FATAL BRANDY DRINKING

Evening Star, Issue 13149, 4 January 1909, Page 5

FATAL BRANDY DRINKING

AMAZING STORY OF A DOCTOR'S WIPE AND NEPHEW. Revelations of secret drinking described by the London City coroner ;i6 amongst the worst he has ever known were made in the Coroner's Court on October 28, at an inquiry into the death of Mrs Louisa .Maria Wilson, wife of » Birmingham doctor. Mrs Wilson died in a Fleet street temreianee hotel of heart failure consequent! on alcoholism, with only her nephew to attend on tier, and he, it was stated, supplied her jn*h the fatal liquor. Mr Lackland Maclean, the nephew, was ailed. He eaid he had been adopted by Hre Wilson as her son, and was reading 'or tlvj medical profession. He came up from Birmingham to London with her, and having put up at the hotel he went out and oought a battle of brandy because the lady had been upset by the motion of the train. He drank a quarter of the bottle himself, and she had the rest. Later she died, after he had sent for a doctor. The hotel housekeeper said she was called to see Mrs- Wilson. Mr Maclean was ths worse lor drink, and .die suspected his aunt was the worse for it also. Mrs Wilson grasped he* band, and exclaimed: " Thank God, it's a woman!" Dr Keyswell, acting division il surgeon for Bow street, said he -was called in and found Mr Maclean leaning over his aunt's bed in an agitated condition, and was told by hint that "uis mother" suffered from penton : ti6 and required morphia. The signs were not of peritonitis, however, but of acute alcoholism. After administering necessary morphia he took Mr Maclean aside, having been informed by him that lie was a and said: " You know* very well you are rot in a condition to look after your mother," and suggested a nurse. Mr Maclean replied that he would " pull himself together." In the morning he received another telephone mesj&ge, but. on. attending refused to administer any more morphia, especially in tile absence of a nurse. Mr Maclean's condition was worse, and ho fell down twice during the conversation. Eventual!;-, on seeing her twice again, witness sent for another doctor, intending to admini.-t.er strveunine. But her heart 6uddenly failed owing to acuta alcoholism. Further evidence was given bv the police, who were informed of the lady's death Under these circumstances. They stated theV found four brandy bottles in the nephew's room, tliTee empty, and the fourth a quarter full. He Was not sober. He'had brought the empty bottles with him from Binnin<»liam, he said, to dispose of them. M?s Wilson, he remarked, was a secret drinker. Dr Wilson, her husband, attended the court, and said he knew notliing of thi* He knew his wife had a weak heart, but had no idea that she took to alcohol. During this evidence the nephew sobbed bitterly, crying: " Oh, mother, come buck t\> me! He exclaimed that he had done a'l m lua power for her, and only gave her brandy when she cried for it. The jurv returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence, addiDg a rider ceiu-urin<» the nephew. ° , " lou.I ou . hil ! e on] y J«st escaped goiurr to the Old Bai.ey for mm'fllaughter." said the coroner to the still weeping nephew.