27: The tireless Leonard Wallstein . . . : The political fight over the medical examiner’s office was followed closely by the New York Times : “Civil Service Board Backs Hylan Move,” January 14, 1918, p. 12; “Try to Stop Riordan’s Pay,” January 27, 1918, p. 14; “Move for Riordan by Civil Service,” January 28, 1918, p. 5; “Civil Service Board Again Aids Riordan,” January 29, 1918, p. 11; “Norris Succeeds Riordan,” February 1, 1918, p. 10.
29: “famed, sardonic, goat-bearded. . . ” : Time , September 23, 1935 p. 27.
30: Everyone knew that Norris didn’t have to work . . . : For Charles Norris biographic information, see “Resolutions Passed by the Faculty of Medicine of Columbia University on the Death of Dr. Charles Norris,” filed October 25, 1935, Columbia University archive; unpublished historical summary of Charles Norris’s family history and life, including a list of scientific publications from the files of the medical examiner’s office for 1918, New York City Municipal Archive; Frank J. Jirka, “A Great Scientific Detective,” American Doctors of Destiny (Chicago: Normandie House, 1940), pp. 216–29; William G. Eckert, “Charles Norris (1868–1935) and Thomas A. Gonzales (1878–1956): New York’s Forensic Pioneers,” American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 8, no. 4 (1987), pp. 350–53.
31: “A much neglected field of medical endeavor. . . ” : Draft editorial written for the Journal of Forensic Medicine , 1918, city examiner’s file, New York City Municipal Archive.
31: “We call this the Country Club” : Milton Helpern and Bernard Knight, Autopsy: The Memoirs of Milton Helpern, the World’s Greatest Medical Detective (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1977), p. 47.
31: Norris had saved, with some enjoyment, the old coroner’s . . . : Riordan’s inventory of possessions, January 8, 1918, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.
32: Norris at least had a new home . . . : On Norris organizing the department, see S. K. Niyogi, “Historic Development of Forensic Toxicology in America up to 1978,” American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 1, no. 3 (September 1980), pp. 249–64; W. G. Eckert, “Medicolegal Investigation in New York City: History and Activities, 1918–1978,” American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 4, no. 1 (March 1983), pp. 33–54.
32: “the place for the laboratory force. . . ” : Charles Norris to John F. Hylan, December 18, 1918, medical examiner’s file, New York Municipal Archive.
33: “useless timber” : Ibid.
33: “This work, which I may term ‘organization’. . . ” : Ibid.
33: “I wish to call to your attention. . . ” : Charles Norris to Richard Enright, police commissioner, April 4, 1918, police department, New York City Municipal Archive.
34: He wrote to the Bronx district attorney . . . : Charles Norris to Seymour Mork, assistant district attorney, Borough of the Bronx, April 17, 1918, New York City Municipal Archives.
34: He wrote to hospitals . . . : Charles Norris to George D. O’Hanlon, general medical superintendent, Bellevue and Allied Hospitals, April 16, 1918, New York City Municipal Archives.
34: “Your peremptory order. . . ” : Superintendent of Methodist Episcopal Hospital to Charles Norris, June 7, 1918, New York City Municipal Archive.
34: He was even tougher, though . . . : Norris to Deputy Police Commissioner Lahey, April 19, 1918, New York City Municipal Archive.
34: “Did you make any efforts. . . ” : Norris to Dr. George Teng, medical examiner’s office, Brooklyn, June 10, 1918, New York City Municipal Archive.
34: He chastised ersonnel . . . : Norris to Dr. John Reigelman, medical examiner’s office, Bronx, April 5, 1918, New York City Municipal Archive.
35: Born in 1883, the son of a Hungarian . . . : Alexander Gettler biographic information is from: Joseph Gettler, unpublished, handwritten tribute, and personal interviews, courtesy of the Gettler family; A. W. Freireich, “In Memoriam: Alexander O. Gettler, 1883–1968,” Journal of Forensic Sciences 14, no. 3 (July 1969), pp. vii–xi; Henry C. Freimuth, “Alexander O. Gettler (1883–1968: ): A Reflection,” American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 4, no. 4 (December 1983); The Toxicologist: A Modern Detective, November 25, 1933, p. 22; Sunshine, Was It a Poisoning? ; Edward D. Radin, “The Professor Looks at Murder,” in 12 Against Crime (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1950); “The Chemistry of Crime,” Science Illustrated 2, no. 5 (May 1947), pp. 44–47; Eugene Pawley, “Cause of Death: Ask Gettler,” American Mercury , September 1954, pp. 62–66; “Test-tube Sleuth,” Time , May 15, 1933; “The Man Who Reads Corpses,” Harper’s Magazine , February 1955, pp. 62–67.
37: It would be a challenge . . . : Alexander O. Gettler, The Historical Development of Toxicology , presentation to the annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Chicago, February 26–28, 1953.
38: Wood alcohol—technically known as methyl . . . ”: Wood alcohol’s chemical makeup is detailed at Medline Plus, www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002827.htm . For alcohol history, see http://science.jrank.org/pages/186/Alcohol-History.html . A historical review more contemporary to my story is “Wood Alcohol’s Trail: Many Deaths Before Prohibition Throw Light on Methods Needed to Combat Evil,” New York Times , January 15, 1922, p. 86.
39: By the end of the nineteenth century . . . : Information on the production and denaturing formulas in the early twentieth century can be found in Rufus Herrick, Denatured or Industrial Alcohol (New York: J. Wiley and Sons, 1907); H.W. Wiley, Industrial Alcohol: Sources and Manufacture (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1911).
39: “The prohibition by our government. . . ” : A. O. Gettler and A. V. St. George, “Wood Alcohol Poisoning,” Journal of the American Medical Association , January 19, 1918, pp. 145–49. The uniquely poisonous metabolism of wood alcohol is discussed in this article and in John M. Robinson, “Blindness for Industrial Use of a .4 Per Cent Admixture of Wood Alcohol,” Journal of the American Medical Association , January 19, 1918, pp. 148–49, and Charles Baskerville, “Wood Alcohol: Cooperative Caution,” Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry , January 1920, pp. 81–83.
41: Poison was already in the air . . . : International Film Service, “Mustard Gas Warfare,” New York Times , July 7, 1918, p. 52; “Vast U. S. Poison Plant Was Working at Full Blast for 1919 Campaign,” New York Times , December 8, 1918, p. 45.
43: On the home front . . . : See “The Influenza Pandemic of 1918,” http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/ ;“TheGreatPandemic:StatebyState,” www.pandemicflu.gov/general/greatpandemic2.html ; “The Deadly Virus,” www.archives.gov/exhibits/influenza-epidemic/records-list.html . On Bellevue’s role in the influenza fight, see Sandra Opdycke, No One Was Turned Away: The Role of Public Hospitals in New York City Since 1900 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999); Page Cooper, The Bellevue Story (New York: T.Y. Crowell, 1948); and correspondence by Charles Norris.
44: “Should any of our men. . . ” : Norris to Major General Crowder, provost marshal general, Washington, D.C., September 6, 1918, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.
46: “During the years 1918 and 1919. . . ” : Alexander O. Gettler, “Critical Study of Methods for the Detection of Methyl Alcohol,” Journal of Biological Chemistry 42, no. 2 (1920), pp. 311–28.
48: “My attention has been called. . . ” : Hylan to Norris, December 19, 1918, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.
48: “We have found. . . ” : Norris to S. F. Wynne, Department of Health, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.
49: In December there had been forty-two . . . : “Poison Drink Killed 51 Here; Blinded 100,” New York Times , December 27, 1919, p. 3.
49: As the month wound down . . . ”: Ibid.
3. CYANIDES
50: Cocktail parties sparkled defiantly . . . : For a good overview of Prohibition culture in New York City, see Michael A. Lerner, Dry Manhattan (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2007).
50: As soon as legal drinking ended . . . : “Will Try to Indict for Poison Alcohol,” New York Times , January 6, 1920, p. 4; “Four More Deaths from Wood Alcohol,” New York Times , January 12, 1920, p. 10.
51: “The speakeasies are. . . ” : Stephen Graham, New York Nights (New York: George H. Doran Co., 1927), pp. 60–68.
51: “Prohibition is a joke. . . ” : “Prohibition a Joke, Dale Says on Bench,” New York Times , August 12, 1920, p. 10.
51: But for the new speakeasy devotees . . . : Graham, New York Nights .
52: They created a new generation of cocktails . . . : Recipes for 1920s cocktails can be found in The Savoy Cocktail Book (London: Constable and Co., 1930, reprinted London: Pavilion Books, 1999), among many other sources.
52: a cloudy cocktail called Smoke . . . : “Norris Explains Why the Death Rate Mounts,” New York World , November 21, 1920, p. 3.
53: As demands for chemical analysis intensified . . . : Norris to John F. Hylan, June 12, 1922, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.
53: The Hotel Margaret glittered . . . : Federal Writers Project, The WPA Guide to New York City (1939).
55: “Mr. and Mrs. Jackson met their deaths. . . ” : “Autopsy Deepens Jackson Mystery,” New York Times , April 28, 1932, p. 36.
55: Cyanides possess a uniquely long . . . : On cyanides’ history, chemical composition, and uses, see Witthaus and Becker, Medical Jurisprudence , pp. 4: 602–40; Thompson, Poison Mysteries , pp. 143–76; Alexander O. Gettler and A. V. St. George, “Cyanide Poisoning,” American Journal of Clinical Pathology 4, no. 9 (September 1934) pp. 429–37.
57: “The symptoms of acute poisoning. . . ” : Gettler and St. George, “Cyanide Poisoning,” p. 430.
58: In the late 1890s one daring physician . . . : Witthaus and Becker, Medical Jurisprudence , pp. 4: 610–12. The descriptions of internal damage and autopsy findings come from this source as well as Gettler and St. George, “Cyanide Poisoning”; Peterson, Haines, and Webster, Legal Medicine , pp. 674–82, and Gonzales et al., Pathology and Toxicology , pp. 802–804.
58: In the four years since Gettler had become . . . : Gettler and St. George, “Cyanide Poisoning,” p. 433.
59: So he set about doing the finer chemical tests . . . : Gettler and St. George, “Cyanide Poisoning,” pp. 435–37; Witthaus and Becker, Medical Jurisprudence , pp. 4: 610–12; Peterson, Haines, and Webster, Legal Medicine , pp. 680–82; Gonzales et al., Legal Medicine , pp. 1050–52.
61: One of the most famous cyanide-by-mail murder cases . . . : The story of the Molineux murders is beautifully told in Harold Schecter, The Devil’s Gentleman: Privilege, Poison and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century (New York: Ballantine Books, 2007), and is recounted in numerous law and true crime Web sites. I especially like “Packaged Death,” Legal Studies Forum 12, no. 2. See also http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/lpop/etext/lsf/29-2/packaged.htmland “The Molineux Case” on Jim Fisher’s forensics Web site, http://jimfisher.edinboro.edu/forensics/mol1.html . Stories from the New York Times coverage of the case include: “Molineux Jury Complete,” November 30, 1900, p. 3; “Molineux Murder Trial,” January 6, 1900, p. 4; “Molineux’s Next Ordeal,” February 15, 1900, p. 12; “Molineux’s Trial Progresses Rapidly,” October 21, 1902, p. 1; “The Influences Acquitting Molineux,” November 16, 1902, p. 11; “Tales From Jail,” February 14, 1903, p. BR12; and the transcript of New York v. Molineux , appellant, Court of Appeals of New York, argued June 17, 1901, decided October 15, 1901, Opinion of the Court.
64: Gettler had conducted a careful analysis . . . : “Wood Alcohol Clue in Jackson Deaths,” New York Times , April 29, 1922, p. 7.
64: “the vilest concoctions masquerading . . . ” : “Izzy, the Rum Hound, Tells How It’s Done,” New York Times , January 1, 1922, p. 3.
66: Had the fumigator used hydrogen cyanide . . . : The New York Times followed the Jackson case through the conclusion of the trial: “Thinks Fumigant Killed Jacksons,” May 3, 1922, p. 10; “Rats in Poison Test May Solve Tragedy,” May 4, 1922, p. 12; “2 Held for Deaths of Jackson Couple,” May 9, 1922, p. 10; “Jury Frees Bradicich,” August 3, 1922, p. 20; “Hotel Manager Cleared,” December 13, 1922, p. 11.
67: “In recent years, suicidal, accidental . . . ” : Gettler and St. George, “Cyanide Poisoning.”
69: “should have made such inexcusable . . . ” : Norris to Joseph Gallagher, assistant district attorney, Brooklyn, August 16, 1922; Norris to Gallagher, August 24, 1922, both in medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.
71: Gettler also responded to the Bradicich trial . . . : Alexander O. Gettler and J. Ogden Baine, “The Toxicology of Cyanide,” American Journal of the Medical Sciences 195, no. 2, (February 1938), pp. 182–98.
74: in 1980 the Hotel Margaret . . . : Richard D. Lyons, “Work Starting on Embattled Site,” New York Times , May 4, 1986.