POISONING CASE-John Cornelius Family 1896

CORNELIUS, LITTLEFIELD

Posted By: Cheryl Locher Moonen (email)
Date: 3/23/2017 at 17:44:02

The Clinton Mirror
W. D. Eaton, Editor
Clinton, Iowa, Saturday, May 23, 1896

POISONING CASE

Last Friday afternoon the entire family of John Cornelius, eight in number, including himself, were taken violently ill immediately after dinner. Dr. Littlefield, of Andrew, was immediately summoned, and upon his arrival, the cases were pronounced to arsenical poisoning. Strong emetics were administered, and the family are all out of danger. Mrs. Cornelius is still confined to her bed, however. Some mystery existed as to the cause of the poisoning until it was discovered that a can of arsenic which was used for rats, and was sitting on top of a shelf in the pantry, had been dumped into the cream of tartar can by one of the boys, who wanted the can for worms, so they could go fishing. As the two articles resembled each other very much, the boys supposed them to be the same thing, and the mistake was not discovered until a pudding which Mrs. Cornelius made for dinner, using the mixture from the can, had been eaten with the results as stated. The entire family ate of the poisoned pudding and were exceedingly fortunate in all escaping with their lives. – Bellevue Herald.