The herald., 1897-10-22
Fred Tobin Died From
Morphine Poisoning
PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES
SUSPICION RESTS UPON THE
JOCKEY MIKE CASEY
Of Administering an Overdose of the
Drug to Sober UP Els Compan-
ion-Verdict of the Jury

The mystery connected with the death
of the yourg man who was found a the
Arlington house on Commercial street
early yesterday mowring dying from
the effects of an overdose of morphine
was not cleared up at the coroners in
quest. The testimony given. was of a
very contradictory nature. but enough
facts were elected to throw suspicion or
Mike Casey, the jockey known as
shorty" of being responsible for the
young maris death. Shorty" is a NOR
phine fiend and, ii is not believed that
he intended to kill 5ls companion, but
that he prevailed upon him to take a
shot to sober up on which, proved too
much for system uraccustomed to its
use. A verdict was rend,ereG that the
deceased came to his death from an
overdose of morphine administered to
him by parties url1r,own to the coro-
ner's jury
The victims name was found to be
Fred Tobin and not Harry Howard. as
was stated by his roommate, Frank
Miller. He was 26 years of age and his
mother lives at Berkeley. A brother
works for a Market street transfer COM
pany ip San Francisco. The latter has
been notified of his brothers death by
telegraph
Tobin has BEEN living al the Arlington
house about three months. He is a
gambler by profession. Wednesday
night his was Drinking heavily an6 was
around town with Mike Casey, a cor.-
firme6 morphine fiend. The two visited
several saloons together and spent part
of the time in compaCy with a couple
of women. Shortly after midnight they
went to Casey's room and Tobin lay
down upon. the beGA Casey left him
there and returned about o'clock in the
morning with Frank Miller to find Tobin
dying.
DR.. Roth was called ira and pronoun ced
it a case Of strychnine poisoning. The
victim was removed TO the receiving
hospital and expires there. The coro-
nar held an autopsy and found that
6aeath had resulted from an overdose of
morphine injected hypodsrmically The
injection had been made in the right
forearm where the hole made by the
hypodermic reedle was plainly visible.
Its trend was downward, inGica ting that
the dose had been injected by someone
else than the victim himself Ar injec-
ton made by ones self is almost r,-
variably in the left arm and upward so
that the instrument cav1 be held in the
right hand
Tobin never used morphine in any
form according to the statements of his
friends, who have been intimate with
him. This fact and the position in which
the instrument was held when the shot
was injected as shown by the wound in
the arm make it almost certain that
someone else injected the drug for him.
The yourg mans friends believe that
Casey is the mar who did this. It is
supposed that after the two men re-
turned from their debauch Casey, who
is accustomed to using the drug, sug-
geste'd that his companion would better
take dose to sober him up, which is
not an uncommor, practice among hop
fiends. Presumably he then admins
tered dose to Tobin himself If 1s had
used quantity of the drug which would
have been an ordinary or even a small,
dose for one accustomed to it's use it
would have proved sufficient to kill on@.
not accustomed to it.
AT the inquest Casey stoutly denied
that he had administered the narcotic
to Tobia although he admitted that he
was in the habit of using the drug hypo-
dermically himself He also denied
that he ow9eG what he termed a LAY
out" meaning a syringe, or gun AS
there was no positive proof against him
the coroner's jury did not charge him
with the crime. Altogether the case is
peculiar one, made so by the conflic.-
ing statements of the. parties interested.
Wi1sr the body was first found Tobin's
friends refused to give his right name,
stating that he was Harry Howard
His roommate, Frank Miller, dropped
the remark that he knew Tobin had
come home from the races with con-
siderable money somewhere between
$50 and $100 None was found in the de-
ceased's clothes and'it is now denied that
he had any money at all
THE case will be further investigated
by the detectives.