A Fatal Case of Bichromate of Potash Poisoning

Abstract

THE following case is of some interest, since at the post-mortem examination of the deceased it was impossible to say what was the cause of death, and poison was suspected simply because the medical man, after making the autopsy, found himself unable to state that death had been due to disease. The following is a brief history :The deceased woman, age 56, lived with her husband in rooms in the East of London, and the pair seem to have been much attached to one another. On December 19th the deceased was visited by a neighbour and given some broth, as she was supposed to be suffering from some diarrhoea. On December 20th the husband was asked by the neighbour how his wife was, and stated that she was" passing away." He refused to admit the neighbour, who then informed the police. The police went to the house immediately on getting the information (at 1.30 p.m.), and found the wife dead in bed and the husband with his throat cut. The husband was removed to Guy's Hospital, and the body of the deceased was examined by the divisional surgeon of police, Dr Jaquet. At 6.30 p.m. in the evening Dr Jaquet found that rigor mortis had not set in. He noticed that the hands and nails were blue. There were no marks of violence on the deceased, and nothing to indicate that she had died a violent death.