Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-08-01
A DEADLY TOY
Inc small Boy and the Small Pistol--A
Mel ded Reform

~ .SnJa" ahi,DB CHILDREN, Inc Cnlcag0
tribune cent out a reporter to investigate
ine mrs. person spoken with was phyei.
clan whose experience in nervous diseases
Is unequaled IN Chicago. In response to
the inquiries made the doctor said that he
had noticed the astounding increase of cases
OF tetanus as reported, but none of them
had come under his personal observation.
Tetalus had hitherto generally been con.
| sidered as rare disease, much the same as
hydrophobia, and the death OF person
from iockiaw furnished matter for neigh
borhood conversation for months But
now it seemed that in Chicago, st. Louis,
Cincinnati aud other cities the deaths from
tetapus must be counted by the
dozen, and he was inclined to think
that the iuducive conditions must have
MULTIPLIED VERY EXTENSIVELY.
Tetanus, said the physician, ia purely
nervous disease. There is nothing of
blood poisoning about these cases. 1t ap-
pears that boys sustain injuries of the most
trivial character from toy.pistols. The
wounds are hardly more than scratches,
| and little or no attention is paid to them
at the time. In few days alarming
symptoms are developed, and in two weeks
a. the most the boy dies. Sometimes the
and four or ve.days will cover it,
Why is it, DOCTOR" said the reporter.
that the toy pistol has broken loose to
such an extent this year, and that the
deaths are all recorded as arising from te-
tanus :"
THE TOY PISTOL.
Toy pistols have been used much more
within the past year or two than ever be.
ton, and rs they are cheap and make a
tremendous amount of noise they are popu.
lar. They can be used to fire either blank
cartridges or paper caps, and / really do
not know which of these is the most dead
ly. Here is point which you probably
and the public generally-do not recog.
| niZe. The danger of tetanus bears no pro-
portion whatever to the magnitude of the
wound. A person may sustain compound,
comminuted fracture, say OF the ankles,
| and tetanus will never be developed On
the other hand, child may receive a
scratch SO minute that its mother will not
even consider the application of piece of
court plaster as necessary, yet tetanus will
| follow"
is it the fact that the cartridges con-
tain some poisonous matter which causes
| tetanus ~
81 should say that the cartridges or waters
CONTAIN A MERCURIAL SALT,
Such salts are poisonous, and very small
| quantity will do the mischief. To induce
tetanus two things are required. There
must be condition of nervous irritability
and wound. Many have said that tetanus
can be produced without wound, but this
is not so. We recognize two forms of the
disease, toxic and traumatc tetanus. The
first refers simply to poison. People who
have taken strychnine in overdose die of
tetanus traumatic. Tetanus means lock-
jaw resulting from wound, and l say
Il cannot occur unless there is
wound. 1t may be only scratch or
a cut which you would never no.
tice, but it must be there. In cases of
| strychnine poisoning the handsa are always
involved, and are rigid. In traumatic te.
tanus the hands are flexible CIV IN up to the
moment of death. Tell me whether the
hands Were flexible or not in these cases
and | will tell you whether or not
| death resulted from toxic tetanus That
Is, will tell you whether or not it was a
poison which caused lock- jaw. A rusty
nail tpoisonous), pieces OF glass, even a
scratch from a brass pin, may induce te.
tanus where the condition of Iiervars iii.
] liability exists. That condition is agra
waited in hot and damp weather.. Tetanus
is far more prevalent in the tropics than in
this latitude"
Acting on suggestion made by this
| physician, the reporter obtained some sam.
| Piles of the little paper waters which are
used in the toy pistols and also in some of
! the blank cartridges. These ware submit.
ted to competent judges for analysis As
to the paper waters, DIR. I. d. Williams
REPORTED AS FoLLows:
THE toy-pistol caps sent me for exam.
| nation contain illuminate of mercury,
chlorate of potass, starch and gluten, in
form of paste, evidently used to inclose the
explosive compound. aud limited guam
tity of red coloring matter the nature of
which / have not as yet satisfactorily de-
termined. Fulmeric acid is isomeric with
both cyanic and cyanuric acids, and is pro.
duced by the action of nitrous acid on
alcohol In the presence of a salt of silver
or mercury"
The blank cartridges appear to be less
| dangerous than the paper wads. They are
composed of powder inclosed in a copper
| cylinder, and have very small amount of
Eliminating compound in them. John Gil.
lespie, who is standard authority on all
matters relating to explosives, was shown
the toy pistol, the paper waters, and the
blank cartridges The waters he pro.
nounced harmless. The cartridges, he said,
contained nothing but cheap rifle powder.
The powder was good, and the same car.
tridges could be fired from an ordi.
nary revolver without the slightest
risk. They are of about % caliber and
are capped with thick paper wad. But
when Mr.. Gillespie was shown the alleged
pistol he said that the only wonder was
that the victims were not counted by hum
dreds instead of dozens. The weapon loads
at tt breech, and there is an open space
of about one.sixth of an inch between the
hammer and the cartridge. Consequently
when the hammer falls the explosion may
occur at either breech or muzzle. Mr..
Gillespie thought that in all probability the
cases of tetanus had been the result of ex.
plosions where pieces of the copper cylinder
had
BEEN DRIVEN INTO TIE FLESH.
Or it might have been that the "wad" with
which the powder is covered had been
forced into the hand. Mr.. Gillespie, as an
expert in firearms, was inclined to denounce
the pistol first of all. He said that it was
unscientific, dangerous even in the hands
of experts and terribly dangerous in the
hands of boys. If he had his way he
would make the sale of such weapons
penal offense. The manner in which he
handled the thing showed better than
words the respect which he entertained for
its death.dealing powers.
The reporter, in order TO arrive at the
constituents of paper waters, called at the
office of the United States Engineers De-
| partment and found there several officers
of the regular army. These gentlemen are
all experts in explosives, but they could
| give little information about the deadly
wafer, not having had any practical ex-
perience Herewith. They believed, how
ever, that the wafer was composed of full
inmate OF mercury, and therefore calculated
| to be risky at least. All had heard of the
great mortality recorded since the Fourth,
and all agreed that the sale of the toy
pistols ought
| TO BE PROHIBITED BY LAW.
One gentleman said that the things were
more dangerous than 45.calber bullet.
| The head of firm of dealers in fireworks
was seen. He said that the toy pistol was
introduced three years ago. His firm sold
the pistol one year and then quit, being
satisfied that the weapons were of such
a character as to be dangerous. Last year
they received considerable consignment,
but strict orders were given to discharge
any employee who should be found handling
one, and the entire outfit was thrown into
the boiler fire. This gentleman said the
copper cap was the mischief-maker, and
that the paper waters were harmless. The
manager of the same firm went further and
declared that one could eat the waters, with
out harm. This hardly tallies with DR.. WILL
Jams analysis of the waters. But both
these gentlemen agreed that the sale of the
toy pistols ought to be prohibited by law
or city ordinance. The Coroner took the
same view. In the case of Charles luck