THE DRUG CASE

Southland Times, Issue 18056, 7 April 1919, Page 7

THE DRUG CASE

EVIDENCE AT THE CARLETON INQUEST. (Continued.) Following is a continuation of the evidence given at the Carleton inquest in London on January 12:— MEDICAL EVIDENCE. Mr Percy Andrew Ellis Richards, public analyst for Westminster, said that he found no signs of, poisoning in Miss Carleton’s stomach, but' in the nasal fwabs there were evidences of cocaine. Cocaine was rapidly absorbed, and the fact that he did not find it in. the stomach and the organs did not necessarily mean that there had been none there. Dr Reginald Jewcsbury, pathologist at Charing Cross Hospital, said that he made a second examination of the body on December 2. There was no evidence of disease, and dcsth was probobly due to some narcotic poison; the mode of death was comatose asphyxia. He had examined the contents of the box produced, 94 grains of a powder, and they responded to the test for cocaine. In his opinion, after the evidence he had heard, death was due to cocaine poisoning. Three-quarters of a grain of cocaine given hypodermically was the smallest recorded fatal dose. The legitimate use of cocaine was as a local anaesthetic in dental, eye, and throat surgery. The Coroner: Is it given internally?—ln minute chiefly for lung conditions —asthma and bronchitis. Why is it taken by drug takers?— For its stimulating effects.

Will ■ a large dose produce unconsciousness ?—Not at once. A poisonous dose would probably produce excitability followed by tremors and possibly convulsions, and that would be followed by coma. Can it be taken by being snuffed up the nose? —That is a very usual way with drug takers. Mr Chatterton: Is there any time limit in which death must result after the consumption of a fatal dose? —I don’t think there is any fixed time. The period is usually very short. It would depend entirely upon the quantity taken and the rapidity with which it is absorbed. A large dose taken hypodermically would produce death in a few minutes, but a large dose taken, say, through the nose, might not produce death for some hours.

Can you say how soon after consumption death had resulted in this case? —It would not be possible. It would be within a few hours.

Might a person addicted to taking it accidently take a fatal dose?— Quite easily, especially with snuffing it up through the nose.

Mrs Flora Baxter, a widow of Brixton Hill, Miss Carleton’s stage dresser for eight months, described how two days before the Victory Ball “McGinty” called at the theatre with a note for Miss Carleton. After receiving it Miss Carleton told the witness to give “McGinty” £5. De Veulle used to visit the theatre, but the last time Mrs Baxter saw him there was two or three weeks before the ball.

Did he go to Miss Carleton’s dressing room?—Yes.

On the night of the ball, at the evening performance did Miss Carleton get you to send a telephone message?— Yes. She said; “Ring up May (her maid) and ask her to bring along a little gold box on the. dressing table.” I did so and May brought it. Miss Carleton told me to put it in her bag. Did anybody come that night to the theatre to see Miss Carleton?—Yes, a Mr Bettini. X had never seen him before. He did not see Miss Carleton alone; I was there all the time. It was after the performance. He came to see her ball dress; to see how she looked..

Did he give her anything?— Not in my presence, and I was with her all the time. I heard Miss Fay Compton call upstairs and they went off.

To Mr Chattcrton Mrs Baxter said that she was often present when De Veulle was with Miss Carleton, but they usually spoke in French and she could not understand them. Mr Chatterton: Mr De Veulle designed Miss Carleton’s dresses? —Yes, mostly. AT THE BALL. Mrs Violet Chown, 7 Park-lane, said that she allowed Miss Carleton to use her box at the Victory Ball. So far as she was aware Miss Carleton was not visited by De Veulle during the night. She last saw her between 2.30 a.m. and 3 a.m., and* on saying goodbye Miss Carleton promised to ring her up next morning. She did so about 10 a,m., stating that she could not take tea with her as arranged, and inviting Mrs Chown to call about 6 p.m. Mrs Chown knew nothing of Miss Carleton’s drug-taking habit. By Mr Herbert: The people whose names were mentioned at the last hearing as having been present at her box were not invited there by her. Mrs Chown told Mr Chatterton that she saw a man and a woman speaking to Miss Carleton near the box. She thought the man was Belcher. Nothing struck her as unusual about Miss Carleton during the telephone conversation next morning. By Mr Hayes: She was not in the box the whole time, as she danced occasionally. De Veulle might have seen Miss Carleton then without her knowledge. Miss Lilian Saunders, a fitter at Hockley’s, said that she went to that firm on September 1 as a member of Mr and Mrs De Vehlle’s staff when it was transferred from another West End business. De Veulle was a designer of theatrical costumes. At 1.30 p.m. on the, day of the Victory Ball she saw Miss Carleton in the show-room, but did not see De Veulle speak to her. Miss Malvina Longfellow, a film actress, of Curzon street, said that she had known Miss Carleton slightly for about two years and since January, 1918, very well. She did not know that Miss Carleton took drugs until August, 1918, when she was told that she took cocaine. “I spoke to her about it several times,” said Miss spoke about the danger of taking drugs. I tried to dissuade her. She used to say it was very difficult to give it up, but that she would try her best and that she thought that she could give it up when she wanted to.” The Coroner; Do you know where she got, it? —She told me that Mr De Veulle got it for her. Did you ever speak to De Veulle about it? —I spoke to him several times, especially on the night of the armistice. I told him that night that if he gave her any more there would be trouble. He said that he had given her Very little lately and would not give her any more. We were then at the Criterion Restaurant. Miss Carleton was not there. Did you complain to him about giving her cocaine?—l did not complain. I simply said that I thought it was a sin for him to give her any. Did you tell Miss Carleton that you had seen De Veulle and told him not to give* her cocaine?—No, because I only saw her for a few minutes next day. We did not speak of drugs, as she seemed very well and happy. On the second Sunday in October, Miss Longfellow said, she visited Miss Carleton at Savoy-mansions. She did not seem very well but rather drowsy, and Miss Longfellow spoke to her in the presence of Mr and Mrs De Veulle about the danger of taking drugs. “I spoke of girls I had heard of who were ruined through it and who had died through it, and especially of a girl who had died in aq asylum through it in Paris. Mr De Veulle agreed with me that it was a very dangerous thing, but later he gave her some stuff from a box." Miss Longfellow said that Miss Carleton had told her that Dr Stuart had cured her some years before of opium and that she was absolutely finished with it. Miss Longfellow had never seen her taking anything except on the one occasion. Miss Olive Richardson, a film actress, speaking of an opium party at Belcher’s said that among those present were Mr Belcher, Mrs Ping You, Miss Rutland, Mr De Veulle and Miss Carleton. She had only been there once and smoked opium. Mr and Mrs De Veulle did not smoke opium then. Who prepared it ?—Mrs Ping You. How?—l cannot explain it. I only watched. She heats it, takes it from a bowl on a thing like a crochet hook, puts it over

the globe, and then puts it in a bowl, and we all smoke out of one pipe. Then I suppose you go to sleep ? —So they sav.

Do you become unconscious ?—No (scorn fully).

Drowsy?— With a contemptuous gesture and laughingly): After a long time; it is more imagination than anything else. What time did you go away ?—The following afternoon.

Were you lying on the floor ?Yes; we slept on the floor. Did you take it in turn? —Yes; the pipe goes round. You finished your pipe first?—We finished one little tiny pill, and then it is passed round.

After the Victory Ball Miss Carleton talked for an hour of her future and her contemplated visits to Paris and America. Miss Carleton took out some jewels and said: “I have just got these out of pawn. I pawned them to get some clothes.” Miss Richardson said that she only took drugs herself for the fun of the thing, and experimented on rare occasions. Drugs had very little effect on her, anti she had never been, unconscious as the result.

Dr Frederick Stuart, of No. 2, Charles street, Knightsbridge, said that he had known Miss Carleton since the beginning of 1915. She was a friend for some time, but later came to him professionally, at first for attention to her feet. He knew that she was in the habit of taking drugs, and he had explained to her the danger of it. It made her extremely ill, and on more than one occasion he was called to treat her for the effects. She got a symptom which he would describe as “air hunger”; she could not breathe. In May 1918 he found out that she was taking cocaine, and he took some away from her. The following afternoon she telephoned and asked for it back. He refused. She said it was very mean of him, as she would have to go round to Netting Hill Gate and get some, and that she would be late for the theatre. He afterwards wrote to her referring to cocaine as “snow," and warning her not to take it. J He knew De Veulle look cocaine, and asked him, when he met him once at Westminster Tribunal, not to give Miss Carleton any. De Veulle replied that he realised the danger. Later Miss Carleton told him that De Veulle had given her cocaine.

Have you given her drugs yourself?— Yes, small doses of morphine—hypodermic for pain.

How often?— Not very often. It depends. It was one-eighth of a grain, and she had trouble with her wisdom teeth. Say half a dozen times in the last six months. The Coroner: Why should you give a young woman taking cocaine, opium—morphine is a form of opium?— She may have gone somewhere else if I did not. She did not like pain and was suffering. She was anxious to continue her work and she chyld not sleep. Is it wise to give morphia hypodermic injections to a young woman of 22? —It depends. She had a certain condition of the kidneys which was very troublesome. All the more reason for not giving morphia?— Wel l; she had to get on with her work, and it was only after great pain or the extraction of her wisdom teeth.

The Coroner: If everyone took morphia for toothache we should have a land filled with morphia takers. The Coroner: I notice in looking through her banking account large payments 'made to you. What is the explanation?—l. was simply the custodian of the money. Why could she not pay her own bills without your assistance?— She thought it lasted longer if it remained in my hands. I see that £444 has been paid to you since June 1917? I have disbursed all that and rather more.

Then it was paid to you by Miss Carleton to defray expenses?— Yes, I paid the Savoy account. She was getting £2O a week in the “Freedom of the Seas." Miss Carleton’s influenza last June affected her constitution because she got up too soon. She was looking forward to her future, and he was quite sure that she had no intention of taking her life. She wanted to get some jewellery out of pawn to sell it.

The Coroner: Would you be surprised to hear that she had only £9 in the bank? —Well, I do not think she had much because she asked me to pay her account at the Savoy. ' Do you know she has left bills amounting to £175? I do not say this is a great deal of money but that they were bills found in her room. They must be considered in connection with the suddenness of her death, :

Dr Stuart; I know she was not worried about money. She was not under notice and had received several good offers.