The wicked stepmother

It's February, and as always my thoughts turn to the deaths of Uncle Charley and David, as well as the other men who were poisoned but survived: Robert, Edward, Del, Timothy, and Harold. It has been 99 years since the two men died and five more were poisoned.

Ninety-nine years and no one was ever arrested and convicted.

However, while poking around the internet for clues, I came upon yet another strychnine poisoning in Ohio in 1925! While I sincerely doubt there's a connection, maybe the OSU poisonings eight months earlier were a cause of inspiration?

Find a Grave

On Saturday, October 3, 1925 a 13-year-old girl named Esta Winifred Strome died abruptly and painfully at her home in New Carlile, Clark County. By Tuesday, Oct. 6 (the same day Esta was buried.) her step-mother, Birdie Gardner Strome, was arrested and accused of poisoning Esta with the strychnine found in the girl's intestinal track.

The next day the bodies of Birdie's former husband and sister-in-law were exhumed from Enon Cemetery in Enon, Clark County: George Frock, who died on Sept. 14, 1922, and Mary Frock Faulder, who died on Aug. 28, 1920. Apparently both had died under similar grim circumstances, and I found testimony that strychnine was found in George's body.

After the death of her first husband George, Birdie lived briefly with Henry Homer Baltzell before his arrest and conviction in 1923 on robbery charges. At Birdie's trial, pharmacist Arthur E. Smith stated he sold Henry a quantity of strychnine, and Henry testified that he gave it to Birdie prior to Frock’s death.

Esta's father Carrie Strome testified he married Birdie in 1923, a year after George died. He understandably sued Birdie for divorce on Friday, Feb.5, 1926.

Birdie was arraigned on October 31 and pleaded not guilty. Her trial started on December 7 and she was convicted on Dec. 17, 1925. The jury of nine men and three women recommended mercy.

Birdie died two years later on Feb. 15, 1927 aged 60 in Union County, Ohio at the Marysville Reformatory. She is buried in an unmarked grave in Oakdale Cemetery in Marysville, Union County.

Her father died 33 years after Esta and shares his headstone with his daughter.

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Michigan's Strychnine Saint

Recently I have been reading Tobin T. Buhk's book, Michigan's Strychnine Saint: The Curious Case of Mrs. Mary McKnight. According to the summary found on amazon.com:

The spring of 1903 proved disastrous for the Murphy family. On April 22, the infant Ruth Murphy died in her crib. Within an hour, her mother, Gertrude, experienced a violent spasm before she, too, died. Ten days later, John Murphy followed his wife and child to the grave after suffering from a crippling convulsion. While neighbors whispered about a curse and physicians feared a contagious disease, Kalkaska County sheriff John W. Creighton and prosecuting attorney Ernest C. Smith searched for answers. As they probed deeper into the suspicious deaths, they uncovered a wicked web of intrigue. And at the center stood a widow in a black taffeta dress.

I have not finished it yet, but I was struck by the mention of "little pink and white pills" that supposedly contained strychnine, quinine and/ or aspirin.  

"I had this strychnine and some quinine mixed together in some capsules," according to the accused murderer, Mary Murphy McKnight, who apparently used it to "calm her nerves."

Now these events took place 22 years before Charley and David were murdered in 1925, but it certainly illustrates how easy it was to get strychnine in the late 18th or early 19th centuries. So easy that Mary McKnight possibly poisoned another eight or so of her family members previously!

I have read that she was found guilty and sentenced to about 18 years in prison -- so she was out by the time the OSU strychnine poisonings occurred. Thankfully she appears to have never left Michigan. She supposedly died in 1941 and is buried in Detroit.

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Quizzed in Ohio death probe

I have been lucky twice now to score on eBay old press photos relating to the murders: the photo of David Puskin which I primarily use, and now this photo of Dr. S. [sic] Shindel Wingert.

Dr. H. Shindel Wingert

The caption pasted on the back of the photo reads:

With the deaths of two students at the Ohio State University, supposedly from strychnine poisoning, and the illness of at least three others, after partaking of capsules for cold cure, issued from the pharmacy colle(g)e dispensary, university and police officials are engaged in a vigorous investigation. Because of the baffling manner in which only a certain number of the capsules have been found to contain poison out of the bottle supposedly containing nothing but capsules of quinine, has led the authorities to believe the strychnine was administered intentionally. The medicine was issued to students upon prescriptio(n) from Dr. S. [sic] Shindel Wingert, head of the University health services.

Poor Dr. Harry Shindel Wingert apparently never recovered from the scandal. He went on leave after a breakdown in 1926. He returned to OSU in 1928 but died within two months. He was buried in Lancaster Cemetery in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

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Brothers who were, but are now with the stars

I recently found this obituary in the April 1925 issue of The Phi Gamma Delta Magazine under Fratres Qui Fuerunt Sed Nunc Ad Astra:

CHARLES H. HULS

(Ohio State '25)

Phi Gamma Delta paid a large share of the toll taken by either stupidity or criminal intent when strychnine was mixed with quinine in the college of pharmacy dispensary at Ohio State University.

One of the two student deaths caused by this fatal confusion was that of Brother Charles Henry Huls, '25.

Huls died suddenly on January 31, 1925, in the chapter-house a few days after having a tooth extracted. The cause at first was thought to be tetanus.

Another student death followed shortly and an investigation showed that strychnine had been dispensed for quinine at the college of pharmacy where many students were wont to get remedies.

Further investigation disclosed numerous sudden and serious illnesses had followed the taking of capsules from the dispensary.

For two days during the investigation, a virulent and strange malady called "spotted fever," a form of meningitis, was suspected and several Fijis, intimates of Huls, were held under constant surveillance by doctors. 

Brother Huls was one of the leaders in student activities at Ohio State. He was editor of the year book and a member of Sphinx*, Bucket and Dipper**, Pi Delta Epsilon***, Sigma Delta Chi**** and the varsity band. He was also active in chapter affairs and at the time of his death was corresponding secretary.

Ae a student, he was respected by his colleagues and professors; as a Fiji, he was beloved by his brothers; as an all around good fellow, he enjoyed large popularity.

Huls' home was in Logan and he is buried near there. Among his survivors is Brother Fred Huls, a junior at Ohio State.

*SPHINX is the oldest honorary at Ohio State University. Since 1907, SPHINX has recognized 24 exceptional senior students with membership annually.

**Bucket & Dipper is a Junior Class Honorary comprised of up to 30 members dedicated to scholarship, leadership, and service. Since its creation as a student organization in 1907, Bucket & Dipper has been ​a dedicated group of juniors at The Ohio State University. This tight-knit group is rooted in tradition surrounding the Illibuck (Illi), Mirror Lake, and local service. 

***Pi Delta Epsilon, founded in 1909 at Syracuse University, is an American honor society for student journalists. It merged with Alpha Phi Gamma(ΑΦΓ) on June 1, 1975 and became The Society for Collegiate Journalists (SCJ).

****Sigma Delta Chi, now known as The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University.

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The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Why was author Agatha Christie so preoccupied with poisons?

Well, in October 1912, 22-year-old Agatha Miller was introduced to Archibald "Archie" Christie, a Royal Artillery officer who was seconded to the Royal Flying Corps in April 1913. They quickly fell in love and got engaged three months after their first meeting.

Archie was sent to France to fight with the outbreak of World War I in August 1914. They married on Dec. 24, 1914 when Archie was on home leave. Like many, Agatha involved herself in the war effort as a member of the Voluntary Aid Detachment of the Red Cross. She worked first as a volunteer nurse then as an apothecary's assistant. 

Her war service ended when Archie was reassigned to London in September 1918 as a colonel in the Air Ministry. Agatha had her only child in 1919 ... and kept writing.

On the morning of July 18, the household at Styles Court wakes to the discovery that Emily Inglethorp, the elderly owner, has died. She had been poisoned with strychnine.

Published just two years after Archie's return, The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie was first published in the United States in October 1920 and in the United Kingdom on Jan. 21, 1921.

Now I ask you, her first published novel used strychnine to kill someone. Did her husband's return from the battlefront inspire her? After all, she did disappear for 11 days in 1926 and possibly tried to frame Archie for her "death." They divorced in 1928. (She married Max Mallowan in September 1930 and that marriage lasted until her death in 1976.)

Agatha later updated her knowledge of poisons during World War II by working at the University College Hospital (UCH), London pharmacy. 

Agatha told journalist Marcelle Bernstein, "I don't like messy deaths ... I'm more interested in peaceful people who die in their own beds and no one knows why." Ironically, Agatha Christie died peacefully at her home at age 85  on Jan. 12, 1976 from natural causes.

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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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Raisins and Almonds

poisonedpen.com

I was rereading a book in one of my favorite series last night and nearly died laughing at the description of death by strychnine.

In Raisins and Almonds by Kerry Greenwood, Phryne Fisher (a wealthy aristocrat and private detective who lives in St Kilda, Melbourne, in the late 1920s) investigates the mysterious death of a young man in an Australian bookshop. I don't want to reveal any spoilers about how the poison was delivered but death happened within seconds.

    The tall man in the long black coat, who had been examining Volume 9 of Hansard for 1911—for which Miss Lee had long abandoned hope that someone would acquire for their library—exclaimed in a foreign tongue and dropped the book. She dashed from behind her counter quickly enough to support him as he sank to the floor. He held out one hand, palm upwards, as though inviting her to notice its emptiness—or was it the small wound on the forefinger?

    His eyes opened wide for a moment, and he spoke again. Then he convulsed, limbs flung out like a starfish, so abrupt and horribly strong that Miss Lee was forced to release him. His head hit the floor and she heard his teeth gnash, a dreadful grating noise echoed by a rattling in his throat. As she grabbed her ruler to lay between his teeth, he convulsed again and lay still. She stood with the ruler in her hand, gripped so tightly that the edge cut into her flesh. The young man was dead, that was plain. What to do next?

This same book was the basis for the Series 1, Episode 5 television show, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries: Raisins and Almonds, which can currently be found on Acorn TV.

Of course Miss Fisher solves the case. I only wish she had been in Columbus, Ohio that week.

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Chocolate-coated strychnine

worthpoint.com

Of all the insane things I have discovered since starting my research, the top contender is chocolate-coated strychnine.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Chocolate-coated strychnine.

Don't believe me? Read the label.

Who thought that would be a good idea? "Hey, let's coat the deadly, bitter poison with chocolate so it goes down more easily!"

An early precursor to Mary Poppins and a spoonful of sugar?

According to a TIME magazine (first published on March 3, 1923) article on Monday, March 13, 1933 entitled Medicine: Strychnine Antidotes:

Strychnine kills about three people each week in the U. S. Some take strychnine for suicide. Some use it for murder.* But the most frequent cause of strychnine poisoning is the chocolate or sugar coated pill kept in the bathroom cabinet as a laxative or "tonic." Children eat the pills for candy, die in convulsions.

*As in the New Jersey dachshund murders (TIME, Feb. 13, 1933).

Wow. The New Jersey dachshund murders. I don't think the Ohio State poisonings made it into TIME, but the New Jersey dachshund murders did?

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Quaker buttons

I can find absolutely no reason why the seeds of the Strychnos nux-vomica, the strychnine tree, are also known as quaker buttons. I can only surmise the symptoms of strychnine poisoning reminded someone of the shaking and dancing of the early Quakers.

The Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, began in mid 17th-century England.  They traditionally wore plain dress; "Ruffles and lace and other forms of ornamentation, as well as unnecessary cuffs and collars and lapels and buttons, were forbidden."*

A group broke off from the Quakers in 1747 when the Quakers began weaning themselves away from frenetic spiritual expression. The Wardley Society became known as the "Shaking Quakers" because of their ecstatic behavior during worship services. Eventually they became known as Shakers, and there are only two known Shakers left in the United States.

Oh, and the strychnine tree is in the family Loganiaceae.

*Thomas D. Hamm, The Quakers in America.

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The top 10 signs you've been poisoned with strychnine

Sir Charles Bell, 1809, Public domain

While poking around the internet for strychnine I came across this excellent (?) list of the 10 main symptoms of strychnine poisoning from the University of Bristol's School of Chemistry:

1. Initial symptoms are tightness and twitching of the muscles, agitation, and hyperreflexia. 
2. Stiffness of the body. 
3. Lockjaw. 
4. Frothing of the mouth. 
5. Cessation of respiration. 
6. Tetanus-like attacks appear every 10-15 minutes. During these attacks the eyeballs protrude and the pupils enlarge. 
7. Severe cyanosis, which disappears after the attack subsides. 
8. The attacks (each lasting about 3-4 minutes) appear to be spontaneous while other times they are the result of external stimuli, i.e. noises, slight movements, or flashes of light. The patient never loses consciousness. 
9. When the poisoning is left untreated each attack lasts longer than the previous and the interval between them grows shorter. 
10. Up to 10 attacks occur before death or recovery. This could happen from 10 minutes to 3 hours and is a result of asphyxiation or inner tissue paralysis.

Sounds pleasant. Not.

My reading has informed me that someone with a full stomach, such as Uncle Charley after eating dinner at his fraternity, takes longer to die. Charley took more than two or three hours to die, while David Puskin only took 20-30 minutes since he had just woken up.

Since noise or flashes of light can also trigger the spasms, I can only imagine what a panicked fraternity house on a Saturday night sounded like and what that did to Charley's state.

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The seemingly surreptitious appearance of the bottle

Much as I adore old-fashioned photo illustrations, old newspaper layouts like this drive me slightly mad.

Multiple screaming (and competing) headlines: one eight columns, then seven columns, down to our six column headline: 

OFFICIALS OF CITY COUNTY AND UNIVERSITY PROBE DEATHS 

That leads to: MYSTERY STRYCHNINE BOTTLE IS TRACED

The story that follows is one we've seen before:

    COLUMBUS, Feb. 6 -- Mystery surrounding the seemingly surreptitious appearance of the bottle, containing about 300 grains of strychnine on a shelf in the college of pharmacy laboratory, Ohio State university was cleared up here today by police officials probing the mysterious distribution of capsuled strychnine which resulted in the recent death of two Ohio State university students and serious illness of at least three other students.

At least it's a nice photo of Harold E. Gillig.

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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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The Poisoner's Handbook

I swear, I am in so much trouble if the authorities ever view my computer's browser history -- or my reading list.

I am currently reading the New York Times best-selling non-fiction book by Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Deborah Blum: The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York.

A fascinating Jazz Age tale of chemistry and detection, poison and murder, The Poisoner's Handbook is a page-turning account of a forgotten era. In early twentieth-century New York, poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime. Science had no place in the Tammany Hall-controlled coroner's office, and corruption ran rampant. However, with the appointment of chief medical examiner Charles Norris in 1918, the poison game changed forever. Together with toxicologist Alexander Gettler, the duo set the justice system on fire with their trailblazing scientific detective work, triumphing over seemingly unbeatable odds to become the pioneers of forensic chemistry and the gatekeepers of justice.

Curiously, Ms. Blum didn't say much about strychnine. I wrote Ms. Blum inquiring about its absence and she kindly responded and gave me permission to quote her:

When I was first planning out The Poisoner's Handbook and made a list of essential poisons, strychnine was high on my list. But as I continued my research, I ran into a logistical problem. While there were, of course, scattered strychnine poisonings there were none that engaged Norris and Gettler in any challenging way, none on the scale of your story, no remarkable mysteries, until 1943 (in which a homicidal dentist emerged). The arc of my story ended in 1936. For a while, I considered using strychnine as the poison focus of the epilogue but once I tried testing that approach out, I realize that it made no sense in terms of the information that I needed to put into that closing section. So...I very reluctantly ended up not including strychnine in the book, which is something I often talked about while on book tour. And later, when I was blogging for Wired, I made a point of doing a post about strychnine to relieve some of my frustrations.

I highly recommend this book. It is well written and not bogged down with too much scientific jargon to confuse the non-chemist. It is a fascinating look into the birth of forensic science in the United States, especially in the Jazz Age with Prohibition to complicate matters.

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Poison pill probe

O. S. U. Pushes Probe of Poison Pill Deaths

Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, Feb. 9, 1925

    With police officials believing that the deaths of two Ohio State University students from strychnine laden "cold pills" may have been caused by a "Leob_Leopold*" type of degenerate, and university authorities admitting that the poison may have gotten intn [sic] the dills [sic] by a terrible mistake," investigation of the deaths is being pushed. City and county authorities are seen above questioning one of the pharmacy students who worked in the college dispensary, from which the pills came. Dr. W. O. Thompson, president of the university who is directing the pribe [sic], and Dr. H. S. Wingert, who prescribed the fatal pills are also shown.

*Nathan F. Leopold, Jr., and Richard A. Loeb, were two wealthy students at the University of Chicago who in May 1924 kidnapped and murdered Loeb's cousin, 14-year-old Bobby Franks, in Chicago, Illinois in an attempt to create the "perfect crime."

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A Brown study

I was intrigued to learn more about Clarence M. Brown, the professor who incurred the wrath of my great-grandfather Gene for directing a production of "Can't Afford It" at the Ohio State Pharmaceutical Association Convention to be held July 19-23 at Cedar Point, Sandusky*  I became even more interested when I discovered he was one of the two people who had any strychnine "under lock and key."

Marysville Journal-Tribune
Thursday, Feb. 5, 1925

Check Made. 

    Careful check was made yesterday of the supplies of strychnine in the possession of the college of pharmacy. There are seven bottles. Four of these, it was learned, still have upon them the unbroken seals placed there by the manufacturers. One, partly empty, has been in the possession of Dean Clair E. Dye and he says has been under look and key in a room separate from the dispensary. The two others are kept locked in the desk of Clarence M. Brown, assistant professor in the department and, he says, have not been out of his possession.

The (Zanesville, OH) Times Recorder
Friday, Feb. 6, 1925

FORMER ZANESVILLE TEACHER NOW ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN THE COLLEGE OF PHARMACY

    Prof. Brown, assistant in the college of pharmacy and one of the custodians of the stocks of drugs, is a former teacher in the Zanesville high school and is an expert pharmacist, having been employed at a local drug store while a resident of this city and not actively engaged in his work as a teacher. His ability and carefulness will not be questioned for a moment by any who know him. The theory among the student body, and the probable solution of the mystery, is that in the hurry of filling capsules some student made an honest mistake and misread a blurred "strychnine" label as "quinine," being deceived by the similarity in the ending of the terms and like appearance of the powder at first glance.

 

Ohio State Lantern

Monday, Feb. 23, 1925

    Secretary Clarence M. Brown of the Pharmacy College feels confident that the Dispensary is, and has always been conducted to conform with the 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.

Prof. Brown was then mentioned in a letter written to my great-grandfather on June 15, 1926 by Theo. D. Wetterstroem, secretary of The Ohio State Pharmaceutical Association:

It so happened that Mr. McLean personally knew the ability of Dr. Clarence Brown of directing amateur plays from his experience in former years when connected with the Zanesville High School. In this manner Dr. Brown and his class at the O.S.U. was selected and not for any purpose of vindication or reference to what had occurred at the university. As to the selection of the cast this was left to Dr. Brown.

The (Zanesville, Ohio) Times Recorder

Monday, June 26, 1961 

Ex-Teacher Here Dies In Columbus 

    Clarence M. Brown, 74, who taught biology, chemistry and dramatics at Lash High School here from 1912 to 1920 and then became a teacher of pharmacy at Ohio State University, was dead on arrival at 11 p.m. Saturday at University Hospital, Columbus. 

    He had apparently suffered a heart attack at his home at 2425 Arlington road, Upper Arlington, Columbus. 

    A native of Galion, Ohio, he was a member of the Masonic lodge in Zanesville. He was a [1911] graduate of OSU and while teaching here had continued his studies to prepare for the pharmacy profession. 

    He was a member of the American Pharmaceutical Association, three honorary pharmacy fraternities, the OSU Faculty Club, and was secretary of the School of Pharmacy until his retirement in 1953. He was a member of the First Congregational Church of Columbus. 

    Surviving are his widow, Helen: a son, Dr. Gordon C. Brown of Ann Arbor, Mich., and two grandchildren. 

    The body is at the Deyo Funeral Home at 1578 West First avenue in Grandview Columbus, where services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday. Burial will be at Columbus Union cemetery.

Ohio State University Monthly, September 1961

Prof. Brown Dies

Professor Brown

Prof. Clarence M. Brown, associate professor and secretary of the College of Pharmacy for more than 30 years, died June 24 in University Hospital at the age of 74.

    He received his bachelor's degree in pharmacy from the University in 1911 and his master's degree in 1935. He had been a member of the faculty since 1920 and retired in 1953.

    Prof. Brown, who was born in Galion, O., became a high school teacher after receiving his degree from Ohio State. He taught at Logan High School from 1912 to 1913 and at Lash (Zanesville) High School from 1913 to 1920.

    He was an honorary member of Phi Delta Chi and a member of Rho Chi, a national honorary pharmaceutical fraternity. He was the author of numerous articles and textbooks in his field.

 

I was astonished to see he taught at Logan High School from 1912-13. I do not believe there was ever a LHS in Logan County, so he could have taught in my hometown. I wonder if great-grandpa Gene knew him?

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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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Reds and whites

The favorite common cold medicine at Ohio State University was the inexpensive and popular R&Ws: three Red capsules containing five grains aspirin and three White capsules containing two grains of quinine. Patients were instructed to alternate every two hours starting with the Red.

A grain is a unit of measurement of mass equal to exactly 64.79891 milligrams. It is basically based upon the mass of a single ideal seed, or grain, of a cereal.

For example, the dosage of a standard 325 mg tablet of aspirin is sometimes described as 5 grains. In that example the grain is approximated to 65 milligrams, although the grain can also be approximated to 60 milligrams, depending on the medication and manufacturer.

While authorities are in agreement that less than 1 grain may be a fatal dose for an adult, the usual fatal dose is 60–100 mg strychnine and is fatal after a period of one to two hours, although lethal doses vary depending on the individual. 

I was interested to find this description by a medical student who in 1896 described the experience of taking strychnine in a letter to The Lancet, a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal:

"Three years ago I was reading for an examination, and feeling 'run down.' I took 10 minims of strychnia solution (B.P.) with the same quantity of dilute phosphoric acid well diluted twice a day. On the second day of taking it, towards the evening, I felt a tightness in the 'facial muscles' and a peculiar metallic taste in the mouth. There was great uneasiness and restlessness, and I felt a desire to walk about and do something rather than sit still and read. I lay on the bed and the calf muscles began to stiffen and jerk. My toes drew up under my feet, and as I moved or turned my head flashes of light kept darting across my eyes. I then knew something serious was developing, so I crawled off the bed and scrambled to a case in my room and got out (fortunately) the bromide of potassium and the chloral. I had no confidence or courage to weigh them, so I guessed the quantity-about 30 gr. [30 grains, about 2 grams] bromide of potassium and 10 gr. chloral-put them in a tumbler with some water, and drank it off. My whole body was in a cold sweat, with anginous attacks in the precordial region, and a feeling of 'going off.' I did not call for medical aid, as I thought that the symptoms were declining. I felt better, but my lower limbs were as cold as ice, and the calf muscles kept tense and were jerking. There was no opisthotonos, only a slight stiffness at the back of the neck. Half an hour later, as I could judge, I took the same quantity of bromide, potassium and chloral– and a little time after I lost consciousness and fell into a 'profound sleep,' awaking in the morning with no unpleasant symptoms, no headache, but a desire 'to be on the move' and a slight feeling of stiffness in the jaw. These worked off during the day."

In October 1852 the Scientific American quoted a letter to The Lancet that stated that camphor is an antidote to strychnine. Strychnine was prescribed in doses of the 1/16 of a grain, to be given three times a day for a man with acute rheumatism.

By mistake the druggist divided the grain into six parts (with sugar) instead of 16 powders. The first dose produced severe twitchings, and the second dose threw him into violent convulsions. The doctor was called again who at once prescribed 20 grains of camphor in six ounces of almond mixture, to be taken every two hours. The first dose completely quieted the convulsions and there was no need of a second.

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Skull and crossbones

A strychnine label from Logan, Ohio.

Death by strychnine is not an easy death.

Retired Stanford neurologist Dr. Robert Cutler, wrote in The Mysterious Death of Jane Stanford what took place upon the arrival of the hotel physician when the co-founder of Stanford University became violently ill in Oahu:

"As (Francis Howard) Humphris tried to administer a solution of bromine and chloral hydrate, Mrs. Stanford, now in anguish, exclaimed, 'My jaws are stiff. This is a horrible death to die.' Whereupon she was seized by a tetanic spasm that progressed relentlessly to a state of severe rigidity: her jaws clamped shut, her thighs opened widely, her feet twisted inwards, her fingers and thumbs clenched into tight fists, and her head drew back. Finally, her respiration ceased. Stanford was dead from strychnine poisoning."

According to the Centers for Disease Control:

• Following the ingestion (swallowing) of strychnine, symptoms of poisoning usually appear within 15 to 60 minutes.
• People exposed to low or moderate doses (emphasis mine) of strychnine by any route will have the following signs or symptoms:
  • Agitation
  • Apprehension or fear
  • Ability to be easily startled
  • Restlessness
  • Painful muscle spasms possibly leading to fever and to kidney and liver injury
  • Uncontrollable arching of the neck and back
  • Rigid arms and legs
  • Jaw tightness
  • Muscle pain and soreness
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Dark urine
  • Initial consciousness and awareness of symptoms
• People exposed to high doses of strychnine (emphasis mine) may have the following signs and symptoms within the first 15 to 30 minutes of exposure:
  • Respiratory failure (inability to breathe), possibly leading to death
  • Brain death
• Showing these signs and symptoms does not necessarily mean that a person has been exposed to strychnine.

It might be tetanus or spinal meningitis.

Or murder.

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Strychnine vs. quinine

Unbelievably, a small headline in the Monday, Feb. 9, 1925 edition of the OSU Lantern caught my eye:

Not Strychnine or Quinine; It's Diamond Nine

By NORM SIEGEL

With strains of quinine and strychnine floating about the campus during the past week, a new nine has been added to the group—the diamond nine.

And under the supervision of Lynn W. St. John, another investigation has been opened on the campus, this one promising to bring more successful results than the first. 

...

Not a baseball diamond.

I was gobsmacked the first time I saw this clipping. As a professional journalist, I know the dark, morbid, and black humor that journalists employ when in the privacy of the newsroom - but to print this?! Nine days after Charley's death and eight after David's?

I wonder what Grandpa Fred thought when he saw that edition.

I wonder what the university's (second) athletics director Lynn W. St. John thought when he saw it, since he was partially responsible for putting together the clues.

Students weren't the only people in turmoil at OSU those first few days of February 1925. University officials were too. Once it was proven that strychnine had killed and sickened the students, and not tetanus (the first hope since it wasn't contagious) to spinal meningitis (which is contagious but at least the university was blameless for a natural disease) officials scrambled.

Capsules that hadn't been ingested were examined. Apparently the original white quinine capsules were of a different make and size of the introduced white strychnine capsules. Dean Claire A. Dye of the College of Pharmacy also insisted that there was no strychnine to be found in the pharmacy.

Oops, he then found on February 5 a small, one-ounce bottle containing about 75-300 grains (sources vary) of strychnine. But this strychnine was chemically different from the strychnine contained in the capsules.

Then they tried to claim that it was somehow accidental.

So how does someone mistake quinine for strychnine? Apparantly not easily. Quinine is more of a white powder such as powdered sugar, while strychnine is more crystalline like table sugar or salt. They look and feel different to those who handle alkaloids regularly. 

It is inconceivable nowadays to find poisons such as strychnine at a pharmacy. Quinine is a natural alkaloid that has been used for centuries in the prevention and therapy of malaria. Strychnine is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small animals such as rats.

By 1925 strychnine had no known medical benefits, although some still used small amounts as a nervous stimulant. One of the men questioned (the son of a pharmacist!) had a small bottle of strychnine that he had purchased in Columbus and used to help stay awake during exams!

More recently at the Rio 2016 Olympics in 2016, weightlifting bronze medalist Izzat Artykov of Kyrgyzstan tested positive for strychnine, which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of banned substances. He was stripped of his medal.

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Campus chaos

I cannot even begin to imagine the chaos Grandpa Fred experienced as he headed back to Ohio State after his brother's death.

Charley and Fred Huls

His mind was in turmoil. Not only had his adored older brother died in his arms, but things hadn't gotten any better for Grandpa Fred as he was standing by his brother's grave and he asked the minister, the Rev. G.W. Blair of the Logan Methodist Episcopal Church, "Why? Why Charley?"

The minister simply told him that Charley was a good man, God wanted him, and only the good die young. Something like that. The usual platitudes. But it put Grandpa into a lifelong tailspin. Wasn't he a good man? What kind of God would do that? Grandpa Fred struggled with God and Church for most of his life after that.

But now Grandpa, a junior engineering student, was returning to a campus that was buzzing. Two men were dead, and at least four sick and injured. I'm sure the journalism students that Charley had known were wanting to know The Five Ws:

• Who
• What
• Where
• When
• Why
• (and How)

I can just see the OSU students as they saw my haunted grandfather as he drifted about campus. I'm sure some looked away, unsure what to say and hurrying away. Others came forward with words of sympathy. And I'm sure some of them tried to pump grandpa for information. I can't imagine that anyone was ignorant of what had happened, unless they had been away, but then they just had to look at a newspaper to read all about it.

Can you imagine the first time he went back into the room he shared with Charley? Staring at Charley's bed, or trying hard not to. And the first time he drifted into the bathroom and saw that white capsule sitting on the marble windowsill. I imagine he forgot it was there. Did he immediately take it to the Columbus Dispatch for testing, or did it sit there awhile before action was taken.

Did Grandpa already suspect the truth behind Charley's death? 

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