A Home Thrust

1895

Mme. de Stael had fallen out with the Viscount de Choiseul, owing to certain malicious reports circulated by the latter. One day the lady and the viscount met in company, on which occasion good manners required that they should speak to each other. Mme. de Stael commenced, "We have not seen you for a long while, M. de Choiseul."

"Ah! Mme. l'Ambassadrice, I have been ill."

"Seriously, monsieur?"

"I had a narrow escape from being poisoned."

"Alas! Possibly you took a bite at your own tongue."

This little joke fell like a thunderbolt on the viscount, who was a notorious backbiter and mischief maker. The lesson was a severe one, but he richly deserved it and had not a word to say. — Savoir-Faire er Savoir-Vivre.

An Axe and Pistols in Play

New York, 1895

Two dogs were the bone of contention in a disturbance aired in Justice Hendrickson's court on Friday. The canines are owned by Truman Brown and Mrs. Christopher Stokey. The row was the result of the dogs getting into a fight. The Brown household turned out to help their canine.

When Mrs. Stokey saw her dog getting the worst of the battle she scramed and her husband appeared armed with an axe. Then the Browns ran into their house and came out with revolvers. A war of words followed. Finally Brown went to the village and swore out a warrant for the arrest of Stokey for threatening to kill him.

Stokey was discharged. The Browns questioned the Justice's decision and narrowly escaped being fined for contempt.


Poisoning Dogs at Dunton

The dog poisoner has been at work in the village of Dunton and dead canines have been visible all over the place. Strychnine was the poison used. Some valuable dogs were among those poisoned.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.

Poisons of the Kitchen

1895

Some Things That Should Be Closely Watched by All Housewives.

In face of the frequent accounts of accidental poisoning the following facts may prove both interesting and useful. In the first place, all copper vessels should be retinned directly the surface shows signs of being worn. Neither acid, salt nor fatty bodies will attack well cleaned copper vessels. Vinegar may be even boiled in them with safety, but should it be allowed to cool in the vessels it will dissolve enough copper to become dangerous. The advantage in copper poisoning is that one of the first symptoms is vomiting — that is to say, the poison is rejected from the system.

Zinc, though it conceals itself so often under the name of "galvanized iron," is still more dangerous than copper. No acid foods or liquids should ever be allowed to remain in galvanized vessels. Lead, from a culinary point of view, is the least to be recommended of all the metals, as it poisons slowly without producing vomiting, while tin, iron, steel and nickel are practically harmless.

But it is not only these vessels used in preparing food which are dangerous. Many foods in themselves are legitimate objects of suspicion. For instance, the potato becomes unfit for food when it has commenced to germinate or when it is green from having been partially exposed to the air while growing. The green parts and the "eyes" contain an undoubted poison, which has a sharp taste and is capable of producing paralysis or even death. At the end of the winter many pigs are unhealthy through having been fed on these green potatoes or on potatoes from which the eyes containing the germs have not been carefully cut.

Mushrooms should always be carefully verified by a person thoroughly acquainted with their peculiarities. Some cooks put a silver coin with them when cooking. If the coin turns black, they reject the mushrooms. This is really no test at all, as many of the poisonous fungi will not blacken silver. All animal food in an advanced state of decomposition is more or less poisonous. For this reason tinned fish is never to be trusted, as the fish are often stale when tinned. Smokers especially should be careful, as their taste is often not so fine as that of a nonsmoker, and they are consequently less likely to detect a tin of doubtful fish. Mussels, again, are always poisonous, although the seat and nature of the poison have never been discovered. — Philadelphia Press.

Horse Killed By Rough on Rats

New York, 1895

A horse belonging to A. F. Huettner of Hicksville, valued at $700, was killed by eating rough on rats Monday night. The poison had been scattered in some empty stalls to get rid of the rats which infested the stable. Mr. Huettner's horse got loose during the night and devoured the poison.


Big Fire at Roslyn

Fire broke out in Hicks Brothers' lumber yard in Roslyn Wednesday morning. The fire was first discovered at 11 o'clock, issuing from the roof of the main office. Before the fire company responded to the alarm the flames had spread to the planing and saw mill, the hardware store rooms, and other buildings. A building which was used to store paints and oils also took fire, but was saved. The other buildings opposite were destroyed, including a large amount of valuable machinery. The fire then spread to the lumber sheds, which were badly scorched but were saved through the heroic efforts of the firemen and bystanders. The loss will reach $50,000 covered by insurance.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, March 8, 1895, p. 1.

Woman Drinks Three Poisons

1920

Is Then Rescued From River and Will Probably Live.

DIXON, Illinois. — Mrs. Sutherland of Oregon, widowed mother of three small children, attempted suicide by drinking the contents of three bottles of different poisons and then leaped into Rock River. Rescue from the river was effected quickly and it is believed she will recover.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 4.

Poisons Long In Use

1910

Some poisons have been known for ages. Prussic acid, then called "the poison of the peach," was used by the Egyptians before the pyramids were built. They were the first to distill the poison from peach pits.

Corrosive sublimate was one of the favorite poisons of Charles IX of France. He offered a large prize for any one who would find an antidote for it. A physician came to him one day to claim the reward. The king sent for his cook, who had burned the meat that day, and made him take a fatal dose of corrosive sublimate. The antidote was administered immediately, but the cook died, notwithstanding. The king had the doctor taken out and hanged, so his spirit followed the cook's in less than a quarter of an hour.

Where Pineapples Grow

1878

A letter from the island of Eleuthera, in the Bahama group, written to the New York Sun, thus describes the cultivation of the pineapple:

That the soil of Eleuthera should yield such an abundance of delicious pineapples, is a matter for wonder to a person who has been accustomed to the fertile lands of the United States. One who has never been on a coral island can form but the faintest notion of the exceeding roughness of the surface and the ungrateful aspect of the ground." The island of Eleuthera, which furnishes such vast numbers of pineapples, is indeed covered in the main by a wild vegetation, while the earth from which it springs is in great part of the roughest conceivable character of rock.

Holes of every size, form and description, some of them partly or wholly filled with dirt, the debris of decayed vegetation, loose fragments, large and small, round and angular, sharp and hard, everywhere abound. The rock sticks up its stinging points and cutting edges in the most irregular and provoking fashion. No plough, no spade, no hoe, can here be used. The only thing that can be done is to stick a sprout into one of the holes and let it take care of itself, which it almost invariably does right well; for it likes that kind of soil, and sips its sweet nourishment from the little dirt it may happen to find in the hollow of the rock.

The holes are very close together, the sprouts are placed scarcely a foot from each other, and as the plant grows up it spreads its long, sharp, hard leaf blades, with edges armed with little rasping, saw-like teeth, up from the ground and abroad in every direction. The plant has a thick supply of these outbending leaves, lapped closely one over the other near the ground, and out of the centre of which comes up the fruit, one pineapple only to each plant, which then perishes, but leaves behind a progeny of young sprouts, and these being stuck into the hollows insure a new crop for the succeeding year. This replenishing can be kept up for about six years, and then the whole field about exhausted, is left to itself, the plants die out, in the course of time the soil is renewed, and fresher fields now demand the care of the pine grower.

The only attention given to the plant is to keep the field clear of weeds, and that is almost daily work the year round. One negro man can attend to about two acres. The worst weeds to contend with are a species of bidens, a plant very well known in the United States, as Spanish needles, and a kind of crab grass. One object of placing the plants so close together is to give the pineapple possession of the soil, and the weeds little chance of usurping the ground. The first sight of a pine field is astonishing, for it presents a broad intricate jumble, of a vast mass of interlacing leafy sword blades, and the first impression is that such a jam of vegetation would be utterly incapable of producing any fruit whatever, whereas the fact is, the acre properly attended to yields the enormous number of ten to twelve thousand pineapples.

There is another enemy, no less formidable than the weeds that requires looking after very sharply, and that is the rat, which, attacks the fruit just as it is about to ripen. If no measures were taken to prevent the depredations of these troublesome creatures, very few pineapples indeed would escape their destructive jaws, The planter has a remedy. Sweet potatoes are cooked, and while they are yet hot, the sulphur ends of common matches are broken off and introduced into them. The phosphorus is diffused throughout the substance of the potatoes, and these being placed among the pineapple plants are eaten by the rats, which almost immediately fall dead from the effects of the poison.

Mystery of 'Poison Farm' Deepens As Two More Die

1915

Visit to Place Brings Out Peculiar Story

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Dec. 16. — "There y' be," said the guide. "Y' see that stretch o' woods? It's past them. Nobody's ever been in them woods. Y' can't get thru. Well, we go round 'em and then down the hill and then we come to the poison farm. Giddap. Beautiful day, ain't it?"

The rig jogged over the unfrequented road that ran away in loops to meet the sky.

"There ain't many people as comes out here," went on the guide. "It's only a mile and a half from Marseilles but the woods there ain't very hospitable, and the poison farm ain't the sort of place people gets too curious about.

Two More Just Died

"Y' know, two o' them died last week, both together. Everybody dies or gets sick. It's the most mysterious thing. Now, y' take the people as lived on it five or six years ago. I don't recall how many died, but I know they was durn sick, and it always comes on 'em at the same time of the year — almost a certain day. It's something to do with them woods there, I'll betcha, altho the doctor's been working down there for two weeks now, ever since the little girl took sick. Giddap.

"You wouldn't think on a beautiful day like this as there was a poison farm right around the bend, would y'?"

For a few minutes the rig rattled along without any obligato from its driver. The country which on leaving the village of Marseilles had become typical Illinois farm country was now assuming the aspect of a broken wilderness against which pioneers were still struggling. To the west stretched the "poison" wood in which, according to the gossip of the countryside, "no foot had ever trod."

"Poison House" Looms Up

"Now we're comin' to it," called the driver, flickering his whip. "There she is. Y'see that little house. That's the house. That's where the two died last week. Giddap! Come on, there!"

The veteran village charioteer was growing excited. He had straightened in his seat and was leaning forward.

The rig drew to a stop in front of a pretty farmhouse that lay in the shadow of the river hills around it.

"Hello Doc," called the guide, and a serious looking man approached. He introduced himself as Dr. A. J. Weirick of Marseilles.

"Let's not bother the folks," he said. "You can look over the place, and I'll tell you what little we have been able to find out about it."

A tour thru the farm revealed nothing unusual. Apparently the farm differed in no way from the farms which adjoined it. The same road cut thru it, the same pastures surrounded it, the same growths covered it. Only in the pretty farmhouse sat the lone figure of a man, the farmer, who had lost his wife and child a few days ago.

An hour later Dr. Weirick told the medical and scientific side of the strange story which has aroused superstition and fear in the neighborhood. The farm has been tenanted by various families. Before the present tenants lived on it two other families were the occupants.

It was many years ago that something strange about the farm became apparent. In October one or two of the people in the place would get sick. There were deaths but no attention was paid.

The next tenants came on the farm and again the strange fact was noticed that in October sickness came and death. One after another the family fell ill during that month of the years they were there and they finally moved.

Mother, Then Daughter, Stricken

The first year the present occupants were there the wife became ill — in October. She was saved by medical treatment. The second year the daughter became ill — in October. She, too, was saved. The third year the father was stricken and saved as the others had been.

A year passed, during which the peculiar illness was absent and then in October the daughter fell ill. The father also began to "feel bad," and doctors were summoned from Ottawa and Marseilles. While the doctor was caring for the girl and her father the wife began to complain of dizziness and nausea. A nurse was sent for. She had no sooner arrived than the older woman succumbed. Her death was followed in a few hours by the death of her daughter. The husband, who appeared to be also dying, was taken to the hospital.

"It's some form of poison," went on Dr. Weirick. "What it is we don't know. The State Board of Health has taken a hand. The coroner at LaSalle long ago gave up the case. He said there was nothing he could do.

"There is something strange and perhaps unknown to our science lurking in those dense woods or in the pastures. We're as far from a solution of the various deaths and illnesses as ever."

"Giddap," cried the guide, leaving the hospital, whither Dr. Weirick had gone. "I tell y' what, young fella. If y' want the real story o' this poison farm y' go ask Looie over t' Marseilles. He knows. It was he as came thru them woods one night after celebratin' in Ottawa, and while I ain't got no faith in what he says an' no belief in them kind o' things, y' just go and ask him if y' want the real story about why everybody dies in October sudden when they lives on that farm."

A Strange Bed Fellow

1896

A. B. Goodwyn tells of rather an amusing incident, but what might have proved a serious accident, which occurred near the Lincoln County line.

Aaron Woody, with his family, lives in a small dug-out near Barnard, and one night last week Sam White's cattle broke out and one of the steers weighing about sixteen hundred pounds wandered onto the roof of the dug-out and went directly over the bed occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Woody. He went, like McGinty, to the bottom, striking the bed, but fortunately he fell across the headboard and not directly on the sleeping occupants.

Mr. Woody finally got the steer off and looked after the injuries of his wife and child. The latter he at first thought had been killed, and a doctor was sent for, but it speedily recovered and no serious injury except a terrific scare resulted from the accident.

This is a great country, where cattle wander on top of the houses and fall in on people while they are asleep. — Minneapolis Messenger.


Oriental Secrets

The Orientals possess the secrets of certain poisons in which they dip their daggers; a scratch from one of these poisoned instruments causes death. It is compounded of certain herbs and berries unknown to Europeans. — Detroit Tribune.

Poison in His Coffee

1914

Neighbor Runs Four Miles to Save Man From Wife's Mistake

Passaic, N. J., Jan. 23. — Stanley Ferra, of Lodi, ran four miles from Lodi to a silk mill at Dundee Lake to save the life of Fred Godolen, an employee of the silk company. He succeeded.

Mrs. Godolen in preparing her husband's luncheon, poured his coffee in a bottle that contained poison. When she discovered her mistake she ran to the house of Ferra, next door, and asked him to go to the mill and warn her husband.

Ferra would not rely on the telephone, so he ran all the way. There was enough poison in the bottle, Mrs. Godolen said, to kill ten persons.

Two Despondent Men Attempt Suicide: Laudanum, Morphine, Noose

Atlanta, 1896

BOTH WANTED DEATH

Two Despondent Men Attempt Suicide in Two Ways.

LAUDANUM, MORPHINE, NOOSE

One in a Wagon Yard, the Other in a Shed.

WILL SIMPSON TOOK DRUG POISON

He Was Found with a large Quantity of Drugs In His Stomach, but Was Saved.

The suicide mania was abroad in the city yesterday. Two citizens were seized with the desire to end their existence. Both tried the usual methods of suicides.

One of the desperate men attempted to hang himself in a deserted shed. He was found and cut down just in time to save his life. His neck bears the imprint of the improvised noose, and it also has a decided crick in it.

The other unfortunate decided on the laudanum and morphine route to the other world and he swallowed enough poison to kill several men. He was found in a wagon yard and hauled to the hospital just as the poisonous drugs were taking effect. Before the doctors could pump out the man he was nearer to death than is usual in cases when would-be suicides are saved. His was given up as a hopeless case, but at the last moment the man was saved. He is very sick now.

The poison patient was picked up by some farmers in Morris's wagon yard, on Decatur street, adjoining the police station. He had taken an ounce of laudanum and three grains of morphine in his desperate effort to kill himself. The discoverers of the man called in the police and it was found that the sick man, Will Simpson, a bartender, who works for J. G. Sprayberry, on Decatur street, was in a very bad way. He was getting worse rapidly, and but for the prompt action in sending for the ambulance and hauling the man to the hospital he would have died in the yard.

Simpson lay between life and death at the hospital nearly all day. The physicians and surgeons in charge devoted several hours applying the restoratives in such cases, and after hard work they were rewarded by seeing the sick man begin to revive. He improved slowly, and late in the afternoon was on the road to recovery. Last night the physicians said that he would recover. Officers Shepard, Walton and Abbott took charge of the man when he was found, and they sent him to the hospital. He declined to tell why he had swallowed the drugs. When told that he might die he said that he had nothing to say beforehand.

Hanging In a Shed.

The would be suicide who attempted to hang himself is not known. His name was not taken at the Grady hospital. It is not the custom of the officials there to take the names of patients who attempt to kill themselves. The man is a negro. He was found in an old shed on a lot on Liberty street, near the old barracks in the western part of the city. He tied a cloth about his neck for a rope and jumped off into space with the other end of the noose fastened to a rafter above. When cut down the darky was breathing hard and was in a dangerous fix, but he was brought round all right.

—The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, March 16, 1896, page 9.

Tries to End Life When She Loses $6

1920

Factory Girl Takes Poison Because She Couldn't Pay Debt

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Six dollars may not seem like a lot of money to some folks, but to Beulah Ryan, a factory girl, it was a big sum. It represented exactly the amount she had borrowed from her step-father and which she had promised to pay back this week. And she had worked half a week for it.

Beulah was happy when she left the manufacturing company, and on the street car on the way to her home she hummed a little song. Now and then she peeped into her purse to see that the six paper dollars were secure.

Arriving home, she again looked into her purse. The $6 were gone.

Half an hour later the red-eyed girl retraced her steps to the spot where she had left the street car. But the money was not to be found.

Beulah stopped in a drugstore on her way back home. In her room she took the poison she had purchased there. But the doctors arrived in time and Beulah will recover.

Husband's Bad Table Manners Cause Suicide

1928

CHICAGO, May 25. — (AP) — Her husband's table manners were blamed for the suicide of Mrs. Gladys Drew, who took poison yesterday.

Edwin Drew, the husband, said his wife became angry over the manner in which he handled his spoon as they were eating at a restaurant. A quarrel followed and she went home where he found her shortly afterwards dying.

—The Fresno Bee, Fresno, CA, May 28, 1928, page 1.

A Case Where Honesty Was Not the Best Policy

1920—

Wanted To Buy Some Poison

A Case Where Honesty Was Not the Best Policy

A Blade reader in Ruatan, Honduras, Central America, sends in this good one:

Recently a small farmer in Honduras called at a city drug store and asked for some poison with which to kill wild animals that were destroying his poultry. On being informed that no poison could be sold without a personal recommendation from the mayor of the town, he went in search of that functionary and soon returned with the following note:

"Please give Mr. W---- a little poison, as he is an honest man."

The note was signed by the mayor.


Gets a Lesson in "Honesty"

At Same Time Learns a Trick in Apple Packing

Two piles of apples lay on the ground. One contained a large-size and rosy selection; the fruit of the other was green and small.

"Large on the top and small at the bottom," inquired the new assistant of his master, as he prepared to fill a barrel.

"Certainly not!" replied the farmer, virtuously. "Honesty is the best policy, my boy. Put the little apples at the top and the large ones at the bottom."

The assistant complied. His master was evidently as green as his greenest fruit.

"Is the barrel full, my lad?" asked the farmer.

"Yes," answered the assistant.

"Good!" said the farmer. "Now turn it upside down and label it."

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 9.