Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 21, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 December 1899 — CYANIDE’S DEADLY ATTRACTION [ARTICLE]

CYANIDE’S DEADLY ATTRACTION

Those Who Handle the Dm* Drawn Almoat Irresistibly to Swallow It. “Just now we are engaged in the making of tons of cyanide of potassium,” said a member of a firm of manufacturing chemists, “and of all poisons this, to my mind, is the most dangerous, because of a singular quality It possesses. It is in appearance so very attractive to those who handle it that they are often seized with an almost overwhelming desire to eat it To one man it probably suggests sugar, if he have a fondness for saccharine substances, and to another snow newly fallen, but to both it is so alluring that they may only overcome the temptation to put it in their mouths by great force of will power. “The very men who make It and who are most familiar with its deadly properties are pursued by an unreasonable desire to eat the poison, and as long as they remain in Its vicinity this extraordinary craving endures. They know that to give way to the craving means death almost instant and horrible, and as a consequence are usually able to resist the strange temptation, but during the last ten years we have been engaged in the manufacture of the drug four of our most intelligent and steady workmen have committed suicide in this way.” “Ever feel like eating it yourself?* asked the reporter. “Yes,” the manufacturer replied. “Many times when in contact with the cyanide fumes, and I have had to leave work precipitately in consequence. So well is this curious fact known in all wdrks where cyanide of potassium is made that there are always two men at work together, and a jar of ammonia, which is the antidote to the poison, is kept at hand.”