that Isabel would follow.She did not. In fact I felt that Miss Pearcy was visibly relieved bythe departure of her stepmother. She seemed anxious to ask us somethingand now took the first opportunity.

  "Tell me," she said eagerly, "how did Mr. Minturn die? What do theyreally think of it in New York?"

  "They think it is poisoning," replied Craig, noting the look on herface.

  She betrayed nothing, as far as I could see, except a naturalneighborly interest. "Poisoning?" she repeated. "By what?"

  "Lead poisoning," he replied evasively.

  She said nothing. It was evident that, slip of a girl though she was,she was quite the match of anyone who attempted leading questions.Kennedy changed his method.

  "You will pardon me," he said apologetically, "for recalling what mustbe distressing. But we newspapermen often have to do things and askquestions that are distasteful. I believe it is rumored that yourfather suffered from lead poisoning?"

  "Oh, I don't know what it was--none of us do," she cried, almostpathetically. "I had been living at the settlement until lately. Whenfather grew worse, I came home. He had such strangevisions--hallucinations, I suppose you would call them. In the daytimehe would be so very morose and melancholy. Then, too, there wereterrible pains in his stomach, and his eyesight began to fail. Yes, Ibelieve that Dr. Gunther did say it was lead poisoning. But--they havesaid so many things--so many things," she repeated, plainly distressedat the subject of her recent bereavement.

  "Your brother is not at home?" asked Kennedy, quickly changing thesubject.

  "No," she answered, then with a flash as though lifting the veil of aconfidence, added: "You know, neither Warner nor I have lived here muchthis year. He has been in New York most of the time and I have been atthe settlement, as I already told you."

  She hesitated, as if wondering whether she should say more, then addedquickly: "It has been repeated often enough; there is no reason why Isho
uldn't say it to you. Neither of us exactly approved of father'smarriage."

  She checked herself and glanced about, somewhat with the air of one whohas suddenly considered the possibility of being overheard.

  "May I have a glass of water?" asked Kennedy suddenly.

  "Why, certainly," she answered, going to the door, apparently eager foran excuse to find out whether there was some one on the other side ofit.

  There was not, nor any indication that there had been.

  "Evidently she does not have any suspicions of THAT," remarked Kennedyin an undertone, half to himself.

  I had no chance to question him, for she returned almost immediately.Instead of drinking the water, however, he held it carefully up to thelight. It was slightly turbid.

  "You drink the water from the tap?" he asked, as he poured some of itinto a sterilized vial which he drew quickly from his vest pocket.

  "Certainly," she replied, for the moment nonplussed at his strangeactions. "Everybody drinks the town water in Stratfield."

  A few more questions, none of which were of importance, and Kennedy andI excused ourselves.

  At the gate, instead of turning toward the town, however, Kennedy wenton and entered the grounds of the Minturn house next door. The lawyer,I had understood, was a widower and, though he lived in Stratfield onlypart of the time, still maintained his house there.

  We rang the bell and a middle-aged housekeeper answered.

  "I am from the water company," he began politely. "We are testing thewater, perhaps will supply consumers with filters. Can you let me havea sample?"

  She did not demur, but invited us in. As she drew the water, Craigwatched her hands closely. She seemed to have difficulty in holding theglass, and as she handed it to him, I noticed a peculiar hanging downof the wrist. Kennedy poured the sample into a second vial, and Inoticed that it was turbid, too. With no mention of the tragedy to heremployer, he excused himself, and we walked slowly back to the road.

  Between the two houses Kennedy paused, and for several moments appearedto be studying them.

  We walked slowly back along the road to the town. As we passed thelocal drug store, Kennedy turned and sauntered in.

  He found it easy enough to get into conversation with the druggist,after making a small purchase, and in the course of a few minutes wefound ourselves gossiping behind the partition that shut off the arcanaof the prescription counter from the rest of the store.

  Gradually Kennedy led the conversation around to the point which hewanted, and asked, "I wish you'd let me fix up a little sulphuretedhydrogen."

  "Go ahead," granted the druggist good-naturedly. "I guess you can doit. You know as much about drugs as I do. I can stand the smell, if youcan."

  Kennedy smiled and set to work.

  Slowly he passed the gas through the samples of water he had taken fromthe two houses. As he did so the gas, bubbling through, made a blackishprecipitate.

  "What is it?" asked the druggist curiously.

  "Lead sulphide," replied Kennedy, stroking his chin. "This is anextremely delicate test. Why, one can get a distinct brownish tinge iflead is present in even incredibly minute quantities."

  He continued to work over the vials ranged on the table before him.

  "The water contains, I should say, from ten to fifteen hundredths of agrain of lead to the gallon," he remarked finally.

  "Where did it come from?" asked the druggist, unable longer to restrainhis curiosity.

  "I got it up at Pearcy's," Kennedy replied frankly, turning to observewhether the druggist might betray any knowledge of it.

  "That's strange," he replied in genuine surprise. "Our water inStratfield is supplied by a company to a large area, and it has alwaysseemed to me to be of great organic purity."

  "But the pipes are of lead, are they not?" asked Kennedy.

  "Y-yes," answered the druggist, "I think in most places the servicepipes are of lead. But," he added earnestly as he saw the implicationof his admission, "water has never to my knowledge been found to attackthe pipes so as to affect its quality injuriously."

  He turned his own faucet and drew a glassful. "It is normally quiteclear," he added, holding the glass up.

  It was in fact perfectly clear, and when he passed some of the gasthrough it nothing happened at all.

  Just then a man lounged into the store.

  "Hello, Doctor," greeted the druggist. "Here are a couple of fellowsthat have been investigating the water up at Pearcy's. They've foundlead in it. That ought to interest you. This is Dr. Gunther," heintroduced, turning to us.

  It was an unexpected encounter, one I imagine that Kennedy might havepreferred to take place under other circumstances. But he was equal tothe occasion.

  "We've been sent up here to look into the case for the New York Star,"Kennedy said quickly. "I intended to come around to see you, but youhave saved me the trouble."

  Dr. Gunther looked from one of us to the other. "Seems to me the NewYork papers ought to have enough to do without sending men all over thecountry making news," he grunted.

  "Well," drawled Kennedy quietly, "there seems to be a most remarkablesituation up there at Pearcy's and Minturn's, too. As nearly as I canmake out several people there are suffering from unmistakable signs oflead poisoning. There are the pains in the stomach, the colic, and thenon the gums is that characteristic line of plumbic sulphide, thedistinctive mark produced by lead. There is the wrist-drop, theeyesight affected, the partial paralysis, the hallucinations and acondition in old Pearcy's case almost bordering on insanity--toenumerate the symptoms that seem to be present in varying degrees invarious persons in the two houses."

  Gunther looked at Kennedy, as if in doubt just how to take him.

  "That's what the coroner says, too--lead poisoning," put in thedruggist, himself as keen as anyone else for a piece of local news, andevidently not averse to stimulating talk from Dr. Gunther, who had beenPearcy's physician.

  "That all seems to be true enough," replied Gunther at lengthguardedly. "I recognized that some time ago."

  "Why do you think it affects each so differently?" asked the druggist.

  Dr. Gunther settled himself easily back in a chair to speak as onehaving authority. "Well," he began slowly, "Miss Pearcy, of course,hasn't been living there much until lately. As for the others, perhapsthis gentleman here from the Star knows that lead, once absorbed, mayremain latent in the system and then make itself felt. It is likearsenic, an accumulative poison, slowly collecting in the body untilthe limit is reached, or until the body, becoming weakened from someother cause, gives way to it."

  He shifted his position slowly, and went on, as if defending the courseof action he had taken in the case.

  "Then, too, you know, there is an individual as well as family and sexsusceptibility to lead. Women are especially liable to lead poisoning,but then perhaps in this case Mrs. Pearcy comes of a family that isvery resistant. There are many factors. Personally, I don't thinkPearcy himself was resistant. Perhaps Minturn was not, either. At anyrate, after Pearcy's death, it was I who advised Minturn to take theelectrolysis cure in New York. I took him down there," added Gunther."Confound it, I wish I had stayed with him. But I always foundJosephson perfectly reliable in hydrotherapy with other patients I sentto him, and I understood that he had been very successful with casessent to him by many physicians in the city." He paused and I waitedanxiously to see whether Kennedy would make some reference to thediscovery of the strychnine salts.

  "Have you any idea how the lead poisoning could have been caused?"asked Kennedy instead.

  Dr. Gunther shook his head. "It is a puzzle to me," he answered. "I amsure of only one thing. It could not be from working in lead, for it isneedless to say that none of them worked."

  "Food?" Craig suggested.

  The doctor considered. "I had thought of that. I know that many casesof lead poisoning have been traced to the presence of the stuff inordinary foods, drugs and drinks. I have examined the foods, especiallythe bread.
They don't use canned goods. I even went so far as toexamine the kitchen ware to see if there could be anything wrong withthe glazing. They don't drink wines and beers, into which now and thenthe stuff seems to get."

  "You seem to have a good grasp of the subject," flattered Kennedy, aswe rose to go. "I can hardly blame you for neglecting the water, sinceeveryone here seems to be so sure of the purity of the supply."

  Gunther said nothing. I was not surprised, for, at the very least, noone likes to have an outsider come in and put his finger directly onthe raw spot. What more there might be to it, I could only conjecture.

  We left the druggist's and Kennedy, glancing at his watch, remarked:"If you will go down to the station, Walter, and get that package weleft there, I shall be much obliged to you. I want to make just onemore stop, at the office of the water company, and I think I shall justabout have time for it. There's a pretty good restaurant across thestreet. Meet me there, and by that time I shall know whether to carryout a little plan I have outlined or not."