A Horrible Story.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 4241, 16 November 1886, Page 2

A Horrible Story.

(Per p.s. Wairarapa vi& the Bluff.)

VICTORIA.

John Anderson, about 22 years of age, and residing at Buckhurat 'street, South Melbourne, with two companions named Carter (about the same age) and Sullivan (some eight or ten years older), all labourers, were drinking in the Kelson Hotel. The three men, though not apparently drunk, had had sufficient liquor when they left the Nelson Hotel about half-past four or five. Their talk was, as is not unusual with halfdrunken men, of their drinking capabilities, and Anderson with the bravado of youth, exclaimed— ' “ 1 could drink a bottle of brandy right off,” “ Could you,” said Sullivan, “then if yon will, I'll pay for it." “Done,” cried Anderson, with an amount of quasi foresight astonishing in men who could propose and accept such a mad wager. They crossed the road and purchased a bottle of castor oil. A portion of this Anderson drank, and they then recrossed the road and went into the grocery and wine and spirit store of Campbell, in Sandridge. To the storekeeper they appeared perfectly sober, and Sullivan asked for a bottle of brandy. “What price brandyP" queried the storekeeper. “The cheapest you have," replied Sullivan.

The storekeeper said that be had some at 3s 6d a bottle. This suited Sullivan, and be placed tbe money on the counter. As Campbell was about to wrap it up Sullivan asked him if he could draw tbe cork for him. This was not an unusual request, as tbe people of the neigbbori hood who purchase single bottles ask to have the corks drawn. Campbell drew tbe cork and placed the bottle on tbe counter, and turning round ha was horrified to behold Anderson (who was naar tbe door) holding the bottle up, and literally pouring it down his throat. He started forward, and protested against it being drunk _ upon the premise s, when Sullivan, detaining him, exclaimed, “What business is it of yours ? It is paid for, is it not ?” By this time the whole of the bottle of brandy had been swallowed by Anderson. “ Here” said Carter producing a bottle of castor oil ; “ try some of this now, it will do you good,” Tbe storekeeper, Campbell who expected to see the drunken maniac fall dead, stood paralysed when he saw three men walk calmly out of bis shop and down the road. Tbe effect of tbe poison was not immediately apparently, When, however, the three men bad got some couple of hundred yards down tbe road, the fierce poison, coursing like fire through this mad suicide’s veins,seized almost at the same instant upon body and brain, and Anderson reeled and fell heavily upon tbe path. Carter, with some vague knowledge of the power ' of castor oil, administered the remainder of the bottle, and the crowd, who rapidly collected, brought soda-water and chafed bis limbs and hands, but tbe man who had wagered his life against a bottle of brandy was to all intents and purposes as dead as. if be bad swallowed a dose of prnßtio acid. He was in a state of otter collapse, and only the laboured breathing that convulsed tbe unconscious form and the chilly damp upon tbe ghastly face showed that life still linged. Dying, he was taken to the Melbourne Hospital, and the stomach pump was applied, but medical appliances were powerless to extract the poison from the blood, to bring back motion to the leaden limbs, or the light of reason to tbe brandy-scorched brain.

Minate by minute, and hour by hour, the alcoholic poison fed upon the heort and burnt away the brain of the wretched young fellow, and, ere morning dawned, the heart bad ceased to beat, and John Anderson was dead by his own hand.

At the inquest, a verdict of “ Death from alcoholic poisoning ” was returned.