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I

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want to introduce you to a new historical

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true crime podcast on the exactly right

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network, buried bones, cohosted

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by journalist Kate Winkler Dawson and

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retired coal case investigator Paul

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Holmes, buried bones as a study

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into the human psyche. and a reflection

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of just how far we've come. Each

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week, Kate presents Paul with one of

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history's most compelling true crime cases

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and Paul weighs in using modern forensic

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techniques to bring new insights to

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old mysteries, together using

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their individual expertise they

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examine historical true crimes through

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a twenty first century lens. The

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buried bones premier episode transports

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you to Manhattan in nineteen hundred.

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and the events of the life, death,

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and potential murder of magnate

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William Marsh Rice. When his valet

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becomes seduced by dubious attorney,

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Rice's life is threatened. Did they

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kill the millionaire? Talks psychology

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is key in this case. Enjoy

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the following clip from the premiere episode

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of Berry Bone. While you're listening, if

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you like what to hear, follow buried bones

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on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, The

1:05

Wonder app, or wherever you get your podcasts.

1:09

If they make rice

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just sick enough that because of

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his advanced age eighty four, the

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rest of his body will give out. Right? So

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it won't be murder, but it will be moving

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the process along. So they start giving

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him mercury in his

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milk. I mean, mercury as

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in thermometers that you're now not

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allowed to break mercury?

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Well, mercury comes in in different forms.

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Mercury itself is heavy metal, and

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it was used extensively and

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still lives in some capacities even

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within dental fillings today. But

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It is something that is toxic

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to the person. Now it all depends

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on how you ingest it. In this case,

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we have ingestion orally.

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So now the mercury is going into

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the body. And if it's in milk, which

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is a water based product that's

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telling me that it's probably a mercury

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salt. Salt are generally aqueous

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soluble or water soluble. So

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now the mercury is able

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to be absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract

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and get into rice's

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body. But if it's at a low enough

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level, you're not going to have the real

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classic acute poisoning symptoms.

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Failing around. Exactly. it

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builds up in the body and

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there would be symptoms starting

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to manifest themselves

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over time, you know, such as

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GI issues or

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kidney or liver problems.

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And then eventually, you might start to

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see, you know, the pulse that come

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in with the mercury poisoning. You

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know, those top hats. You know, the everybody's

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heard of the the mad hatter. Right? Yeah.

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Yeah. And those top hats used

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to be treated with a mercury type

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compound, and I forget the reason why.

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I didn't know that. And so what was

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happening is is, you know, when you're wearing

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these top hats that had that

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mercury in that, it was being transdermally

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absorbed. And now you have that mad

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hatter's disease where now they

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have this chronic exposure to

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mercury. So in many ways,

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Patrick is convincing Jones,

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well, just give him a little bit of mercury here and

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there. and eventually this eighty four

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year old body is going to give out. It's

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still a homicide. You know, it's still poisoning.

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It's not that immediate like a stabbing

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or gunshot or strangulation. It's

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a homicide that could take weeks if not months.

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Well,

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it's interesting because they're

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trying to evade detection, which

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we're gonna hear about in a little bit, was

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not so difficult to do with toxicology in

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the late eighteen hundreds and right at the turn

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of the century. toxicology was just really

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moving then. And so there were

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some tools available, but there weren't some

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tools. You could detect arsenic, cyanide,

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some other things, but Mercury, I

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don't know if they would pick that up in a blood test or

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not during that time

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period. Yeah. And this is where I had to go back.

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I actually have a book written in eighteen

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ninety two. Wow. The

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essentials of forensic medical toxicology

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and hygiene. Oh, that must be a fun read.

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Oh, yes. Believe me.

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You

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just heard a clip from buried bones on exactly

4:10

right. To hear the rest of this premier episode,

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head over to the buried bones feed and

4:14

follow the show wherever you get your podcast.

4:16

You can also listen one week early on

4:18

Amazon Music, or early and ad

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free by subscribing to Wonderry

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Plus in the Wonderry app. New episodes

4:25

every Wednesday.