Tabb's Yard poison shocker

  Here's the story that put us off boosting booze for good.
   On a cold November Saturday in 1873, two young men bearing loads of salvaged firewood on their backs were walking down Alexander Street, when suddenly they came upon the unattended delivery cart of a local druggist. Without wasting a moment, one of the pair -- Michael Flaherty was his name -- dumped his stolen timber on the ground and peered into the wagon.
   There he saw a nice bottle of what appeared to be port wine.

Now, having a glass of wine wasn't an everyday indulgence for a young man who lived in a Tabb's Yard tenement off Hermine Street (that's near Bleury and Viger today -- see link to 1912 map; the above photo dates from about 1911).
   Of course, Flaherty seized the bottle and trotted home with his fellow traveler, Edward Hawkey.
   There they summoned family and friends to raise cheer, drink a toast or two and banish the early winter's cold.
   The sweet, ruby liquid tasted quite rare.
   But as they frittered the flagron away, little did Flaherty and company know that they were drinking more than just spirits.
   In fact, the bottle contained a mixture of wine and colchicum root, a wickedly potent medicine.
   Taken in minute doses, it was considered to be an effective treatment for the gout.
   But, according to the King's American Dispensatory (1898), overdoses of the solution "may occasion serious results."
   How serious?  
   They were about to find out.
   It wasn't long before all the revelers came down with similar symptoms: burning bowels, painful vomiting. Their suffering went largely unnoticed until the next morning, when a neighbour happened to stumble on the pathetic tableau.
   The first to die was 13-year-old Benjamin Thayer. Mrs. Hawkey went next, followed by the fleet-fingered Flaherty and wife, Jane Drennan.
   Fate turned its head on Mrs. Dunn and doctors did not expect William Jenning to survive much longer. The feisty Edward Hawkey, they reasoned, was soon to follow. But first, he was able to recount this tale.

   It should come as no surprise that the poisoning case in Tabb's Yard made headlines across the country. The engravings, which depict the dead and dying as they received comfort and care from doctors and religious sisters, are taken from the Canadian Illustrated News of December 6, 1873.