Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-07-05
NARROW ESCAPES FROM DRUGS
How Lives Depend on the Eternal
Vigilance of the Druggist.

In st. Louis, the greatest uruS cen
ter in the world, there are few corner
drug stores which have been run
ming for any length of time which
have not had their tragedies, theil
comedies and their tales of human
events which, though they revolve
ONLY about q single neighborhood
and perhaps involve only such hum
BILE characters as the night watch
man and the soda fountain clerk, are
worthy of the pen of Poe or Conan
Doyle. Tales of tragedy, of which the
casual customer knows or hears noth-
ing save for occasional brief accounts
i'm the daily papers, as told by many
st. Louis druggists.
II is said that the doctor sees and
knows more of human nature thaI
all the rest of mankind combined
He touches the rough edges, the
gloomy side; he finds poverty; suffer
ing is always present and human Ills
are his daily companions. But the
druggist who is in league with MIN
in his generous work experiences
quite as many adventures IN the
course of the month as the doctor
~
the dead of a winters night, human
lives are often dependent upon the
steadiness of his hand and the cum
ming of his brain. He can Kill OF
heal at a stroke. He is more surely
responsible than the physician, foi
the slightest error on his part coulo
as easily send a soul across the grea'
border as aid 1t back to health again
Yet, despite the prominent role tha'
the corner druggist plays In daily
life-in the little everyday dramas
he IS seldom credited with what he
does by the people whom he bene'
fits.
The average druggist who has gone
through these experiences is loath to
talk of them. 1t would injure his
trade as rule. He buries them In
his own breast and has no occasion
to bring them forth. He often car
ries them to the grave with hlm, anc
MANY are the prescription clerks
who go to bed night after night with
a great responsibility upon their
shoulders, for the man who makes
the medicine feels that he snares the
responsibility of the patient with the
doctor.
A good illustration of the RESPONSE
bilities of the corner druggist occur
red some years ago on the South
side in st. Louis The drug store In
this case is situated near the county
line. and is the corner of a small
industrial community Of some I'M
portance. A physician had sent over
a prescription in the course OF the
afternoon to be delivered to the
home Of the woman patient IN an
hour. 1t was only a tonic, but 1t was
important that she begin taking II
Immediately. The druggist had just
thrown a drunken man out OF MS
store before the slip of paper was
passed over to him, and he was some
what nervous from the excitement, a
thing that few druggists VIII allo"
themselves to be when on duty.
The druggist took the prescription
and returned to his work. In fVe
minutes his wife called him upstairs
to supper and he called to his clerk:
"Will, he said, finish that pre-
scription, will you? l am gong 10
supper. Then send II down to MIS-
Jones c. o. D."
Will went back of the case and
started to work. He prepared the
medicine and delivered it as directed
Thirty minutes later the druggist re-
turned from the evening meal and sal
picking his teeth on a chair in the
rear of the store.
will, he said absently, we're
rather low on strychnine. Don't lei
me forget to order some tomorrow.
Yes" laughed VIII, Il had to use
a good deal in that prescription"
The druggist paled and arose.
DO you mean," he gasped, "that
you added more strychnine to that
bottle?"
"Of course" remarked the clerk
you didn't check it."
The druggist staggered over to the
file and jerked off the fresh prescrip-
ton blank, looked over 1t and saw
the terrible error. He had added the
poison called for without checking
it off as is usual, and the clerk had
added as much more.
INV Cod" he said, then grabbed
his hat and sped out the door. This
druggist ran one mile to that house
and caught the doctor as he was just
about to give the patient the hrst
dose.
"That mile seemed ten," remarked
the druggist when recalling his eX-
perience recently. "and / never want
it to happen again. We make 1t a
positive rule nowadays. and most
other stores do likewise, that when
one man begins prescription ne
must finish it himself If it takes him
all night to do So"
Remedies of this sort naturally
center around the poison case. If
YOU have ever been behind the
scenes" in a drug store you know that
he keeps all poisOns separated from
other medicines in a little glass case
which is usually in the middle of the
prescription counter. Another pre-
caution is to lock the door of the
case and to label the bottle with red,
which also shows a skull and cross
bones.
Two men entered a West End
drug store within five minutes OF
each other. Each passed the drug
gist a prescription over the counter.
one called for a well-known poison
remedy which is taken in very small
quantities: the other was harmless
proprietary medicine, but both were
purchased upon the prescription of
the neighborhood physician. One of
these men paused to get cigar, and,
attracted by a sign, laid down his
parcel to study over 1t. The other
man stopped at the cigar counter,
and, in getting his change, laid down
the poison bottle. When he went out
he picked up the other mans bundle
and left his for the former.
The druggist did not notice this
and the customer went blandly home
with his bottle. Upon going into the
yard he heard a loud noise in the
rear and went back to see what was
going on. He found that the horse
was kicking the side of the stall down,
and, going i'm to quiet him, he was
kicked at by the / 'uriated beast,
who struck the medicine bottle with
his heel and smashed it to atoms.
The mans hand was cut, but he
bound it up and returned to the drug
store. The bottle was renewed and
he went on his way. An hour later
the other man, who carried off the
harmless compound, returned to the
store.
You gave the wrong dope to me,
he said casually.
Just then it flashed over the drug
gist what had happened.
But the man whose horse had
kicked the poison medicine never
knew for years, nor did his sick wife,
Just how near she came taking poison
from the hands of her husband. The
real facts of the case remained in the
druggists breast until several years
later, when he explained how narrow