A bottle of strychnine was evidence in the trial of Soseki Natsume for the nonfatal poisoning of William Shamspeare. It was a bottle of strychnine-contaminated liquid stolen by Olive Green in her haste to commit suicide, only for Ryunosuke Naruhodo to intervene, causing a brown rat to accidentally kill itself with the strychnine instead.
Used as a murder weapon[]
- Main article: The Memoirs of the Clouded Kokoro
The blue bottle of strychnine came from the black market and was purchased by Olive Green. She suspected William Shamspeare killed her fiancé, Duncan Ross, by blowing into the gas pipe causing a gas leak. Since it was happening with the next tenant, Soseki Natsume, she decided to cover the pipe with strychnine to get revenge on Shamspeare. It was set up so nothing would happen in the event that Shamspeare was innocent after all.
Shamspeare did not succumb to the poison until a few days later, after Green awoke from an accidental stabbing by Joan Garrideb. Herlock Sholmes and Ryunosuke Naruhodo had Natsume arrested for Shamspeare's poisoning since he was the only one with him that night. Although Shamspeare survived, he truly thought Natsume was the perpetrator and accused him of murder.
During the investigation of his poisoning, Naruhodo and Susato Mikotoba visited Green again. Green planned to commit suicide by drinking the strychnine, but the two's arrival stopped her. After being shown a picture of Ross, Green fainted, dropping the bottle and causing its contents to spill. Sholmes then revealed her suicide attempt by showing that a rat had died when it accidentally drank the spilled poison. Green confessed, but said the bottle came from a doctor's cabinet. Sholmes confiscated it.
The next day during Natsume's trial, Naruhodo accused Green of attempting to poison Shamspeare due to possessing the bottle of poison. Sholmes had it tested, and it was confirmed that strychnine is what poisoned Shamspeare. Naruhodo presented the bottle to provide a link between Green and the poisoning.