The New York herald., 1921-06-20
CYANIDE KILLS BOY,
CANNOT Be TRACED
Large Quantity of Deadly
Stuff Found in Stomach Of
Marvin Tappan.
HAD BEEN MAKING TESTS
No COntainer in Room Where
He Died-Was Advanced
in Chemistry.

An autopsy performed yesterday re-
vealed a large Quantity Of potassium
cyanide in the stomach of Marvin
Tappan. a 15-year- boy who died
suddenly last Saturday night at his
home In 255 Brooklyn avenue, Brook
lyn, but the detectives who have been
investigating the case have not been
able to find any way in which he
could have taken 1t. A thorough search
Of tho room In which the boy died
was made, but there was no bottle
or contalner of any sort in which he
could have kept the cyanide and no
paper from which it could have been
poured into his mouth.
Potassium cyanide is crystalline solid,
permanent in dry air, but decomposed
In moist air. and when decomposition
is completed there remains an odor Of
prussic or hydrocyanic acid. Neither
of these odors was present In the room
to indicate that there had been cyanide
of potassium there, although 1t is not
believed that the air was moist enough
to have decomposed 1t II there had been.
The boy has laboratory in the base
ment OF his home. and is believed to
have used cyanide frequently in his
chemical experiments, but the poison
kills so quickly that the physicians who
examined him declare that it would not
have been possible for him TO have
taken the cyanide in the basement and
then run up stairs to the room in which
he was found.
Young Tappan lived with his grand
mother, Mrs. Sarah Tappan, and two
aunts. Miss Ruth Tappan and Miss
Mary Tappan. They went automobiling
late Saturday afternoon, but the boy re-
fused to accompany them. He said he
wanted to remain at home and study
for his work al a junior In the Boys
High School In Brooklyn, where he was
especially advanced in chemistry. They
came home shortly after ) o'clock.
Hearing labored and heavy breathing.
they traced II 10 the boys room. and
found him sitting IN a chair, fully
dressed. He was unable TO speak.
His grandmother and aunts summoned
Dr. Irving Gray OF eel Brooklyn avenue.
and also Dr.. Evers from the Swedish
Hospital pulmoter and a stomach
pump were used. out the hoy died
without being able to tell what had
happened to him. Detectives Seokinger
and Mclaughlin of the Atlantic ave-
nue. police station were sent to investi-
cate the case, and sound that the room
had been left exactly ns 1t had been
when the boy died. But they found
nothing TO indicate what had killed him
excepting a bottle OF picric acid. X
was thought at first that he might have
swallowed some OF this, but this itopsy
proved that he did not.
The autopsy. which disclosed the pres
ence of the cyanide. was performed by
Dr. Charles Wuerst. Assistant Medical
Examiner for Brooklyn. lie looked
closely at the boys hands for traces
of any drug or poison that might have
caused death. but found none. The de-
tectives say that they were told by Or.
Gray and by DR.. Evers that there were
no traces of any sort of poison or drug
about the boy when they entered the
room In which he had been found by his
grandmother and aunts.
The boy was the son OF Mrs. Minnie
Tappan. a widow. who is an instructor
in the Baldwin School at Bryn Mawr,
Pa. He had been living with his grand
mother and aunts for FIVE years.