The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1900-12-17
DRUGS GIVEN J.
BY THIEVES.
Womsn Who Use Knockout
Drops on their Victims.
CHl0RAL 0FTEN THE BASIS.
Many Mysterious Deaths Can Easily Be
Traced 10 the Action Of These Most
Dangerous poIsOns.
cHloRAL oFTEN THE BASIS.

Put little Peter in my friends
glass" said a woman in a Chicago sa-
loon to the bartender who was waiting on
her and her male companion
The request seemed innocent enough In
itself. but ten minutes later the man was
riding about I'm cab In a state OF stupor,
and the woman had dsa ppeared with his
watch. diamond ring. and si25 OF mis-
money.
Peter" Is the slang term for Knockout
drops. Many people associate the words
Knockout drops with pellets 1t is said
that I'm some instances pills are used by
men and women, but the more common
form OF the drug or drugs used is the
liquid form, which Is more convenient
and less likely TO be detected by the pro-
spective victims.
The stupefying dose is carried In a
small phial. which may easily be con-
cealed in the hand which holds a bottle
from which a convivial drink is to be
poured. and some or all OF its contents
are allowed to run into the victims drink
The result of the work of knock -out
drops given to men and women. accord
ing TO the freely made statements of the
police. are appalling.
PUZZLES THE DOCTORS.
Many men found unconscious in the
streets and taken to a hospital are sup
posed TO be suffering from alcoholism
When IL is too late to render relief the
discovery Is made that the man has
been drugsed. and Is suffering from some
sort OF poison that seems TO puzzle the
physicians at the hospital
When death finally results in a case of
this kind the coroner's physician nnds
from his autopsy that death was due to
the fact that the patient had a weak
heart.
Heart failure they call il I'm most OF the
cases. but IL the physician who performed
the autopsy had been familiar with the
history of the sase he would promptly
have said the cause of death was a dose
of chloral hydrate, too strong for the
person TO whom IL was adral2;stered.
What Is commonly known as knock
out drops is choral hydrate." one physi-
clan said From fifteen 10 thirty grains
OF II produces a sleep that lasts three
hours. OF course, the sleep is deeper IL
the drug is administered in larger
amounts. Then 1t produces a state OF
coma.
Fatal syncope sometimes may occur.
Choral hydrate acts as a hypnotic on the
brain. but when the heart is weak Ii
kills"
HOW JOB is DONE.
According to police official. who has
followed up the matter, the work of
administering the drug is not hard The
woman selects the victim and drugs him
while sitting in one of the downtown sa-
looms The victim selected is usually q
man who has been drinking heavily.
The woman orders bottled beer, and
either requests the bartender to put In
little Peter" or volunteers TO pour IL
into her companions glass. II is while
doing this that she holds a small bottle Of
choral in her hand and pours the choral
into the glass with the beer.
few minutes later. after the victim
has swallowed the contents OF the glass,
IA, becomes dazed. He stands up TO go,
and imagines he's intoxicated. The cab
man who is in the game is near at hand.
The woman calls waiter, says her
friend is drunk. and asks the waiter to
help him into the cab at the door. The
robbery occurs later In the cab. After the
woman gets possession OF the victims
money and jewelry she informs the cab
man, who drives through q dark street.
The victim is lifted out and left on q
stoop or lying on the sidewalk, only to
be found later by the policemen on post,
who sends for the patrol wagon. In some
cases the victim Ii taken TO n hospital