The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-24
DRUGGISTS FATAL ERROR.
SELLS MORPHINE TABL ETs IN MIS-
TlKE FOR CALOMEL.
The Baby 60 who's They Were Prescribed
Dies-The Physio,an, whe Accuses the Drag
sist. says tis Cslornel BEETLE aad Net been
opened-A Second Chiid Dies Similarly.

mten-ThN PhyniCtnn, NNno hccube3 tuo VEu9s
r,st, says isis Caio,nel BEETLE aad Net Deen
'opened-A second Chiid Dies Similarly.
Solomon Levin, tho ls months old son Of
| Hyman Levin. a crayon artist, Of o Chrystie
street, died at o o'clock last night. Tho circum.
stances OF tho death were such ms TO lead the
father and the attending physician, DR.. I.
Locwenkopf Of 248 East Broadway. to report
| the death to the police Of the Eldridgo street
station. Mr.. Levin told Police Captain Titus
that he suspected the baby had been poisoned.
The child was taken III on Wednesday after
noon. Surprising that It was some trivial
ailment, tho mother did not Immediately
call q physician. As the child seemed to
grow worse during the night, DIR. Loewon-
kopf was called shortly after 8 o'clock
| yesterday morning. After examining the
infant, DR.. Loewenkopf diagnosed the case a.
| ono OF indigestion. He told Mr.. and Mrs. Levin
that there was no cause for alarm, and wrote .
prescription for tablets containing q sixth Of
grain Of calomel.
Mr.. Levin got this prescription filled at the
drug store Of Bernard Kohosoff at 1s Bayard
street. The dose. according to the prescription,
was one tablet every four hours. Tho tablets the
druggist gave Mr.. Levin were about an eighth
OF an inch in diameter, and white in color.
When Mrs. Levin received tho tablets from
her husband. she followed tho doctors diree-
taohoA 49, 81 pAsShA-
tho first tablet was given the child sank into G
heavy sleep. This was the opposite effect
which she expected the tablets to have, and
Mrs. Levin tried to arouse the child. Failing to
do this, DIR. Loewenkopf was again called.
He reached the house the second time at
about IL o'clock. According to his statement,
made to q Sun reporter last night. DR.. Loewen.
kept noticed that tho pupils OF the child's eyes
were contracted. that there was q pecu-
liar blush tint to tho skin. and
these symptoms. DR.. Loewenkoff. asked Mrs.
Lovin to SEQ the tablets. She handed him the
ieft in nit It. Dr.. LoeSenkopf said: 'i' '""'
.,%nd believe the druggist has made q fa, I mis-,
t tSnf a hHrs' this p wsst ysn to 1T ta onee ms to the man
Mr.. Levin directed the doctor 70 the druggists
store and the doctor went there. Accord;
that Kohosoff was a Russian, about IS years
old, who had been in this country only
word of English. DR.. Loewcnkopf knows enough
Of the dialect which Kohosofr speaks to ask the
druggist the following question: ,
Did you I'LL a prescription for Mr.. Levin at b
The druggist replied that he did, and the
doctor asked what tho druggist had given his
hosoH answered that he had sold Mr.. Levin
1s0 tSis fb9 81. Loe@sn Z s1a'n re Sa e gram OF 0a'0m0i'
You did no such thing. Instead Of selling
you have poisoned his child!'
According to the doctor the druggist became
caiomel. Then DR.. Loeweniopf took one of the
tablets that had been sold to Levin from the
box, and told the druggist to dissolve q portion
or II In water and pour upon the solution nitric
That" said Dr.. Lo%ewcnkopf to the druggist,
according ti the doctors statement, lis the
tcst for morphine. II the solution turns red
upon the application OF nitric acid you may
know that you have sold morphine instead Of
According to the doctor. Kohosoff made the
tss5ii & Mai,s got t fos T ned m n%sas.iG but PGi HSsTe to
save ssS h sSs oh Il DO life wha The h Stomach sSaid xs sS
RRe eatp1 up until odI the eh child "t died. without 5ssp havi1e
ever reEained Consciousness. After telling this
AFTER tho child's death / went again TO the
drug store and asked to see the bottle Of
Levin were taken. Let mo say right here
.hSt in color and size there is no pos;
down the. bottle, Of calomel tablets, and |
Jaw at once GG !, that 1t had n never been opened 'eSp,edh;
stood next to it on tho shelf. ana the label
showed that that bottle contained a sixth Of a
attention to this and reminded him that he was
guilty of gross carelessness in not having isolated
that after I had left him in the morning no had
tested for morphine In the remainder OF tho
had made the mistake of selling morphine for
calomel."
When the case was reported at tho ElGridse
street station, Capt. Titus detailed Detective
Cohen, to make an Investigation. Cohen at mid
night had seen neither tho druggist nor the doc
tor, but had come to the concl sion that the po-
lice could do nothing il tho case until after an
autopsy had been made. He also suggested that
1t was more than probable that the child had
died OF natural causes.
Koho5on. according to the police, lives in the
rear of his store. There is n night bell at the
front door for the use OF customers who may want
drugs after the store IS closed. A Sun reporter
rang this bell several times just before midnight,
but was unable to get any response. A man
who lives over the store told the reporter that
Kohosotf had closed up shortly after 10 O'Clock
and had gone away.
Ruth. the l7-months.old daughter of Philip
Schuleng of Az East Eighty-eighth street, died
suddenly yesterday afternoon, about an hour
after taking u powder prescribed by DR.. Julius
]. Merzger of 1853 East Sixtieth street.
In the belief that some blunder had bern made
in preparing or administering tho medicine, the
case was reported to Coroner Hoeber. Coroner's
Physician Shultz will perform an autopsy, and
the remaining powders VII % be snaiyzed to,day:
phen9cetin in powders. and was filled at A.
Sieke's drug store at Avenue A and Eighty
eighth street. The druggist Is sure that lie
made no mistake.