St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-03-24
Death Of an Unusually Healthy
Infant Under Most Pecul-
lar Circumstances.
Insinuations of Poisoning Set
the Tongues Of West Side
Gossips Wagging.
Family Skeletons, White and
COlored, Paraded in the
Divorce Court.
Partnership Broils--A Days
Doings in the District
Court.

The death of Edomnd st. Pierre, the
infant son of Mr.. and Mrs. Isaiah st.
Pierre, which occurred last Wednesday
at the family residence On East Wini-
fred street, West st. Paul, under some
what peculiar circumstances, has been
the subject of considerable loud COM
ment in the Sixth ward. Vague insinu-
ations that the child came to its death
through poisoning are to be heard In all
quarters, and, with the view of getting
at the facts of the case, reporter for
the GLOBE sought DR.. James B. Lewis,
who served as accoucheur and attended
the infant up 10 the date of its death.
Replying to a question. DR.. Lewis said:
Yes, l attended the child. 1t was
very healthy infant, in fact, unusually
healthy. Regarding the cause of death,
L certified that it died of heart failure"
Does not that cover wide range of
possibilities"
Certainly; the child might have died
from anything and the cause of death
would still have been heart failure"
In response to question as to what in
his opinion caused the heart failure,
DE-. Lewis said: Il refuse to state my
opinion on that point. If it ever be-
comes necessary l will make my
statement in count. | refuse to say
whether or not in my opinion death re-
suited from poisoning, as is rumored. I
think the clerk who prepared the pre-
scription that is alleged to have caused
the chIld'S death is very steady, smart
young fellow, the most careful. com
FOUNDER of prescriptions L have ever
seen; yet this. may be one of those
cases in which a mistake is made me-
chemically. Mr.. ChiSler (meaning the
drug clerk came here from Minneapo-
lis with the best possible recommended
tons. which. to all appearances, he has
fully sustained since his arrival. Ihave
nothing to say about the causes Of death
i'll this case. l made a statement to the
parents of the child which l shall
stick to.'
A call was then made at the st. Pierre
residence. Il have come to inquire
concerning the death of the little child
winch occurred yesterday" said the re-
swered the ring at the door.
YES, SIR, HE WAS POISONED"
said the young lady. Mrs. st. Pierre,
who lay proDped up with pillows in a
room near by, called, ''He was our first
little darling, sir: and he died such
terrible death. 1t was the second fill
ing of the prescription which was
so fatally wrong. The first was all
right. and did our poor baby good.
but the second filing. oh. dear! it was
that which did the terrible work. A
member of the family who WIS present
during the interview, said: AFTER we
gave him the first spoonful from the
second filling of that bottle, the poor
child become fearfully drowsy. He
slept in manner to give us alarm, hay
ing both his little arms above his head
as IT in pain. and laboring hard for
breath, as though there was a weight
on his lungs; we still thought it was
the result of collie, of which he had had
Slight attacks, and gave him another
spoonful of the stuff, when ne became
rapidly worse and his gasps for breath
were awful. We thought the baby was
dead at IL o'clock that night, bnt he
lived in a stupor until morning, when he
gave great gasp and fell back dead"
Mr.. st. Pierre said: Il am quite will
ing to say what think. say to you
what / have said to many others, that
the contents of this bottle, producing a
twO-ounce phial, containing a light
brown mixture. This pointing to a
label of white paper pasted round the
it, Upon the improvised label was
written in a round, trembling hand,
Poison, which killed our dear little
baby Edmond Said Mr.. st. Pierre:
Il do not hesitate to say that our baby
would have been alive now but for that,
but he's dead; no amount of law will
recall him.
what did DR.. Lewis say toyou about
the contents of the bottle?''
He said that it was the wrong color,
and that he suspected it had caused the
death of the baby. He took the bottle
down to the store and had the clerk
FILL THE PRESCRIPTION AGAIN,
and watched him do it; then taking both
bottles to his Office he found the con-
tents of the one filled last to be almost
colorless. The prescription called for
four minimum drops of laudanum, and
the presumption is that the mistake was
made Of putting in four drachms, thus
making the mixture of eight drops to
each spoonful of the mixture. DR..
Lewis poured laudanum into the bottle
he had ordered until its contents were
of the same color as the other, four tea
spoonfulS of the drug being necessary
10 accomplish that result. He returned
the bottle to me and told me the result,
adding that if it had been his child he
would prosecute the case to the full
limit of the law. The child was phe-
nomenally healthy and strong and in
the best of health, except the slight
collie for which the prescription was
written. The contents of the first
results, those of the second bottle
killed our boy, as surely as there
is justice to be had in America. | don't
see any good to be got by prosecuting.
for the Bible says Vengeance is mine,'
etc, and l can't bring my baby back.
Sphere said, 1.-THE baby was born
on March II, and we were so proud of
him. He was our first, you know. On
the evening of the 10Th he was taken ill
after one spoonful of the stuff had been
given him. He writhed and gasped for
breath, and we gave him another spoon
full, and the poor little thing-that's
what killed him." Mr.. ST. Pierre said:
II have told the cause of the child's
death to a great many people, and
make no secret of it. | have the bottle
containing what remains of the stuff,
and will rely on an analysis of that to
protect me, if the druggist chooses to
take exceptions to the statements |
have made"
Robert Chisler, the clerk who put ND
the prescription, was found at Robin
sons drug store, of 176 Concord street.
II don't think L
Made ANY SUCH MISTAKE
as Is attributed to me,n he said cit
may be that the water used in filing
the prescription was what caused its
high color, or perhaps the old stock of
lemon extract, which was one of the in
gradients. l know that it was colored
more than the contents of the bottle
filled for Dr.. Lewis have nothing to
say. except that l don't believe l could