106: The actress, Olive Thomas . . . : Numerous Web sites detail the story of Olive Thomas. I like “The Life and Death of Olive Thomas” at www.public.asu.edu/~ialong/Taylor33. txt. It tells the story through newspaper and magazine clips, ranging from Variety and Photoplay to the New York Telegraph. Tim Lussier, “The Mysterious Death of Olive Thomas,” is on the Silents Are Golden Web site at: www.silentsaregolden.com/articles/lpolivethomasdeath.html.
108: “There is doubt . . . ”: “Rich Woman Dies in Biltmore Club; Poison Suspected,” New York Times, September 28, 1928, p. 1.
109: He’d published his first paper on mercuric chloride . . . : A. O. Gettler and A. V. St. George, “Suspected Case of Mercuric Chloride Poisoning,” Proceedings of the New York Pathological Society 17, new series (1917), pp. 55–61. Gettler’s work with the Reinsch test is described in Sidney Kaye, “The Rebirth and Blooming of Forensic Medicine,” American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 13 (1992), p. 299; Peterson, Haines, and Webster, Legal Medicine, pp. 195–97.
110: Well before Gertie Webb’s organs arrived . . . : Gonzales et al., Pathology and Toxicology, pp. 750–52.
111: While she was still single . . . : “Police Here Take Up Death of Mrs. Webb; Open Inquiry Today,” New York Times, October 1, 1923, p. 1; “Webb Is Questioned About Wife’s Death; Trace Poison Found,” New York Times, October 2, 1923, p. 1; “Webb Offers Aid in Death Mystery; Knows of No Poison,” New York Times, October 3, 1923, p. 1.
113: The Westchester district attorney’s office . . . : “Mercury Revealed in Mrs. Webb’s Body by Chemical Test,” New York Times, October 4, 1923, p. 1; “Not Enough Poison to Cause Her Death in Mrs. Webb’s Body,” New York Times, October 5, 1923, p. 1; “Sudden New Turn in Webb Mystery Is Now Expected,” New York Times, October 8, 1923, p. 1; “To Exonerate Webb in a Report Today,” New York Times, October 19, 1923, p. 6; “Jury Clears Webb in Death of Wife,” New York Times, October 21, 1923, p. 1.
117: the death of the famous Blue Man . . . : A. O. Gettler, C. P. Rhoades, and Soma Weiss, “A Contribution to the Pathology of Generalized Argyria with a Discussion on the Fate of Silver in the Human Body,” American Journal of Pathology 3 (1927), pp. 631–61.
119: Charles Webb was still fighting with his dead wife’s family . . . : “Relatives Attack Mrs. Webb’s Will,” New York Times, December 11, 1923, p. 18; “Webb Wins on Will by Order of Court,” New York Times, December 12, 1923, p. 1; “Surrogate Upholds Will of Mrs. Webb,” New York Times, December 23, 1923, p. E1; “Webb Kin Claim House and $250,000,” New York Times, July 16, 1924, p. 36.
120: It began in the Standard Oil Refinery . . . : “Odd Gas Kills One, Makes Four Insane,” New York Times, October 27, 1924, p. 1; “Third Victim Dies From Poison Gas,” New York Times, October 29, 1924, p. 3; “Bar Ethyl Gasoline As 5th Victim Dies,” New York Times, October 30, 1924, p. 1.
121: Tetraethyl lead—or TEL, in industrial shorthand . . . : Background on the use of TEL in gasoline and the inventor Thomas Midgley Jr. (who also developed Freon) can be found at “Thomas Midgley’s Dubious Legacy,” http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/highlights/2008/03/17/thomas-midgleys-dubious-legacy/. For a different perspective, see Invent Now’s Hall of Fame, at www.invent.org/hall_of_fame/193.html.
121: The statement failed to impress the State of New Jersey . . . : “Stops Jersey Sale of Ethyl Gasoline,” New York Times, November 4, 1924, p. 37.
122: “The fact that it is readily absorbed . . . ”: “Tetraethyl Lead in Victim’s Brain,” New York Times, November 13, 1924; “Nine of DuPont Plant Died,” New York Times, November 2, 1924, p. 22.
122: “I’m taking no chances whatever . . . ”: “Another Man Dies from Insanity Gas,” New York Times, October 28, 1924, p. 25.
122: It took Gettler a full three weeks . . . : Alexander O. Gettler and Charles Norris, “Poisoning by Tetra-ethyl Lead: Postmortem and Clinical Findings,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 8 (1925), pp. 818–20; “Report Condemns Making of Lead Gas,” New York Times, November 27, 1925, p. 14.
123: After Norris released his office’s report . . . : William Kovarik, “Ethyl: The 1920s Environmental Conflict Over Leaded Gasoline and Alternative Fuels,” a paper given to the American Society for Environmental History, Providence, Rhode Island, March 26–30, 2003, www.radford.edu/~wkovarik/papers/ethylconflict.html; Jamie Lincoln Kitman, “The Secret History of Lead,” Nation 270 (March 20, 2000), www.thenation.com/doc/20000320/kitman.
124: “its use should be prohibited, for lead . . . ”: Norris to Frank. J. Monoghan, health commissioner, November 14, 1924, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.
124: That same May, a twenty-one-year-old White Plains woman . . . : “Grandmother Held as Girl’s Poisoner,” New York Times, May 24, 1925, p. 25.
126: “we have been swamped with unknown floaters . . . ”: Norris to John T. Walsh, Department of Health, May 19, 1925, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.
126: In July he decided to take his first vacation . . . : Norris to Hylan, June 5, 1925, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.
126: Rich enough, though . . . : “Webb Gross Estate Set at $1,0333,765,” New York Times, July 21, 1928, p. 26.
127: Webb donated the empty plot she’d owned . . . : “Webb Gives Tract to City for Park,” New York Times, June 21, 1929, p. 29; “City Accepts Playground,” New York Times, April 24, 1930, p. 31; “Gorman Park,” New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, www.nycgovparks.org/parks/M031/highlights/12328.
6. CARBON MONOXIDE
128: In late January 1926 . . . : “Noisiest Spot Here, Sixth Avenue At 34th Street,” New York Times, January 16, 1926, p. 7.
129: “Let the people know that selfishness . . . ”: Hylan to Norris, May 24, 1924, medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.
130: “I understand that the taxicabs . . . ”: Norris to Albert Goldman, commissioner of plants and structures, January 4, 1926; Goldman to Norris, January 15, 1926; both in medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.
130: In 1920 the medical examiner’s office tallied . . . : “Demand State Curb to End Auto Deaths,” New York Times, October 7, 1922.
131: “constitute a menace to the general public . . . ”: “Report No Danger in Ethyl Gasoline,” New York Times, January 20, 1925, p. 13.
132: the main by-product is carbon dioxide . . . : Marten, Doctor Looks at Murder, pp. 246–59; Peterson, Haines, and Webster, Legal Medicine, pp. 293–96.
133: “This brings up a rather interesting . . . ”: Marten, “Asphyxia,” p. 260.
133: On the other hand, carbon monoxide . . . : Witthaus and Becker, Medical Jurisprudence, pp. 4: 847–50; Dieter Pankow, “History of Carbon Monoxide Toxicology,” in David G. Penney, ed., Carbon Monoxide Toxicity (Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, 2000), pp. 1–17; “Carbon Monoxide as an Unrecognized Cause of Neurasthenia: A History,” ibid., pp. 231–55.
134: Charles Norris estimated that carbon monoxide . . . : “5,581 Deaths in 1925 Classed as Violent,” New York Times, October 19, 1926, p. 29.
135: An out-of-work painter named Harry Freindlich . . . : Alexander O. Gettler, “The Historical Development of Toxicology,” presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Chicago, February 26–28, 1953, pp. 9–10; Gettler, “Toxicology in the Medicolegal Necropsy,” in Magath, Medicolegal Necropsy, pp. 60–61; “Wife Smothered Then Gas Turned On,” New York Times, November 14, 1923, p. 8.
137: Carbon monoxide can be considered as a kind of chemical thug . . . : Harrison S. Martland, “Medical Examiners’ Findings in Deaths from Shooting, Stabbing, Cutting and Asphyxia,” in Magath, Medicolegal Necropsy, pp. 143–47; Hendrik J. Vreman, Ronald J. Wong, and David K. Stevenson, “Carbon Monoxide in Breath, Blood and Other Tissues,” in Penney, Carbon Monoxide Toxicity, pp. 19–61.
139: In Alexander Gettler’s laboratory, one of the simplest ways . . . : “Carbon Monoxide,” in Peters
on, Haines, and Webster, Legal Medicine, pp. 296–324; Gonzales, Vance, and Helpern, Legal Medicine and Toxicology, pp. 496–521, 956–59.
140: During his first month in office . . . : “Accidental Deaths by Illuminating Gas During Month of January 1918,” medical examiner’s files, New York City Municipal Archive.
140: In 1925 the details . . . : “Fifteen Are Killed by Gas in One Day,” New York Times, January 27, 1925, p. 3.
140: “the public generally does not . . .”: “Mine Bureau Warns of Dangers in Gas,” New York Times, August 26, 1928, p. 20.
142: could carbon monoxide be absorbed after death?: Alexander O. Gettler and Henry C. Freimuth, “The Carbon Monoxide Content of the Blood Under Various Conditions,” American Journal of Clinical Pathology 11 (1940), pp. 603–16.
145: In October 1926 Norris issued his yearly analysis . . . : “5,581 Deaths in 1925 Classed as Violent,” New York Times, October 19, 1926, p. 29.
145: In the first week of that foggy month . . . : “Slayer Is Caught Disposing of Limbs,” New York Times, December 1, 1926, p. 29; “Police Capture Man Toting Hacked Body,” New York Daily News, December 3, 1926, p. 1; Frank J. Jirka, American Doctors of Destiny (Chicago: Normandie House, 1940), pp. 216–29; “Murder Trial Interrupted,” New York Times, March 16, 1927, p. 17; “Acquitted of Murder, Held on New Charge,” New York Times, March 18, 1927, p. 7.
7. METHYL ALCOHOL
152: The rumors began . . . : “Says Alcohol Deaths Will Soon Increase,” New York Times, August 3, 1926, p. 22; “Defend Poisons Put Into Alcohol,” New York Times, August 11, 1926, p. 23; “Under Way,” Time, August 23, 1926, www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0.9171.729415.00.html; “New Denaturant for Alcohol Near,” New York Times, September 4, 1926, p. 28; “Drop Two Recipes for Trade Alcohol,” New York Times, September 11, 1926, p. 6; “Government to Double Alcohol Poison Content and Also Add Benzene,” New York Times, December 30, 1926, p. 1.
154: As the year pulled toward its close . . . : “23 Deaths Here Laid to Holiday Drinking; 89 Ill in Hospitals,” New York Times, December 28, 1926, p. 1.
155: “The government knows”: Ibid.
155: “in the same category as the man . . . ”: “Poisonous Alcohol Stays for Present, Mellon Tells Drys,” New York Times, December 29, 1926, p. 1.
156: Nicholas Murray Butler: “Dr. Butler Against Prohibition Cause,” New York Times, February 12, 1927, p. 13; “Says Butler Shows a Yellow Streak,” February 13, 1927, p. 21.
157: The pathologists and chemists . . . : “Poison Rum Toll Continues to Rise,” New York Times, January 1, 1927, p. 5; “Government Won’t Drop Poison Alcohol Policy; Deaths Here 400 in Year,” New York Times, January 1; 1927, p. 1; “ ‘Murder’ by Poison Bootleg Liquor,” Literary Digest, January 15, 1927, p. 1; “Most of Our Liquor Poison, 741 Deaths in City in 1926, Norris Reports to Walker,” New York Times, February 6, 1927, p. 1; “Dr. Norris’s Poison Liquor Report,” Literary Digest, February 26, 1927, p. 14.
161: a warning that German methanol . . . : “Warns There Is Death in Drinking Methanol,” New York Times, April 30, 1925, p. 7.
163: a law to halt the extra poisoning of industrial alcohol . . . : “Poison,” Time, January 10, 1927, www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0.9171.881577.00.html; “Wets Plan Fight over Denaturants,” New York Times, January 2, 1927, p. 3; “Congress Wets Denounce Deaths by Poison Alcohol as Government Murders,” New York Times, January 4, 1927, p. 1; “Senate Calls on Mellon to Tell Part Drys Played in Fixing Poison Alcohol,” New York Times, January 5, 1927, p. 1; “Congress Requires Poison in Alcohol, Mellon Declares,” New York Times, January 12, 1927.
164: The complicated murder of Albert Snyder . . . : The story of Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray is told in Landis MacKellar, The “Double Indemnity” Murder (Syracuse: N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2006), and is featured on numerous crime websites, including “The Dumb Bell Murder,” Dead Men Do Tell Tales, www.prairieghosts.com/ruth_judd.html, and “The Snyder-Gray Murder Case, Part 1,” www.trivia-library.com/a/the-snyder-gray-murder-case-part-1.htm. , and “The Snyder-Gray Murder Case, Part 2,” www.trivia-library.com/a/the-snyder-gray-murder-case-part-2.html. James Cain’s use of the case in his novels is discussed in an essay on The Postman Always Rings Twice at www.swisseduc.ch/english/readinglist/cain_james/postman/background.html.
164: In March 1927 Ruth and Albert Snyder . . . : Coverage in New York Times includes “Slayers Indicted; Snyder Case Trial Sought for April 4,” March 24, 1927, p. 1; “Poisoned Whisky in Snyder Home Bares Early Plot,” March 25, 1927, p.1; “Poison a Mystery in the Snyder Case,” March 28, 1927, p. 1; “State Builds Case in Snyder Murder,” April 3, 1927, p. 12; “Mrs. Snyder Breaks As Trial Day Nears,” April 17, 1927, p. 1; “Full Snyder Jury Picked on Fifth Day; Trial On Monday,” April 23, 1927, p. 1; “Snyder Jury Hears Gray’s Confession Accusing Woman,” April 28, 1927, p. 1; “Child to Testify After Mrs. Snyder Faces State’s Fire,” May 1, 1927, p. 10; “Gray Denies Wish to Kill; Insists Woman Dominated; Jury May Get Case Today,” May 6, 1927, p. 12; “Gray and Woman Make Last Appeals to the Jury Today,” May 9, 1927, p. 1; “Courts Refusal to Permit Controversy Sped Case to a Verdict in Eleven Days,” May 10, 1927, p. 21.
170: Ruby Gonzales . . . : “Two Physicians Arrested,” New York Times, September 16, 1927, p. 25; “Deny Causing Woman’s Death,” New York Times, September 17, 1927, p. 19; “Dr. Eisenberg is Convicted,” New York Times, April 18, 1928, p. 18.
172: how long did it take for chloroform to leave a brain? . . . : A. O. Gettler and H. Blume, “Chloroform Content of the Brain Following Anesthesia,” Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 11 (1931), pp. B41–53; A. O. Gettler and H. Blume, “Chloroform Content of Brain, Lungs and Liver: Quantitative Recovery and Determination,” Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 11 (1931), pp. 554–60.
173: The scene around the high walls . . . : “She Goes to Death First,” New York Times, January 13, 1928, p. 1; David J. Kracijek, Scooped! (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999), p. 90.
8. RADIUM
176: Harrison Stanford Martland: Harrison Martland’s papers are archived at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey Library Special Collections. His biography is posted at the main Web address for the Martland Collection, www.umdnj.edu/librweb/speccoll/Martland.html, which also reviews his research projects in occupational health.
178: The French physicist Henri Becquerel . . . : “Marie and Pierre Curie and the Discovery of Polonium and Radium,” at Nobelprize.org.
179: There were bottles of radium water . . . : Roger M. Macklis, “The Great Radium Scandal,” Scientific American, August 1993, pp. 94–99.
179: a peculiar health crisis in Orange, New Jersey . . . : The story of the dial painters’ illnesses is told in the context of industrial health reform in Claudia Clark, Radium Girls (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997) and in terms of toxicology in Harrison S. Martland and Robert E. Humphries, “Osteogenic Sarcoma in Dial Painters Using Luminous Paint,” Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 7 (1929), pp. 406–11.
182: As Curie demonstrated . . . : “Radium Gift Awaits Mme. Curie Here,” New York Times, February 27, 1921, p. 10; “How Mme. Curie Discovered Radium,” New York Times, February 27, 1921, p. 7; “Mme. Curie Sails May 7,” New York Times, March 31, 1921, p. E1; “Mme. Curie’s Genius,” New York Times, May 10, 1921, p. 88.
183: The women were exhaling radon gas . . . : Harrison S. Martland, Philip Conlon, and Joseph P. Knef, “Some Unrecognized Dangers in the Use and Handling of Radioactive Substances,” Journal of the American Medical Association, December 5, 1925, p. 1769; Harrison S. Martland, “Microscopic Changes of Certain Anemias Due to Radioactivity,” Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 6 (October 1926), pp. 465–72; Gonzales, Vana, and Helpern, Legal Medicine and Toxicology, pp. 757–59.
186: The bones belonged to an Italian-American, Amelia Maggia . . . : “Body to Be Exhumed in Radium Poison Test,” New York Times, October 10,
1927, p. 9; Irving Sunshine, “Dr. Alexander O. Gettler’s Documentation of a Radiation Hazard,” American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology 4, no. 4 (December 1983), pp. 307–09; A. V. St. George, Alexander O. Gettler, and Ralph H. Muller, “Radioactive Substances in a Body Five Years After Death,” Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine 7 (1929), pp. 397–405.
188: As the lawsuit dragged on, the five Radium Girls . . . : Harrison S. Martland, “Occupational Poisoning in Manufacture of Luminous Watch Dials,” Journal of the American Medical Association 92, no. 6 (February 9, 1929), pp. 466–73; Bill Kavarik, “The Radium Girls,” www.runet.edu/~wkovarik/envhist/radium.html; “Women Ask $1,250,000 in Radium Poisoning; Hear in Court Their Chance to Live Is Slender,” New York Times, April 27, 1928, p. 1; “5 Radium Suits Set for Trial on June 8,” New York Times, May 20, 1928, p. 7; “Moves to Settle Five Radium Suits,” June 1, 1928, p. 10.