SUPPOSED CASES OP POISONING. 
43 
Order in Council relates had been mentioned in addition to petroleum; save that the 
quantity of such substance which it shall not be lawful to keep as in the said Act men¬ 
tioned without a licence shall, instead of the quantity specified in relation to petroleum 
in the said Act, be such quantity as is specified in that behalf in relation to any such 
substance in any such Order in Council. 
8. This Act may be cited as The Carriage and Deposit of Dangerous Goods Act, 1866. 
POISONING BY LAUDANUM. 
Tuesday, June 19th, Mr. Payne, deputy-coroner, held an inquiry at the White Horse 
Tavern, Fetter Lane, respecting the death of Thomas Burges, aged thirty-two. It ap¬ 
peared from the evidence that the deceased had been a supernumerary at the Italian 
Opera. He lodged at the White Horse, Fetter Lane, and was at times, it appeared, 
w'ithout suflftcient food. On Saturday he was found insensible, and at half-past nine 
Dr. Stone was called to see him. He said his illness was caused by laudanum poisoning, 
and asked who would pay if he attended him. Dr. Stone then left, telling Mr. Pyne, 
the landlord, to send for the parish doctor. Mr. Webb, the relieving officer, was then 
sent to for a medical order, and he gave one signed “Webb, M.D.,” and did not state in 
it that it was an urgent case or one of poison. It was sent to Dr. Reed, the parish 
surgeon, who got it in “ the usual course,” and went his rounds. At two o’clock a 
message was sent to him stating the urgency of the case. He then went to the White 
Horse, but the deceased w'as then dead. Three bottles that had contained laudanum were 
found under his pillow. They had been purchased in Manchester. Dr. Reed said the 
post mortem examination showed that deceased died from opium poisoning. He was 
suffering from disease of the lungs, and it w'as possible that he might have taken the 
laudanum to alleviate pain. Immediate measures should certainly have been adopted 
with a view to save the deceased’s life. The coroner having summed up, the jury re¬ 
turned a verdict, “That the deceased died from laudanum poisoning, but whether the 
death was caused by design or accident there was no evidence to show;” and they ap¬ 
pended to their verdict the expression of their opinion, “That the medical orders granted 
by relieving officers ought to be more explicit, and that in all such cases the w'ord 
‘urgent’ should be written on the order; and the jurors further say that they regret 
that Dr. Stone did not give more attention to the deceased when he was called in to 
attend him.” 
SUPPOSED CASES OF POISONING. 
Mr. Henry Edwards, the medical officer at the Cardifi W'orkhouse, has been charged 
with causing the deaths of two men, Francis Buckley and Evan Frank, w'ho died on 
the night after taking some medicine which had been prescribed for them by Mr. Ed¬ 
wards. The p)ost mortem examinations showed that the men had died from congestion 
of the lungs and brain. A very elaborate analysis, both of the contents of the stomachs 
and of the bottle of medicine, was made by lir. W. B. Herapath, the result of which 
was that no poison, metallic or vegetable, was found, and the medicine prescribed by 
Mr. Edwards w'as found to be a harmless mixture, containing iodide of potassium and 
carbonate of potash in small doses. The charge against Mr. Edwards w'as at once dis¬ 
missed by the Bench. 
An inquiry made by Mr. Cockcroft, the coroner for South Northumberland, and a jury, 
at the village of Ponteland, and which has extended over two months, into the circum¬ 
stances of the deaths of three brothers named Bushby, who occupied Donkin’s Farm, 
near that village, was resumed on Thursday. In the early part of the year the deceased, 
strong, powerful Northumberland farmers, with the whole of their household,' were 
prostrate wfith illness, and it was doubtful whether it Avas occasioned by the unsanitary 
condition of the surroundings of the farmhouse or by slow poisoning. They had the 
best medical advice, but the three brothers succumbed to the attack and died. A good 
deal of discussion took place as to the mysterious circumstances of these men’s deaths, 
and the very serious results which had followed the illness of the other persons who had 
