A FATAL DRINK

PETROL IN GIN BOTTLE

P.A. AUCKLAND, July 25, Evidence that he had drunk petrol from a bottle which he believed to contain gin, was given at an inquest into the death of a soldier recently returned from the Middle East, Sergeant Albert Henry Boot, 28, single, of Sumner, Christchurch, who died in the Auckland Hospital on July 7. The inquest was held before the district Coroner, Mr. A. Addison.

Another returned soldier. Tom King, said he and Boot had been overseas together, returning to New Zealand on April 19, and came to Auckland on holiday on June 30. The following night Boot went with friends to some place in Auckland. Next morning he told witness he had vomited the night before and said, "It must be the petrol that upset me." He explained that at one ot the places visited by the pariy he had drunk what he believed to be petrol by mistake. He said he saw a bottle which he took to contain gin and drank some of the contents. Boot was admitted to hospital on July 4. Hugh Osborne Barclay said he was with Boot at a party in Parnell. During the evening Boot returned to the sitting-room from the kitchen with a gin bottle containing a clear liquid. His breath smelt very strongly of something like petrol. Boot told witness he had picked up the bottle in the kitchen and, being under the impression it was gin, drank some of the contents.

The Coroner returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence, which stated Boot's death was due to poisoning consistent with poisoning from carbon ietrachloride.

EVENING POST, VOLUME CXL, ISSUE 22, 26 JULY 1945, PAGE 9