Is Alcohol Poison ?

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 183, 18 December 1886, Page 7

Is Alcohol Poison ?

As some people may have an inquiring doubt as to whether alcoholic liquors are poisonous or not, the following horribly atory clipped from a Melhourne newspaper may be of some interest : — John Anderßon, about 22 years of ago and reßiding in Buckhursfc-streeb, South! Melbourne, with two companion* 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 JNelson Hotel about halfI past four or five. Their talk was, as is nofc j usual with half-drunken men, of their drinking capabilities, and Anderson, with the bravado of youth, exclaimed, "I could drink a bottle of brandy right orr» * " Could you ?" said Sullivan, " then if you will, I'll pay ioi it." "Done," cried Anderson. With an amount of quaai-fore&ighc astonishing in men who could propose and accept snch a mad wager, they crossed tho road and pui chased a bottle of castor oil. A portion of this Anderson drank, and they then rccrossed the road and went into the grooery and wine and spirit store of Campbell, in Sandridge. To tho storekeeper they appeared perfectly sober, and Sullivan asked tur a bottle of braudy. ' What price brandy ?" queued the storekeeper. "The cheapest you have," replied Sullivan. The storekeeper said that he had some ab 3s 6d a bottle. This suited Sullivan, and he placed the money on the counter. As Campbell was about to wrap it up Sullivaa asked him if he could draw the cork for him* This was not an uuusual request, as the/ peoples of tho neighbourhood who purchaee single bottles ask to have the cork, drawn. Campbell drow tho cork and placed the> bottle on the counter, and turning round he was horrified t-> behold Andereon (who was nearer tho door) holding the bofctle up, and literally pouring it down his throat* He _ started forward, and protested against it boing drunk on the premise^ when Sullivan, detaining him, exclaimed^ "V> hat business is it ot yours ? It is paid for, is it not ?" By this time the whole of the bottle of brandy had been swallowed by Anderson. " Hero," cried Carter, producing a bottle of castor oil ; " try some of thie now, it will do you good." The storekeeper, Campbell, who expected to see the drunken, maniac fall dead, atood paralysed when ho saw the three men walk calmly out of hi» shop and down the road. Tho effect of tho poison was not immediately apparent.. Whoa, however, the three men had gotj Borne couple of hundred yaids down the road, tho fierce poison, coursing like fire through thie mad suicide's veins, seized almost at the sjanie instant upon body and DraiD, and Anderson reeled and fell heavily upon. the path. Carter, with some vague knowledge of the power of castor oil, administered the remainder of the bottle, and th& crowd that rapidly gathered around: brought eoda-uator and chafed his limbs and bauds, but the man who had wagertd his life to a bottle of brandy was to all intents and purposes aa dead as it he had swallowed a dose of prus&ic acid. He was in a state of utter collapse, and only the laboured breathing thatconvuleed the unconscious form and the chilly damp upon the ghastly face showed that life still lingered. Dying, be was taken to the Melbourne Hospital, and the stomach pump was applied^ but medical appliances wqre powerless to extract tho poison from the blood, to bring, back motion to the leaden limbs, or the light of reason to the brandy-scorched brain,. Minute_ by minute, hour by hour, the alcoholic poison fed upon the heart and burnt away the brain of the wretched young; fellow, and, ere morning dawned, the heart had ceased to beat, and John Anderson was dead by his own hand At the inquest, a verdict of •' Death from alcoholic poisoning " was returned