STRANGE POISONING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 59, 12 March 1935, Page 6

STRANGE POISONING

GAS-INFECTED WEAPON. SMALL BOY’S EXPERIENCE. SUVA, Feb. 25. A. warning to passengers to be careful in the purchase of weapons in Dutch East Indies is conveyed in a letter posted on the notice-board of the motor-ship Stella Polaris, which called at Suva yesterday. The letter describes the unfortunate experience of a small boy, following the handling of a. kris purchased at Bali, and the efforts being made by physicians to save his life. The writer of the letter, Air. W. S. Benson, of Passaci, New Jersey, staler that he was a member of the Stella Polaris cruise in 1934. At Den Pesar. in Bali, he attended a temple dance, where he purchased two krises for his grandsons as souvenirs. Unfortunately one of the boys ran one of the weapons into his knee. In not more than five minutes the knee became badly swollen and when the wound was touched there was a noise similar to the crackling of paper. Two physicians with experience with gas bacilli in the Great War, who were called in, expressed a doubt whether the boy would live for 24 hours. At the time of writing Mr. Benson stated that five days had elapsed since the accident, and they hoped that the boy would recover, but gas was still coming from the wound in the knee.

It has been learned from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and from a woman of Dutch nationality who had lived in the Dutch East Indies that it was customary for the native Balinese to poison their krises. They were also informed that the particular gas bacillus used differed from the six wellknown types, and that the Rockefeller Institute was endeavouring to identify it and suggest a cure.