Caused By Eating Supposed Artichokes

The coroner's inquest in the case of Freddie Krueger, whose sad death caused by eating what was supposed to be artichokes, mentioned in the ARGUS last week, was held by Coroner Clark last Friday morning. Messrs Fred Huhn, John Pfisterer. J. George Lutz, Ambrose Kearney, William A. Hatch, Gottlieb Rugath were impanelled as a jury. Willie Gauss testified to finding Freddie Krueger lying on a pile of stones opposite M. Staebler's building William Wagner found him on the stones foaming at the mouth and carried him into Mr. Staebler's at about eleven o'clock. Julius Krueger, the father, testified to carrying the boy home in his arms. He was frothing at the mouth and nose. Dr. George was called and came within a few minutes. 

Mrs. Krueger, the mother, testified that she was ironing, when Freddie asked her if he could go out and sail his boat. She heard the Kaueske boy say "here is some artichokes" and opened the door and told the children not to eat them. Later she saw Freddie sailing his boat. Her little daughter who was also sick told her that she had eaten part of one of the artichokes. 

Dr. Conrad George testified that he found the boy, when called. in tetanic convulsions which did not cease until life was extinct. He attended another boy with the same symptoms, and then learned that several of the children had eaten what they termed artichokes. He was present at the post-mortem examination and in his opinion death was caused by poison. 

Dr. W. J. Herdman made the postmortem examination. He found the stomach nearly empty but containing some solid matter looking like vegetable substance. The left lung was congested and the pleura adherent to the chest walls. These conditions rendered the child unable to resist the cause of death. He was of the opinion that Freddie Krueger had swallowed some active vegetable poison. The coroners jury found that Freddie Krueger came to nis death "by eating some roots which he supposed to be artichokes." 

The tubers similar to those eaten by the children were shown to the doctors and jury. They were different from ordinary artichokes and some of them were given to Professor Spaulding, the botanist for analyzing. The analysis showed the tubers to be water hemlock, which is very poisonous.