The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-30
DIR. REM Is OF OPINION THAT
TOMMY HANNON WAS
POISONED
OBTAINS DISTINCT REACTION
After Eliminating All but AIkaIoid
POisons, He Tests for and Dis
covers Presence of
Deadly Drug
POLICE HAVE NOT YET ACTED

Tommy lannon's death was due to
poisoning. This is the judgment Of As
slStant Health Commissioner G. A. REM
ana his conclusions have been arrived at
after careful chemical analysis Of the
boys stomach. Whether his death con-
stltutes murder still remains for tho
police to discover If Tommy Harmon
was murdered the question then arises
who caused the death of his two brothers
and one sister, who have died under like
circumstances during the past ten
months.
Dr.. REM in his examination of the con-
tents Of the stomach Of the eieht-year-
old boy found traces Of aconite. and this
is the most deadly alkaIoid poison known
TO the medical profession. The amount
discovered by the assistant health com
missioner is small but this is likely duo
70 the fact that the contents III the
stomach had to be divided in order To per-
init examinations made for different kinds
of poison.
Aconite is a drug commonly used in
veterinary science, and is given in N
diluted or tincture form ID horses ana
mules when suffering from fever. This
makes it simple matter TO purchase tho
drug, as any drug clerk would sell SUI
hcient amount of it to a man who ap
peared to be a teamster, to kill a dozen
men.
Dr REM has not relied solely upon the
chemical tests to determined the presence
OF this deadly poison in the boys stomach
but has gone so far as to taste IT. and
test it on himself In his report to Cor
oner w. A. Miller he states that this
test gave him a tingling of the lips and
deadening Of the tongue. In several
medical authorities presented to a
Y I b e representative last night all
agreed on the statement that this II
one of the invariable symptoms Of poison
of this character.
Medical Dose Is InfnitesImnI.
The medical authorities in speaking NJ
aconite, prescribe a dose OF one-six
hundredth of a grain to one-two-hun-
dredth, and this quantity is so small that
1t could not be found in the stomach OF
the boy If 1t had been given to him In
a medicinal form. When questioned bv
Coroner Miller. the mother of The hoyr
stated positively that she had not given
him any medicine for a long time Ac-
onlte poisoning kills at different times
Some authorities state that four minutes
Is SUFFICIENT for death to ensue. while one
authority states that there Is apparently
an authenticated case of death ensuing
four days after the poison was admin
lstered. 1t is generally considered to be
one or ihe quickest poisOns known and
the great majority Of cases testify that N
never takes longer than a few minutes.
The medical authorities state. however
that in medico-legal cases that the cause
OF the death should not be determined
solely from a chemical analysis but from
a physiological experiment by a hvpo
derm1c injection on some small animal
such as a frog
While Dr. REM is perfectly satisfied in
his own mind that Tommy Harmon died
as the result Of aconite poisoning he will
nevertheless make this experiment III time
10 be able to state definitely Tuesday
In making his tests the doctor used por-
uons of the stomach for organic poison
tests and parts for inorganic He had
about arrived at the conclusion that death
was not due to this cause when he dis
covered an alkaloid reaction He then
had only small part of the stomach
under consideration.
Found Aconite Reaction.
Having discovered the presence Of tho
alkaloid the doctor Immediately began
searching for the particular matter, and
after several experiments conclusively
discovered traces of aconite The traces
were slight, indeed, but clear beyond any
reasonable doubt that aconlte existed.
and taking into consideration the small
portion Of the stomach under inspection,
the quantity was sufficient TO convince
the doctor that it was the cause Of the
boys mysterious death. The examina-
tion Of the boys brain showed the symp-
toms given for aconitine poisoning. and
the frothing at the mouth. which was
evident at the time of the death is also
another sign The face Of the dead boy
was not pale and sunken IN the
manner the authorities state that
aconitine poisoning results, but these au-
thorities also say that i'm this respect
there are many variations.
Taking all things into consideration,
Or. RenZ states officially that he be-
Ileves the death of Tommy HaunOn was
due 70 poison. The following is the
written statement he made 10 Coroner
A. w. Miller yesterday:
II have to report to you that ou ex-
aminng the stomach contents of Thomas
Harmon, deceased, at your request.
Continued ON seventh par.