October 5, 1895 
THE CHEMIST AKD DRUGGIST 
513 
Union bureau and ask for a fir&t, second, or tlird rae 
■worker, and at the same time obtain, with that guarantee of 
efficiency, a guarantee of the personal character of the person 
in want of a place. If Trade Unions adopted a line like this 
they would meet with wider sympathy and be engaged in a 
better warfare. 
Selling Poisons to a Regular Customer 
without Entering the Sale. 
Dr. Danford Thomas, held an inquest at the St. Giles’s 
Coroner’s Court, on September 25, on the body of Charles 
Frederick Jordan, aged 44, a brass-finisher. The evidence 
showed that Jordan had been much depressed of late 
owing to bad trade and the failure of a sweetstuff shop he 
had opened. He sent his apprentice to a chemist for 1 cz. 
of cyanide of potassium, and shortly afterwards he was found 
dead on the floor of the workshop, having taken the poison. 
Mr. William Cooper, of Greek Street, Soho, said that Jordan 
used cyanide of potassium in his work, and when his 
apprentice produced his business card he was supplied with 
the poison without signing the book as the law demanded. 
The Coroner : By doing that are you carrying out the law? 
The Witness : Well, not exactly ; but if a customer is well 
known, and uses the poison in his business, we do not compel 
him to sign. The Coroner : But that is not according to the 
law, and you know you place yourself under a penalty every 
time you do not make the applicant sign. You had better 
look up the penalties, and be very careful in future The 
jury returned a verdict of suicide during temporary 
insanity. 
The Chemist Exonerated. 
A child named Ada Hart, nine weeks old, died at Pallion, 
near Sunderland, last week. The child had been suffer- 
ing from diarrhoea, and the mother sent to Mr. Todd’s 
chemist shop for a bottle of glycerine, syrup of squills, and 
syrup of violets. When it came she saw that it was of a 
yellowish colour, instead of blue, and sent it back, but Mr. 
Todd stating that it was all right she retained it. Every 
time the child was given a dose it immediately went to 
sleep, and slept nearly all day. Later it died in a fit. Mr. 
Todd, in giving evidence at the inquest, stated that the 
servant asked for oil of almonds, and not syrup of violets. 
If the child had swallowed the whole of the contents of the 
bottle at once it would not have harmed it. Dr. Martin, who 
attended the child before it died, said death was due, in his 
opinion, to narcotic poisoning — what, he could not say. It also 
appeared that the child’s grandmother was in possession of 
a mixture of magnesia, oil of aniseed, Turkey rhubarb, crabs’ 
eyes, laudanum, sugar, and water. She had had the pre- 
scription in the house for twenty years, and believed that 
originally it did not contain laudanum, but this was added 
at the suggestion of a chemist. She had given it to various 
children, but was positive she had never given it to this child. 
The jury agreed with the Coroner that Mr. Todd had nothiog 
to answer, and found that the child had died from narcotic 
poisoning, though how or by whom administered there was 
no evidence to show. 
Carbolic-acid Poisonings. 
Annie Childs, aged 50 years, the wife of a refreshment- 
house keeper, of 158 Drury Lane, had been melancholy for 
some time, and when her husband had left to go to work she 
killed herself by drinking carbolic acid. 
Ann Paisley, 65 years of age, who resided at Gateshead, 
went to a cupboard on Sunday for the purpose of getting 
some vinegar to drink, but got hold of a bottle containiug 
carbolic acid, and drinking the contents, died in con- 
sequence. 
A Sheffield hairdresser, 22 years of age, named Francis 
Sutcliffe, appears recently to have given way to drink, and 
after an unusually heavy bout he went home and drank a 
large glass of carbolic acid. He died within an hour, in the 
coarse of the inquest the Coroner said he thought people 
should be better acquainted with the terrible results of 
carbolic-poisoning. 
A man named Edwin Davies, aged 32, was brought before 
the Magistrates at Newport (Mon.) on Monday, charged with 
wounding his sister on the hand with a table-knife, but 
through her intercession he was set at liberty. Davies later 
in the day purchased a quantity of carbolic acid from a local 
chemist, and going into a field swallowed it. He was shortly 
afterwards found in an unconscious condition, and taken to 
the infirmary, where the stomach-pump was applied and 
other remedies adopted, but the man eventually succombed. 
On a note-bock in his pocket was written, “ 1 am going to 
take my life.” 
After the death of her sister Ann Ansell, widow, of 
Netting Dale, seemed much upset, and jemarked, “ Ah I I' 
shall be the next.” When the worse for drink she swallowed 
carbolic acid, and the jury on Wednesday returned a verdict 
of misadventure. It was said that for three years she had% 
been regularly drunk on Fridays and Saturdays. 
A Chemist’s Assistant Steals a P.ano. 
James Clark, described as a chemist’s assistant, of 
51 Burton Street, Nottingham, was charged on remand at 
the Nottingham Police Court, on September 26, with steal-- 
ing a piano, valued 30Z , the property of Miss Eva Stead, of ' 
31 Bateman Street, Hyson Green, Nottingham. It was 
stated that the parties formerly resided at 15 Kindle Street, . 
but they had nothing to do with each other. On July 16' 
the prisoner, who had been out of a situation for a con- 
siderable period, was apparently short of money. Daring- 
prosecutrix’s absence he took away a piano belonging to her^, . 
for which she was paying by instalments the sum of 30^. 
He sold the piano to a man named Fair weather in the* 
Alfreton Road for lOZ. IO5. The prisoner pleaded guilty, 
and his counsel appealed to the Bench to deal with the case 
under the First Offenders’ Act. He was sentenced to four- 
teen days’ imprisonment. 
Early Closing, 
The chemists of High Wycombe have agreed to close each • 
Wednesday at 4 p m. 
The chemists of Castle Cary have decided to close each 
Thursday afternoon, and at 7 p.m. during the winter. 
History of Chemical Discovery. 
Under the auspices of the London Societv for the 
Extension of University Teaching, Professor W. Ramsay 
will deliver twenty- five weekly lectures on “ The History of 
Chemical Discovery,” on Tuesday evenings, at 8 o’clock, 
beginning October 8. The lectures vrill be given in tbe 
City of London College, White Street, E C. Tickets for the 
session (consisting of three terms), 10s. ; teachers, 5«. Fon 
each term, 5s. ; teachers, 2s. Qd. Single lectures, Is. , 
A Bogus Chemist and his Wife Sent to Gaol. 
Henry Record, who described himself as a chemist (but 
not on the register), and Naomi Record, his wife, of no fixed 
place of abode, were charged at the Wootton Petty Sessions 
on September 26 with stealing a pair of boots at Woodstock, 
Oxon, on September 10. Naomi pleaded guilty on this 
charge, and was sentenced to three months’ imprUonment 
with hard labour. Henry pleaded guilty to another charge 
of stealing a silk handkerchief, a silk necktie, and a cigar- 
case on September 10. It appeared that the prisoners were 
in the habit of obtaining admission to dwelling-houses under 
the pretence of selling recipes, and during their visit they 
took anything they could lay their hands on. Henry got 
three months also. 
A Druggist’s Difficulties. 
In the City of London Court on September 27, Mr. Wallis„. 
of Holborn Viaduct, E.C., applied to have Mr. George Walters, 
druggist, 127 Waterloo Road, committed for the non-pay- 
ment of 2,1. 2s. ^d. due. The judgment was obtained in May, 
1894. The defendant had been carrying on business for a. 
loDg time, and he had been served with several judgment- 
summonses. The Assistant- Judge said the original order- 
made against the defendant was for payment of 2s. Qd. per 
week, and these instalments had accumulated. He should 
have thought the defendant could have paid so small a sum- 
if he was a druggist. He ordered the defendant’s committal 
to Holloway for ten days for non-payment of the amount 
due, suspending the operation 01 the order for a fortnight. 
