The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-11-16
MYSTERY OF A POISON
THE DRUG THAT KILLED THE
PORTUGUESE.
Thought by Dr. Storey to Have been
an Extract from Some Hawaiian
Plant.

Joaquin Silva, one of the Portuguese
who died so mysteriously Wednesday
night, after drinking a concoction at
the home of old man Antoine Silva, is
in his grave. Madeiros is also buried.
The funeral of Joe Cabral, foreman for
II. II. Williams, will occur Sunday
afternoon, and will be big Portuguese
affair.
The post mortem on the remains of
Joaquin Silva was finished yesterday
afternoon. Poisoning was plainly the
cause of DEATH though the character of
the poison will not be known until Mr..
Shorey completes his analysis of the
liquor taken by the men. Ed. Paris,
c. j. Hutchins, w. +. Bivens, S. Ku-
hey, Charles Dickinson and Ruby Dex-
ter have been appointed by the coroner
to inquire into this case, so that it, for
one, will be properly attended to.
Mr.. Shorey made this statement this
afternoon: "It will be tomorrow before
1 can tell positively the ingredients Of
the liquor taken by the three dead men.
| can say, however, that. the stuff is
methylated spirits, added to which is a
fusion of a brew from some plant.
Just what stuff it is, is the rub. As
is probably well known, a poisonous
drug may be distilled from numerous
Hawaiian plants. Portuguese know
these, and almost every man has some
particular concoction with which to
fortify his wines, making "a secret
preparation from it. The difficulty in
the way is that the native plants have
been little studied along this line Few
of them have been classified and made
known to science. The root of the ole
ander and some others we know very
well as supplying a poisonous drug; but
many plants W know little or nothing
about.
II do not believe that methylateG
spirits killed the men. If the concOc-
tion was straight wood alcohol it might
have done it, but there is probably not
over ten per cent of wood alcohol in it,,
the remainder being water, honey and
the secret vegetable fusion of which l
have sroken.
1T will be my duty to determine the
exact character of this poison, and to
find out, if possible, from what plant
it comes. l expect to be able to do this
by tomorrow, although the process
must necessarily be very slow"
There has been a great deal of talk
around town about the failure of DR..
Pratt health agent, to hold a post
mortem on the body of the old man
Silva, whom he found dead Tuesday
morning 1t is Furthermore charged
that if a post mortem had been held
the other lives might have been saved
for then the doctors attending the
three men would have known exactly
the nature of the trouble. DIR. Pratt
at first refused to make a statement in
regard to the matter, saying that he
was willin~ to let the people judge be-
tween his action and the statements OF
certain newspapers and critics. He
finally consented, however, to say this
in justification of his position:
In old ln1 20,
six years. For a long time he had
not had a physician l saw him after
death and investigated the case. From
what | found out l was firmly con-
vinced in my own mind of the cause OF
death, and believed then, and believe
now, that there was no need for q
coroner's inquiry nor an autopsy. The
three subsequent deaths resulting from
! liquor taken in that house, may ap-
| inal case, but I do not think the fact:
| bear out any such conclusion.
| 'I received positive evidence from 6
man living in the nurseryman's house
that the latter had taken nothing fol
three days but tea. During this time
he had ben deathly sick at his stom
ach 1t was denied to me in the strong
est terms that he had taken any liquo
and l believe he had not.
"As the drink taken by the othe
three men, l feel positive it was a pre-
paration used by the old man t.
strengthen his wines. He undoubt
edly made it himself, and it is not t.
be supposed for moment that he dit
not know its poisonous character.
know of no reason why he should hav
committed suicide From the statement
of Consul CanaYarro and others, h.
was in good circumstances.
1T was plain to my mind that tn
man died of natural causes. l do no
think there can be the slightest suspi
ciOn of anything else. I believe in pos
| mOrtems and corOners' inquiries, an
certainly would see that they are car
ried out when necessary. Our facili
ties and money are limited, however
and it is essential that care should b
exercised in not running in case
when the cause of death is plain"
DIR. Garvin seems to have been tn
man who ordered the certificate O
burial for Silva. Though he resigne
some days ago, he remained in charg
of the office until yesterday the 15tf
After DR.. Pratt had investigated tn
case, he reported back to DR.. Garvir
and that dignitary ordered the certif
cate issued. The memoranda contain
7 ing the facts upon which the certificat
was based reads as follows:
No. 25
Name, Jose Antonio Silva.
Sc, male; age, 62.
Married or Single, married.
Nationality, Portuguese.
Place of birth, Madeira Islands.
Place of death, PunchbOwl stree
Waikiki side, opposite Antoine Cunha
nursery.
Date of death, November 1S, 1900.
Duration of last Illness six years.
Cause of death, syphilis, acquired
Consulting physician
Physician, investigated by ]. S.
Pratt.
Resident or nonresident, Resident.
Cemetery, Catholic.