The Poisoned Umbrella
Photo credit: Wikimedia
It’s a case that many people have heard of. In 1978, Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident and a BBC journalist, was poked in the back of his leg by an umbrella held by an unknown man. The unknown man ran off, and sometime later, Mr. Markov complained that his leg had gone stiff.
The next day, Markov was taken to St. James’s Hospital, Balham, where he spoke up about the umbrella man. Markov was described as being “very toxic,” and he had a high fever. He was diagnosed as having septicemia, but the antibiotics failed to cure him. He died a few days later from cardiac arrest.
Markov’s body was inspected, and the doctors found a puncture wound on the back of his leg where he said he had been bumped by an umbrella. An X-ray revealed a platinum pellet inside the puncture wound. The pellet was removed, and inside two small holes that were drilled into the pellet, ricin was detected. The murder of Georgi Markov remains unsolved, but it is generally believed that it was carried out by the Bulgarian secret services.
It's my guess that the dead man must have got hold of some information he shouldn't have and paid the deadly price. Either that or could be he was just simply a spy that knew too much.
Coffee out on the patio this morning. Gonna be a hot one with the temps around 91.
