The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1941-11-15
ERE'S MORE ABOUT
Poison Is Safest
STARTS on PAGG ONE

murder" ease al Puysilup was
not murder AZ all He discovered
upon examination that the woman
deceased had died. not from =
blow on the head. but from
strsngulation-
That sort of thing In old stuff
TO Dr. Larson. He's been putting
crime under the microscope more
OF less spectsculariy In Tacoma
for about seven years.
Must Use Science
DR.. Larson's complaint. a. he
explained II 10 Active elubbers. IL
simply that there hasn't been
nearly enough pure science used In
the uncovering Of crime In Taco
ma. Neither Pierce county nor
the city has ever put up an APP
preparation for that sort Of thing
and. paradoxically. this has cost
both city and county lot of
money. according to DR.. Larson.
A laboratory. which cost $500
and il fairly complete insofar as
scientific crime detection 10 con-
cerned. has been established at
Tacoma General hospital. There
Is no money available to operate
II.
Only Scientific Way
Blood alcohol tests. for instance:
Such tests are really scien-
fife" DIR. Larson said IT is the
only scientific method 10 detect
drunkenness and IL has been &C
cepted in 20 states. I defy any
one. even a doctor, to tell whether
a person just involved in an auto
mobile accident In drunk or suf-
fsring from shock.
Sometimes . man may have
the smell Of liquor on his breath,
but he may not be drunk. although
shock may make him stagger and
talk incoherently.
Eliminates Guesswork
The alcohol blood test takes
out the guesswork. When the test
shows the blood to contain $50
milligrams of alcohol. the person
invariably does not have any
business in an automobile.
Recently the doctor and
friend. just to test themselves.
drank a pint of whisky between
them in a half hour. The test
showed the doctor had 20 milli-
grams OF alcohol in his blood. the
friend 75-about half the number
stipulated as the minimum re-
quired.
Yet. had either my friend or
myself become involved in an
automobile accident that night we
probably would have been charged
with drunken driving. our
breaths certainly smelled of liquor,
yet both of us had complete con-
troll over our faculties"
should Re Mandatory
The doctor recommended that q
great deal of time and money
could be saved by city and county
IL such blood alcohol tests of
alleged drunken drivers was made
mandatory routine.
He described in detail the lab
oratory work for Identification of
bullets and handwriting.
After q modern laboratory was
installed in Portland, 1t was found
that about 40 per cent Of all
poisonings reported in that city
were homicidal in nature-about
the same average as elsewhere in
the u. s. where such laboratories
exist.
His Suspicious
Significantly, however" DR..
Larson said, there has not been
a single homicidal poisoning in
Pierce county reported during the
last seven years. And, I, for one,
dc not believe we are any better
here than persons elsewhere.
The trouble u.s." the doctor con-
cluded. I'VE just haven't got the
facilities for detecting presence of
poisoning. ! do about 500 autop-
sizes year and in about 20 per
cent of these l never do find out
the cause Of death. In many such
cases, poison might well have been
used. but it takes a trained man
about three days to make thor
ough test for poison and that.
gentlemen. takes money.
Nevertheless, Pierce county,
provided poison is used. is a swell
place to get away with murder"
Praises Coroner
DIR. Larson extolled the ability
Of DR.. T. II. Long. Pierce county
coroner. He is 4 fine doctor and
good friend Of mine and / GER
tainly have no criticism Of him.
professionally or otherwise.
1T Ia simply that the coroner
system in the county is wrong.
A laboratory. with a psthologist
and a trained staff of assistants is
absolutely necessary TO handle the
job correctly. the doctor said. land.
in the long run. such a modern
set-up would save the county
Il