The result of 'deliberate' acts

Marysville Journal-Tribune
Marysville, Ohio
Friday, July 2, 1926 • Page 1

MAKE REPORT ON O.S.U. MYSTERY

 

SUBSTITUTION OF CAPSULES CONTAINING STRYCHNINE FOR QUININE CAPSULES TERMED "DELIBERATE"

COLUMBUS, July 2 --Governor Donahey today reiterated that he will not drop the investigation into the "poison capsule" deaths of two Ohio State University students as long as he is governor in the hope that the criminal or criminals responsible can be apprehended.

The declaration followed the report of the state board of pharmacy that the strychnine poisoning, which was in January and February of 1925, was not due to accident or carelessness,  but the result of "deliberate" acts of unidentified person or persons. The students who died were Charles H. Huls, Logan, and David I. Puskin, Canton. Four other students were ill from poisoning, but recovered.

Capsules containing strychnine were handed the students when they applied to the university dispensary for capsules containing quinine, according to all evidence. It has never been discovered how the poison capsules got into the jar with the quinine capsules.

The board report states that Ohio State University violated the law by not having a registered pharmacist in the dispensary at all times, but held that this violation had nothing to do with the poisoning. All officials and employes [sic] of the university were cleared.

In the report, physicians were scored for faulty diagnosis or failure to report promptly to the university. "Prompt action might have saved lives," the report states.

One of the most important statements in the report is: "Carelessness or accident in compounding as the source of the poisoning is proven absolutely absent. Thorough investigation shows no trace of poisonous admixtures as would have been the case with carelessness or accident in compounding. All strychnine was in separate capsules as though added to the stock in a limited number."

There is one difference in the opinion of the board and that of Police Prosecutor John J. Chester, who conducted a probe following the poisoning and is still watching the case. Chester states that he does not believe the strychnine necessarily came from outside the college of pharmacy as: "my investigation disclosed that at least two ounces of strychnine, enough to kill 200 persons, was not accounted for by the officials of the college of pharmacy."

In the board report, it is stated that chemical analysis and examination of strychnine found in capsules convinces the board the strychnine was not obtained from the university supply and that there is evidence the poison capsules were of a different make from those used by the university.

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Annual Report of the President

Poor Prexy's final annual report. Curiously, there is no mention of Edward A. Byron of Cincinnati. Was there a different diagnosis of his illness by then?

Obviously, this is not the entire annual report. I only included the section that I found to be relevant.

ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT

     

HONORABLE LAWRENCE E. LAYBOURNE, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, The Ohio State University:

    DEAR SIR -- I have the honor to present through you to the Board of Trustees of the Ohio State University for transmission to the Governor of Ohio, as required by law, the fifty-fifth annual report of the Ohio State University, for the year ending June 30, 1925.

. . . 

THE COLLEGE OF PHARMACY

    The feature in connection with the report on this college for the current year demanding a statement is the experiences occurring during the winter.

W. O. Thompson

    On Saturday, January 31st, the University was shocked at the announcement of the sudden death of Mr. Charles H. Huls of Logan, a Senior in the College of Commerce and Journalism. On Sunday, the first day of February, the startling announcement was made that David I. Puskin, a Junior in the College of Commerce and Journalism, had suddenly died. Immediate attention was brought to these two cases and the preliminary assumption was that the death of Mr. Huls was due to Tetanus and that of Mr. Puskin to Meningitis. These two assumptions aroused a state of great anxiety as to an impending epidemic among the students.

    On Monday, February 2nd, G. Delbert Thompson of Canton, a Senior in the College of Commerce and Journalism, while in one of the stores downtown was seized with convulsions similar to those which preceded the death of both Mr. Huls and Mr. Puskin. He was promptly sent to the University Hospital and an investigation begun by the officials there, Through heroic efforts the life of Mr. Thompson was saved. Mr. Timothy J. McCarthy of Columbus, a Sophomore in the College of Commerce and Journalism; Mr. Harold E. Gillig of Toledo, a Sophomore in the College of Arts, and Mr. Robert H. Ross of Bellevue, a Freshman in the College of Arts, also fell ill. The fact that these students had capsules in their possession led to a searching investigation in the dispensary of the College of Pharmacy and every effort was made to discover the causes leading to this most serious and most deplorable experience. It was soon discovered that the cases were due to strychnine poisoning. A few capsules were found also in the possession of the students. Analysis of these capsules revealed the fact that they had been filled with strychnine. A further investigation developed that only a few of these capsules had been available and that not a single one remained in the receptacles in the dispensary. Having determined the questions of fact as to the presence of these capsules filled with strychnine and as to the limited supply of them, the investigation then turned upon the sources of supply. That question is not satisfactorily determined to this date. The issue still remains whether a limited number of these capsules had been distributed through the ordinary channels in the dispensary. The Columbus Police authorities were called into action and through an extended investigation conducted by the Police Prosecutor, Mr. John J. Chester, Jr., every effort was made to discover any possible information as to the facts involved, the motives that might be present and any other facts that would assist in reaching a conclusion as to how these capsules of strychnine could have been filled and dispensed.

    Somewhat later the Governor of Ohio instituted an investigation through the State Board of Pharmacy in charge of Mr. M. N. Ford. This investigation discovered no new facts save that the capsules used were of a slightly different size from those used in the University dispensary. This difference was so slight as not to be observed casually. It required an examination to recognize the difference. This at once raised the question whether these capsules could have been procured elsewhere than the source from which the University secures its supply and whether by some device a limited number of these capsules had been deposited in the receptacle in the dispensary. The absence of any motive for such criminal attempt upon the lives of innocent persons made this problem extremely delicate and difficult of determination. The University has not been able to trace any evidence of a purchase of capsules that would explain in any way the limited number of a different size from those in ordinary use, nor has the University been able to satisfy the minds of the investigators as to how such a limited number of capsules should find place and be distributed. None of the physicians associated in any way with this experience could provide any rational explanation of the situation. The University officials were pained and mystified by the whole procedure. The investigation by the police authorities was as complete as they could make it. The further investigation at the Governor's request has still left all the im-portant issues just where they were. No evidence was produced to show that anyone had any knowledge of the fatal capsules as to their existence or their source. One student whose service was in the dispensary in the ordinary routine remembers having given capsules to Mr. Puskin. There is no evidence, however, that he knew that these differed in any way from the ordinary capsule. In all the investigations made there was not the slightest approach to identification of any person criminally related to this experience. No blame could be attached to the administrative or dispensing officers in the College of Pharmacy. No motive could be discovered for any student to make such an irrational and criminal attack upon innocent lives. It seems impossible to tolerate the theory of an accident or of a careless method of procedure. The whole situation would seem to indicate deliberateness in the filling of those particular capsules. The history of criminal acts of this sort leads one to believe that by some inadvertence the future may provide a clew leading to a solution. The University will continue its effort so far as possible to discover a clew to this mysterious and perplexing situation. Such a disaster in the University experience lingers in the minds of University officials impossible of eradication. No responsibility could be located on individuals or groups of individuals for the occurrence. Speculative minds indulged in imaginary situations as always under such trying and distressing·circumstances but no approach was made toward apprehending a guilty person, or to a reasonable explanation of any motives that might lead to such a terror striking experi- ence. On the assumption that it was a deliberate act, some one or more persons unknown at present, carry the grave and terrible responsibility. If by any means the future shall disclose this person or persons the University will recognize its obligation to bring them to account. At present nothing more can be done than to record officially the profound sympathy which all University officials and students felt toward the unfortunate and bereaved families, and also the feeling of resentment that such a deed was possible among students.

    The official reports submitted to the President of the University from all University officials having to do with the investigation are filed as a part of the permanent records in this case and will be available at any time for properly authorized persons to inspect.

. . .  

    The usual statistical reports as required by law, the reports from the Deans, Departments, and other divisions of the University activities are herewith submitted as part of this report. The Summary of the Financial Report of the Secretary of the Board of Trustees is included as usual as part of this report. Reference to the appendixes will provide information supplementing that found in the several reports. Respectfully submitted,

                                            W. O. THOMPSON, President.

July 31, 1925.

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Stimulating questions

Nelson Rosenberg was a name I kept seeing in conjunction with the poisonings so I decided I needed to research him more. Rosenberg was a 23-year-old pharmacy student who was with David Puskin on the night before his death -- and had purchased a bottle of strychnine from the Hi-King Drug Co. When questioned, Rosenberg explained that he had broken his glasses and used the drug to help focus on his studies. 

I found this in the Friday, Feb. 6, 1926 edition of the Athens Messenger:

FIND STUDENT WHO BOUGHT POISON TO USE AS STIMULANT

Cleveland Youth Freed 

After Telling Officers 

His Story 

    COLUMBUS, Feb. 6. -- First admission that one of the Pharmacy college students of Ohio State university had purchased strychnine in a Coumbus [sic] pharmacy, came today during the question of Nelson Rosenberg, who said he was a son of Dr. Emmanuel Rosenberg, 16907 Wade Park, east Cleveland.

    A rumor spread over the campus early today that a Pharmacy student had purchased fifty grains of strychnine in a downtown drug store. Hurriedly checking up on this report, Deputy Carson learned that Rosenberg had purchased 12 one fiftieth grain strychnine tablets at a store Wednesday night. Questioned by probers at the college, Rosenberg said he had bought the drug as a stimulant. Probers said he told the druggist from whom he obtained the strychnine, after first having been refused in two other stores, that he wished it for use in treating a cold.

    Police Prosecutor Chester said that Rosenberg had declared that he never before had purchased strychnine in a drugstore. Chester also said that Rosenberg had declared he had seen a supply of strychnine in a bottle on a stock shelf in the Freshman laboratory in the basement of the building, and that other students had told him they had also seen it. Rosenberg was hurried downstairs to the laboratory where he pointed out the shelf. Phil Mackoff, instructor in charge of the laboratory, however denied vigorously that strychnine, or any other like toxic poison, was ever used in the laboratory, or kept there. Chester said Rosenberg was confronted with the student who said he had admitted seeing the drug on the shelf and that this student denied the story.

    Rosenberg was released after having been detailed in the lecture room where the investigation is going on for about forty minutes.

According to Bucky Cutright, Rosenberg received his degree in July [June?] of 1925 and followed in his father’s footsteps, practicing medicine in the Cleveland area until his death in 1991. 

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Hello Jack

I was struck by the youthful appearance of the police prosecutor leading the investigation, John J, Chester, Jr., holding the dispensary strychnine bottle in this photocopy of a torn newspaper clipping (possibly from The Columbus Dispatch). I was glad to finally find some additional information about him.

Only 3 Years Out Of O.S.U.

He Now Seeks Criminals There

(Akron) Beacon Journal Bureau

506 Chamber of Commerce Bldg.

    COLUMBUS, Feb. 7. A slender, freckled-face youth, who three years ago was toting school books across the campus at Ohio State university. is the official who today is directing the efforts to unravel the university's "poison pill" mystery.

    He is John J. "Jack" Chester, 28 years old and police prosecutor of the city of Columbus.

    Chester graduated from the university law department in the spring of 1922, and was regarded as one of the best liked men in his class. His popularity among the younger set was so pronounced that friends urged him to get into politics. He did so and in the fall of 1923, only a little more than a year out of school, was elected municipal prosecutor.

Grim Campus Task

    Now he is back on the campus bent upon the grim task of feretting (sic) out its mystery which has some earmarks of developing another Loeb-Leopold affair, in which some crank, or "intellectual" with a complex has set about in a fiendish manner to commit wholesale murder.

    Most of the older students at Ohio State know Chester personally, and are known by him. It's "Hello, Jack," every few minutes as he goes about the university in his role of detective. The campus is experiencing a thrill in having one they know so well on hand as the Sherlock Holmes of the great mystery, and Chester is getting an even greater kick out of the thing. It is his first really big mystery, and he is anxious to make good.

    The whole responsibility is on his shoulders. County Prosecutor John R. King and other officials, older and more experienced, are letting Chester conduct the investigation. They say be is going about the matter in exactly the right way.

Criminal Theory

    Chester is working on the criminal theory. He has told Columbus newspapers he does not believe it was by accident that the deadly poison strychnine got into capsules at the university dispensary to cause the death of two students, and five others to become deadly (sic) ill.

    "I have found no evidence that would lead me to believe that this case came from an accident," Chester told newspaper men today.

    What the evidence does lead him to believe he would not say. Like all good detectives he is keeping mum.

    He indicated, however, that he believed the key to the mystery may depend upon discovering the means by which a small vial of strychnine, found among some harmless potions on a shelf in the dispensary, came to bethere (sic). The poison was identified as that obtained a year ago for experimental work in the university laboratory. It was supposed to have been destroyed. But the bottle, with some of the strychnine missing, has turned up in the dispensary.

    To find why it was not destroyed when the experiments were completed, and how it go (sic) to tho dispensary, is the task Chester is now chiefly addressing himself to. And, as he says significantly, "I am working on the criminal theory."

While Chester was not successful in apprehending anyone for Uncle Charley's murder, he went on to successfully prosecute O.S.U. professor Dr. Howard Snook (inventor of the Snook hook which is still used to spay animals) for the murder of his mistress in 1929. Chester died in 1957 at the age of 59.

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And so it begins

Sadly, it becomes apparent from this article in the Monday, Feb. 23, 1925 edition of the OSU Lantern that the criminal investigation was over and that the investigation itself is more concerned about the dispensary itself:

POISON INVESTIGATION

    WILL START WEDNESDAY

TO CENTER ATTENTION ON DISPENSARY IN ATTEMPT TO DETERMINE LOOSENESS.

    M. Niles Ford, investigator for the State Pharmacy Board, will resume investigation of the strychnine mystery Wednesday, at the request of the governor, even though no new light has been uncovered or clews* developed since early in the first investigation by John T. Chester, Jr., of the city police.

    Secretary Clarence M. Brown of the Pharmacy College feels confident that the Dispensary is, and has always been conducted to conform with tho state laws, and does not believe that the ensuing investigation will result in any conviction of the supervisors, or throw any new light on the poison cases.

    Mr. Ford's investigation will take place on the campus, centering at the Pharmacy Building, and dwelling chiefly on whether the Dispensary was conducted under the proper regulations of the State Pharmacy Board. 

    The investigation this week will be carried on through the instructions of Governor Donahey, in the hopes of clearing the name of the University of all charges of loose or careless operation.

Pardon my language, but why the h*ll was the criminal investigation dropped so early?! I can certainly see why great-grandpa Gene accused the state of a "whitewash."

*I see clew in many newspaper stories in the 1920s. According to Merriam-Webster, the word clue was originally a variant spelling of clew, meaning “ball of thread or yarn.” Our modern sense of clue, “guide to the solution of a mystery,” grows out of a motif in myth and folklore, the ball of thread that helps in finding one's way out of a maze.

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Governor Donahey steps in

Now that the medical dust had settled at Ohio State University, it was time for the criminal investigation. And please forgive me when I say the Keystone Cops (fictional incompetent policemen featured in silent film slapstick comedies between 1912 and 1917) might have done a better job.

As Grandpa Fred said in his 1987 letter to Benjamin Balshone, R.Ph.:

After a while (t)hen Go(v)ernor Vic Danahey [sic] called for an investigation of the P(h)armacy Department and he appointed the Dean to investigate the tragedy (to investigate itself).

Grandpa Fred confused that a little. Dean Dye was appointed to head the initial investigation. When that was closed too early, Gov. Donahey weighed in. Donahey was originally a printer; in addition to working as a newspaper editor, he also owned his own printing company. I bet great-grandpa Gene personally knew him and pestered him with letters (possibly even telephone calls or telegraphs) despite their political differences.

I was thrilled to find this letter from Governor Alvin Victor "Vic" Donahey reprinted in the Feb. 20, 1925 issue of The Lantern: 

Text of Letter

from Governor

Governor Donahey's letter to Mr. Ford, dated February 17, follows in full:

The Ohio Board of Pharmacy,

Attention, Mr. M. N. Ford, Secretary, Columbus, O. 

        Gentlemen — The investigation into responsibility for the recent poisonings at Ohio State University, resulting in the death of several students and near deaths of others, must not be permitted to end until every source has been exhausted.

        I am convinced, from informal evidence brought to my attention, that the University Dispensary, from which, it is believed, the fatal drugs were dispensed, has been loosely conducted. The law requires privately owned drug stores to be in charge of registered pharmacists at all times. The evidence, as it comes to me, shows this requirement was not always lived up to at the University Dispensary, although it was a full-fledged drug store. 

        Owners of private drug stores, so conducted are prosecuted. The state itself should not conduct a drug store in violation of its own laws. It should be more painstaking than private individuals or firms in living up to the spirit and letter of the law. If the persons in charge of the University Dispensary were derelict they should be prosecuted just as private individuals would be.

        I am directing you hereby, therefore, to make a thorough investigation of your own with a view to prosecuting the person or persons responsible for the reported laxity in the conduct of University Dispensary and, if possible to fix direct responsibility for the dispensing of the poisons which caused the recent unfortunate deaths.

                                               Very truly yours,

                                                   (Signed) Vic Donahey,

                                                                        Governor.

###

As far as I can tell so far:

• Wednesday, Feb. 11, 1925: Ohio State University closes its internal investigation into the poisonings. City Police Prosecutor John J. Chester, Jr., says he will confer with Attorney General Charles C. Crabbe.
• Saturday, Feb. 14, 1925: Chester and State Pharmacy Board secretary M.N. Ford meet with Crabbe who tells them to continue the investigation. (Duh.)
• Tuesday, Feb. 17, 1925: Governor Donahey orders investigation of methods employed by the State Pharmacy Board.
• Monday, Feb. 23, 1925: investigation by the State Pharmacy Board begins, headed by Ford.
• Saturday, May 2, 1925: investigation by the State Pharmacy Board is nearly done, according to Ford.
• Oct. 3, 1925: Ford plans to submit a report "soon" to Governor Donahey covering eight months' investigation.

So far I can find no mention of its delivery, and great-grandpa Gene filled his suit against the State in December. Grandpa Fred said we had a copy at one time, but it was either lost or destroyed over the years. No other copies have been found at this time.

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