Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-02-19

to secure deadly pOisOns with the intention,
the police believe, Of committing suicide.
He also made an attempt to escape from
prison and was only frustrated by timely
arrival Of jailer.
Following an effort to secure deadly
poison DR.. j. Byron Sloane, polished
clubman. mining broker, promoter and
all-round good fellow arrested on a
fugitive warrant from Detroit, Mich,
on charge of having swindled num-
Der of people of that city and Chicago
out of $4,000 in a mining deal. Is
watched carefully by the jailers in
charge of the bullpen where he is inn
prisoned.
The close espionage was placed on
DR.. Sloane yesterday when he tried by
every means in his power to secure
from the surgeons in charge of the re-
ceiving hospital one of three of the
most deadly poisons known to medical
science.
1t is possible that DR.. Sloane, as he
declared, wished these toxic drugs for
the purpose of heart stimulation, but
the administration of them is followed
by collapse, paralysis and death in
quicker time than 1t takes to tell of it.
Early in the afternoon DR.. Sloane ap-
preached DIR. Edwin H. Wiley, then on
duty in the receiving hospital, and
asked him to give him half an ounce
of gesemium. This toxic poison pro-
duces paralysis of the respiratory or
gans and almost instant death.
Begs for Aconite
Being told there was no gelsenium
in the hospital he begged the doctor to
give him half an ounce of aconite, an
other deadly poison. which produces
collapse of all the vital organs of the
bodU and instant death
He was told that the hospital did
not carry aconite and he then begged
for belladonna, the product of the
deadly nightshade, which in greater
than minute doses races the heart to
death within the fraction of a minute.
While the hospital carries belladonna
in the form of atropin this was also
refused him, and by the advice of the
surgeon when the prisoner was re-
turned to his place in the bullpen a
watch was placed over him.
When he was first arrested DR..
Sloane was placed in the hospital, as
accommodations there are better than
in other sections of the city prison,
and 1t was thought a gently nurtured
and cultivated gentleman such as he
could not stand Imprisonment in that
part of the Jail provided for common
malefactors.
Tries to Escape
The morning following his first night
in jail and while the turnkey then on
duty was turning out the chain gang
DIR. Sloane was discovered in the jail
ers office searching the private desk
of the tailer and the lockers wherein
are kept the keys to the prison and
the various cells.
During the absence of the turnkey
from the office, If any one could secure
lrox 70 ta 1nnr nf fha iaiI oil
he would have to do would be to walk
forth free with no one to prevent his
escape.
Assistant Jailer Ralph Storey found
the doctor ransacking the place. To the
demand as to what he was doing DR..
Sloane replied that he was looking for
a cigar.
"You know who I am, don't your"
he said. "I am DR.. Sloane and am al
ways used to having my cigars in the
morning"
eyes. 1 know who you are, and you'll
go right now where you belong" was
the reply of the jailer, and In an in
stant the prisoner was hustled into the
bullpen. and there he has remained
since.
Late yesterday afternoon he begged
permission to see the doctor, and when
taken before DIR. Wiley asked to talk
to him privately. The surgeon granted
his request and he then asked for the
poisons, which We're promptly refused.
Tries to Telegraph East
Sloane was busy all day yesterday
trying to get telegraphic communica-
tion with a number of eastern people
whose addresses he secured from pa
pers in his office.
When no replies were received to his
messages he became despondent and
-aIf at,
and this was especially true when he
was informed that an officer had left
Detroit to take him back to that city
on the warrant charging the embezzle-
ment of $15 900.
1t is the opinion of the police sur
geons and the detectives that Sloane
Intended to kill himself and that he
will commit suicide If he is given an
opportunity. The officers, however, are
determined that he shall not harm him
self in any way and that they will at
least turn him over to the eastern