An inquiry was opened on Saturday last, at Boakley Farm, Brokenborough, about one mile from Malmesbury, before Mr. Coroner Whitmarsh, and a respectable jury, of whom Mr. Henry Jefferies, of Westport, was foreman, touching the lamented death of Mrs. Maria Lloyd, wife of Mr. Robert Lloyd, of the above farm, who died on Christmas Day from the effects of eating aconite in mistake for horseradish, as already reported.
The first witness called was Miss Mary Lloyd, aged 20 years, stepdaughter of the deceased, who said: On Christmas Day, about twelve o’clock, the deceased requested me to get some horseradish and prepare it for dinner. I went into the garden to the same place where twice before I had been for some. Once was on the Sunday before Christmas Day and once a few days before that, and on those occasions no one suffered. I did not know when getting it but that it was all horseradish. My father, my stepmother, and myself were all taken ill about half an hour after dinner. We dined at half-past twelve o’clock, on roast beef, of which the deceased heartily partook. She also ate freely of what we thought was horseradish. About a quarter-past one o’clock deceased felt very giddy and lay down on the bed, thinking she would soon be a little better, when in about ten minutes she was very sick and vomited, and soon after she became insensible, and remained so until her death, which took place about 2.30 p.m. the same afternoon. Dr. Kinneir was sent for when she was first taken ill, and he being from home Mr. Pitt came, who arrived about three-quarters of an hour after deceased’s death. We learnt from the doctor what it was we had eaten. The roots of the horseradish and those of the aconite were growing together, I cannot say how they came together. My father and myself were both ill from the same cause.
Mr. Richard Kinneir, L.R.C.P., said: I am a medical practitioner and reside at Malmesbury. On Thursday (Christmas) afternoon, I was sent for to attend Mrs. Lloyd. I was out when the messenger came. I arrived there about six o’clock, and found Mrs. Lloyd had been dead some time. I examined the body. There were no marks on it, but I noticed a peculiar pallid appearance of the face and body, and there was no stiffness or rigidity of the muscles, indicating special action of monkshood or aconite, which it appears she had eaten for dinner, in mistake for horseradish. The husband and daughter-in-law had eaten of the same, and both suffered from poisonous effects, which were counteracted by my medical treatment, and it is my opinion that deceased accidentally died from eating monkshood or aconite.
The jury were unanimous in returning a verdict in accordance with the medical opinion.
The deceased was greatly respected by a large circle of friends, as she was a genial and kind-hearted woman, especially to the poor of her neighbourhood, and her sad demise will be deeply mourned by many outside her family circle.
The Daily News, in a leading article commenting on the accident, says—Once more a case is reported of the fatal mistake of the root of aconite or monkshood for horseradish. The family of a Wiltshire farmer are said to have eaten the poisonous root with the result that the mother died and the father and children lie seriously ill in consequence of this unsalutary Christmas dinner. The danger of the mistake is pretty commonly known, and there are few country districts which have not their history or legend of fatal dinner parties due to it. At the same time it is a mistake which only extraordinary carelessness is likely to make. Between the flower of the horseradish and the unmistakable and most remarkable cowls of the aconite there is not the smallest resemblance, but it is not in the flowering time of either plant that there is the greatest danger of the mistake being made. The roots themselves, however, are so different in their properties that if servants pay the remotest attention to what they are doing the confusion could rarely happen, the aconite being unfurnished with anything like the pungent and volatile oil of the horseradish. Dwellers in London and other large towns, who are provided with this sort of condiment by professional advisers deriving their own supply from Covent Garden, and similar markets, are in very small danger of the error; but dwellers in country houses, which have careless-ordered gardens arranged somewhat on the ancient Greek plan of contrasting leeks with roses, and varying onion beds with patches of violets, are the most liable to it. Monkshood is a great ornament of this sort of garden, and as on the other hand the horseradish is a very capricious inhabitant, and apt to appear where it is not expected, and to disappear where it is sedulously cultivated, things can very easily get mixed. The test of pungency, however, is we believe an infallible one, and as the smell of the aconite will scarcely do anyone any harm, it is easy and safe to apply.
A correspondent of the Daily Telegraph writes—Allow me to point out a method by which persons with no botanical knowledge may distinguish between the deadly monkshood (Aconitum Napellus) and the useful horseradish (Cochlearia Armoracia). The root of the former plant is what is called fusiform—that is, it is thickest in the middle and tapers towards both ends—similarly shaped roots may be seen in the radish and beet; the root of the horseradish, no matter what its thickness may be, is always cylindrical—that is of the same thickness throughout.
Mr. Arthur E. Ekins writes from St. Albans, under date December 27—In your impression of to-day I see there has been another fatal case added to the already long list of poisoning by eating aconite in place of horseradish. The following are a few characteristics by which the two may be distinguished, and by your kindly inserting them in your paper may be the means of saving some one. Aconite: Form, conical and tapering rapidly to a point; colour, coffee-coloured, or more or less brownish externally; odour, merely earthy; if a fresh root be scraped it will turn pink. Horseradish: Form, slightly conical at the crown, then cylindrical or nearly so, and almost of the same thickness for many inches; colour, externally white, or with a yellow tinge; odour, especially developed upon scraping, when it is very pungent and irritating (but does not change colour).