The New Orleans bulletin., 1876-02-18
POISONED.
A Fatal Mistake.
Accidental Poisoning Of Two Old
q Ladies'.

house on Morales street, between Vaudeville
and Spain, which terminated in the death Of
two old ladies, named Mrs. Widow Marie
Louise Vincent and Mrs. Widow J.. b.
Meysur. aged respectively ssvsnty-two and
Afty-three years, BY taking poison In their
food, administered accidentally at the hands
Of one Of the parties The presumption is,
that Mrs. Vincent, the Oldest Of the two,
placed oxalic acid in the food, consisting OF
stew Of tripe and potatoes and salad. in place
OF salt Asas.ta ~ ,#s1 Ns5
The unfortunate pair had been working in
the garden up to II o'clock in the morning,
when they commenced to wash clothes. They
were known to use oxalic acid frequently, to
remove stains from the clothing. About .
quarter to II O'Clock, Mrs. Vincent abandoned
the wash-tub and went to work to cook dinner
ON stove near where they were working, and
it is more than probable that the aged lady,
whose eye sight was bad, seasoned the meat
with the poison instead of salt. The dinner
was ready about quarter to O'Clock. and
they both sat down TO the table together, and
partook Of the meal that had just been pre-
pared by Mrs. Vincent -
Two boys, aged twelve and eight years,
who were under the care and guardianship Of
the two ladies' fortunately however went out
short time before dinner and did not come
home until late in the day, and thereby es-
capped death, as their dinner had been pre-
pared, and bad they returned they would un-
doubtedly have eaten the repast prepared for
every one in the house. al eisos
Mrs. Vincent, about An hour or two after
eating. was suddenly taken very sick and
commenced to vomit, and complained of
pains in the side and legs. Some of the la
dies in attendance made . cup of hot tee for
her and covered her up with blankets. ts
Shortly afterwards Mrs. Meyeur was taken
very ill and commenced to vomit, and COM
planned of Q pain in the stomach. -
The lady friends in the house administered
all kinds Of remedies to the two unfortunate
beings, but nothing seemed to do any good.
They became worse and worse in the course
of few hours, when the friends began to re-
alize that they were seriously i'll. and notified
Mrs. Meyeur's sons of the sudden sickness of
their mother. Young Meyeur, on arriving
at the house, saw that their mother was very
low, and lost no time. but went Immediately
for DR.. Gunther, their family physician. DR..
Gun,her was not home at the time, but came
in few moments afterwards, and repaired
to the house, and when he got
there Mrs. Vincent had just died. .
Mrs. Meyeur was suffering very much
when the doctor arrived, and he gave pre-
scription that he thought would give her re-
lief; but nothing that could be found or pre-
scribed seemed to do her any good. She
fingered until S o'clock Thursday morning,
when sne breathed her last.
Oxaiic acid is q poisonous drug, and strange
to say, some OF the druggists in the city o. II
it daily to any one that calls for it without the
least hesitancy; whether they have prescrip.
ton from doctor or not, it IL all the same.
In fact, some of them are not aware that it is
q poison. Some people use 1t for removing
spots of leather, and many fatal mistakes
have occurred in the use of it.
Oxalic acid was first noticed as poison by
MI. Royston in 1914; since which time it has
been principally investigated in this relation
by DR.. A. T. Thomson, OF London, DR. Percy,
OF Lausanne, Dr. Coindet, of Geneva, and
DR.. Christison, oflE Eiinburg. Since it's proper.
ties Of Certainty and rapidity as poison
have been more generally known, its employ
ment for committing suicide has become
more frequent. ias
From the general resemblance which the
crystalizsd oxalic acid bears to epson salt,
many fatal mistakes nave occurred, in conse-
quence of its being sold for that saline pur-
gative. Nothing, however, can be easier than
to distinguish them, for upon tasting .
minute portion of the acid, which may be
done with perfect safety, it will be found
strongly sour, whereas the salt in question is
bitter. .acl
Unfortunately, however, in the instance of
these fatal istakes, no suspicion being
awakened, the solution is swallowed with
haste, and the mischief is done before the
victim il aware of the danger. @
49, AAA Svn
principal ways, according - it's solution is
concentrated or diluted. When concentrated
it causes exquisite pain, followed by violent
efforts to vomit, then sudden dullness. Ian
guor and great debility, and finally death
without struggle
The morbid appearances caused by oxalic
acid are various In dissection reported BY
DIR. Christis0n, the mucous coat of the
throat and gullet had an appearance - II
scalded, and that of the gullet could be easily
scraped of. The inner part of the stomach
was pultaceoCs, in many points black, in
others red, and that of the intestines simi-
larly but less violently affected. In another
case recorded by the same author, the whole
villous coat of the stomach was either soft
ened or removed, as well as the inner men,
brane of the B Biophagus, SO that the muscular
coat was exposed, and the coat exhibited .
UAIks SauBIcnOuS 0PPooAoAOS' Au0 0so.A.ooAA
usually contains dark fluid. resembling
coffee grounds, consisting chiefly Of altered
blood. O.
Oxalic acid is used for removing ink stains
and iron moulds, and for disch areing colors
in calico printing.
These two ladies' were in the habit of using
it for such purposes, and most always
had some about the house. The two ladies
were the keepers of the Ascension Church,
corner of Morales and Vaudeville streets.
They were widely known throughout the
Third District as pious, good people If any
one was taken sick and had no one to care for
them, they always went to the place, and re-
manned, in many instances, weeks at time,
and administered to their wants and nursed
them, without ever demanding pay for their
services.
They were both very old, and, strange to
say, up to the time of their late illness, were
as active and industrious as right young
people. They were in the habit of getting up
very early in the morning, and were employed
doing one thing and another throughout the
entire day.
n. Snhrr.oho, N;Ar Dh.,:.:.. lila .