Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-31
POISONING OF IS.
. TRACED TO TURKEY
Police Investigate When Ar.
Senic Is Found in Food
Served Christmas.

Continued From First Page>
covering from the effects of repeated
small doses of the poison eaten in
muf1ns and biscuits over a period of
several weeks.
Family Has Recovered.
Her husband and the children also
were made violently i'll by the arsenic
laden bread, but all have fully recov-
| cred.
DR.. and Mrs. j. H. Walton and DR..
| and Mrs. Lamar Harris, all of Cherry
dale. Va, are the others who narrowly
! escaped tragic fate during a Yule
dinner at which slices of the poisoned
| fruit cake were served. Government
chemists who analysed the cake later
said it contained approximately five
grams OF arsenic, or enough to kill
! score of persons.
1t was DR.. Walton who brought the
cake to the attention of Federal food
/ inspector, precipitating an emergency
investigation that eventually resulted in
| the rounding up of all nine of the
cakes, including one which had been
purchased by a house-to- house sales
woman and mailed to relatives in Que
bee, Canada.
The story of the intensive effort made
to learn the identity of the strange
! peddler and trace the whereabouts of
the ninth cake in Canada before its
recipients could partake of it possesses
| all the elements of detective thriller.
Before the search had reached a sue
ceSSful conclusion the Canadian lega-
ton here had been brought into the
hunt and Canadian government inspec-
tors had been sent onto the trail of
| the elusive cake.
AiIment Recurs Again.
AS pieced together from official re-
ports and from statements today by
Inspector Larrick and Dr. Walton, the
story really begins some weeks ago,
when MIR. aud Mrs. Parker and their
children were seized with stomach
complaint" The ailment disappeared
temporarily, only to recur again and
again, and always just after a meal.
Believing the water from their well
might be responsible, the Parkers had
their water analysed by the Fairfax
County health authorities, who found
there was a slight contamination. The
| well was cleaned out and the water
again analysed and found to be pure.
But the Parkers still suffered sporadic
attacks of stomach complaint"
Mrs. Parker had recovered sufficiently
from one of these attacks before Christ
mas to undertake the baking of some
fruit cakes for friends and other Gus
toners, who knew of her marked pro-
ficiency along that line. She baked nine
of them in all-Some round and some
oblong and all as misunderstanding as
any Mrs. Parker ever had proudly ex-
hibited at Christmas time. They were
rich with all kinds of nuts, chopped
fruits, currantS-and arsenic.
In the meantime Mrs. Parker had
loaned some -four to neighboring FAM
lily, and the neighbors were taken i'll the
next day. Still no one connected the
-four with the peculiar succession OF all
mentS.
Sold to SaIeSwoman.
Most of Mrs. Parkers cakes went to
acquaintance in Falls Church, Cherry
dale and other nearby places. One went
to DR.. and Mrs. Harris in Cherrydale.
Another went to a saleswoman who
came to the Parker home selling flavor
ing extracts. Mrs. Parker had never
seen the woman before, but recalled she
had said she intended to mail 1t to rela-
tives in Canada.
On the Friday evening before Christ
mas Dr.. and Mrs. Harris invited DR.. and
Mrs. Walton to dinner, and for dessert
the fruit cake was served in small slices.
Half an hour after the meal all four
became violently ILL., Dr. Walton recog-
nized the symptoms almost at once as
poisoning from some such drug as ar
senic. He administered antidotes to his
friends and himself, and when he had
recovered sufficiently began an inquiry.
Suspicion centered on the fruit cake.
f. When Mrs. Harris remarked that she
! had gotten the cake from Mrs. Parker,
! at Falls Church, DR.. Walton gave
start. He recalled he had been sum-
| moned to the Parker home on one occa-
| sion to treat them for what appeared
to be stomach indisposition, and that
he had recommended having the well
water analysed. Could there be some
! connection?
DR.. Walton lost no time in taking the
| fruit cake to the laboratories of the
food, drug and insecticide administra-
f! ton. under DR.. p. B. Dunbar. Federal
| officials, aroused by the grave poten-
tialities Of the case, dispensed with red
tape and analytical routine. They took
piece of the cake and fed it to
Spotty, a black-and-white fox terrier,
who seems to thrive on experimentation.
His reaction convinced the experts the
cake was poisoned.
Rush to Makers Home.
While samples of the cake were given
| 10 chemists ana microscopes for analy-
sis, Inspector Larrick hurried to the
home of Mrs. Parker It was the Sat-
urday before Christmas, and there was
no time to lose if tragedy was to be
averted. Mrs. Parker, i'll herself and
scarcely able to believe the inspec-
tors story, was able to give the names
and addresses of all who had received
cakes, with the exception of that of
the unknown saleSwoman.
Using telephone and automobile, Lar
rick succeeded in locating all of the
cakes except the one that had gone to
Canada. He did not take the word of
those who said they would destroy the
cakes, but went in person and collected
them all. He also confiscated the sack
| of flour, which he suspected as being
the cause of the trouble.
Then he concentrated on the one cake
still missing. 1t was matter of life
and death, he felt. He picked up part
of the train by perusing Help Wanted"
! columns of The Star and locating an
advertisement inserted by a flavoring
| extract firm seeking local sales agents
In the meantime he learned from an
other Falls Church woman that the
Saleswoman was former resident of
the town and had brother living there.
The brother was located there and al
though he was unable to get in touch
with his sister, he gave Inspector Lar
rick the name of relatives in Quebec
| to whom she might have mailed the
cake. These people were communicated
with at once by long distance telephone
and, sure enough, the cake was there
its gayly- decorated Christmas wrappings