FAMILY CHLOROFORMED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11056, 6 May 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

FAMILY CHLOROFORMED.

BURGLARS RANSACK THE HOUSE.

DOCTOR'S SENSATIONAL STORY.

Particulars have just transpired of a burg- | lary under very extraordinary circumstances at? ; 100, Bow Common Lane. Bow, the residence of a well-known medical practitioner, Dr. Wingfisld Meadows, which the detective I officers attached to Bow are busily investi- ; •'•■ ting. It appears that the doctor retired to rest with his wife and child late at night, leaving all the windows and doors fastemd. •U seven o'clock the next morning the servant, named Kate James, upon going downstairs to perform her usual morning work, found that the kitchen and the doctor consulting room and surgery had been ransacked. and was further surprised to see her master's trousers lying on the floor of the kitchen. She at orce went to call her master and mistress, but experienced some ililticultv ir arousing them. On entering the room she found them, together with their child, aged about four years, lying in bed, side by side, in a partially insensible condition. After some effort the girl managed to arouse her master and mistress, and tho child. The doctor, having overcome the state of insensibility into which lie had fallen, at once gave it as his opinion that lie, his wife, and child, were suffering from the effects of chloroform. A subsequent investination showed that an entry had been effected by means of the kitchen window, which was found open. The burglars, of whom there were apparently two or three, paid a visit to the surgery, and then ransacked nearly all the drawers to be found there, and even took the trouble to take the coverings off many of the medicine bottles and pots. A bunch of keys was taken from the doctor's trousers, and with these the burglars opened a large dressing-case, taking therefrom a sum of £12. They also took a large quantity of jewellery, and a collection of valuable coins. In the kitchen was also found a bundle of silk, which the burglars had tied together, but had. for some unexplained reason, left behind. Dr. Meadows, on being interviewed, said —" I have practised here as a doctor for about five years, On the night, in question I retired to bed with my wife and child. Both my wife and child went to sleep, but I remained awake in bed smoking and reading, in case I should be culled out to attend a case. I fell asleep shortly after one o'clock, and remembered nothing more until I was awakened at about seven o'clock by my wife and the servant. I then experienced a strange feeling, and noticed a faint smell of chloroform, and at once came to the conclusion that I and my wife and child, who both experienced the same sensation, had been chloroformed. I got up and descended to the kitchen, where I found that the house had been ransacked. Nearly everything in my surgery was upset, money, coins, and other things having been taken. The burglars must have spent some time in the house, for they appear to have opened all the drawers in the dispensary, and even went so far as to take the tops off the medicine pots. My impression is that the burglars must have entered the house by means of the kitchen window, and then proceeded to my surgery and taken therefrom a large bottle half-filled with chloroform. Of this drug they must have placed a large quantity on a handkerchief and put under the door of my bedroom, in order that I, my wife, and child might be made insensible before they ventured to enter the room. That chloroform was used is evidenced by the fact that the bottle which I left on a shelf in my surgery was found by me on a sort of counter, I some distance from the shelf on which itoriginally stood. If a handkerchief soaked with chloroform were placed under the door and left there for ten minutes it would certainly have the effect- of making anyone who might be in the room insensible. In fact, had I not been awakened, I should probably have remained partially unconscious until mid-day. Tlw effect on my wife and child was even worse than upon me. for both of them were subsequently very sick. In addition to my trousers, from which the burglars took my keys, being found in the kitchen, was also my wife s dress, which the burglars had also brought downstairs. My servant, Kate James, informs me that during the early hours of the morning she heard I', cockatoo, which I possess, give a cry as or alarm, and also heard someone walking about, but took no particular notice, thinking I had been called up to attend an urgent case. There is no doubt but that a large quantity of the drug put upon a handkerchief and placed in the manner I have described would place any sleeper, after an interval of ten minutes, in a comatose condition. and is, therefore, a. very effective weapon in the hands of a burglar. It is a strange fact that this is the sixth burglary that has taken place- in this district since Christmas, and it has transpired that on the samo night burglars endeavoured to effect an entry at the private residence of a Mr. ' Rosenberg, of 89, Bow Common Lane."