FATAL DRINK OF BEER

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 243, 14 October 1939, Page 8

FATAL DRINK OF BEER

MAN’S DEATH IN CLUB SYDNEY, Sept. 22. Margin Pikkur, 54, an Estonian, drank a glass of beer at the Estonian Club in Sydney and dropped dead. The glass of beer he drank contained cyanide. Another Estonian was arrested and charged with murder. Twenty members of the club saw Pikkur rise suddenly and spit out a mouthful of beer. He staggered from his chair and dropped to the floor. Ho was dead by the time they reached him. Friends thought that Pikkur had suffered a heart attack. Ambulance officers refused to remove the body and notified the police. From early investigations the detectives were satisfied that Pikkur had been poisoned. They took charge of the glass from which he had been drinking and other exhibits for analysis. Pikkur arrived at the club about 3.30, police were told. He had two bottles of beer from which he and others had a drink. It was learnt that he had been drinking earlier and was in a happy mood. A third bottle of beer was procured and glass was filled. The first mouthful was fatal. Pikkur, who was born in Tallin, the capital of Estonia, where he has a wife and family, came to Australia 12 years ago. He was employed in a sandpaper manufacturing factory and lived in a residential. A fellow-Estonian and friend, Adolph Roosipuu, said Pikkur had spoken recently of bringing his wife and daughter to Sydney. “Only this morning he called on me," said Roosipuu. “He wanted me to go a day’s train trip to the country. The weather did not look good, and I declined. He liked his beer, but was never quarrelsome. Alexander Nocad. 51, another Estonian, an engineer, was charged in the Police Court next day with the murder of Pikkur.