Was Mr Harrison quite well when you left him? — Perfectly. He was in particularly good spirits. He had risen early, with the intention of gathering a certain kind of fungus for his supper. It was one particular sort which he said he knew where to get.
Do you recollect its name? — I am not sure. I think he called it ‘Warty Hat’. (Laughter.) He said he knew of a wood where it was very plentiful.
I have here a copy of Mr Harrison’s book. I see there is a fungus mentioned as being of an edible nature, called ‘Warty Caps’. Would that be the one? Its Latin name is Amanita rubescens. — I should think that would be the one.
Had Mr Harrison started out before you left? — No. He saw me off at the gate into the lane.
POISONED DEATH AGONY
Mr Lathom then stated that he had returned to ‘The Shack’ late on Saturday night, bringing with him Mr John Munting, a mutual friend of himself and the Harrisons, and the author of a successful novel.
Arriving at ‘The Shack’ at about eleven o’clock, they found the place in darkness and the fire out. The remains of a dish of mushrooms was on the table in the outer room, together with the shells of some boiled eggs, a loaf of bread and a cup one-quarter filled with coffee.
On penetrating into the inner room, they discovered the body of Harrison, lying half-dressed on the bed. It was cold when found, and the features much distorted. Various articles in the room were flung about in a disorderly fashion, and the trestle-bedstead was broken. Both in this and in the outer room there were signs that the dead man had vomited persistently. A bottle of whisky and a tumbler were found beneath the bed.
As there is no telephone communication between ‘The Shack’ and Manaton, Mr Lathom was obliged to go on foot to summon assistance. The landlord of the inn at Manaton telephoned to the police-station at Bovey Tracey. Sergeant Warbeck, who received the message, communicated at once with Dr Hughes, and proceeded in the doctor’s car to the scene of the tragedy.
The Coroner: Was Mr Harrison a man of cheerful disposition? — He was a reserved man of quiet tastes and behaviour on the whole, though subject to occasional fits of annoyance about trifles.
During the time you were with him at ‘The Shack’, did he appear to have anything on his mind? — Certainly not: he was in excellent spirits.
In your opinion, he was not a man likely to lay violent hands on himself? — Far from it. I was convinced at the time, and still am, that his death was a pure accident, due to some fungi he had eaten.
It came as a great surprise to you? — Well, of course, I was very much shocked and upset, but when I came to think it over — no, I cannot say I was greatly surprised.
Dr Hughes gave evidence that he had examined the body of Harrison and formed the opinion that when seen by him at about 1.30 a.m. deceased had been dead seven or eight hours. He had had the body removed to Bovey Tracey for the purpose of an autopsy. Acting in collaboration with the police, he had sent certain organs, portions of bed-linen, and remains of food to be chemically analysed.
The Coroner: At this point of the inquiry, can you form any conclusion as to the cause of the death? — The appearances suggest that deceased was poisoned by some substance which produced violent sickness and diarrhoea, followed by prolonged delirium and convulsions, ending in coma and death. The pupils of the eyes were slightly contracted, suggesting also the action of a poison.
Would fungus-poisoning have this effect? — Yes, and so would certain other vegetable poisons; opium, for example. It is, however, unusual for the appearance to persist so long after death. I do not place much reliance upon this symptom.
Do the general symptoms, as noted by you, appear to point to poisoning by a deadly fungus? — They are consistent with that possibility.
Dr Hughes added that there were no exterior signs of the application of physical violence.
WIDOW SHEDS TEARS
Mr John Munting confirmed Mr Lathom’s evidence in every particular.
A rustle of sympathy went round the little court when the widow, Mrs Margaret Harrison, appeared in the box. Fashionably but quietly dressed in a black lace-cloth costume and closely fitting cloche hat, Mrs Harrison gave her evidence in a voice so subdued as to be scarcely audible.
She declared that her husband had greatly looked forward to this country holiday. On such occasions he was accustoned to go to ‘The Shack’ by himself, or with a male friend. She never accompanied him to ‘The Shack’. On previous holidays he had frequently taken as his companion his son by an earlier marriage, Mr Paul Harrison, a civil engineer, now absent in Central Africa. She had always understood that the deceased cooked for himself at ‘The Shack’, and made experiments with unconventional foodstuffs.
She had warned him again and again of the danger attending such experiments, but deceased had great confidence in his ability to distinguish edible varieties of plants from poisonous kinds, and always laughed at any remonstrance.
On being asked whether the deceased was a man who might be considered likely to take his own life, the widow replied indignantly:
‘He had no reason to do such a dreadful thing, and I am sure he was the last person to think of it.’
The witness here broke down and sobbed violently, and had to be assisted to her seat.
The coroner then adjourned the inquest for a fortnight to permit of an analysis of the contents of the viscera and the various articles found in the house.
48. Extract from the ‘Morning Express’ of Wednesday, November 6th, 1929
SIR JAMES LUBBOCK ON SHACK POISON DRAMA—‘Accidental Death’ Verdict — CORONER'S WARNING WORDS TO PARENTS—
Startling evidence was given today at the resumed inquest at Manaton on the body of George Harrison, 56 years old, of 15, Whittington Terrace, Bayswater, who was found dead under mysterious circumstances in the lonely cottage known as ‘The Shack’, on Saturday, October 19th.
At the previous sitting of the coroner’s jury, evidence was given by the well-known artist, Mr Harwood Lathom, of his finding of the body on returning with Mr John Munting, author of I to Hercules, from a brief visit to London. Mr Lathom, who had been spending his holiday alone in ‘The Shack’ with Mr Harrison, described the curious bachelor life led by the deceased at ‘The Shack’, and his habit of cooking and eating unconventional dishes of hedgehogs, mushrooms and other natural objects.
HOME OFFICE EXPERT AND ‘DEADLY FUNGUS’
Sir James Lubbock, the Home Office Analyst, was the first witness to be called at the resumed inquest. He stated that he had made an analysis of the contents of the stomach and other organs of the deceased, together with vomited matter obtained from the bedclothes and elsewhere. He had also analysed the remains of a dish of mushrooms and other articles of diet found on the table.
‘From the stomach, the vomited matter, and from the unconsumed portion of the dish of fungus,’ said Sir James, ‘I obtained by analysis a considerable quantity of a substance known as muscarine, which is the poisonous principle of a fungus, Amanita muscaria, or the Fly Agaric.’
Sir James added that, estimating the amount of the poison which had been rejected from the body in the course of the sickness, he came to the conclusion that deceased must have consumed a very large quantity of the poison.
Sufficient to cause death? — Certainly. Muscarine is an exceedingly deadly poison.
What would be the symptoms of poisoning by muscarine? — They vary in different cases. Generally speaking, a sensation of acute sickness would be experienced almost immediately after the meal, followed by violent vomiting and diarrhoea. There might also be a feeling of suffocation and dizziness, sometimes accompanied by blindness. The victim would suffer acute distress and intense depression and fear of death. Unconsciousness might supervene, or there might be violent convulsions and prolonged delirium. Death would probably ensue as a result of respiratory paralysis.