The facts and more details about the poisoned blanc-mange. The colouring may well have been Scheel’s green.
“On Wednesday the 7th Inst., the public recognition of the Rev. G. Nicholson, B. A., as the minister of King-street chapel, Northampton, in the room of the Rev. T. Milner, took place in that chapel. At the close of the ordination services, a dinner, which had been prepared for the accommodation of the ministers and friends, took place at the New Hall. Between 30 and 40 persons were present. About an hour after dinner, several of them were seized with violent sickness, and among them Mr. Wm. Cornfield, a well-known and much-respected accountant of Northampton. After suffering for a considerable time, he was conveyed home in a fly and put to bed. He took some tea, and apparently grew better and slept. About 5 in the morning he awoke and wished to have some toast, and while Mrs. Cornfield was gone to prepare it, he died. Mr. George Macquire, Mr. John Groom, Alderman Porter, Mr. Betts and his son, were all taken severely ill, apparently from the same cause – the partaking of some blanc-mange, ornamented on the top with green colouring. On Thursday afternoon an inquest on Mr. Cornfield, was commenced before P. Hicks, Gent., at the Guildhall, and adjourned till Friday. The evidence went to show that the deceased partook freely of blancmange, which was ornamented in the form of a cucumber – the principal part being coloured green. A Mr. Franklin supplied the dinner, and a man named Randall, as assistant, made the jellies and the blanc-mange. – Thos. Sharp, Esq., a magistrate, deposed – I sent for Randall, and questioned him as to the composition of the sweets, particularly as to the material with which they coloured the blanc-mange. He told me they used emerald green. I answered, it must be poison, inasmuch as all mineral greens were poison. He said he had been frequently told so; but he did not appear to know it from his own knowledge – and they always told their customers when they expressed fears about using it, that they need not be afraid, as it was extract of spinach. I said that was very extraordinary, and he replied, If we did not tell them that, they would not buy it. I then questioned him as to the quantity of this mineral he had used. He said he had to color the cucumber and the foliage around it, and he should think it was about the thickness of a sixpence. Mr. Saml. Walker was present, and he said he was sure it was one-third of an inch thick. – On as post-mortem examination being made, it seemed that the deceased had suffered from double hernia, but Mr. Faircloth, Mr. Bryan, and Mr. Greville (medical gentlemen) were all of opinion that death was produced by an irritant poison. – Mr. Greville analysed a portion of the ’emerald green,’ and found that it contained copper and arsenic. The inquest was again adjourned.”
The Stamford Mercury, 16th June, 1848.