Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-06
DEATH CLAIMS
ELEVENTH LIFE
AT SAWTELLE
INVESTIGATION WILL BE MADE
BY CORONER
WHISPERS OF POISON TO BE
SIFTED OUT
Physicians Declare That Symptoms
Were Peculiar and an Au-
topsy May Be Benefit
to Science
ISnecial to The Herald.l

SAWTELLE, Jan. J.-Eleven vic
Tins have been claimed by death as
the result OF the New Years feast at
the home of Mrs. Dionisia Garcia de
Valdez at Illinois and Tenth streets
A twelfth victim still is suffering. The
two tiny babes, too young to eat of
the poisoned food, are still kicking
their heels merrily, ignorant of the
fact that most of their relatives have
been made ready for the grave in the
short space of forty eight hours.
Braulio Preciado was the last to die.
He answered deaths roll call as No IL
yesterday morning. Ills wife is still
living and is said to be out of danger.
Ptomaine poisoning from jar of
pears eaten at the New Years feast
is the answer given for the blotting
out of three families, but there have
been strange questions asked and
strange whispers bruited about, and
even the coroner's physician and the
nurses and the physicians who at
tended the sick say that it was a case
of ptomaine poisoning such that, If
true, will shed more light on the treat |
ment of the disease by the medical
profession.
Will Be Long Funeral
Friday a long funeral train will pass
through Santa Monica to the little !
PdSQudl Marquee DuTylnS STOuHu lllu-
den behind the old church and school |
house in Santa Monica canyon.
Final plans for the funeral have not |
been arranged, but it is understood the
services will occur probably at the
Finch undertaking parlors, with pos
sibly a short service at the Catholic
church of this city. Nothing will be
known definitely until after Coroner
Hartwell completes his investigation of
Lo ct Io TN OF
to be held tomorrow. The inquest is
timed for 10 o'clock in this city.
Coroner Hartwell has decided to
conduct a rigid investigation of the
affair from beginning to end. There is
a certain mysterious aspect to the case
in the minds of some that is thought
| to influence the authorities in their
! course of action.
No one here has ventured, with any
reasonable degree of certainty, to sug-
| gest that poison was administered to
the dinner party with criminal inten-
tions, yet there is a feeling that pos
sibly some responsibility for the an
Initiating of almost three entire fami-
lies may be fixed conclusively.
Little attention is paid by physicians
to the suggestion made shortly before
his death this morning by Braulio Pre-
ciado, last of the victims to succumb
to the deadly poison, that the poison
| was probably introduced into the fruit
because of the fact that the tops of
| the cans in which 1t was contained
were old and had been used for the
! same purpose on several occasions. 1t
| is held by physicians that such con-
dition would not be required to pro-
,duce ptomaines Deep interest is CEN
tered on the results of the coroners
| Investigation.
Mrs. Juana Preciado, the third of
the three daughters who feasted with
| their mother Sunday at the Preciado
and Fernandez home al Sawtelle, when
the poisoned pears were eaten has
shown no symptoms of ptomaines.
| This is accounted for by herself she
says when she tasted the pears she
found them sour and Immediately spat
| out the portion she had taken. She
! declared that she swallowed none of
! the fruit. Despite this, physicians are
| inducing her to receive a course of
! treatment for the purpose of prevent
ing action of possible poison if present.
1t was announced tonight that, to all
appearances, Mrs. Preciado would suf-
fer no i'll effects.
The UNI Tally slow effect the poison
had upon Braulio Preciado is the sub
/ ject of wide discussion here among
| those who have watched the develop
emnt of the case. Although he ate a
/ dish of the pears at the same time
with the other diners, he was the last
to become ill. This was more than
thirty hours after the feast. Practical
ly all day Monday he worked steadily
and experienced no feeling of uneasi-
| ness until late Monday night. Then
he began a stubborn fight to ward off
! the effects of the poison which was
! slowly but surely getting in it's deadly
work. He took to bed yesterday aft
ernoon, only after he had given up all
| hope of recovering.
OF the Preciado family, which orig
| inally consisted of four, none remains
but the distracted mother, worn and
| haggard with the vigil of three nights
with her dead and dying relatives. 1t
| is expected by friends that this in
itself will have it's i'll effect upon her,
even if she escapes the terrible fate
of her family. Mrs. Preciado is said
to be in dire financial straits, and
friends are raising a fund for her.
! Alfonso Fernandez, husband of Mrs.
| Guadalupe Fernandez, among the first
to die, and 3-year-old Ysabel Fernan-
dez, who soon followed her mother, ar
rived at the grief clouded home today.
He has been working in the mountains
north of Topango canyon, far from a
telephone, and could not be given the
news sooner.
Dark-eyeQ HlIle Maria GudualOupe
Fernandez, all that is left of the hap
py family to console the father, is
being cared for by Mrs. Adolph
Laughlin, kind neighbor, who has a
little girl of the same age, months.
The body of Mrs. Valdez still lies at
the Marquee home on Tenth street to-
night. It was intended by relatives to
remove the remains to Sawtelle today,
hut this course was not permitted by
Coroner Hartwell until he arrived on
the scene and began his investigation.
The remains of Mrs. Dolores Garcia
and her two children, Frank and AL
fonso, are resting at the Kirkelie un-
dertakng parolrs in this city, while
the seven other bodies are at the Finch
morgue at Sawtelle.
SYRACUSE, n. Y, Jan. 5.-Twenty-
seven cases of ptomaine poisoning, all
but one traceable to the eating of
cream puffs or chocolate eclaires, have
been discovered in this city.