St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-17
BERTHULL'S SDEATH
CORONER wHITCOMB GOES TO
WHITE BEAR AND INVESTI-
GATES 1T.
DRUG CLERK IN 1T, TOO.
PUT UP. THE
CORONER LEARNS. BY UNAU-
THORIZED PERSON.
STATEMENTS TO THE GLOBE
Verified in Detail by the Officer
Something About DR..
Farmer.

coroner WhltcOmD spent yeSter-
day afternoon at White Bear Lake
investigating the suspicious circum-
stances surrounding the death of
young Albert Hull. He returned to.
the city late last evening. He said
that he had not completed his in
vestigation, but that he would prob
ably hold an inquest and ascertain
whether Hull died from the admins
tration Of an unwarranted amount
of morphine by his physician, DR..
Farmer. The coroner found yester-
day that the young mans parents,
while admitting the entire accuracy
of the statements made by the.
G | o b as to their sons case, are
somewhat averse to an official in
vestigation and it's necessary pub
licity.
Il talked to DR.. Farmer" said the
coroner, but he had very little to
say. He is much mortified and
grieved over this affair. I must ad-
nit that the young man is extremely
unfortunate. He comes of an excel
lent family, and he and his wife are
much thought of at White Bear. [
couldn't learn that he had ever made
any professional errors before, and,
really, I'm afraid that all physi-
cians-even the best of them-some-
times commit mistakes.
'One thing, however, 1 discovered
out there which adds considerably to
the Importance of an investigation.
I was informed that the prescription
for the powders taken by Hull was
not filled by Mr.. King, the druggist,
but by a young clerk in Kings store,
who has never been in the habit of
filing prescriptions. More than that,
| the young fellow who put the pow
derS had never received, l am told,
any license from the state board of
pharmacists, and he was, in that
case, not authorized to put up any
prescriptions whatever. If he really
did put. up those powders, he violat-
ed the state law. 1 was told that
! DR.. Farmer came to the drug store
with the prescription himself, and
stood over the young man while the
latter weighed out the powders. A
good many druggists might have hes
itated to fill a prescription giving
such quantities of poison, yet most
druggists, on the other hand, would
have felt justified in doing so on
the personal assurance of the doctor
writing the prescription.
1.-The feeling among people at the
lake is more that of sympathy with
Dr. Farmers unfortunate position
! than anything else. Of course, as
for my attitude, I'm not, under the
law, a prosecuting officer in any
sense. I'm merely bound to investi-
gate every case where suspicious
circumstances arise regarding a
death, and find out when, where and
by what means the party came to
his death. 1 learned today that Mr.
King had locked the prescription for
the powders in his safe where it can
be secured, if needed. I took charge
of all other evidence that was obtain
able, so as to be ready for an in
| quest"
DR.. Thomas McDavitt, secretary
of the state board of medical exam
| iners, looked up his records yester-
| day and said that DR.. ]. G. Farmer,
| of White Bear, had successfully
| passed the boards examination last
June and had been admitted to prac-
| tice in this state.
William Dampier, the undertaken
of this city, who, being friend of
the Hull family, personally prepared
for burial the body Of young Albert,
replied to an inquiry:
yes, of course, / noticed that the
J body didn't seem to be that of
person who died from the effects of a
burn, as was reported, but I didn't
| think much about the matter until
after 1 had laid out the remains. At
first it seemed to me, before 1 knew
anything of the circumstances, that
maybe Albert had died from shock
following a severe burn. But when
I had talked with Mr.. and Mrs. Hull
| and they had told me their sons
! symptoms previous to his death and
the treatment he had received-why,
then began to think that something
was decidedly wrong. 1 was drug
! gist once myself, and I know some
thing about the effects of drugs. 1
then opened Alberts eyes and looked
to see if they showed the contracted
or pin point pupil that accompanies
morphine poisoning. The boys eyes
looked quite natural, but the alb
sence of the contraction in the pupil
is no proof that morphine did not
cause death, because the pupil fre-
quently enlarges again shortly after
death. This was on Friday [ pre-
pared Albert-the morning before
the funeral.
In the afternoon I went after the
death certificate. DR.. Clark, the
health officer, had the certificate on
file in his office. I looked at it and
talked the matter over with Dr.
Clark 1 told him that it seemed to
me as if Albert hadn't been killed
by the burn, and perhaps the au-
thorities would want to look into the
matter.
But, really, I wasn't called upon
according to the usual practice, to
say anything at all about the disa-
greement between the death certif1-
cate and the appearance of the body.
With an undertaken, the death GER
tificate of an authorized physician is
usually considered final evidence as
TO the real cause of death. Certainly,
there may be exceptional cases where
the party couldn't have possibly
died from the cause indicated by the
certificate, or where there was un-
doubted evidence, on the body, OF
death from criminal means instead
OF from an alleged natural cause"
Then Mr.. Dampier made a state.
Rlent which may be a surprising fac
to most persons:
But, ordinarily, we undertakers pay
no attention to merely suspicious cir
cumstances, not in themselves con
vincing, and there are cases where {
person dying of diphtheria Indirectly
| tJoot &c for inc of o,,arox-