The New York herald., 1921-12-28
-FOUR DIE BLINDED
BY WOOD ALCOHOL
Deadly Stuff Sold to Holiday
Revellers as Whisky
and Gin.
CITY EMPLOYEE SEIZED
Poison Works Slowly in One
Case and Swiftly in
Others.
CITY EMPLOYEE SEIZED

Three men and a woman died yes
terday from the effects of wood al
cohol which they drank during the
Christmas holidays under the impress
sion that they were drinking gin and
whisky. Two of the men were brothers
Frank and John Tiffany of 206 West
xty-fourth street. They died within
a short time Of each other after drink
ing from a bottle of gin which they
purchased.
John .Horan, a tenant in the same
apartment house and an employee Of
the Department OF Parks, was ar
rested soon afterward charged with
homicide. The police accuse him Of
being the man who sold the Tiffany
brothers the pint OF gin.
The other victims were Edward
Gillece, 81, who said he was a ''press
representative of $40 East Seven
teenth street, and Mrs. Frances Ryan,
81, of 105 West F'iftieth street. the
widow of Ritchie Ryan. a priTefighter.
Gillece died in Bellevue Hospital last
night at 10 o'clock. while Mrs. Ryan
died at her home at noon yesterday.
Gillece went to the hospital in taxicab
yesterday afternoon about Q o'clock. He
told the authorities there that he and
Mrs. Ryan went out on drinking party
Sunday afternoon and bought drinks of
gin and whisky in several restaurants
and cafes.
Deadly Effects Deferred.
The drinks did not affect Gillece until
yesterday about noon, when he became
suddenly i'll and began losing his sight.
He feared that he had drunk wood al
cohol or some other poison and went at
once to the hospital. He became stead
lily worse during the afternoon In spite
of everything the physicians could do,
and at o'clock he was blind. lie went
into convulsions soon afterward and
died in great pain about 10 o'clock.
Before he became blind Gillece gave
the hospital authorities the name and
address of Mrs. Ryan and told them that
just before he left his home for the hos
pital he heard that she had died. The
police of the West Sixty-eighth street
station were notified, and learned that
Mrs. Ryan became Ill yesterday morn
ing about Z 80 o'clock and called DR.. J.
S. Dunshieth Of 354 West Forty-second
street The physician told the police
that Mrs. Ryan was blind when he
reached her house and that she died at
noon. Mrs. Ryan lived in the West Fiji
tieth street apartment with her mother
and her two children.
Mrs. Frank Tiffany and Mrs. John
Tiffany. wives of the brothers who died
after drinking wood alcohol. told the
police that on Christmas Day their hus-
10. L. Al.
house a pint of what they believed was
gin. They drank about two-thirds OF
the pint that night and Monday morn
ing they drank what remained pf it.
One Went Blind, Then Died.
Almost Immediately they became i'll.
but their families did not believe that
their condition was serious until yes.er-
day morning, when Frank Tiffany be-
came unconscious. Mrs. Tiffany sent
for an ambulance, but when Or Kaye
arrived from Bellevue Frank Tiffany
was dead. On the floor above in his
bedroom his brother was I'm great pain.
John was taken to Bellevue. where he
died few hours later. blind. Neither
brother was able to talk before he died.
Horan denied to the police that he
had ever sold liquor to either Of the
Tiffany brothers. He said that they came
to see him on Christmas Day and that
they brought with them bottle of gin
from which they offered him drink. He
took It, he said, but refused second
drink because It was poor stuff" He
also said that he drank little of the
gin after the brothers had died. to show
their widows that the liquor had nothing
TO do with their illness. Koran will be
arraigned in the West Side Court this
morning
Detectives OF the West Sixty-eighth
street station are investigating all Of
the four deaths, and arc making efforts
to locate the cafes and restaurants
where Mrs. Ryan and Gillece bought the
whisky and gin they drank.
At Bellevue Hospital II was said last
night that from Saturday at midnight
until Monday at midnight the hospital
received thirty-seven cases OF alcohol
ism, seven of them women. One of the
patients, James Corrlgan. a cook en-
ployed in the Metropolitan Hospital on
Blackwells Island, is In a serious con-
dition. He was found unconscious yes
terday morning in a lodging house at
$40 Bowery.
WEST COAsT-ATIANTIC COAST LINE.