Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-19
MORE POISON FOUND.
Scores of PittSburg People Who Ate
of the Smoked Sturgeon.
THEY WERE MADE DEATHLY SICK
No Fatalities Have as Yet Been Reported BY
the Physicians.
THE FISH IN STOCK TO BE CONDEMNED

The number of cases of poisoning from
smoked sturgeon greatly increased yester-
day, and nearly all the physicians on the
Hill found patients suffering from the effects
of the poison. DR.. j. Guy McCandless made
report to Chief Brown on this subject and
advised that officers be sent to the stores
and have all the smoked sturgeon iE stock
condemned. He says he finds that the fish
was cured with creosote and it has all the
appearance of an overdose. He reported
quite number of persons who were poi
soned and who came under his direct super
vision.
Chief Brown ordered Superintendent
Baker to visit all the places where the fish is
sold and condemn it. He warns people to be
very careful for the present and abstain
from using the meat DR.. McCandless had l3
cases in three families yesterday and visited
numerous other patients. On Wylie avenue
the grocer from whom the sturgeon was Sc
cured said he purchased it from Mr.. Gled-
Hill. 1t seems that all the poisoned fish
comes from this place, but that is not pecu-
liar, inasmuch as his is the only curing es-
tablishment in the city.
Anxious for an Investigation.
Mr.. Gledhill is anxious that the thing be
thoroughly investigated, as it is hurting his
business at present. This lot of fish, said
he, sis the finest ever saw, and can't un-
derstand why it should have bad effect on
so many people. We received it fresh from
D. P. Leonard of Bay Side n. j. 1t was
smoked Friday. We only use hard wood,
hickory and sometimes oak. deny the use
ofcreosote in curing it. / have heard of
that being done. The man who does my
work has had 40 years experience, and is
certainly competent. These reports are
running my business. If smoked sturgeon is
poisonous will quit the business"
DIR. c. c. Wiley made a statement yeSter-
day which somewhat explains the creosote
story without rejecting on Mr.. Gledhill. He
says hickory contains great deal of creo-
sote, and that may have caused the trouble,
as that was the wood used in curing this
meat. Creosote in small quantities, the
doctor SAYS, is a sedative, but in large guam
titles it is poisonous. Creosote is a distilla-
tlOn of wool tar, and it is the acid in the
wood that cures the meat. The probabilities
are that the meat absorbed too much of the
acid from the smoke
Progress of the Poison Patients.
At Sharpsburg the majority of the patients
are getting along first rate, though scme of
them are reported no better, and one or two
whose names could not be learned may die.
The doctors there report that there are only
a few new cases, and they are not serious.
There are numerous cases in the Lawrence
vile district DR.. Henon reports one family
in which several members were sick, and
had evidently been poisoned by something
taken as food.
There are a large number of cases on Mt. |
Washington, also. DR.. Mccormick is attend |
Ing a family there. the members of which |
were poisoned and he is slightly doubtful |
as to their ultimate recovery. 1t is in the |
Seventeenth and Eighteenth wards where |
the greatest number of cases are reported. |
Nearly all the doctors in that vicinity have |
several patients under their care, and some /
OF them are very sick. The poison trouble |
even invaded O'Hara township, where the |
Boyer family tasted of the spoiled fish and /
became sick.
There are large number ofpeople who ate |
OF the nSh and were not poisoned. One grocer J
said he sold so pounds without having any I
complaints. Mr.. Gledhill said he ate some |
OF the 1lsh and gave some to his friends, |
and none of them were affected badly