South Australian Weekly Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1881 - 1889) Saturday 24 September 18811669

SCHINTLER.— On the 15th September,
suddenly, at his residence, Magill, Carl Chris-
tian Schintler, aged 55 years.

Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904) Saturday 24 September 18811670

POISONING BY HYDROCHLORIC
ACID.
On September 16 the City Coroner held an
enquiry at the East Torrent Hotel into the
cause of the death of Carl Christian Schintler,
which took place at his residence, Magill, on the
morning of the previous day. The evidence
showed that for the past eighteen months the
deceased had given his attention to the study-
ing of means whereby to attain perfection in
the art of enamelling wood and slate. He gave
a considerable portion of his time to the subject,
and had during a great part of the period men-
tioned become happy and despondent by turns
as success or failure attended his efforts. When
ever he fashioned a piece of work of more than
ordinary excellence he would rush into his son
and exclaim—" Harry, I've made my fortune!  
I've got it!" while, on the other hand, if he was
dissatisfied, he would shut himself up and
say very little to anybody. During
the past few days he had been very
dissatisfied with his work. In addition
to this he had a six-roomed house for which he
was unable to obtain a tenant, and both circum-
stances seemed to prey a great deal upon his
mind. He, however, was not in monetary
difficulties. At about 5 o'clock on the morning
in question a son of the deceased had his at-
tention called to the fact that his father was
lying in his room and appeared to be in great
pain. The son went in, and, finding that such
was the case, sent for a doctor. Mr. W. F.
Baily, surgeon, of Norwood, said that he was
called at 8.30 ou Thursday morning to see the
deceased, who was stated to be "ill." Not re-
garding the message as an urgent one, he did
not go immediately. In about an hour there
came another message, and he went at once.
On arriving at the house be saw the de-
ceased lying on the sofa in a state of
almost collapse. The deceased, when at first
questioned, denied that he had taken
any poison, but a minute or two afterwards he
admitted that he bad taken some spirits of
salts. He pointed to a place behind the chimney,
where he said there was a bottle, out of which
he had taken a fluid ounce of the drug. The
whole of the symptoms were those of an appa-
rently crude irritant poison. The cause of
death was shock to the system through the ex-
cessively irritating effect which the poison had
had on the deceased's stomach. A Mrs. Donovan
was called in on the morning, and to her he
complained of having had an exceedingly bad
night. She made him comfortable, and he dozed
for a short time. On awakening he exclaimed,
"I wish I hadn't done it," but he refused to say
what it was to which he referred. He subse-
quently mentioned to the Rev. Mr. Honner, who
was present nearly the whole of the time, that he
felt great pains in the stomach and the head,
and asked when this (declining, however, to
say what the "this" meant) would kill him.
On the Wednesday morning he went to the
shop of a Mr. Martin, and asked for sixpenny
worth of spirits of salts. He was supplied by
Mr. Martin with about an ounce and a half (fl).  
He had previously bought the same drug at the
store, and sold it for plumbing purposes. Mr.
Honner said that the deceased, whom he had
known for many years as a steady hard-working
man, had recently suffered from erysipelas and
appeared to be generally very unwell and in
very bad spirits. The Coroner, in course of his
summing-up, said that the Jury could arrive at
no other conclusion than that the deceased
committed suicide while suffering from the
despondency arising from the reasons men-
tioned during the course of the enquiry. The
Jury returned a verdict to the effect that the
deceased committed suicide by taking the drug
while in an unsound state of mind.