Richmond times-dispatch. [volume], May 28, 1916, Image 48

About Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current

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Ruimd tfwWidows Sm
Under an Entirely Novel Interpretation of Law
the Boy Heroin and Thus Made a Drug Fiem
Young Leo Rooney, IS HELD TO ACCOUNTAl
TO THE MOTHER-a Wholesome Lesson
to Those Who Traffic in Dangerous i
The Decision of the Court,
Which Has Established
(
a New Principle of
Judge Howard, Who Has Made a New Interpretation of
Law, Which Holds a Druggist Accountable lor
Damages to Parents Where He Injures the
Earning Ability of a Son by Supplying
Him with a Habit-Forming Drug
Opinion of the five Judges of the Appellate Division, writ
ten by Justice Wesley O. Howard, affirming the verdict
of the Court awarding $j,ooo to the mother for the dam
age done in destroying a son's services, to which she was
legally entitled.
A MOTHER brings this action against a drug firm for having
sold to hor -minor son a certain poisonous drug known as
?heroin. She alleges that as a jesult of these sales her
son became an habitual U6er of heroin and thereby became a
physical and moral wreck, unable to perform any labor and that
his health -was ruined and his mind destroyed, whereby she was
deprived of his services and. has been greatly damaged. The
facts were submitted'to a jury and a Verdict returned in favor
?f the plaintiff for $2,000 compensatory damages and $1,000
punitive damages.
Our examination of tne records convinces us that the num
erous sales of this drug to this boy continuing over a long
period of time have been established by overwhelming evidence.
And we believe that the evidence shows that the plaintiff was,
in fact, actually damaged. The proof showB that" previous to his
acquisition of the drug habit the young man earned considerable
money.
The action is said to be a novel one. Tn 'some respects this
is true. By whatever name this action may go the fact is that
the property rights of tho plaintiff have been trespassed upon
and she is simply suing for reimbursement The services of
her sob. to which she was legally entitled, have been destroyed,
so she alleges and so the Jury found, and she is only asking pay
for this damage done.
The plaintiff bases her claim upon the same principle which
underlies the cause of action accruing to a father in ca30 of the
abduction of his daughter, or to a husband in case of the aliena*
tlon of his wife's affections. Precedent ib not necessary In order
that the plaintiff may recover here. If tho rights of the plaintiff
have been Invaded, there must be redresB.
On one occasion 1,000 pills were Bold to him In a week?
enough poison to kill many normal people. But notwithstanding
thi3 condition of affairs, amply proven at the trial, the defendants
complain of the punitive damages which have been assessed
againBt them. Unless there is either evil intent on the part of
the defendant, or a reckless disregard of the right6 of others,
there can be no punitive damages. The evidence In this case
does not go to the extent of establishing an evil purpose to de
stroy the health and activities of this young man; 'but the proof
does abundantly establish, In our Judgment, that the defendants
were wholly reckless of the rights of others.
It establishes that the defendants. Impelled by the ln3tlnct
for gain and profit, absolutely disregarding the health and future
of this young man, and wholly unmindful of the consequences to
his parents, sold him this drug and continued to sell it to him
long after they discovered Its deleterious effects upon his system.
To say that they did this innocently affronts the reason. These
defendants were pharmacists, skilled in the science of mixing
drugs; they knew their purposes, usee and effects. They knew
the subtle, sinister destructive effect on the human syBtem of
Ihis offspring of opium. They knew of its malicious and uncon
querable mastery over the human mind?knew of its inexorable
demands upon Its victlmB.
But it was not necessary to be a pharmacist to know this;
every layman knows it. However, in the face of this general
knowledge of the baneful effects of
heroin, and in the face of their con
stant dally observation of the actual
deadly effects upon the victim whom
they were supplying with it, these de
iendants, actuated only by greed, con
tlnued for many months to sell it to thlB young m:
deluded companions.
During the time which these defendants were sup
drug to a young man he "became a vagabond, an id!
fiend and a criminal; undutiful to his mother, wortfnl
self and dangerous to the community. The Jury w
concluding that all this was the result of the Illicit tri
on by these defendants and that they should be pi
their reckless disregard of the rights amT welfare <
and his mother.
Story of the Ruin of the
Widow's Son
IN awarding a mother, a widow, 53,000 damages against
a druggist who sold to lier son, a minor, quantities
of heroin during a period of several years, a Su
preme Court jury sitting in Schenectady, New York, has
established a precedent making it just as criminal to
destroy the efficiency of a boy as it would be to injure
a man's property, his horse' or cow.
Hitherto persons who sold to young men drugs or
alcoholic drinks which damaged their health could bo
prosecuted only on the legal technicalities prohibiting
the sale of drugs without a prescription or the sale
of drugs to minors.
What Is of nation wide interest and significance in
'the verdict accorded the mother of I?eo Rooney, of
Schenectady, New York, is that it makes the scoun
drels who for petty and sordid profit hand out to
young men poisons that ruin them in body and mind
legally responsible for the destruction of their moral
? ^character and practical efficiency. The verdict of
the Supreme Court jury, the first of its kind ever ren
dered, was recently carried before the Appelate Divi
sion in the fight made by the druggists accused of
celling "dope" was unanimously upheld.
In the opinion written by Justice Wesley O. Howard,
of Troy, In which four other judges concurred, it is
stated that the evidence produced in this particular
case proved that the mother of young Rooney had
been actually damaged. Inasmuch as previous to the
boy's demoralization through the drug habit he had
earned considerable money, and that in the deprivation
of services to which she was legally entitled the prop
erty rights of the mother had been trespassed upon.
"The plaintiff bases her claim upon the same prin
ciple which underlies the cause of action accruing to
a father In case of the abduction of his daughter, or
to a husband In case of the alienation of his wife's
affection," declared the-judges. "Precedent is not nec
essary in order that the plaintiff may recover here.
If the rights of the plalntift have been Invaded; there
must be redress."
According to this decision any parent whose son is
sold drugs or alcohol to such a degree that his char
acter and efficiency are destroyed may take action
against the olfendcr for the actual damage done.
^ Judge Howard and his confrere's decision makes it
as criminal to undermine a boy's health by selling
him drugs as it is to administer poison to a neighbor's
horse.
Four years ago Loo Rooney. of Schenectady, N. Y.,
was ar, alert, bright, rosy-cheeked, normal boy. lie
was industrious, obedient, and of help to his widowed
mother. He was employed by the General Electric
Company,.of Schenectady, at a salaiy of $50 a month,
and was regarded by his superiors as one'of the most
promising young men in their employ. In addition
to his salary he often earned from SIO to ?15 a week
singing at entertainments and in theatres.
The change that took place i;i this youth within two
years was as startling and sinister as the transforma
tion of a Dr. Jt-kyll into a .Mr. Hyde. From a healthy,
rosy-cheeked boy of eighteen, young Rooney became
a physical wreck. From a happy-dispositioned boy, al
ways eager to help his mother and to be of service
to hit, employers, he dovdoped into a vagabond, a
retusing to work, stealing whatever he could
in ordet r; secure the drug. He became physically de
formed. his character became insolent, ugly,, morose
and sullen.' Hie health ruined to the degree that he
was unable to perform any labor, his mind destroyed,
this boy, in whom a mother once took tender pride,
has goue alotg a road to ruin leading through the
Schenectady County Jail, the Albany Penitentiary,
the Fonda Jail to the Elmlra Reformatory, where ha
Js at present confined.
f Week by week, while the degenerative process was
going on, the druggist accused?C. B. Skinner, of
C. fe. Skinner & Company, Amsterdam, N. Y.?handed
out, according to the testimony produced in Court,
this baleful and deadly poison. Week by week, for
an insignificant sum of money, for what muBt have
netted only a meagre, and sorry profit, this boy was
sold from three hundred to six hundred heroin pills.
One week, according to the testimony, one thousand
pills were sold to him?enough to kill, declared Dr.
B. R. Kirscliberg, city chemist, of Schenectady, one
hundred normal persons.
Before his eyes, week by week and month by month,
this druggist could not fail to see the ghastly effects
of the poison he -was purveying?the fading of color
in the boy's cheeks, tho growing sallowne-ss of the
complexion, the rings deepening under his dull, sullen
eyes, the palsied tremor of his arms as he reached for
the drug. He could not have failed to see the villainy
working?no more than the poisoner who deliberately
watches his victim, no less than the saloonkeeper who
sells whiskey to young men day by day over a bar.
How the Drug Sapped His Health
and Made His Mind Diseased
According to Justice Howard, the proof furnished
abundantly established that the druggists, "impelled
by the instinct for gain and profit, absolutely disre
garding tlie health and future of this young man, and
wholly unmindful of tho consequences to his parents,
sold him this drug and continued to sell ii to him
long after they discovered its deleterious effects upon
his system." For the pills sold the druggist received
seventy-five cents a hundred. ? On the single sale of
one thousand pills?enough to kill one hundred per
sons?they received $7.50.
Shortly after the theft of a large quantity of raw
heroin by young Rooney from another drugstore in
Amsterdam, the boy's cousin, James Murry, was found
dying in the. .Rooney house from drug poisoning. It
is believed by local authorities that his death was
due to an overdose of heroin. In the legal proceedings
it was brought out that the heroin habit had been
contracted by a number of other young men ia
Schenectady. Young Hooney's mother, at present em
ployed as a clerk in a department store in Schenec
tady, admitted in court that she had expended her
entire savings of $2,000 in endeavoring to reform
her son.
The story of young Roonoy's downfall can possibly
be duplicated in many other communities where young
men are sold drugs by unscrupulous druggists. Leo
liooney at the age of eighteen possessed much of the
natural curiosity of youth. When, about four years
ago, William Slavin, a pal, told him wonderfully pleas
ant dreams could be obtained by taking a certain
drug, Rooney was anxious to try it. He Avas given
several pills and?being totally Ignorant of the hide
ously destructive effects of this product of opium?
said he would ,like to get more.
According to the * testimony furnished in court,
Rooney was taken by his friend to tho drugstore of
C. B. Skinner & Co., No. 8 East Main street, Amster
dam, which Is fifteen miles from Schenectady, and was
Introduced to C. B. Skinner as being "all right."
On January 1, 1912, ho made his first purchase of
heroin tablets, securing two hundred tablets, for
which he paid $1.50. These tablets were sold to him
without his presenting a physician's prescription, nor
was his name entered on the "poison book" in the
store. After his first purchase the boy, according to
his declaration, bought plllB regularly almost every
week up until June 5. 1914, a period of nearly two and
a half years.
Month by month the fatal power of the drug took
hold of him and he became a confirmed user of the
dope. He sometimes took from six to eight pills an
hour. His purchases averaged from three hundred to
six hundred pills a week. Sometimes hiB dally con
sumption was ae high as seventy-flve to one hundred
tablets. One week he made the astounding purchase
of oue thousand tablets. These tablets were all one
twelfth or one-eighth of a grain each. During the
proceedings brought by the boy's mother against the
druggist it was testified that on no occasion did Skin
ner placo the pills in a bottle bearing a poison label
as Is required by law.
C. B. Skinner, the druggist accused, has been a
pharmacist since 1892. He graduated from the
University of Buffalo in 1S98. The other member of
the firm, S. W. Skinner, is in charge of a drug store
in Illon, N. Y. This concern, accuhed of selling to a
young boy one thousand heroin tablets in a single
week for the sum of $7.50, is reported to be worth
$40,000.
In November, 1912, the boy declared that Druggist
Skinner asked him if his mother knew that he was
using heroin. "Not to my knowledge," he answered.
Itooney's mother, however, began to observe a change
in the boy's appearance. Day by day he was afflicted
by what seemed an increasing sickness. His com
plexion became sallow, his eyes deep and sunken.
When walking the streets he would sometimes stop,
andr leaning against a post, fall into a profound slum
ber in the daytime. From a hoalthy, athletic, Greet
young man he began to show signs of a deformity.
He no longer walked erect, but stooped constantly.
He became sluggish and indolent;' his temper was
sullen and irascible.
The boy had always been industrious. His mother
had come to Schcnectady from Leadville, Colorado,
in August, 1903, and sent Leo to school until he was
sixteen. While attending school he sold newspapers,
and afterward worked for a while for a clgarmaker.
He then secured employment with the General Elec
tric Company at a salary of $50 a month. The boy
had a voice of extraordinary quality and was in de
mand at local entertainments. He often earned from
$10 to $15 a week by singing.
Until the drug took hold of him he was most solici
tous about his mother and attended to all the house
hold chores. His mother was hurt and perplexed when '
the time came that he refused to carry coal from the
cellar. One day he had told her that he had given up
his position. Duriug the day he slept most of the time
and at nights stayed away. Sometimes he was absent
from his home for an entire week.
What an Investigation Showed
and the Verdict That Resulted
His distressed mother could not guess what was
wrong with the boy. His surliness and ill temper hurt
her. When he began having hallucinations, his mother
decided that something serious was the matter with
his health. The boy had delusions that black bugs
were crawling over him and that the air was full of
bugs. He skulked about the house, declaring that
policemen were after him. He saw officers watching
him from catch basins of sewers. Sometimes at night
he awoke screaming, declaring that persons intent
upon harming him were trying to get into his bed
room through the window.
In the Pall of 1913 the boy developed hallucinations
of such a violent character that 'he was sent to tho
Ellis hospital for treatment. There the physicians
discovered the cause of his trouble. He was in such
a serious condition that they did not dare stop the
administration of heroin, hut began treatment with a
reduction in doses. In about two weeks the boy
seemed well on the road to recovery and was soou
I?Bjj
C. B. Skinner, the Druggist, Who
Must Pay Damages to Young
Rooney's Mother for Debauch
ing Her Son with Drugs.
released as practically cured. The physicians who
had treated hiru, however, discovered Immediately
after his discharge that a bottle containing several
hundred heroin pills was missing.
About this time Dr. B. R. Klrschberg, city chemist,
accompanied by the District Attorney, made a can
vass of the drug stoves in Amsterdam. Complaints
had been made that drugs were being sold to Schenec
tady boys and suspicion attached to the druggists in
the nearby village. They called upon Skinner, among
other druggists, and cross-questioned him regarding
the sale of the drug.
Skinner discreetly admitted that he had sold some
heroin tablets, but had not done so for a long time.
According to Leo Rooney's story, told recently In
court, he went to Skinner shortly after the investiga
tion made by the District Attorney and the City
Chemist to purchaso tablets and -was cautioned by
Skinner not to tell anyone where he was securing the
drug, as it "might cause trouble."
Young Rooney was often desperate In his craving
for the poison. His manner of living had completely
changed. He became a corner loafer and was ar
rested on this charge.
His mother asserted he began stealing In order to
secure money to buy heroin, that he took rugs and
carpet9 from the floor of her home, which he sold,
and that he pawned her silverware and his brother's
Clothing and even sold his own clothing. He begged
money from whomever he could. Among the ac
quaintances of Mrs. Rooney was Attorney James J.
Barry, of Schenectady, who lator handled her enso
as counsel and to whom Is due the credit of securing
the verdict against the druggists.
Leo went often into Barry's office to beg money.
Usually he asked for a quarter or half a dollar, mak
ing various excuses. He wanted to get his laundry, buy
something to eat, or purchase needed clothing. One
day he asked Barry for a dollar. Barry had observed
an amazing change In the boy's appearanco and had
become suspicious. Barry asked what Leo wanted to
use the dollar for, and Anally the boy admitted that he
wanted to get medicine which he purchased In Am
sterdam. Barry carefully undertook a rigid cross-ex
amination, and the boy, hard pressed, admitted the na
ture of the drug of which he had become a- victim*
ie Drug- Store of C. B
New York, Where Your
Tearfully he begged B3
Barry gave him the dofk
Desiring to secure evii
t!on that he intended tak
to Amsterdam and returni
a freight car. On his rot
pills were found in hiB
tenced to ninety days it
was his first experience \
hen he was received 1
7, 1914, Dr. Ullman, thf
Rooney and found that h<
the heroin habit. The bo
Whenever the doctor cal
clothing and bogged
was not possible entirely
ment the dose was grari
mini shed Roonoy becaiDi
pered and insolent.
After his release from
his mother, Leo continue
fered from persistent
sought to* cure him, but
craving for the drug led
CJne night he broke into!
which is nearly opposite*
sterdam, and stole a
after this the boy's coiuij
Rooney's home.
Physicians were callr!
ing from drug poisonlS
consciousness, and thi* J
learn where lie secured i
arrested. Although contl
J ul 3^ore? he was. regj
of his misfortune and 1
sentence. Shortly aftenl
for violating his parole. 1
accorded him another oil
"e was arrested in SchJ
waB turned over to thril
Fonda. On April 3, 19lfl
sentenced him to ElmtifJ
iorraatory April 15. * |
Heartsick and deSpajLJ
Attorney Barry to seedfJ
^ii)re;e"t druggists tp!f
sale of drugs. Attornel
moralization of the Rool
the results of the crirr,
rese^flST^ druegistPj
ut one of ,nn J
.,il ^?ut lhe country
ulous villainy. While 'f
' ;1