Sarah
Hawkins Genealogy Site
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West of England Advertiser Thursday 27 Dec 1900
Page 7 Column 4
SOMERSET FAMILY POISONED.
FIVE DEATHS.
Five deaths have taken place in a family of eight, supposed to have been poisoned, at Oake, near Wellington. The mother died on Saturday morning, and there are now four members of the family lying dead in the house, whilst the father, Walter MAUNDER, is lying dead at Taunton Hospital. One of the sons, aged about eleven, is dangerously ill at Milverton, where he was taken under doctor's advice, and the other two children, a boy about nine years and a little girld <sic> about eight months old are at Oake, and apparently out of danger.
The
case is of a very mysterious character, and Dr. RANDOLPH, of
Milverton, who attended all the deceased, said the symptoms pointed
to poisoning by phosphorus.
At the inquest on the body of the man,
James FRY, a farm labourer, said he and deceased were both employed
by Mr. REED, of Rendy farm, Oake, and on the Monday deceased came to
work complaining of being ill. He also mentioned that his wife and
children were very bad. The deceased did not come to work on Tuesday,
but came up on that day for some water, and he then again complained
of being very shaky about the legs and ill. Witness did not see him
again until he was brought to the hospital.
Thomas BOWDEN, carter, Hill Common, said that he and the deceased were going along the road on the 6th inst., when they noticed a rabbit run out of the hedge chased by a stoat. Deceased killed the stoat and the rabbit. He threw away the stoat and put the rabbit in his pocket, say that it would make a good meal. The rabbit had been bitten in two places by the stoat.
William RAFFALL, labourer, said he had been living with the deceased and his family for the last twelve months. On Friday the 7th December, some fresh herrings were bought, and these were cooked on the Saturday morning for breakfast, and for dinner they had the rabbit which the deceased had brought home. Witness did not notice anything the matter with the fish or the rabbit, nor did he feel it afterwards. On the Sunday morning the breakfast was made off the remainder of the herrings, the deceased eating three of them, and remarking how good they tasted. Witness did not eat any of the fish on Sunday morning, and Mrs. MAUNDER did not touch them at all, because she said she did not like fish. All in the family except witness soon fell ill, one of the children dying on the 14th, one on the 17th, and the father on the 17th. Two of the children were ill before they ate the rabbit.
William DRAKE, house surgeon at the Taunton and Somerset Hospital, said that deceased was brought into the Hospital on the 17th instant in a very collapsed state. The <sic> gave him stimulants until his death, which occurred about six hours after he was admitted. A post mortem examination was made on the 18th instant, and it was found that the stomach was very much distended and slightly inflamed, and that one of the blood vessels of the stomach was broken. The liver was enlarged, and there was a fatty degeneration. He had sent the contents of the stomach to the county analyst Dr. ALFORD. He thought that death was due to some irritant poison, but he was not in a position to state what kind of poison.
Sidney MARCHENT, porter at the Hospital, said that he had that day taken a glass jar containing the stomach, &c., of the deceased to Dr. ALFORD.
The Coroner then read a letter from Dr. ALFORD, which stated that, as the jar containing the stomach, &c., had only been delivered to him on that day, he had no time to analyse the organs. The Coroner thought that as that was the case the inquiry would have to be adjourned.
At the inquest on the children, which was held separately, a witness, named Mrs. BROWN, said Mrs. MAUNDER had complained to her that the water at their house was very bad. Dr. RANDOLPH said that on attending the family he thought that they were suffering from ptomaine poisoning, and he treated them accordingly. The father and three of the children had since died, and during post mortem examinations he found there were enlargement and fatty degeneration of the internal organs, and in the case of two of the children there were signs of jaundice. The only poison that he knew of which could have caused the fatty degeneration was phosphorus, although he was only speaking from his reading, as he had never had a case of phosphorus poisoning before. On the 1st March last the well at the house occupied by the family was condemned, although no analysis of the water had been made. He did not think the water had anything to do with the poisoning.
The stomachs, &c. of the children have been forwarded to the Home Secretary's Department for analysis. The inquests on the four bodies stand adjourned to the 27th and 31st instant.
The poisoning case at Oake is assuming a still more serious aspect, for now Mrs. MAUNDER, the mother of the unfortunate family, has succumbed, thus making the sixth death in the family during four days, while two of the remaining children are exceedingly ill. The poor woman was unable to speak for some time before her death, and on each side of her neck was a lump as big as a mans fist.