The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-09-14

The thirty-second degree will be con-
| ferred by Nashville.
| be sleeping along the river bank or in
some dark spot.
How do crooks get away with it? The
question is frequently asked. Detective
Richard Kelly, the veteran of the city bu
reau, and the only authority on toxicol-
ogy in the police department aside from
! the physicians, explains it tersely and
| plainly. He declares that every year. not
| only in this state. but in every state In
the Union. hundreds of deaths, IL the
proper Investigations were made, would
1 be attributed solely to the administration
of knockout drops by clever crooks of
| both sexes.
How can they be administered without
the victim becoming aware of 1t? Might
as well try and explain how a pickpocket
can relieve man or woman of pocket
book. watch or diamond pin without their
knowledge. What is the drug that pro-
duces such wonderful change in victim
and leaves no trace a short time after 1t
las become absorbed by the human sys-
| tenn?
Chloral-Hydrate Brings Knockout"
| Chloral-hydrate is the crooks best
weapon and ally combined in small vial
| filed with saturated solution. 1t can ''e
administered in a glass of whisky, beer or
wine. The victim will drink the contents
of supposed stimulant or beverage 1osed
with chloral and be none the wiser. The
dose is easily slipped over and into his
glass while conferedate Is drinking with
| the dupe at the bar If one does is insuffi-
| cient, 1t is easy enough to put anothe. in
! a fresh glass when the next treat Is or
dered or the bartender may be in with
the game. The .'knockouts'' leave no
taste and are swallowed unconsciously
|, The crooks outfit is simple enough. He
can take few ounces of the choral
| hydrate crystals and make a solution Be
fore going out for business the crook
places his knockout battery in two or
three ounce vial. He will find this, If he
1 uses the right system, a much more ef-
i feceive weapon than a magazine revol-
| yer or a heavy blackjack. The victim
is sought out in any saloon or cafe. The
| crook with the knockout drops is
usually a fair conversationist and his
| mark will be carefully selected While
a pail engages the mark in conversa-
tion after the drinks have been set on
the bar or table the sleep portion is
dropped into the drink.
l. The medicinal dose of chloral-hydrate Is
from to 15 grains. In order to make cer-
| tain that the innocent looking white and
| tasteless liquid that is dropped into the
marks" glass will do it's work quickly
the dose usually given for knockout and
robbery purposes Is about 5 or 80 drops
| of the solution.
| Sometimes the crooks in their anxiety to
| rid themselves of mark" quickly are
more or less overzealous. They give more
| than that-sufficient to kill within a few
hours time-and the victim never RECEIVERS
consciousness after they have lured him
cut of the saloon or cafe and robbed him.
The man is found in helpless condition.
In mn 1xs.f i
The results of unusually large doses are
practically the same. rhe victim is sup
posed to be helplessly drunk. He is
placed In bed and never awakens, and the
real cause of death is never known, but
goes on the records as heart failure.
Is Quick in Action
The strange feature in deaths from
choral hydrate knockout drops is
| the great difficulty in tracing it after
DEATH Scme authorities claim that it is
impossible to detect the presence of
chloral hydrate in the system after the
| subject has been pronounced dead a few
hours. The real difficulty is that the
primary cause of death is never suspected
In 80 cases out of 100 and If it were there
is the gravest of doubt that it could be
proven unless physicians We're notified
promptly and held the postmorten. exam
| ination within a short length of time
alter the suspicious death. 1t can thus
| be readily seen how the crooks who ad-
ministered the deadly 'lxnockouts' are
secure from the strong arm of justice un-
less they are caught red handed with
stolen property belonging to their victim
and the fact that they administered the
| oxic dose. Irovef 2 that is al
most impossible without the confession
of an accomplice.
| Detective Kelly, who has had wide
/ of
calls how few years ago gang OF them
working among mill men, cleaned up a
fortune before they were apprehended and
the apprehension and conviction was due
only to the fact that drug clerk
from whom they purchased the chloral
squealed' in order to get off with
lighter sentence than the men who ad-
ministered the knockout portion. The
| scene for this series of crimes was laid
| In the Southside mill district saloons
The police had their attention called to
the unusually large number of robberies
from the person that occurred regularly
on every pay day night. Within COM
paratively short space of time no less
tran a score Of mill men who were more
or less addicted to drink had been found
| lying unconscious in unfrequented places.
In every instance the victim had been
| robbed of his earnings. As rule they
could not remember anything save that
| they mad heen drinking in Il saloon and
carousing with men unknown TO them
but whom they believed to be above sus-
| picion. The saloons they had frequented
were well known and the owners of the
places, being above suspicion. could throw
no light upon the mysterious rebberies.
ROut Band of Criminals
| Detective Kelly, along with several
picked men In the department.. watched a
large number OF milmen one pay day aft
er they had secured their money Tn
Known to the latter they were shadowed
| continually while apparently enjoying
| themselves in saloon. AS they became
more convivial it vas noticed that two
! strangers had succeeded in ingratating
themselves INTO the company Of the
"spenders." These latter bought regu-
| lsrly when their turns came and theere-
suit was that finally two OF the men
being shadowed keeled over. 1t was
| thought they were drunk and the strang-
| crs were conspicuous in helping to care
! for them. Still the detectives were not
! certain that knockout drops" had been