The Daily Herald

Chicago, Illinois

August 5, 1915

MERIDIAN MAN DIES AT HOSPITAL

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Doctors Deny Sid R. Thompson Got Hold of Dose of Strychnine.

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Meridian, Aug. 5.

    Sid R. Thompson, adjudged insane last week and sent to the Mississippi Insane hospital at Jackson last Saturday, died Monday afternoon from what is alleged to have been an overdose of strychnine.  How he secured the strychnine is unknown.  The body was brought here last night.  The funeral will be held this afternoon.  Thompson during his trial testified he had been a user of cocaine and morphine about eighteen years.  This, physicians believe caused his brain affection.

HEART FAILURE CAUSED DEATH

    Officials at the Mississippi insane hospital yesterday denied that Thompson died from effects of an overdose of strychnine, stating empathically that heart failure caused his death.

    The insane hospital authorities yesterday stated that Thompson, who had been a "dope fiend", was sent there last week from Meridian, and that he had received the best of care and attention.  They are positive that he did not secure strychnine from any source, and that his heart, probably affected by many years of indulgence in narcotics, failed to perform its proper functions, resulting in his death.  The body was sent to Meridian.

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