The Times 1881 - 1890 Aug 27, 1886 Wedding Party Poisoned

Aug 27, 1886 Wedding Party Poisoned

The Times - 1881 - 1890

The Times, 27 August 1886 (page 6, column D) A WEDDING PARTY POISONED. A case of poisoning has just been brought to light at Carlisle. Last week Mr. John R. LAWSON, of Botcherby, near Carlisle, was married at St. John's Church to Miss Rebecca HODGSON, daughter of a Cumberland yeoman, and the wedding breakfast was given by Mrs. LAWSON, aunt of the bride. The newly married couple started for Edinburgh on their honeymoon, and were taken ill there. Mr. LAWSON gradually improved, but his bride became worse and died on Wednesday evening. Meanwhile, Mrs. LAWSON and 12 of the guests at the wedding breakfast had also been taken ill, but in no case with fatal results. The medical men connected with the case say the symptoms are clearly those of poisoning, but how the poison came to be in the food is still a mystery. The fact that one of the guests who did not eat of the jellies was not affected seems to afford a possible clue. The body of the young bride has been brought back to Carlisle. The Times, 10 September 1886 (page 6, column A) THE CARLISLE POISONING CASE. The investigations made into the circumstances of the poisoning of a wedding party at Carlisle have now made considerable progress. Dr. BARNES of that city has prepared an exhaustive table showing what food was eaten at the breakfast and at a tea later in the day by the 19 guests and servants. The result of his inquiries and observations has been to throw the strongest suspicion upon an American ham which formed an item in the bill of fare. The symptoms of the persons poisoned resembled those manifested by the people poisoned at the Wellback Abbey sale, six years ago, in which case the illness was traced by Dr. BALLARD, Government medical inspector and Dr. KLEIN, of St. Bartholomew's Hospital to the bacilli developed in American hams. Portions of the ham provided at the Carlisle wedding breakfast are being examined microscopically for similar organisms. The whole of the patients who suffered from the effects of the poison are now recovered, except Miss LAWSON, aunt of the deceased bride, and she may now be pronounced convalescent. The Times, 14 September 1886 (page 7, column C) THE CARLISLE POISONING CASE Dr. BARNES, of Carlisle, who has been conducting the investigation into the recent case of the poisoning of a wedding party in that city, has received from Dr. WALKER, of Newcastle, the public analyst for Carlisle, a letter announcing that his microscopic examination of the ham, which was suspected as the cause of all the mischief, has resulted in the discovery on several occasions of a bacillus which he is now cultivating in different media. This discovery, it is hoped, may lead to a satisfactory elucidation of the mystery which so long surrounded the case. Dr. BARNES has placed himself in communication with the Medical Department before this discovery was made and he had also sent to Dr. Watson CHEYNE and to Professor GREENFIELD, London, portions of the ham for microscopic examination. The Times, 21 September 1886 (page 11, column F) THE CARLISLE POISONING CASE. Dr. PAGE, a medical inspector of the Local Government Board, has visited Carlisle to consult with Dr. BARNES, of that city, respecting the recent poisoning of a wedding party, and to afford such additional information as could be found in reports in possession of the department concerning other cases of illness caused by food poisoning. Dr. PAGE visited 14 of the persons who had eaten of the wedding breakfast, ten of whom had been very ill, and ascertained what their symptoms had been. Paying particular attention to the sequence of the symptoms, he arrived at the conclusion that they were not the symptoms of any known mineral or vegetable irritant poison, and after investigating all the circumstances satisfied himself that a prima facie case had been made out against the ham, a portion of which he took away with other articles for microscopic examination by the experts of the department. He called upon the vendor of the ham, who informed him that it was one of a consignment of 46 American hams which he had received from Liverpool in August and the whole of which had since been sold, mostly in small quantities for immediate consumption, and no complaint had been made about any of the lot nor about 100 more of the same brand since disposed of. Dr. PAGE will report to the department in due course; meanwhile he asked Dr. BARNES to continue his inquiries on the same lines. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

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