DEATH OF OLIVE THOMAS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16261, 30 October 1920, Page 5

DEATH OF OLIVE THOMAS.

TRAGIC 1 END.'OF MOVIE ACTRESS. ACCIDENTALLY POISONED. The following cable messages from THris, in connection with the death of Olivo Thomas, the well-known picture actress, . are taken from American papers just to hand:— PATHS, September 16. The French police have begun si thorough investigation into the death of Olive Thomas,, who succumbed this morning tq poison taken, it is said, by mistake, several days ago. Tho authorities have issued a permit for the .embalming of 1 , the body, but as yet have not sanctioned its*shipment to tho United States. v Investigation also is being made by the police of sinister rumours of cocaine orgies, intermingled' with champagne dinners which lasted till tho early hours of the morning, that have been afloat in the> American colony and among the habitues of the French kinoma world during the past week. ACCIDENTALLY POISONED. “ Accidental death by mercurial poisoning ” was the verdict at Nueilly of Chief of Police Commissioner Catron after an investigation of the circumstances of the death of Olive Thomas Pickfovd, which he insisted, should be ' conducted before he would grant a death certificate. Tack Pickford, husband of the kinoma star, is on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Haggard, nervous -and at times almost incoherent, he insists to bis friends that -he did nothing which could have led his wife purposely to drink tho poisonous draught which killed her and that she simply grasped the wrong bottle when reaching for her medicine. BABYLONIAN REVELS. PARIS, September 11. The spotlight qf searching investigation has been turned on the Babylonian revels and bacchanalian orgies of Paris through tho death of Olive Thomas. The death of Olive Thomas, tragic as it was, has served to bring to light unspeakable orgies In the notorious Montmartre, in which the American colony of Paris turns night into dajy. Sinister and persistent rumours of “dope parties” have been brought to tight since the death of Olive Thomas. Already a man name Spaulding, said to be a former American army captain, has been sent to the Snnte Prison for six months, following his conviction ns a drug peddler. RIVERS OF ICED CHAMPAGNE. In connection with the death of Olive Thomas, the police of Psris are conducting a rigid inquiry into the night life of the Montmartre, which was featured by rivers of iced cluinpagne, immoral dancing lasting until daylight, and all the false. languorous glamour of fetid, feverish dissipation. It was after a night in the Montmartre that Olive Thomas drained a. Lottie contayiipg poison. The Paris police refuse to believe that Miss Thomas’s death was accidental. Whether Miss Thomas’s mind. was temporarily unhinged after a night of tho American colony revels, .the police are not prepared to say. mh) REVELRIES IN THE AMERICAN COLONY. ! Nevertheless, trusted agents of the police to-day began a close investigation of ©very resort in, the Montmartre visited by Miss Thomas the night, before she drank poison. , Parisian social . workers and clergymen were unsparing qf their denunciation of the wild revelries in the American colony. 1 Presumably arriving from America for tho purpose of paying homage to "■ their dead soldiery, Americans get no further than the notorious tango palaces of the Montmartre and the alluring casinos at Deauville and Biarritz. Less than 2 per cent of Americans visit the graves of their own patriot dead, They seem to prefer palaces of shame .masquerading as restaurants and ballrooms. It was after a wild night of dancing and dining that Olive Thomas drank the deadly potion which stilled her heart for ever. In this modern Babylon, hs.one clergyman termed it yesterday, Olive Thomas, like thousands of other Americans, came and succumbed. A story is going the rounds that Olive Thomas and her husband quarrelled before she drank the poison. Pickford has denied the rumour. TROUBLE OVER LIFE INSURANCE Indications point to a battle between the relatives of Olive Thomas and the insurance companies. The relatives insist that her death was accidental, while tho immrance companies take the attitude that she came to death bv suicide and refuse to pay her policies, which call for from 300.000 dollars to a much higher figure, .as the exact amount is unknown. An autopsy will l>e held to determine exactly what caused her death. HAN ON THE WILD NIGHT LIFE. One result of the sensational affair has been the taming down of the wild niirht life o'f Paris. Advocates of prohibition and of moderation in the cafes and opponents of tho wild orgies arc seizing upon the sad fate of the actress as an argument for choking tho deathly pace at which tho fast set > qf Paris and theYourists are travelling. . Tlio debate has reached such proportions that Government officials mav find 3t necessary to put 'at least a temporary ban on the midnight 'life, which has resulted in the disgrace and death of many young girls. ' j RESULT OF AUTOPSY. 1 The autopsy on tho body of Olivo Thomas was performed on September 13 by Dr Paul, official physician of tho city of Pans, in tho presence of five American doctors. Dr Joseph Choate, who had charge of Miss Thomas during her illness, represented her family. Tho doctors concluded that death was due to'" poisoning through intoxicatißn with a sublimate ’’ taken accidentally Judge Pnmart granted a permit for tho removal of the body, which will be sent to the United Slates on tho first available boat.