FATAL DOSE OF POISON

Southland Times, Issue 23674, 24 November 1938, Page 4

FATAL DOSE OF POISON

Disabled Soldier’s Death RECOVERY OF FRIEND AFTER GLASSFUL CALL ON SICK WOMAN ENDS IN TRAGEDY (United Press Association) AUCKLAND, November 23. A disabled Soldier who took a fatal dose of poison and successfully dared a friend to follow his example, turned a call on a sick woman into a tragedy on Tuesday night. The victim, Joseph Dodson, aged 59, whose lungs were so badly injured in the war that he hadsince been unable to work, died on his way to the hospital. The other man, Cecil Francis Hunt, aged 34, a wireworker, was admitted to the hospital, but made a speedy recovery.

“I had known Joe Dodson about a year,” the woman said in an interview tonight. She was suffering acutely from shock. “Sometimes he was very depressed. I was not very well on Tuesday afternoon and they came in to see me. I had known Hunt about a year, too. They stayed a short while and then went out together, and at six o’clock or soon after they both returned. They said they had had a few drinks at an hotel. I wanted Joe to have some tea, but he said he aid not want any. He seemed very depressed then. I was still in bed. Some time later Joe went out. “After a while, I do not know how long, he came back with a small brown bottle in his hand. It looked like a disinfectant bottle and from the dust on it I thought at the time he must have had it quite a while. He did not seem to be himself and when Hunt asked him what was in the bottle he replied: Strychnine. “I didn’t believe him at first. Neither did Hunt. Joe poured out some milky liquid into a wine-glass. He lifted, the glass and said something about: Heres fixing things,’ or ‘Here’s a go, heres health,’ and drank it.” GLASSFUL PROFFERED She then told how Hunt jokingly said he did not believe the liquid was strychnine, to which, she said, Dodson replied: “Well, if you think you are so tough, have, a go yourself.” He preferred a glassful to Hunt, who promptly drank it. Hunt said afterwards that very soon after he drank the liquid he began to feel dizzy. Then he saw the other man pouring out another glassful of the liquid and realized it was poison he had drunk. He rushed at Dodson, he said, and snatched the glass from his mouth and in so doing knocked him down. “I was very frightened,” the woman continued her story. “There was no one in the house. I was feeling ill and there wasn’t a telephone close at hand. I hardly knew what to do. I got out of bed, ran next door and asked them to call the ambulance and police. Then I hurried back. I gave some mustard and water to Hunt and when that had taken effect he and I tried to give one to Dodson, but he was too far gone. We couldn’t get his mouth open. The ambulance arrived and on the way to the hospital he died.” The inquest was opened by the Coroner and adjourned sine die. The Coroner ordered a post-mortem examination.