POISON CHARGE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 45, 22 February 1934, Page 16

POISON CHARGE.

DEATH OF; A MINER. STRYCHNINE IN APRICOT. INVALID ARRESTED. (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, February 14. Chio of tho strange deaths from poison- , ing which occur periodically to horrify tho people of this country was recorded on tho night of January 13. George Datson, 51 years old, was employed as watchman at the Junction North mine at Broken Hill. On that night ho took hia '•crib" to tho mine ss usual, and he ato part of ail apricot which seemed to him to taste bitter. Some time afterward lie was found groaning in agony, and though ho was hurried away to hospital ho died in a few hours. It happened that Datson had been suffering from lead poisoning, and as his symptoms just before his death suggested that sort of disorder, tho doctor in charge gave a certificate of death from pulmonary infection. But rumours were already afloat which induced the police to make further investigation. They found that, two days before Datson took ill, the household eat died suddenly, and on the day of Datson's death a pet parrot was found dead in its cage. Hearing these things the police got possession of°the fruit that Datson had been eating when his seizure took place, and analysis showed that in the apricot which he had bitten but left unfinished there was enough strychnine to kill three or four men. An order for the exhumation of the body followed, and in the stomach traces of strychnine were' discovered. Tho police also disinterred the bodies of the cat and the parrot, which had died about the same time, and sent them to Sydney to tho analyst of tho C.1.8. Wife in Hospital. By this time gossips had been busy, and the police heard a great deal about Datson's family life. Apparently he and his wife had' not been on good terms; but up to the time of his death she was in hospital, convalescent after the ■birth-of a child. In the Datson house lived, an invalid pensioner, William Henry Warren, who was reported to show a great deal of interest in' Mrs. Datson, and on© of the hospital nurses testified that Warren had visited Mrs. Datson at the hospital several times, and that, on one occasion at lea,st, he kissed her. The upshot of all this was that last week Warren was arrested, and on Thursday he was charged with poisoning Datson. As about 50 witnesses are to be examined, the case has been adjourned to allow the police time to arrange the evidence. Detective's Allegations. But the detective in charge made in the court a very significant statement. The day before Datson's death lie quarrelled with Warren, and gave him till January 14 to leave the house. On the afternoon of January 12 Mrs. Datson came back from, the hospital with her baby; and by this time Datson had gone on his night shift as watchman at the mine. Next morning, before Datson got back to the house, the wife had left home, and stayed at a friend's place nearby till after her husband had gone to work again. This was January 13, the day before the date fixed for Warren's departure; and on that morning on his return from the mine, Datson found his parrot dead in the cage. The detective pointed out that Warren was the only person who had been about the place, except Datson's sons. But as the case was adjourned at this juncture, public curiosity must wait to be satisfied till further evidence is available. . .