The Poisoner's Handbook (43 page)

76:
By early afternoon sixty people
. . . : “ 50 Ill of Poison Pie Eaten on Broadway,”
New York Times
, August 1, 1922, p. 1; “Six Deaths Result From Arsenic Pie,”
New York Times
, August 2, 1922, p. 1.

77:
The previous October, in an unnervingly similar incident
. . . : See “Poison Pie Clue in Similar Mystery,”
New York Times
, August 8, 1922, p. 13.

77:
Years earlier Crones had worked
. . . : “Six Deaths Result from Poison Pie; Boasts of Poison Plot, Threatens Deaths in Letter,”
New York Times
, February 17, 1916, p. 1; “Homicide in Chicago,”
http://homicide.northwestern.edu/context/timeline/1916/18/
.

78:
Pure arsenic is a dark, grayish element
. . . : For history and background on arsenic, Witthaus and Becker,
Medical Jurisprudence
, pp. 4: 325–509, is a wonderfully detailed overview, from ancient history to Witthaus’s experiments with taste, his attempts to gather data, and his amazingly gruesome descriptions of arsenic mummification. Emsley,
Elements of Murder
, pp. 141–69, offers a great survey of “arsenic murderers down the ages.” Because of arsenic’s prominent role in homicidal poisonings, it is found in every forensic science textbook in my bibliography, including both books produced by the New York City medical examiner’s office.

82:
Charles Norris liked to get his hands bloody
. . . : The description of autopsy procedures at the medical examiner’s office comes from Marten and Clarke,
Doctor Looks at Murder
, pp. 85–120; Milton Helpern, “The Postmortem Examination in Cases of Suspected Homicide,”
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
36, no. 6 (March–April 1946), pp. 485–522; Charles Norris, “The Medicolegal Necropsy,” in
The Medicolegal Necropsy: A Symposium
(Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins Co., 1934), pp. 24–33.

84:
They’d interviewed the Shelbourne ’s owner
. . . : “Sure Poisoned Piece Was Meant to Kill,”
New York Times
, August 3, 1922, p. 1.

85:
A major difficulty
. . . : W. A. Jackson, “To Die or Not to Dye: Poisoning from Arsenical Pigments in the Nineteenth Century,”
Pharmaceutical History
, September 3, 1996, pp. 27–31; “Arsenics and Old Places,”
Lancet
, July 8, 2000, p. 170; “Arsenic and Old Myths,”
Rhode Island Medicine
, July 1994, p. 234; Witthaus and Becker,
Medical Jurisprudence
, pp. 350–93.

87:
Racketeers across the United States
. . . : “Gunmen Shoot Six in East Side Swarm,”
New York Times
, August 9, 1922, p. 1; “Nearly Pinch Izzy Chasing Rum Truck,”
New York Times
, August 9, 1922, p. 13; “Gunman Kills Two,”
New York Times
, August 12, 1922, p. 20.

89:
Even by federal estimates, two-thirds of the so-called “whiskey”
. . . : “Say Red Hook Carried 32 Percent Poison,”
New York Times
, September 10, 1922, p. 20.

90:
Even in the tidy Brooklyn home
. . . : Gettler family interviews.

91:
“nothing of importance has been accomplished . . . ”
: A. O. Gettler, “On the Detection of Benzene in Cadavers,”
Journal of Pharmacological Experimental Therapy
21 (1923), pp. 161–64.

92:
Mary Frances Creighton, Fanny to her friends
. . . : “Creighton’s Life Fight Today,”
New York Daily News
, June 18, 1923, p. 1; “Death For Creightons Asked,”
New York Daily News
, June 19, 1923, p. 1; “Dead Boy’s Love Affair Denied,”
New York Daily News
, June 19, 1923, p. 1; “Mrs. Creighton Faces Jury Calmly,”
New York Evening Post
, June 19, 1923, p.1; “Women Called in Creighton Poison Case,” June 20, 1923, p. 1; “Try Woman for Killing Brother,”
New York Evening Journal
, June 18, 1923, p.1; “Boy of 18 Murdered with Slow Poison,”
New York Times
, May 13, 1923, p. 1; “To Exhume Bodies of the Creightons,”
New York Times
, May 14, 1923, p. 3; “Dig Open Graves for Poison Clue,”
New York Times
, May 16, 1923, p. 40; “Powdery Matter in Creighton Body,”
New York Times
, May 19, 1923, p. 15; “Hints Young Avery Was a Poison Suicide,”
New York Times
, May 20, 1923, p. 13; “Testifies to Poison in Body of Youth,”
New York Times
, June 19, 1923, p. 11; “Creightons Freed of Murder Charge,”
New York Times
, June 23, 1923, p. 13; “Mrs. Creighton Calm As New Trial Begins,”
New York Times
, July 10, 1923, p. 40; “Creighton Defense to Rely on Experts,”
New York Times
, July 13, 1923, p. 8; “Jury Again Acquits Mrs. Creighton of Murder Charge,”
New York Times
, July 14, 1923, p. 1.

103:
Ten months later his new wife was dead
. . . : “Rich Woman Dies in Biltmore Club; Poison Suspected,”
New York Times
, September 28, 1923, p. 1.

104:
“very much surprised when they heard . . . ”
: “Mrs. Webb Murdered With Slow Poison, Her Uncle Declares,”
New York Times
, September 29, 1923, p. 1.

104:
Bichloride of mercury
. . . : Witthaus and Becker,
Medical Jurisprudence
, pp. 542–72, reviews the history of mercury poisonings, discussing elemental mercury and corrosive sublimate. See also Gonzales et al.,
Pathology and Toxicology
, pp. 749–51; Peterson, Haines, and Webster,
Legal Medicine
, pp. 184–98; and Emsley,
Elements of Murder
, pp. 37–50. The Medline Plus online encyclopedia reviews the toxicity difference between elemental mercury and mercury salts:
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002476.htm
.

106:
The actress, Olive Thomas
. . . : Numerous Web sites detail the story of Olive Thomas. I like “The Life and Death of Olive Thomas” at
www.public.asu.edu/~ialong/Taylor33
. txt. It tells the story through newspaper and magazine clips, ranging from
Variety
and
Photoplay
to the
New York Telegraph
. Tim Lussier, “The Mysterious Death of Olive Thomas,” is on the Silents Are Golden Web site at:
www.silentsaregolden.com/articles/lpolivethomasdeath.html
.

108:
“There is doubt . . . ”
: “Rich Woman Dies in Biltmore Club; Poison Suspected,”
New York Times
, September 28, 1928, p. 1.

109:
He’d published his first paper on mercuric chloride
. . . : A. O. Gettler and A. V. St. George, “Suspected Case of Mercuric Chloride Poisoning,”
Proceedings of the New York Pathological Society
17, new series (1917), pp. 55–61. Gettler’s work with the Reinsch test is described in Sidney Kaye, “The Rebirth and Blooming of Forensic Medicine,”
American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology
13 (1992), p. 299; Peterson, Haines, and Webster,
Legal Medicine
, pp. 195–97.

110:
Well before Gertie Webb’s organs arrived
. . . : Gonzales et al.,
Pathology and Toxicology
, pp. 750–52.

111:
While she was still single
. . . : “Police Here Take Up Death of Mrs. Webb; Open Inquiry Today,”
New York Times
, October 1, 1923, p. 1; “Webb Is Questioned About Wife’s Death; Trace Poison Found,”
New York Times
, October 2, 1923, p. 1; “Webb Offers Aid in Death Mystery; Knows of No Poison,”
New York Times
, October 3, 1923, p. 1.

113:
The Westchester district attorney’s office
. . . : “Mercury Revealed in Mrs. Webb’s Body by Chemical Test,”
New York Times
, October 4, 1923, p. 1; “Not Enough Poison to Cause Her Death in Mrs. Webb’s Body,”
New York Times
, October 5, 1923, p. 1; “Sudden New Turn in Webb Mystery Is Now Expected,”
New York Times
, October 8, 1923, p. 1; “To Exonerate Webb in a Report Today,”
New York Times
, October 19, 1923, p. 6; “Jury Clears Webb in Death of Wife,”
New York Times
, October 21, 1923, p. 1.

117:
the death of the famous Blue Man
. . . : A. O. Gettler, C. P. Rhoades, and Soma Weiss, “A Contribution to the Pathology of Generalized Argyria with a Discussion on the Fate of Silver in the Human Body,”
American Journal of Pathology
3 (1927), pp. 631–61.

119:
Charles Webb was still fighting with his dead wife’s family
. . . : “Relatives Attack Mrs. Webb’s Will,”
New York Times
, December 11, 1923, p. 18; “Webb Wins on Will by Order of Court,”
New York Times
, December 12, 1923, p. 1; “Surrogate Upholds Will of Mrs. Webb,”
New York Times
, December 23, 1923, p. E1; “Webb Kin Claim House and $250,000,”
New York Times
, July 16, 1924, p. 36.

120:
It began in the Standard Oil Refinery
. . . : “Odd Gas Kills One, Makes Four Insane,”
New York Times
, October 27, 1924, p. 1; “Third Victim Dies From Poison Gas,”
New York Times
, October 29, 1924, p. 3; “Bar Ethyl Gasoline As 5th Victim Dies,”
New York Times
, October 30, 1924, p. 1.

121:
Tetraethyl lead—or TEL, in industrial shorthand
. . . : Background on the use of TEL in gasoline and the inventor Thomas Midgley Jr. (who also developed Freon) can be found at “Thomas Midgley’s Dubious Legacy,”
http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/highlights/2008/03/17/thomas-midgleys-dubious-legacy/
. For a different perspective, see Invent Now’s Hall of Fame, at
www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/193.html
.

121:
The statement failed to impress the State of New Jersey
. . . : “Stops Jersey Sale of Ethyl Gasoline,”
New York Times
, November 4, 1924, p. 37.

122:
“The fact that it is readily absorbed . . . ”
: “Tetraethyl Lead in Victim’s Brain,”
New York Times
, November 13, 1924; “Nine of DuPont Plant Died,”
New York Times
, November 2, 1924, p. 22.

122:
“I’m taking no chances whatever . . . ”
: “Another Man Dies from Insanity Gas,”
New York Times
, October 28, 1924, p. 25.

122:
It took Gettler a full three weeks
. . . : Alexander O. Gettler and Charles Norris, “Poisoning by Tetra-ethyl Lead: Postmortem and Clinical Findings,”
Journal of the American Medical Association
, 8 (1925), pp. 818–20; “Report Condemns Making of Lead Gas,”
New York Times
, November 27, 1925, p. 14.

123:
After Norris released his office’s report
. . . : William Kovarik, “Ethyl: The 1920s Environmental Conflict Over Leaded Gasoline and Alternative Fuels,” a paper given to the American Society for Environmental History, Providence, Rhode Island, March 26–30, 2003,
www.radford.edu/~wkovarik/papers/ethylconflict.html
; Jamie Lincoln Kitman, “The Secret History of Lead,”
Nation
270 (March 20, 2000),
www.thenation.com/doc/20000320/kitman
.

124:
“its use should be prohibited, for lead . . . ”
: Norris to Frank. J. Monoghan, health commissioner, November 14, 1924, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.

124:
That same May, a twenty-one-year-old White Plains woman
. . . : “Grandmother Held as Girl’s Poisoner,”
New York Times
, May 24, 1925, p. 25.

126:
“we have been swamped with unknown floaters . . . ”
: Norris to John T. Walsh, Department of Health, May 19, 1925, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.

126:
In July he decided to take his first vacation
. . . : Norris to Hylan, June 5, 1925, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.

126:
Rich enough, though
. . . : “Webb Gross Estate Set at $1,0333,765,”
New York Times
, July 21, 1928, p. 26.

127:
Webb donated the empty plot she’d owned
. . . : “Webb Gives Tract to City for Park,”
New York Times
, June 21, 1929, p. 29; “City Accepts Playground,”
New York Times
, April 24, 1930, p. 31; “Gorman Park,” New York City Department of Parks and Recreation,
www.nycgovparks.org/parks/M031/highlights/12328
.