A misunderstanding about green colouring in a kitchen poisoned twenty-one people at a public dinner (one of them fatally). It seems the colouring used in the green blanc-mange contained and arsenic and copper. See a similar story in our blogs.
“Northampton, June 14. – The inquiry which had been opened before the county coroner, Mr. Hicks, respecting the death of Mr. Wm. Cornfield, an accountant, who with twenty others, was poisoned at a public dinner given here on Wednesday the 7th, was concluded at a late hour last night at the Guildhall. The evidence adduced was very voluminous, but the facts are given in our 4th page. The medical witnesses stated that they had detected copper in the green colouring stuff which coated the blanc mange used at the dinner. A verdict of ‘manslaughter’ was accordingly returned against Mr. Franklin, by whom the dinner was provided, and against Randall, the cook.”
The Stamford Mercury, 16th June, 1848.