The frogs croaked

George D. Thompson

Ohio State senior George Thompson headed to downtown Columbus on the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1925. George was another popular man at OSU. I'm sure he was familiar with the two deaths on campus over the weekend, especially Charley's since they were both seniors in the college of Commerce and Journalism.

It was after George entered a store that he collapsed, and was rushed to the university hospital. Dr. Eugene. F. McCampbell thought George's symptoms were suspicious due to the sudden onset, so he had George's stomach pumped. The contents of his stomach was given to frogs which promptly croaked. Neither tetanus nor meningitis would cause that to happen.

George was so ill that doctors Carl Dyer and Paul Charlton had to perform artificial respiration on him for 10 minutes, but he was lucky. George lived to tell his story.

Overnight testing showed strychnine in the contents of his stomach. By Feb. 4 the university knew the truth -- someone was poisoning their students.

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