MYSTERIOUS POISONING CASE

Otago Witness, Issue 2505, 26 March 1902, Page 30

MYSTERIOUS POISONING CASE

SIXTEEN PERSONS AFFECTED. DEATH OF ONE OF THE VICTIMS. AUCKLAND, March 21. It is reported that 16 persons were jicisoned accidentally at the Okororie Hotel, including Mrs Court, the wife of Mr Court, draper, Auckland. Blake, the hotel clerk, ib in a serious condition. Mra Court, the wife of John Comt, draper, Auckland, and a member of the City Council, has died at the hotel, believed to "be the result of poisoning. A man named Blake, a hotel clerk, is reported to be in a precarious condition, and there are other 16 persons m the hotel suffern-* 'from irritant poisoning. Drs._ Brewis and "Roberts, from. Cambridge, are at the.hotel in charge, of.-the patients. Details are now to hand regarding the Okororie poisoning- -case. There wore a. gcod number of visitors in tho hotel, and all were well at dinner time on Tuesday nigkt. SJbcmfc midnight Mr 3 Court awoke and complained of violent pains in the stomach, accompanied by violent vomiting. She felt extremely cold, and complained of cramp in the legs. The usual remedies were applied. Others in the hotel complained about the same time, but their cases wtre not nearly so bad. Mrs Court felt better in tlio morning, and it seems that no medical man was sent for till 5 o'clock in tl e> afternoon, when she took a turn for the ivorss. There was some delay in getting oomnunr.cation with Dr Roberts, of Cambridge, who arrived at 3.15 a.m. on Tluusday. He pronounced Mrs Court's caee as serious, and sent for Dr Brewis. of Hamilton. By the lime Dr Roberts arrived, MrCourt was ur.eonsciou-. and '-he cl'.ed 'it j half-past 1 on Thuifday afternoon, before I Dr Brewib arrived There are 16 other cases in the hotel, but aFI are out of danger except Blake, the hotel clerk. ('• nests, i-fr-vants, and members of the hotelkeeper'- ' family have been attacked. The poison has not been tr.H-ed, but it ibelieved to have bean in the milk. A (un- . v ous feature is that many guests have not ehovra the slightest symptom of ilLuct*-. There were about cix in Mrs Cot;-.'-, paity, all eating at the same table, and the otherare quit© well. The doctors have examined the kitchen utensils and the fro.} in tlv> hotel, but fosmd everythrnsr pnfec ly dean and free from poison. Mrs Court was in splendid health on Tuesday night, md took I a hearty dinner. An inquest wa& held on , Mrs Court, and the jury returned a verdict ( of death from irritant poisoning, there j beiug no evidence to show how it was administered. [