Oswald Martin didn’t take long to get settled in Hay. Before his dispute with Major Armstrong, he had already been married to a local woman, and his legal practice had become a success. Considering his recent achievements, it probably didn’t surprise Martin too much when a box of expensive chocolates was delivered to his home. Strangely, though, the gift was anonymous. As described in a Channel 4 documentary, Martin had a dinner party shortly after and served the chocolates. His sister-in-law ate several of the candies, and, the following day, felt sick. Martin was somewhat suspicious and mentioned it to his new wife’s father, Fred Davies, who was the local pharmacist, but neither had any idea who might have sent the chocolates.
In the midst of the dispute about the sale of Major Armstrong’s estate, Martin received the invitation from his rival to have tea at his home. As detailed in a documentary from the History Channel, the visit seemed to be a social one, during which Major Armstrong talked about how much he missed his late wife, Katherine. In addition to tea, Martin claimed that Armstrong had given him a buttered scone – which he passed across the table to Martin, apologetically saying “excuse fingers.” That evening after dinner, Martin had symptoms similar to stomach flu. Some have argued that it was simply indigestion from the extremely rich meal he had just finished, but Martin’s father-in-law found it suspicious.
