The Poisoner's Handbook (42 page)

26:
As he liked to boast
. . . : The official biography of Mayor John F. “Red Mike” Hylan can be found on New York City’s website:
www.nyc.gov/html/nyc100/html/classroom/hist_info/mayors.html#hylan
. He is also profiled in the online encyclopedia,
NationMaster.com
:
www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/John-F.-Hylan
and in “Sketches of American Mayors,”
National Municipal Review
, 15, no. 3, (pp. 158–65).

27:
The tireless Leonard Wallstein
. . . : The political fight over the medical examiner’s office was followed closely by the
New York Times
: “Civil Service Board Backs Hylan Move,” January 14, 1918, p. 12; “Try to Stop Riordan’s Pay,” January 27, 1918, p. 14; “Move for Riordan by Civil Service,” January 28, 1918, p. 5; “Civil Service Board Again Aids Riordan,” January 29, 1918, p. 11; “Norris Succeeds Riordan,” February 1, 1918, p. 10.

29:
“famed, sardonic, goat-bearded. . . ”
:
Time
, September 23, 1935 p. 27.

30:
Everyone knew that Norris didn’t have to work
. . . : For Charles Norris biographic information, see “Resolutions Passed by the Faculty of Medicine of Columbia University on the Death of Dr. Charles Norris,” filed October 25, 1935, Columbia University archive; unpublished historical summary of Charles Norris’s family history and life, including a list of scientific publications from the files of the medical examiner’s office for 1918, New York City Municipal Archive; Frank J. Jirka, “A Great Scientific Detective,”
American Doctors of Destiny
(Chicago: Normandie House, 1940), pp. 216–29; William G. Eckert, “Charles Norris (1868–1935) and Thomas A. Gonzales (1878–1956): New York’s Forensic Pioneers,”
American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology
8, no. 4 (1987), pp. 350–53.

31:
“A much neglected field of medical endeavor. . . ”
: Draft editorial written for the
Journal of Forensic Medicine
, 1918, city examiner’s file, New York City Municipal Archive.

31:
“We call this the Country Club”
: Milton Helpern and Bernard Knight,
Autopsy: The Memoirs of Milton Helpern, the World’s Greatest Medical Detective
(New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1977), p. 47.

31:
Norris had saved, with some enjoyment, the old coroner’s
. . . : Riordan’s inventory of possessions, January 8, 1918, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.

32:
Norris at least had a new home
. . . : On Norris organizing the department, see S. K. Niyogi, “Historic Development of Forensic Toxicology in America up to 1978,”
American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology
1, no. 3 (September 1980), pp. 249–64; W. G. Eckert, “Medicolegal Investigation in New York City: History and Activities, 1918–1978,”
American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology
4, no. 1 (March 1983), pp. 33–54.

32:
“the place for the laboratory force. . . ”
: Charles Norris to John F. Hylan, December 18, 1918, medical examiner’s file, New York Municipal Archive.

33:
“useless timber”
: Ibid.

33:
“This work, which I may term ‘organization’. . . ”
: Ibid.

33:
“I wish to call to your attention. . . ”
: Charles Norris to Richard Enright, police commissioner, April 4, 1918, police department, New York City Municipal Archive.

34:
He wrote to the Bronx district attorney
. . . : Charles Norris to Seymour Mork, assistant district attorney, Borough of the Bronx, April 17, 1918, New York City Municipal Archives.

34:
He wrote to hospitals
. . . : Charles Norris to George D. O’Hanlon, general medical superintendent, Bellevue and Allied Hospitals, April 16, 1918, New York City Municipal Archives.

34:
“Your peremptory order. . . ”
: Superintendent of Methodist Episcopal Hospital to Charles Norris, June 7, 1918, New York City Municipal Archive.

34:
He was even tougher, though
. . . : Norris to Deputy Police Commissioner Lahey, April 19, 1918, New York City Municipal Archive.

34:
“Did you make any efforts. . . ”
: Norris to Dr. George Teng, medical examiner’s office, Brooklyn, June 10, 1918, New York City Municipal Archive.

34:
He chastised ersonnel
. . . : Norris to Dr. John Reigelman, medical examiner’s office, Bronx, April 5, 1918, New York City Municipal Archive.

35:
Born in 1883, the son of a Hungarian
. . . : Alexander Gettler biographic information is from: Joseph Gettler, unpublished, handwritten tribute, and personal interviews, courtesy of the Gettler family; A. W. Freireich, “In Memoriam: Alexander O. Gettler, 1883–1968,”
Journal of Forensic Sciences
14, no. 3 (July 1969), pp. vii–xi; Henry C. Freimuth, “Alexander O. Gettler (1883–1968: ): A Reflection,”
American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology
4, no. 4 (December 1983); The Toxicologist: A Modern Detective, November 25, 1933, p. 22; Sunshine,
Was It a Poisoning?
; Edward D. Radin, “The Professor Looks at Murder,” in
12 Against Crime
(New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1950); “The Chemistry of Crime,”
Science Illustrated
2, no. 5 (May 1947), pp. 44–47; Eugene Pawley, “Cause of Death: Ask Gettler,”
American Mercury
, September 1954, pp. 62–66; “Test-tube Sleuth,”
Time
, May 15, 1933; “The Man Who Reads Corpses,”
Harper’s Magazine
, February 1955, pp. 62–67.

37:
It would be a challenge
. . . : Alexander O. Gettler,
The Historical Development of Toxicology
, presentation to the annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Chicago, February 26–28, 1953.

38:
Wood alcohol—technically known as methyl
. . . ”: Wood alcohol’s chemical makeup is detailed at Medline Plus,
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002827.htm
. For alcohol history, see
http://science.jrank.org/pages/186/Alcohol-History.html
. A historical review more contemporary to my story is “Wood Alcohol’s Trail: Many Deaths Before Prohibition Throw Light on Methods Needed to Combat Evil,”
New York Times
, January 15, 1922, p. 86.

39:
By the end of the nineteenth century
. . . : Information on the production and denaturing formulas in the early twentieth century can be found in Rufus Herrick,
Denatured or Industrial Alcohol
(New York: J. Wiley and Sons, 1907); H.W. Wiley,
Industrial Alcohol: Sources and Manufacture
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1911).

39:
“The prohibition by our government. . . ”
: A. O. Gettler and A. V. St. George, “Wood Alcohol Poisoning,”
Journal of the American Medical Association
, January 19, 1918, pp. 145–49. The uniquely poisonous metabolism of wood alcohol is discussed in this article and in John M. Robinson, “Blindness for Industrial Use of a .4 Per Cent Admixture of Wood Alcohol,”
Journal of the American Medical Association
, January 19, 1918, pp. 148–49, and Charles Baskerville, “Wood Alcohol: Cooperative Caution,”
Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry
, January 1920, pp. 81–83.

41:
Poison was already in the air
. . . : International Film Service, “Mustard Gas Warfare,”
New York Times
, July 7, 1918, p. 52; “Vast U. S. Poison Plant Was Working at Full Blast for 1919 Campaign,”
New York Times
, December 8, 1918, p. 45.

43:
On the home front
. . . : See “The Influenza Pandemic of 1918,”
http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/
;“TheGreatPandemic:StatebyState,”
www.pandemicflu.gov/general/greatpandemic2.html
; “The Deadly Virus,”
www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/records-list.html
. On Bellevue’s role in the influenza fight, see Sandra Opdycke,
No One Was Turned Away: The Role of Public Hospitals in New York City Since
1900 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999); Page Cooper,
The Bellevue Story
(New York: T.Y. Crowell, 1948); and correspondence by Charles Norris.

44:
“Should any of our men. . . ”
: Norris to Major General Crowder, provost marshal general, Washington, D.C., September 6, 1918, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.

46:
“During the years 1918 and 1919. . . ”
: Alexander O. Gettler, “Critical Study of Methods for the Detection of Methyl Alcohol,”
Journal of Biological Chemistry
42, no. 2 (1920), pp. 311–28.

48:
“My attention has been called. . . ”
: Hylan to Norris, December 19, 1918, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.

48:
“We have found. . . ”
: Norris to S. F. Wynne, Department of Health, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.

49:
In December there had been forty-two
. . . : “Poison Drink Killed 51 Here; Blinded 100,”
New York Times
, December 27, 1919, p. 3.

49:
As the month wound down
. . . ”: Ibid.

50:
Cocktail parties sparkled defiantly
. . . : For a good overview of Prohibition culture in New York City, see Michael A. Lerner,
Dry Manhattan
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2007).

50:
As soon as legal drinking ended
. . . : “Will Try to Indict for Poison Alcohol,”
New York Times
, January 6, 1920, p. 4; “Four More Deaths from Wood Alcohol,”
New York Times
, January 12, 1920, p. 10.

51:
“The speakeasies are. . . ”
: Stephen Graham,
New York Nights
(New York: George H. Doran Co., 1927), pp. 60–68.

51:
“Prohibition is a joke. . . ”
: “Prohibition a Joke, Dale Says on Bench,”
New York Times
, August 12, 1920, p. 10.

51:
But for the new speakeasy devotees
. . . : Graham,
New York Nights
.

52:
They created a new generation of cocktails
. . . : Recipes for 1920s cocktails can be found
in The Savoy Cocktail Book
(London: Constable and Co., 1930, reprinted London: Pavilion Books, 1999), among many other sources.

52:
a cloudy cocktail called Smoke
. . . : “Norris Explains Why the Death Rate Mounts,”
New York World
, November 21, 1920, p. 3.

53:
As demands for chemical analysis intensified
. . . : Norris to John F. Hylan, June 12, 1922, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.

53:
The Hotel Margaret glittered
. . . : Federal Writers Project,
The WPA Guide to New York City
(1939).

55:
“Mr. and Mrs. Jackson met their deaths. . . ”
: “Autopsy Deepens Jackson Mystery,”
New York Times
, April 28, 1932, p. 36.

55:
Cyanides possess a uniquely long
. . . : On cyanides’ history, chemical composition, and uses, see Witthaus and Becker,
Medical Jurisprudence
, pp. 4: 602–40; Thompson,
Poison Mysteries
, pp. 143–76; Alexander O. Gettler and A. V. St. George, “Cyanide Poisoning,”
American Journal of Clinical Pathology
4, no. 9 (September 1934) pp. 429–37.

57:
“The symptoms of acute poisoning. . . ”
: Gettler and St. George, “Cyanide Poisoning,” p. 430.

58:
In the late 1890s one daring physician
. . . : Witthaus and Becker,
Medical Jurisprudence
, pp. 4: 610–12. The descriptions of internal damage and autopsy findings come from this source as well as Gettler and St. George, “Cyanide Poisoning”; Peterson, Haines, and Webster,
Legal Medicine
, pp. 674–82, and Gonzales et al.,
Pathology and Toxicology
, pp. 802–804.

58:
In the four years since Gettler had become
. . . : Gettler and St. George, “Cyanide Poisoning,” p. 433.

59:
So he set about doing the finer chemical tests
. . . : Gettler and St. George, “Cyanide Poisoning,” pp. 435–37; Witthaus and Becker,
Medical Jurisprudence
, pp. 4: 610–12; Peterson, Haines, and Webster,
Legal Medicine
, pp. 680–82; Gonzales et al.,
Legal Medicine
, pp. 1050–52.

61:
One of the most famous cyanide-by-mail murder cases
. . . : The story of the Molineux murders is beautifully told in Harold Schecter,
The Devil’s Gentleman: Privilege, Poison and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century
(New York: Ballantine Books, 2007), and is recounted in numerous law and true crime Web sites. I especially like “Packaged Death,”
Legal Studies Forum
12, no. 2. See also
http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/lpop/etext/lsf/29-2/packaged.htmland
“The Molineux Case” on Jim Fisher’s forensics Web site,
http://jimfisher.edinboro.edu/forensics/mol1.html
. Stories from the
New York Times
coverage of the case include: “Molineux Jury Complete,” November 30, 1900, p. 3; “Molineux Murder Trial,” January 6, 1900, p. 4; “Molineux’s Next Ordeal,” February 15, 1900, p. 12; “Molineux’s Trial Progresses Rapidly,” October 21, 1902, p. 1; “The Influences Acquitting Molineux,” November 16, 1902, p. 11; “Tales From Jail,” February 14, 1903, p. BR12; and the transcript of
New York v. Molineux
, appellant, Court of Appeals of New York, argued June 17, 1901, decided October 15, 1901, Opinion of the Court.

64:
Gettler had conducted a careful analysis
. . . : “Wood Alcohol Clue in Jackson Deaths,”
New York Times
, April 29, 1922, p. 7.

64:
“the vilest concoctions masquerading . . . ”
: “Izzy, the Rum Hound, Tells How It’s Done,”
New York Times
, January 1, 1922, p. 3.

66:
Had the fumigator used hydrogen cyanide
. . . : The
New York Times
followed the Jackson case through the conclusion of the trial: “Thinks Fumigant Killed Jacksons,” May 3, 1922, p. 10; “Rats in Poison Test May Solve Tragedy,” May 4, 1922, p. 12; “2 Held for Deaths of Jackson Couple,” May 9, 1922, p. 10; “Jury Frees Bradicich,” August 3, 1922, p. 20; “Hotel Manager Cleared,” December 13, 1922, p. 11.

67:
“In recent years, suicidal, accidental . . . ”
: Gettler and St. George, “Cyanide Poisoning.”

69:
“should have made such inexcusable . . . ”
: Norris to Joseph Gallagher, assistant district attorney, Brooklyn, August 16, 1922; Norris to Gallagher, August 24, 1922, both in medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.

71:
Gettler also responded to the Bradicich trial .
. . : Alexander O. Gettler and J. Ogden Baine, “The Toxicology of Cyanide,”
American Journal of the Medical Sciences
195, no. 2, (February 1938), pp. 182–98.

74:
in 1980 the Hotel Margaret
. . . : Richard D. Lyons, “Work Starting on Embattled Site,”
New York Times
, May 4, 1986.