Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1889 — Burglars and Chloroform. [ARTICLE]

Burglars and Chloroform.

“I saw a statement from some anonymous scientific man in the newspapers the other day,” said a prominent physician to the Chicago News, “assuring people that they need be in no fear of the use of chloroform by burglars, as it was impossible to administer chloroform to a sleeping person without waking him upj But that is a mistake. It is true that chloroform can not be administered in the usual way by holding a cone containing a sponge or cloth saturated with chloroform to the face, without waking a person up, if he be asleep. But it is not to be supposed that burglars would administer it in that way. To do that they would.have to secure an entrance into the house and the bed room first; but one of their objects in administering chloroform is to enable them to break into the room without- awaking the inmates. This can be done easily enough by simply injecting chloroform into the room through the 7 key-hole, or any other aperture, with a syringe. Chloroform is very volatile, - nd the air of the room -will soon become sufficiently charged with it to produce, an unusually deep sleep, or stupor, which is all that is needed to make the sleepers unconscious of the picking of locks or the prying of windows. Once in the house, more chloroform can be poured on the bedding and the victims be brought completely under the influence. This is what has heen done repeatedly,and I -eee n&ben§fit to be derived fromputting people off their guard about such a danger? It is better to have them understand it so fully that any unusual ado in their rooms or any extraordinary drowsiness will excite their suspicions, and even wake them up when sleeping.”