THE POISONED BEER SENSATION

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1508, 24 January 1901, Page 16

THE POISONED BEER SENSATION

FURTHER DEATHS REPORTED. Further deaths from arsenical poisoning through drinking beer, says a London paper of Bee. 9, are reported this week. The first case in Liverpool of death from suspected beer poisoning took place on Monday at the workhouse infirmary, the victim, being a woman aged 34. A medical officer stated, that she died from neuritis, with symptoms of arsenical poisoning. Another death has taken place in Ancoats, the deceased being a woman who had beein suffering from peripheral neuritis. Two more deaths have been reported to the Manchester City coroner. The deceased were women in humble circumstances, one being Alice Riley, of Lodge street, Queens road, and the other Christina McCulloch, of Gorton. The Salford coroner* opened an inquest on Tuesday respecting the death of Sarah Richards, of Chadwich street, Salford, whose death, which took place on Monday, is supposed to have been due to arsenical poisoning by.drinking beer. William Richards said the deceased was his wife, and was 50 years or age. She had suffered for two years from bronchitis, and she had for about three months been attended by Dr. Cran She appeared to be very ill on the previous Saturday, and gradually sank and died. She was a sober woman, and had had no beer for the last two months—The Coroner: I have my own opinion about that. —Witness : Then you know better than I do? —Coroner*: I am afraid I do.—Witness, continuing, said his wife was not in a fit

condition to take beer. :>.io usually- had a giass for her supper, but since Dr Cm a had been attending her she had not- been allowed, to have any. The inqi-mt was then adjourned indefinitely. the coroner intimating that a post-mortem examination. would be made. A long discussion took plr.ee at the Manchester City Council on W e-hiesdav. Alderman Walton Smith, chairman of the Sanitary Committee, replying to questions, said it was bis regrettable duty to state that the city analyst had made a mistake, and that he had subsequently, under the direction of the medical officer of health, discovered arsenic in beer, samples of which he had previously pronounced to be free. The Medical Officer of Health for Manchester, in a- report to the Sanitary Committee, says it. may be assumed that there have been between one thousand and twe thousand cases of poisoning from beer containing arsenic. He has examined samples of sugar and saccharine from six local breweries, and has found arsenic in each of them. All the samples came from the same sugar firm. It is evident that the epidemic lias been in- existence for some months. Nearly the whole of-the employees of big Manchester brewing firm which has extensive malt kilns at VYorksop ■ have been seriously affected with the symptoms* of arsenical poisoning. The men were served with an allowance of beer daily, the ale being forwarded direct from the company’s brewery. For some time the men have been affected by losing alternately the use of their legs and arias, and have shown dropsical tendencies. In one case the sufferer's skin became very dark and scaled off. The. only man who has escaped is a total abstainer. With the exception of three ail the men are now off work and under medical treatment. On Nov. 30 the bear in stock for the use of the men —four 56 gallon casus —was all run off into the public sewers. The firm has no licensed houses in Worksop, nor is the beer brewed by it sold by any licensed victualler in the town. Many cases of peripheral neuritis have come under the notice of the medical practitioners in the administrative county of Lancaster. On Monday a circular was issued from the co'unty offices at Preston to superintendents of police throughout the county stating that last week samples of beer taken by the police in the county districts had been analysed, and had proved useful in the investigations carried cut. It was not proposed to proceed further in respect to the contaminations’xGund. From Monday, however, the conditions were to be different, and in eases samples of beer, which it was hoped the police authorities would ircely purchase, were found to contain arsenic action would be taken under the Food and Drugs Act-. The exhaustive analysis of samples of beer and brewing materials which the Medical Officer of Health for Birmingham is conducting, resulted on. Monday, in the discovery cf arsenic in two samples of glucose. The various railway companies serving Burton-on-Trent have been taxvl »o their utmost to supply orders for Burto”. ales received from northern biewery companies and others affected; -.a mjcii so, that special trains have had to be requisitioned to assist the ordinary goods trains in moving the traffic forward with the greatest possible- expedition. The loss of the afflicted districts has been Burton’s gain. The annua! report on the Food and Drugs Act presented to the Middlesex County Council by the inspectors, based on that of Mr E. Be-van, the co'unty analyst, shows that not only during the ciurent year, but also in 1899 and 1893, the whole of the samples of ale and beer submitted to Air Bevan were pure, and that the percentage of adulterated beer throughout England and Wales was or y 0.4 in the last recorded year, 2.8 m 1897, and 0;3 in 1896.