Late one day last week Mr. H.C. Hayes, who is connected with Mr. J.C. Jones’ grocery store, saw a negro in the back of the store take a drink out of a bottle. The negro then went out, and Mr. Hayes went back to examine the bottle. It was labeled “Denatured alcohol—poison,” and Mr. Hayes thought there was likely to be a dead colored man before long, but this far no ill effects from the drink have been heard from. The drug stores have been selling more denatured alcohol than usual recently, supposedly to put in automobile radiators and to clean clothes with, but it is said that much of the stuff is being drunk. It is said that those wishing to drink it drain the water out of an automobile radiator, put the liquor in and then run the engine until the stuff is hot. This is supposed to take the poison out. It is also put in a pan of hot water and steamed for the same purpose, while some drink it straight. While the poison may not act so quickly, it is just as deadly in the long run as wood alcohol, and there is no assurance that any of the home made methods will take the poison out. Various kinds of poison are put in the grain alcohol to denature it, and some of them are more deadly and are harder to get out than others. There are reports that some of the bootleggers are selling the denatured stuff as the real article, and those who can not resist buying a drink should be on their guard. It is assumed that any one taking a drink of the poison, knowing what it is, is willing to take the consequences.
From the front page of The Messenger and Intelligencer, Wadesboro, N.C., Thursday, Dec. 14, 1922; Published by the estate of J.G. Boylin.
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