A BRIDEGROOM POISONED.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 8800, 9 June 1890, Page 2

A BRIDEGROOM POISONED.

MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT PECKHAM. The death of George Rodney McDonald, aged 24, a cashier, has caused considerable sensation in London. At an inquest on the body the following evidence was taken :—: — Mr George Rodney McDonald, manufac • turer, of 15, Hanover-street, Peckham. said that beyond, suffering from a temporary rupture his son was in good health. He was, in fact, to have been married on Sunday last. In consequence of a letter he went to Charlton on Saturday and helped him pack his boxes. He found his son suffering from a bad cough, and knowing that the cough would make the rupture more painful, he purchased a 2oz. bottle of Kay's Compound Essence. Deceased took some in a wineglass. Afterwards hia son went to Lewisham to visit the young lady to whom he was engaged to have been married, and got home at eleven o'clock that night. He complained of headache, but was in high spirits, talked of his wedding, of the arrangements he had made for it and after it, and altogether seemed very happy. He took a second dose of the compound and went to bed. At ten o'clock the next morning his father went into the room where he was sleeping with his younger brother Raymond, and failing in his attempt to rouse him, sent for a doctor. He thought the deceased was ill, so he did not try to arouse him violently, for if he once got up he would be married, while if the doctor came first he would put a stop to it. " Was it hia wish to be married ? asked the coroner. " Yes," replied the father. The- foreman : " And yours ?" " Most certainly," was the answer. "It is, perhaps, necessary for me to explain that the young lady was awaie that the marriage could not be consummated, and she agreed to give herself up to him to be his nurse." He had not been able to discover anything that would lead him to suppose the case was one of suicide. Dr Swindlohurst, of Rye Lane, Peckham, said he was called to see the deceased at 11 a.m. on Sunday. He was then unconscious. He found that the rupture was not the cause. The pupils of the I eyes were contracted and insensible to light and touch, and he never rallied. Since then he had made a post-mortem examination, which disclosed the faot that death was due to narcotic poisoning, either from opium or morphia. He had no doubt that the doses of Kay's essence had caused his death. The essence contained the most deadly poison, and was a most dangeroua compound. Alter some consultation the jury returned a verdict of death from an overdose of Kays' Compound Essence. A juryman said that was rather rough on Kays. The coroner : All the better. It will teach people not to use such dangerous compounds.