Chloral hydrate is another drug from that period. It was used recreationally by the PRB painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. A drink mixing chloral hydrate with whiskey to mask the taste was known as 'Mickey Finn'.
Chloral hydrate is another drug from that period. It was used recreationally by the PRB painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. A drink mixing chloral hydrate with whiskey to mask the taste was known as 'Mickey Finn'.
Chloral is what Lily Bart was taking in “The House of Mirth.”
She came to a bad end.
The “Good Ol’ Days...”
On June 22, 1918, four people were arrested, and over one hundred waiters were taken into custody over the apparent widespread practice of poisoning by waiters in Chicago.
Guests who tipped poorly were given “Mickey Finn powder” in their food or drinks. Chemical analysis showed that it contained antimony potassium tartrate, also called “emetic tartar”; which in addition to causing vomiting, headaches, dizziness and depression, can be lethal in large quantities. Two bartenders were arrested for selling the powder at the bar at the waiters’ union headquarters, and W. Stuart Wood and his wife were arrested for manufacturing the powder. Wood sold packets of it for 20 cents and referred to it as “Mickey Finn Powder” in a letter to union bartender John Millian. A follow-up article mentions the pursuit of a man named Jean Crones, who was believed to be responsible for poisoning over 100 people at a banquet held at the University Club of Chicago at which three people died.
-Wiki
