He was poisoned you say?
Hemoptysis is a debilitating illness where the sufferer is known to cough up blood. Prosper Thomson’s service record indicated he had this particular condition.
Prosper Thomson was romantically linked to Harkness and eventually married her.
There have been mentions on various sites that nurse Harkness had connections through her family to the pharmaceutical industry.
The Rubaiyat was handed in to DS Leane by a Glenelg pharmacist.
Literature (see link) demonstrates that hemoptysis can be treated by skilled pharmacists using traditional Chinese methods that involve the application of substances that assist in the absorption of glycoside.
Chinese have long been present in Australia and while here almost certainly practiced their ancient healing methods (see link and John Sander’s comment)
Certain glycosides were available at pharmacies without the need of a prescription.
Expert witnesses at the inquest had the opinion SM may have been poisoned by a glycoside.
Both Harkness and the Glenelg pharmacist took their secrets to the grave.
The Somerton Man .. 
If SM was poisoned by an oriental herbal it likely came from one of two well known chinese dispensers, Lum Yow of Nth Terrace (see trove) & Ah Phuc of Hindley Street. Some will recall Prosper T. having a hair salon supply franchise thereabouts.
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I don’t recollect James Cowan testing the semi-digested pasty for foreign substances.
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Abbott spent his life on the coincidences of Robin’s teeth, strong legs like a ballet dancer and a phone number on the RoK. Yet he now realises he was entirely wrong and that they didn’t share DNA. So only two more coincidences remain. But without the DNA what have you got – a deception perhaps? He was paying for a child that wasn’t his or just two coincidences?
I believe his strong legs were because he was a cyclist. Then you have one fact of a telephone number on the RoK. Potentially a sick guy looked up a nurse in the directory and wrote it down because he wanted something ‘off prescription’ like ether perhaps that a chemist might not give him – or she was an old pal of Dorothy’s and wanted to track her down.
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Truth be known and in light of latest intelligence re the Chinese connection we might consider substituting the old news poison pasty or pie for a Cantonese green potato (solanum tuberosum) dumpling. Should we share this breakthrough with Des Bray’s forensic team or let em make their own new discoveries?
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Digoxin, cardiac arrest
Digoxin is by prescription today
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I suppose it gives a new meaning to a ‘Chinese Takeaway’?
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nagromdivad02inu #
No talk of strong legs in the mix although the late Paul Lawson (of prestine cranial cavity fame), did attest decades years later that his ’49 bust subject had well developed calf muscles. Such condition associated with ballet dancers, organists, mountain climbers and rugby lock forwards or passed on. There was nary a hint of bike riding atttire in SM’s kit, eg., pedal cleats or trouser clips though there was a small Lalique glass tropy ala Tour de France and a soft sepia fly button that could be the key to his hill climbing credentials. End of the day he likely succumbed to an exotic oriental poison administered by needle to the carotid vein for a foiled attempt to make off with Bs. Lum Yow’s prized ‘Flying Wheel’ delivery bicycle (see trove) Then again could have been Prosper’s ‘other chinee cook’ Ah Phuc what done him in.
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Note DM that ‘Sister J E Thomson’ was not in the professions section of Adelaide directory; so if’n y’man was looking for a random nursing sister for to ease his pain, would have taken ages bearing in mind that the T numbers were right at the end.
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On second thoughts I’m not so Keane about SM having been taken out by the poison stuff that natives of Niger put on their spears (Leane ’78). Been reading up on dugite snakes that hang out around sand dunes, beach shacks, fisher camps, dugouts and the like. They be known to grow over two metres and while generally timid, they can get pissed off in mating season start of summer. Seems their venom is deadly too, like “one bite and you’re shite mate” deadly. Get the picture? So here we have our theoretical SM falling through the Alvington house stair railing and landing head first on a pair of mating dugites. Both have at the intruder, one getting him right between the knuckles of his right hand while the other bites hard down on his exposed neck at the collar. Finding, death by misadventure and asystol. If no one thought of this scenario already, think I’ll take it on as my alternate fait accompli solution … and you can’t a charge snakes with conspiracy to murder so a win win for Dugite snake lovers.
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Do we know if Cowan tested the pasty for poisons?
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If Cowan’s people picked up solanum tuberosum (nightshade) from the partly digested potato in the gut he may not have been made aware. Or else seeing that he was only asked to test for common poisons he could have omitted to advise on potential of green spud toxicity. Scientific fuddy duds can be fussy even pedantic in situations like that.
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Eating green spuds isn’t fatal .. and who’s to say common poisons aren’t findable in stomach contents, after all, that’s where they might end up.
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Back to my off beat theory of snake bite that ain’t just an idle musing by any means. Try this simple test and tell us if it makes sense, all of yous…So hold your left hand palm down at ninety degrees at shoulder level with thumb and forefinger agape to form a snake’s open jaws. Now with right hand flat and palm open at midriff level, bring the left ‘jaw’ fingers down over the knuckle web of the right forefinger to emulate a striking snake and there you have it. Most will recall those ‘non consequencial’ knuckle scratches described by Barb Dwyer as having occurred just prior to SM’s demise. Guess he wasn’t reckoning on snake bite invenomation, nor was any other expert.
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Nope, just come back to Ballina after 14 years in snakebite country up north .. when brownies bite they rarely go above the ankle. They like it when you tread on them, read the literature. I have a daughter who can confirm that and half a dozen rips in the ride-on mower’s tires.
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Much like my dugite snake furphy, the non descript pie or pasty was theoretical at best so testing would be difficult, even for an “experienced chemist” (Dwyer) like Cowan.
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Theoretical ? The stuff was in his stomach .. partly indigested, and here’s Cowan, senior government analyst, qualified to the hilt, honoured and respected… and once again he comes up with no result.
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Right .. to endure a fatal snake attack or to flick through a railing and land with a cigarette between the lips, not scorching the shirt, legs crossed, hair combed back and coat impeccably positioned would be quite an achievement I’d say.
The poison ingestion theory does not explain the bloodstained tear.
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No, it doesn’t, so let’s hope the coroner comes up with an explanation.
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I agree, It would have been quite an achievement to have been laying back in a comfortable position etc, but with someone’s assistance? Why was Cowan only asked to search for common poisons, why limit his search?
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because (especially back then) it’s a big job to search for “everything”. They target what they’re looking for based on known symptoms. There are countless things that can kill, and unfortunately it’s not possible (even for the best analyst) to go through all of them, so they first narrow down to likely candidates.
I’m pretty sure even today analysts need to limit what they’re looking for. Same with quacks BTW – they start with a bit of a guess based on symptoms, then they try to confirm their theory.
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