182 
SUSPECTED DEATH FROM LAUDANUM. 
cumstances of the death of Thomas Hicks, who lived at 82, Angel Lane, Stratford, 
and who died on Sunday, the 26th of July. The deceased had been for nearly thirty 
years in the service of Messrs. Volckman and Sons, the confectioners. His land¬ 
lady, Mrs. Smart, procured, as she thought, some milk of sulphur from Mrs. Hills’, a 
chemist’s shop in High Street, Stratford, some of which was given to the deceased, who 
was suffering from rheumatism. In the early part of the Sunday he was found to be 
suffering from the effects of some irritant poison, which corresponded with the effect of 
nitrate of baryta on the human frame, and from which he undoubtedly died. As he had 
lived in the house of a Mrs. Smart, whose daughter was jointly entitled with the deceased 
to a considerable sum of money, suspicion arose as to the cause of death, considering 
its suddenness and his previous good health. Mrs. Hills, who had previously stated that 
she had no baryta in her shop, was then recalled, and persisted in her averment. After 
a lengthened deliberation, the following special verdict was returned:—“ That the de¬ 
ceased William Hicks died from the effects of baryta, accidentally sold by Mrs. Hills to 
Mrs. Smart as flour of sulphur. The jury are unanimously of opinion that Mrs. Smart is 
entirely exonerated from all blame, and that gross carelessness existed on the part of 
Mrs. Hills. The jury also regret that Dr. Hamilton was not more prompt in his attend¬ 
ance.” The coroner very severely admonished Mrs. Hills with respect to the statements 
she had made as to her possession of green fire, or baryta, in any form, and expressed 
his firm conviction of her unfitness to keep a chemist’s shop. 
SUSPECTED DEATH FROM LAUDANUM. 
An inquest was held, on July 10t.h, by the Leeds borough coroner, on the death of 
James Baines, forty-three years of age, who died, as was supposed, from the effects of a 
dose of laudanum, which his wife had purchased and administered to him as tincture of 
rhubarb. It appears that he was suffering from diarrhoea, but, instead of taking medi¬ 
cine, he ate a great quantity of fruit pie and green peas. His wife went to the shop of 
a general dealer, and obtained a quantity of what she supposed to be tincture of 
rhubarb, and gave the whole dose, two-pennyworth, to the deceased at once : he brought 
it up almost immediately. The following day he became worse, and a doctor was sent 
for, but he died soon after his arrival. A post mortem examination was made, from 
which it was concluded that death was caused by diarrhoea, accelerated by an enfeebled 
heart. Mrs. Hobson, whose husband keeps the shop at which Mrs. Baines purchased 
the supposed tincture of rhubarb, stated that she had on the 1st July received a bottle, 
which was labelled as, and which she supposed to be, tincture of rhubarb, from the shop 
of Messrs. Garland and Co. She sold a portion to a neighbour called Mrs. Radcliffe, 
who mixed it with water, and gave it to her husband to drink. He took it, but had 
experienced no injurious effects. Then she sold a portion to Mrs. Barnes, the wife of 
the deceased, and on Thursday she parted with an ounce to the servant of Mr. Haigh, 
a timekeeper at Messrs. Tetley’s brewery. The mixture was sent back, Mrs. Haigh 
stating that it appeared very like laudanum; but she produced the bottle, which was 
plainly marked tincture of rhubarb. This satisfied Mrs. Haigh, and the medicine was 
administered, but she felt nervous as to its being correct, and hastened to a chemist with 
the bottle, and he told her that it was laudanum. Upon this she went back, and told 
Mrs. Haigh that that which had been given her as tincture of rhubarb was in reality 
poison, and that a doctor had better be obtained at once. That was done, and Mr. 
Haigh recovered.—A man called Thomas Wood was then examined, and stated that he 
was a porter in the employment of Mr. Garland, chemist, of North Street. It was not 
his duty to make up drugs, but on the 1st of July, in the absence of the assistant, he 
took a quantity of liquid out of a stone bottle, placed it in another, labelled it “ tincture 
of rhubarb,” and sent it to Mrs. Hobson. That mixture turned out to be laudanum. 
He had never thought of looking at the label of the stone bottle, which was marked 
“laudanum,” and could not account for his having filled the small bottle without doing 
so.—In summing up the evidence to the jury, the coroner pointed out that it was appa¬ 
rent that the deceased had died from natural causes, but animadverted upon the gross 
carelessness shown by the witness in filling a bottle out of a jar, the label of which he 
