Dangerous Substances?

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 12:46 am

I just finished The Devil In The White City, by Erik Larson, which tells the story of the conception and building of the Chicago Fair, The Columbian Exposition. It was open for 6 months in 1893.

Within the story, I noticed two interesting references which affect our Borden subject.

One was a reference to "mood altering drugs called bromides." (375)
The other equated the color "Turkey Red" with arsenic. (132)

"Olmsted became ill- severely so. He attributed his condition to poisoning from an arsenic-based pigment called Turkey Red in the wallpaper of his Brookline home."
(It goes on to say that it could have been another bout of his depression to which he was prone.).

This sounds like the color was well-known to contain arsenic. I recall the OUIJA board discussion from The Knowlton Papers which mentioned Turkey Red and it was a possibility that such a color was used to make the drab color with which the Borden house was painted.

The other reference to bromides as a mood-altering drug surprised me, but if it is, it makes sense that Bowen would start with that with Lizzie and then switch to morphine. I always wondered why that seemed such a big switch in medication.

Does anone know about the "mood-altering" effects of bromides? I thought we had covered this but this sounds stronger than I ever thought.
And the Turkey Red which contained arsenic makes it sound like a side-effect of arsenical poisoning could cause or mimic depression.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 3:52 am

We are going by information provided by a OUIJA board?

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 4:21 am

LizzieAndrewBorden.com
Diversions
Psychic File
http://lizzieandrewborden.com/Diversion/PsychicFile.htm

A group of people (or person) sent their OUIJA board transcription to the prosecution and it was kept for some reason by someone involved with the case and made it into The Knowlton Papers, which is a collection of letters between the principals of defense, prosecution, experts and notes and suggestions from citizens.

For some reason the OUIJA thing was published with these letters by the Historical Society and I compiled this with other letters from psychics and we put it on the website.

In the past, we had a discussion about the phrase "Turkey Red" and Susan, our member artiste looked it up and found, I believe, that it was an ingredient , or could be, in the color "drab" which Lizzie picked to paint the house. There were stories at the time that Lizzie had bought red paint in the newspapers. This Turkey Red now, if I believe the author Larson, was known to contain arsenic. I believe Susan had informed us that arsenic was used in some paints of the time, I know especially whitewash. Also lead- but that is more common knowledge.

Actually, I believe the OUIJA transcription (probably from 1893) was sent in that format either as a joke, or was designed to be unique enough to get a message across from an interested party.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 4:58 am

The book by Larson also mentions The Columbia Cook Book, by Adelaide Hollingsworth in his text on the fair, and I found some of it transcribed here:

http://members.fortunecity.com/research ... ryear.html

"As soon as the ironing is done for the day the flatirons should be taken off the stove. To leave them on without using takes the temper out of them."

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 10:57 pm

It seems as if this famous landscape designer (he designed Central Park for 40 years into the future) could believe he was poisoned by his wallpaper, it seems like it is possible but how would that come about?

doug65oh · Post by **doug65oh** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 12:47 am

I did a bit of reading on this just the last while, and weird as it might seem it does appear to be at least theoretically possible, altho it would depend on the composition of the wallpaper pigments, and perhaps the wallpaper itself (tho pigments are the best bet at this point.)

Apparently, there's a theory floating about - one among many I'd suspect - concerning the death of Napoleon Bonaparte; that his death was hastened (if not caused outright) by arsenic poisoning. The arsenic, says this theory, was absorbed from a pigment in the wallpaper in the room where he took what are described as "steaming baths." Presumably the steam/humidity somehow leeched out the arsenic in the pigments.

http://www.napoleon-series.org/research ... senic.html provides some insight.

How credible is that theory? Hard to say; but it does seem to make sense on its face, although there are variables (of course) which could impact the validity of that theory in the Emperor's case.

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 5:41 am

Kat, I did a search on Turkey red, I couldn't find any reference to arsenic with the color, though thats not to say that it wasn't added to the paint itself for some reason.

For dyes:
Madder - Reds from roots. Native to Middle East, spread to northern Europe before 1066. Very fast dye; has been identified in many Medieval and Renaissance textiles. England was famous for it's madder reds in the 14th C., Turkey red was also madder-based.

Apparently calcium was added to the mix to get the Turkey red color.

For paints:
Red Iron Oxides:
Natural Red Iron Oxides: (PR 102) Light Red (Antwerp Red), Red Ochre, Spanish Red, Persian Gulf Oxide, Pompeian Red, Prussian Red, Turkey Red. The Romans referred to it as Sinopia, sinope, or sinoper where it was used to create the red preliminary outline painted on fresco plaster before applying the intonaco. Natural Red Oxides develop into hard, fairly flexible films in oil, but are of better quality in the synthetic forms.

Toxicity: not toxic, do not breathe dust

From this site:

http://www.sanders-studios.com/instruct ... esent.html

I did find that there was an orange color associated with arsenic; Arsenic orange or Realgar.

This is an ancient pigment which is also a nice poison. (It contains arsenic.) The pigment produced a reddish-orange. Sources list it as a pigment that does not fade, but also that it reacts with other pigments. What this latter statement means, I don't know as this pigment hasn't been available for most of the 20th century. I do know that it was not reactive to air as it was used in medieval illuminations and the orange is still bright. The pigment was replaced in the mid-19th century by cadmium orange, in large part due to the dangers associated with handling dry arsenic compounds.

Which sounds like it wasn't in use by the 1890s. The only other instance I could find was with wallpaper in the 1800s which featured the color Paris green which contained arsenic.

I did find this which I thought was interesting, looks like arsenic was a major component in wallpaper and carpets:

SELECTED PRE-1930 HAZARDOUS WASTE GENERATORS

Carpets and wallpaper arsenic 1880-1900

Electroplating acid, cyanide, arsenic 1880--

Pesticides arsenic 1890s--

From this site:

http://www.lib.niu.edu/ipo/im910219.html

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 10:33 am

Links on the history of arsenic and its uses

http://chemeducator.org/sbibs/s0007002/ ... 0051rb.htm

http://www.popularscience.co.uk/features/feat17.htm

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 4:19 am

Thanks you guys!
From "Killer Wallpapers" (Allen, and what Susan found about colours):
"The arsenic pigments Scheele’s green and Emerald green, the mercurial vermilion, green lead chromate, cadmium yellow, arsenical Naples ’s yellow, the cyanide salt Prussian blue, were the staple colours used to brighten up the Georgian and Victorian home. Whites were often lead white or arsenic trioxide."

We've got green, yellow, blue and white, but no Turkey Red.
Hmm.
This site implies it could be an inhaled fungi,, or the gas thereof- the byproduct of the arsenic inspired dye in the wallpaper.
It's interesting to note that a house can thus be dated by the components in its wallpaper- which is sort of what Susan found. If Olmsted lived in a pre-1890's house, he could have that wallpaper.
Maybe he was misinformed about the arsenic content in that particular colour and the author took his word for it?

Well, anyway, we've found other causes of illness in a family here other than deliberate ingestion.

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 9:08 pm

Does anone know about the "mood-altering" effects of bromides? I thought we had covered this but this sounds stronger than I ever thought.

BROMIDE-any of the salts of hydrobromic acid; used as a sedative or a sedative in the form of sodium or potassium bromide

HALLUCINOGENS

There is no sharp line that divides the psychedelics from other psychoactive drugs that cause hallucinations. Anticholinergics, bromides, antimalarials, opioid antagonists, cocaine, amphetamines, and corticosteroids can produce illusions and hallucinations, delusions, paranoid ideation, and other alterations in mood and thought similar to psychosis.

DRUGS REPORTED TO CAUSE CONFUSION, DELIRIUM, OR DISORIENTATION

Acetazolamide Cortisonelike Drugs Levodopa
Aminophylline Cycloserine Meprobamate
Antidepressants Digitalis Para-aminosalicylic Acid
Antihistamines Digitoxin Phenelyzine
Atropinelike drugs Disulfiram Phenothiazines
Barbiturates Digoxin Phenytoin
Benzodiazepines Ethchlorvynol Piperazine
Bromides Ethinamate Primidone
Carbamazepine Fenfluramine Propranolol
Chloroquine Glutethimide Reserpine
Cimetidine Isoniazid Scopolamine

DRUGS REPORTED TO CAUSE PARANOID THINKING

Bromides Diphenhydramine Isoniazid
Cortisonelike drugs Disulfiram Levodopa

From this site: http://www.talkaboutsupport.com/group/a ... 29366.html

Barbiturates And Amphetamines
Gradually, barbiturates and amphetamines became a part of American life.

During the nineteenth century, opiates had been used frequently for their sedative benefits. However, these were soon found to be addictive and physicians often prescribed bromide salts as an alternative.

Bromides, however, never gained great popularity, largely due to the risk of chronic bromide poisoning. Until the first years of the twentieth century, physicians continued to prescribe alcohol (against all threats from temperance unions) as the most common sedative (Brecher, 1972).

I also stumbled across this page by accident and upon reading thought that there were symptoms of Manic-Depressive Illness that sounded like Lizzie. Heres the link to the page if interested: http://www.mentalhealth.com/book/p40-ma01.html

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 2:34 am

Whew! Thanks again! I despaired of getting any bromide input. Dolan's concoction was caffeine-based I guess. That sounds like an upper rather than a downer.

Trial
326
Bowen
Q. What did you give?
A. I gave a preparation called bromo caffeine.

Q. For what purpose?
A. For quieting nervous excitement and headache.

Q. To bring on quiet. to allay nervous excitement?
A. Yes, sir.

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 4:24 am

You're welcome, Kat. Hmmm, I think the caffeine was possibly to speed the bromides into the taker's system. I found this:

Author: Keasbey and Mattison Company
Title: Pamphlets and handbills, ca.1877-1920.
Description: 41 items
Notes: Pamphlets and handbills advertising
pharmaceuticals, including Alkalithia (a treatment foruric
acidemia containing lithium and caffeine), Aquatone (a
carbonated mineral water containing lithium),Bromo-Caffeine
(a headache and hangover remedy containing bromides and
caffeine), malt extracts, pepsin, and Salaperient (amineral
laxative); also, advertisements for infant formula andfor
asbestos as a surgical dressing and as a buildingmaterial
for sanitoria.

In 1873, Henry G. Keasbey, a wealthy financier, and Dr. Richard V. Mattison, a chemist, founded The Keasbey & Mattison Company, a producer of pharmaceuticals and asbestos products. Dr. Mattison made his first fortune in patent medicines such as Bromo Caffeine, made to soothe the anxieties of "the neurasthenic woman or the congestive or anaemic headaches of the fin de siecle man", Alkalithia for rheumatism and Cafetonique for dyspepsia.

Hmmm, sounds like it was made for women on the verge of breakdown!
But, it doesn't say what kind of bromides went into it, there are so many of them.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 5:51 am

I think you're right that the caffeine was to speed up and enhance the bromides effects. I can think of modern Goody's powders, which now, I believe contain caffeine to enhance delivery of aspirin.

Pippi · Post by **Pippi** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:55 am

considering how well caffeine treats headaches as well as speeding other substances into the body it also seems reasonable that she had a headache or migraine (which can also make ones thinking confused and or irrational explaining behavior right after the events), hence the use of the bromide, if that didn't work switching to morphine is a natural progression for the medicines of the day. If she was near her menstrual cycle that could induce migraines as well as killing someone or finding someone slain.

lydiapinkham · Post by **lydiapinkham** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 12:51 pm

Hello, everyone! Here's my 2 cents worth on bromides and wallpaper.

First, bromides. My daughter suffers from nasty migraines, but because of potential interactions with her other meds is unable to get any of the new migraine clobberers. Her pediatrician suggested ibuprofin, maximum dose, and caffeinated soda ( a remedy that works better than anything else). He mentioned the old bromo-caffeine solution, saying that bromides were found to be habit-forming and dangerous. As Pippi mentioned, many now believe that the caffeine was what worked on headaches and that the bromides did no good at all! According to him, there was a recent study done on the subject. (Don't ask me where!) Come to think of it, going off caffeine cold turkey can cause blinding headaches (been there, done that!).

Now, wallpaper. I recently did some research on Paris Green, used as both ratkiller and wallpaper pigment. I found a website, whose address I no longer remember, that mentioned a rash of child poisonings towards the end of the nineteenth century. They occurred in all social levels and locales. The one common denominator they found was Paris Green wallpaper, which was taken off the market as soon as the connection was made--much as was to be done to lead paint years later. The reason the poison struck children was not that children ingested it as they did lead paint chips. Instead, the poison (an arsenical) was released into the air as gas, which remained at floor level, where the children played. How sad to think that a family's pride and joy--the brilliantly colored new wallpaper meant to improve their way of life--might end by destroying the family's true pride and joy, its children. Sort of a Pied Piper deal.

--Lyddie

lydiapinkham · Post by **lydiapinkham** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 10:16 pm

I was just thinking about Doug's story about Napoleon. He, too, would have been at a low level in the room if reclining full length in the tub. If he like to doze off in the tub, who knows what kinds of gases he'd have inhaled. (Of course, poor Napoleon was never much above gas level even when standing. . .

)

--Lyddie

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 1:21 am

Thanks Lyddie!
I'm so sorry about your daughter.
Migraines must be horrible!
Today they are doing a nerve blocking operation here in Florida which was just on the news tonight!
...
Lizzie's period was over Wednesday night- but I guess all the stuff going on could cause Lizzie to have a bad headache. We have no proof of migraines though. I guess Ms. Lincoln ruled that out maybe, because sufferers are so debillitated they cannot kill?

lydiapinkham · Post by **lydiapinkham** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 2:15 pm

A cluster headache might prompt a killing. That's the rare kind that hits behind one eye and causes sufferers to beat their heats against the walls (I have seen video footage) from the pain. I suppose the pain could be externalized instead, but it doesn't fit the surrounding evidence.

I think the bromo-caffeine would be prescribed for the shock, which could well bring on a throbbing of the head. It also might be a doctor's response to his own feeling of helplessness. He could tell himself he'd done something for the poor girl.

--Lyddie

theebmonique · Post by **theebmonique** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 7:20 pm

As a former sufferer of both migraine and cluster headaches, I know about the head-banging. I also know that 'during' either one of these headaches, I could not have had clear thoughts enough to pick up an axe, whack my step-mother...then wait a while and whack my father. Banging my own head against the wall was hard enough to think about. I am so glad that these headaches are non-existent now.

Tracy...

lydiapinkham · Post by **lydiapinkham** » Thu Feb 10, 2005 10:28 pm

I think I'm with you there, Tracy! Definitely not an axe. A fist, maybe, or some other handy object. And of course the repeat performance would make no sense at all. Glad yours are gone now. I still get them, but not so bad as I used too,

--Lyddie

bullet43 · Post by **bullet43** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:16 am

Lizzie needed something to calm her down because she was nervous having to testify.She didn't want her guilt to show through.Like taking a drink of alcohol-it makes it easier to lie.J
*Just my opinion.

john · Post by **john** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 10:04 am

Poor Napoleon. Getting more than he bargained for in his sauna. I always wondered why anyone would want to kill him at that time anyway.

wintressanna · Post by **wintressanna** » Sat Mar 19, 2005 9:51 pm

Yeah and I have been a sufferer of mean migraines, and though I can not say its true with every migraine you would experience, but many is the time I could not do anything but lie down on the floor, at the lowest point possible in the room, and getting up from there made me so nauseated and weak that i dont think murder would be within the range of possibility.

Thank Goodness I dont suffer from them anymore either!