The Mysterious Poisoning Case at Auckland.

Manawatu Herald, 10 January 1893, Page 2

The Mysterious Poisoning Case at Auckland.

♦ A case of poisoning, resulting in the death of a young man named Walter Nelson, occurred at Auckland on I hur.«day night. Nelson, who cam? from the country to spend his holidays in town with his wife, was staying at his grandmother's, in Union street. On Thursday afternoon, about 4 o'clock, the members of the family who were then at

home, comprising Mrs Nelson, her sister, their grandmother, -and the baby, all partook of part of a jam sandwich which was made in the house, and in about an hour afterwards were seized with the usual symptoms of poisoning, and' became seriously ill, but vomited so freely that when Nelson came home in the evening, at about 6 o'clock, they had nearly recovered, and the affair was treated as of no great moment. Suspicion had not been turned upon the ji in sand witch as the cause oi the 'illness, and Nelson himself ate part of it. He then said he felt ill, and appeared to grow worse. The others became alarmed, and sent for a doctor. Emetics were administered, but Nelson died shortly before midnight A strange circumstance is that Nelson, unlike the others, did not vomit or show the usual symptoms of irritant poisoning. The ingredients used in making the sandwich were flour, three eggs, a spoonful and a half of cream of tartar, three quarters of a spoonful of baking soda, and plum jam. The poison is believed to have been in either the jam or cream of tartar, as flour and baking soda from the same supply had been used in preparing other food. The jam was purchased at a grocery store, and was one of the ordinary tins, while the cream of tartar was also bought from the grocer. The theory is that arsenic was used instead of sugar by mistake in the manufacture of the jam, or that what was supposed to be cream of tartar was really a fatal drug. An inquest will be held. Nelscn was a young man employed in the bush. The other members of the family have recovered from the ill effects of the poison. The inquest on the body of Walter Nelson, who died in Union -street was adjourned until Friday next. An analysis of the contents of the stomach is to be made. The evidenco showed that the cream of tartar used in making the jam roll was bought from a grocer named Boyle. After eating a part of the roll, Nelson drank a cup of tea and went out. When he came back an hour afterwards he was very ill, and though emetics were given he did not vomit, and he rapidly became worse and died. Dr Lawry said he had submitted some of the cream of tartar to an analytical chemist, and found that it contained arsenic. Other evidence was given to the effect that a considerable quantity of the cream of tartar was sold by Boyle from the tin out of which that sold to the Nelsons was taken. A sample of the cream of tartar obtained some time ago from the grocer who supplied the Nelson family, was analysed to-day, and was found to contain arsenic. — Press Association.