Omaha daily bee., 1919-12-28
Others Are Para|yzed Due to
Drinking Wood Alcohol
"Whisky"-ToII Highest in
New England States.
NEW YORK COMMISSION
MAN SOUGHT BY POLICE
Asserted That He Sold 12
Barrels of Poisonous Liquor
Which Were Concocted in
His Own Store.

New York, Dec. 27.-Seventy-
eight persons died during the past 48
hours and scores of others are suf-
fering from paralysis and blindness.
due to drinking wood alcohol
whisky" according to reports re-
ceived tonight from seven eastern
cities and Chicago.
The toll of poisonous liquor is the
highest in New England, where 90
deaths are recorded. Two women at
Chicopee Falls. Mass, and one at
Springfield, Mass, are included in
this list.
In connection with the New Eng
land deaths and six reported in
New York City, police, internal rev.
enue officers and agents of the De-
partment of Justice are seeking
Adolph Paraneli, importer and COM
mission merchant of this city, who
they assert sold II barrels of the
poisonous liquor. The police charge
that the whisky" was concocted in
Paraneli's store i'll Bleecker street.
In Chicopee "a men and two women
died, in Springfield three men and
one woman. in Holyoke six men and
i'll Greenfield, Mass, one man. In
Hartford IS persons died of the
poison.
-Four Deaths in Chicago.
Chicago reported eight deaths
from the drinking Of poisonous bev-
efages.
Two deaths were announced at
Newark, N T., by the police.
Three ieaths in Cleveland, O., this
week, brought the total there to IA
for the month.
Two deaths are reported in Pitts
burgh.
Two men were found sdead and
two seriously i'll tonight from what
IS believed by physicians to be wood
alcohol poisoning. Ill a Fulton street
hotel.
When questioned by the police the
hotel proprietor denied having sold
the men whisky and gave the officers
a bottle from his stock for analysis.
Confesses Buying Liquor.
Chicopee, Mass. Dec. 27.-Dis-
trict Attorney Ely of Westheld. who
has been investigating the deaths of
more than As persons in the Con-
nccticut valley as the result of drink
ing wood alcohol contained in
whisky, announced tonight that Alex
Perry, proprietor of the American
house i'll Chicopee Fails. had con-
fessed to buying 50 gallons of the
concoction in Hartford, all except
five of which were sold. The district
attorney also stated that FIVE other
, gallons of the liquor had been
/ traced to the Polski hotel in Hol-
yoke.
! According to the district attorney.
who had refused to grant bail of
$4,000 to Perry earlier in the day
ON the charge of manslaughter.
| Perry stated he bought the liquor
through Sam Darling of Hartford.
an eNpressman, who is under arrest
i'll that city. Perry told the district
attorney he had no idea the liquor
was poisonous. Following the con-
fession the district attorney allowed
Perry to be released on bail.
The list of dead was increased to
40 in the Connecticut valley tonight
with the death OF another Chicopee
man. Maurice Murphy, in Mercy
hospital, Springfield. The deaths
are now divided as follows: Chico
pee, 50 men and two women;
Springfield. three men and one
woman; Holyoke. six men; Green
! field. one man.
13 Dead in Hartford.
Hartford, Conn, Dec. 27.-Death
| lists here as result of drinking
whisky" said to contain wood al
cohol, remained at Is tonight, with
only two new cases of liquor poison
ing reported Hospital reports show
four persons in serious condition
from the effects of poisonous liquor.
The cases of the four men held
here on charges Of murder were
continued to next Wednesday in po-
lice court Jacob Brunerwine, one
of those held. is regarded, by the
police as a leader of the whisky"
ring and is alleged to have made
profit of $4,000 from illegal liquor
sales since July l.
Twelve barrels of materials
brought from New York City, the
rolice say. were made into "a bar
rels by the use of water, and then
| distributed over the bar here and
sold in bulk to persons in Chicopee
and Holvoke. Mass. Fifty cents a
drink or $3.50 a quart was the price
OF the liquor" here.
r1ondo IN pa1o;ru,