The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-07-16
ANACONDA NEWS.
EVIDENCE UP TO DATE
Inquest Upon the Remains Of
Kenney Phelan Commenced.
CHICKEN UNDER SUSPICION
Testimony Tends 10 ehow That Those
Who Ate Of the Chicken Fricas-
see and Soup Were
Made Sick.

The inquest over the remains Of Ken
ney Phelan was commenced yesterday
afternoon and not in the morning az
previously set. Considerable testimony
was heard and then an adjournment
was taken until 4 o'clock his after
noon, in order that Thomas Phelan.
the dead mans brother, might be pres
ent and offer any suggestion he might
feel disposed to make. The proceed
lngs were commenced in Judge Will
1ams' court room at Q o'clock yester-
day afternoon. Coroner Ha~rdenbrook
presided and the following named per-
sons were empaneled as a jury: @. s.
Vineyard. william Berkin, c. II. Ira
cey, Mike Shea. w. c. Haynes and Mr..
Boiand. ]. NJ. Self, assistant prosecut-
lng attorney. appeared and
che examination Of the witnesses.
From the evidence introduced 1T ap-
pears probable that the poison was
either in the chicken fricasee or else in
the chicken soup-that Is, that the poul-
cry was infected in some way. The tes-
timony showed that 1t was not in the
Zee cream. For a child. a neighbor of
MI. and Mrs. Gavin, was given a dish
OF ice cream ana was not dihCStco W.
the slightest. On the other hand. Mr..
Phelan did not eat chicken fricasee. blu
ne did partake of the SOUP. Evidenc
was introduced showing that one CT
the cooks who did not eat chicken In
any form was not taken i'll. This evil
dence would tend to placing the trouble
pretty close to the chicken.
DIR. j. +. Spelman was the ffrst Wit
ness called. He said he attended Ken
DLzIz- I,-f-n hfs vacant illnaSg
He said that Mr.. Phelan died from ex-
haustion caused by excessive vomiting
and purging. He could not state what
kind of poison had caused mis- illness
Of the dead man. The history furnished
the doctor was that the dead man had
eaten some food Sunday evening and
was taken violently i'll Sunday night.
There were about IS or 40 other cases
of similar illness. Some of these he
believed were suffering from eating
some infected food and he believed that
some of the other cases were from over
heating and from indulgence in too
much cold water. There were three or
four other cases from other boarding
houses in Carroll thar MI. Gavin's'
where the majority of the cases came
from, and this was the reason that 1t
seemed probable that those were SUI
fering from over-heating and drinking
water as aforesaid. He did not believe
that an autopsy would result in dis
covering anything. He knew of similar
cases of poisoning from infected food.
There were other poisons that would
produce similar results. The mineral
poison would affect a person similarly.
If certain forms of poison had been
placed in coffee or soup ii would hav
acted the same as In this case. Wit
ness was present wnen Phelan died.
There was no struggle. though he
twitched a few times. Mr.. Phelan hav-
ing been so stout, his circulation was
poor, and when taken Ill he simply col
lapsed.
DR.. T. j. Mckenzie testified hat he
saw Mr.. Phelan while he was Ill. He
was in collapse when the witness was
called. Could not say whether he were
suffering from symptoms of poisoning
or not, as he was in a state of collapse
when he was called in. There had been
several other cases which the witness
old were similar to the case of Mr..
Phelan. There were several different
kinds of poisons that would produce
similar results. Poison was sometimes
found in food of different kinds, such
as meats and milk products. He doubt
ed very much IL a chemical analysis
of the stomach would tell anything in
regard to the nature OF the poison with
which the dead man had been affected.
Cleo Ashton, a waitress at Thomas
Gavin's boarding house, said that she
knew there had been several cases If
sickness down there since Sunday. She
could not say how many cases there
had been. She did not know what
caused the sickness. Sunday night they
had chicken soup, steak, mutton
chops, fricaseed chicken, Hamburg
steak, ice cream. potatoes. tea and cof-
fee. 1t was during the night n in
the morning that the men were taken
sick. Two cooks and a dishwasher,
three dining-room girls and two cham
bermaids were among the sick. Mr..
Phelan ate steak, tea and ice cream for
supper and potatoes and corn or beans,
whichever vegetable was erved at the
meal. Tom Mulligan was sick. He
ate chicken and ice Witness
noticed particularly what the dead man
ate. as she waited on him regularly.
Asked by Juror Tracey If she knew
whether there was any insect powder IN
the kitchen, witness said she did not
know. She had never used any insect
powder in Mr.. Gavin's house.
Thomas Gavin. proprietor of the
boarding house in Carroll. was called.
He had about $50 boarders. The first
he heard of any sickness among his
boarders was at z o'clock Monday
morning. Then he was informed that
some IL or Is OF the men had been
taken sick during the night. There