A “war of experts”: revisiting the infamous 19th century Flores Street poisonings

On January 2, 1890, a Portuguese man named Jose Antonio Sampaio, Jr., died in horrible agony whereas staying on the Grand Resort de Paris in Porto, Portugal. The son of a rich and extremely revered linen service provider, Sampaio Jr. confirmed indicators of poisoning in his remaining hours, together with blood in his vomit. He was attended by his brother-in-law, a doctor named Vicente Urbino de Freitas.

Sampaio Jr. was nonetheless buried with out incident, and the household might need grieved their loss and moved on. However in late March, Sampaio Jr.’s son and two nieces instantly grew to become in poor health after consuming almonds with liquor and coconut and chocolate muffins, which had arrived on the Sampaio home on Flores Avenue through a mysterious package deal. The youngsters’s uncle, the aforementioned de Freitas, prescribed lemon balm enemas. Whereas the women recovered, 12-year-old Mario Guilherme Augusto de Sampaio died in spasms and convulsions on April 2.

As soon as once more, the signs have been in line with poisoning, and suspicion quickly fell on de Freitas. He was arrested, tried, and convicted in 1893, though he maintained his innocence for the remainder of his life. This was the notorious “Crime of Flores Avenue” and it made headlines world wide. The case continues to fascinate Ricardo Jorge Dinis-Oliveira, a forensic toxicologist on the College of Porto, greater than 130 years later, as a result of it gave start to forensic toxicology research in Portugal and nonetheless informs present-day Portuguese medico-legal procedures. It is also one hell of a narrative: “It’ll actually make film,” Dinis-Oliveira wrote.

Dinis-Oliveira has spent the final 14 years poring over historic works, trial transcripts, and newspaper accounts from all around the world, even interviewing dwelling family members of the principle characters. He compiled his findings into three separate papers. The primary, printed in 2018, retold the fundamental information of the case. The second, printed in 2019, analyzed all of the related and contradictory testimonial proof from the trial. Dinis-Oliveira then reviewed the contradictory toxicological proof in a 3rd paper printed in Could 2021 in Forensic Sciences Analysis, defending the skilled reputations of his nineteenth century compatriots.

Two mysterious deaths

Born on Flores Avenue in Porto in 1849, de Freitas married Maria das Dores Basto Sampaio in 1877, the identical yr ha grew to become a lecturer on the Medical-Surgical College of Porto. He gained skilled distinction through the years with notable research on dermatology, notably the therapy of leprosy and syphilis. Maybe de Freitas hoped to someday inherit his in-laws’ appreciable wealth. Standing in his approach have been the couple’s three youngsters—an eldest son, Guilherme, who died younger; a daughter; and the aforementioned Sampaio Jr.—in addition to the three grandchildren.

Sampaio Jr.’s spouse died younger, leaving him with two small daughters. The women lived with their grandparents whereas their father grew to become one thing of an itinerant bohemian, a lot to his father’s disapproval. He took up with an Englishwoman named Lothie Karter, whom he had internet at a nightclub in Lisbon. Sampaio Jr. typically complained of abdomen and liver illnesses. He acquired a mysterious package deal in October 1898 whereas nonetheless in Lisbon, containing vials purportedly holding medicines to deal with these illnesses. Not recognizing the sender, Sampaio Jr. didn’t take the cures, telling Karter he suspected it was prussic acid (a powerful poison).

In December 1889, Sampaio Jr. and Karter returned to Porto and moved into the Grand Resort de Paris. On December 28, Sampaio Jr. had lunch with de Freitas, and have become in poor health the next day. Whereas he initially assumed it was a chilly, his situation worsened, and de Freitas was known as in to seek the advice of. De Freitas gave his brother-in-law a shot of what he mentioned was pilocarpine (now a typical therapy for glaucoma).

Sampaio Jr. quickly grew to become delirious, sweating and shaking, with fever, lack of imaginative and prescient, and vomiting, amongst different signs. Nonetheless, de Freitas insisted on giving him a second injection.  As Sampaio Jr. continued to worsen, de Freitas prescribed one final injection of pilocarpine on the afternoon of January 2, mixing the tincture himself together with his again to others within the room. He requested one other physician to manage the shot.

The injection website quickly developed a nasty black spot. Sampaio Jr. started vomiting violently, and eventually died round 6 PM. Earlier than he did so, he informed Karter that he was satisfied it was the pictures of pilocarpine that had sickened him. De Freitas insisted on disposing of the vomit. When the hotelier expressed remorse that the person had died so younger, de Freitas allegedly informed him that his brother-in-law had been “a madman, a scoundrel, who shamed the household,” including, “Did not you discover the proof of psychological sickness? His entire household is like this. All of them die by the identical approach.”

Then the three younger youngsters fell in poor health, with 12-year-old Mario experiencing convulsions and ultimately falling right into a coma and dying. The 2 ladies had related however much less extreme signs—maybe as a result of that they had eaten much less of the almonds and muffins. One of many docs known as in to seek the advice of thought poisoning appeared doubtless, maybe by opium or belladonna.

In mild of younger Mario’s suspicious dying, the stays of Sampaio Jr. have been exhumed so an post-mortem might be carried out. Nevertheless, the physique was in such a complicated state of decomposition after three months within the floor that it was inconceivable to make a dedication with regard to any damage that may have led to his dying, and no poisonous substances have been discovered within the liquefied stays of the person’s abdomen, intestines, lungs, and coronary heart. The identical was accomplished for the stays of Mario, and this time the consultants did discover proof of deadly quantities of morphine and delphinine (two poisonous plant alkaloids), in addition to an opium alkaloid known as narceine within the viscera and urine.

De Freitas was arrested on April 16, 1890 and charged with the homicide by poisoning of Mario. There have been additionally rumors that de Freitas had additionally poisoned a banker, and a rival professor on the Medical-Surgical College of Porto who had died three years earlier, though no proof was ever produced to corroborate these rumors.

Trial of the century

The prosecution assembled a reasonably damning case. The police investigation revealed that de Freitas had purchased a field of almonds and chocolate cookies throughout a March 1890 go to to Lisbon; the confectionery clerk acknowledged him. The doorman of the Lisbon lodge the place de Freitas was staying testified that the doctor had requested the place he may purchase almonds for his “fiancee.” He then allegedly posed as a person named Eduardo Motta, and satisfied a service provider he met on the practice to mail the package deal to his in-laws’ dwelling in Porto, apparently to provide himself an alibi. At trial, the service provider recognized de Freitas as the person he knew as Motta.

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De Freitas himself agreed that his nephew had been poisoned, “however there was no crime.” He claimed a “double” had requested the service provider to mail the package deal of sweets. De Freitas mentioned he had gone to Lisbon to rendezvous with a married girl on March 6, returning the identical day.  He went again to Lisbon on March 7-8, supposedly consulting with a detailed pal and colleague, Francisco Adolfo Coelho, a couple of medical translation. Coelho denied this go to at trial, nevertheless, and testified that de Freitas had truly written to him asking him to lie about it ought to he be questioned by police. (He even saved the letter.)

Definitely de Freitas’s grieving mother-in-law, Maria Carolina Basta Sampaio, was satisfied of his guilt. She testified that de Freitas had requested her to lie about his treating and prescribing the enema remedies for the kids, in addition to attempting to solid suspicion on a maternal uncle who lived in Lisbon. However de Freitas’ spouse, Maria, remained devoted and dependable all through the trial, sobbing and fainting when the responsible verdict was learn.

De Freitas was sentenced to eight years in jail in Lisbon, adopted by 20 years of exile. His son, Urbino Emilio Basto de Sampaio de Freitas, dedicated suicide in disgrace over his father’s conviction. Whereas Maria’s household supplied her household a pension, given their lack of earnings, she rejected the provide.  De Freitas lastly returned to Portugal in 1913, intent on proving his innocence, however he died of pneumonia shortly thereafter, nonetheless ready for a judicial overview. Maria de Freitas lived one other 43 years, dying in 1956 on the age of 97.

The decision was not unanimous, nevertheless, so not all jurors have been satisfied that de Freitas was responsible. A number of the witness testimony was contradictory, notably with regard as to whether de Freitas was in Lisbon or Porto on the important thing date of March 28. Additionally, the general public prosecutor had been a former (unsuccessful) suitor of de Freitas’ spouse, elevating the chance that he was motivated by private animosity towards the defendant. Lastly, there was significantly controversy over the assorted toxicological stories.

Struggle of the Specialists

Was de Freitas a “monster” who was actually responsible of homicide, or a martyr to an overzealous prosecution? It is a query that might have a reasonably easy reply in the present day given fashionable toxicological strategies, in keeping with Dinis-Oliveira. However again within the late nineteenth century, “the unmistakable detection of morphine, narceine, and delphinine appears considerably very troublesome in mild of the scientific advances of the time,” Dinis-Oliveiras wrote in his 2018 paper.

The skilled proof introduced at trial was questioned on the time by an advisory choose, who famous the shortage of enter from international toxicologists. So a number of international consultants have been additionally invited to weigh in, together with Louis Lewin, who pioneered the research of psychoactive crops. Sadly, “All these consultations have been unfavorable to the work and conclusions of the official consultants, extensively highlighting the (“inexcusable”) errors and the presence of putrefaction merchandise that have been allegedly confused with poisonous plant alkaloids, in addition to the abuse and misunderstanding of the usage of analytical strategies,” Dinis-Oliveiras wrote in his 2021 paper. A number of rebutted the discovering of morphine and delphinine in Mario’s viscera and vomit.

Dinis-Oliveiras takes concern with this characterization of the Portuguese consultants’ work. A lot of this newest paper focuses on the work of Antonio Joaquim Ferreira da Silva, who was “virtually chained” to his laboratory for the three years between de Freitas’ arrest and trial. (His evaluation additionally concluded that younger Mario Sampaio had died of morphine and delphinine poisoning.) Da Silva made a number of discoveries over the course of that analysis, per Dinis-Oliveiras, together with characterizing new reactions to detect cocaine, serine, and the alkaloids, in addition to eserine. A few of these discoveries have been introduced by his friends on the Paris Academy of Sciences.

All of this reveals that da Silva “didn’t act frivolously, however labored with the forthrightness of toxicology skilled,” Dinis-Oliveiras wrote, regardless of being relentlessly attacked and having his scientific repute questioned all through the trial. The truth is, da Silva’s diligence “inaugurated a brand new section of toxicology and forensic chemistry in Portugal.” Dinis-Oliveiras concludes, “The consultants of Porto did a outstanding job that was practically inconceivable to rebut contemplating the data of that point.”

With out that toxicological proof, it’s unlikely that de Freitas would have been convicted, in keeping with Dinis-Oliveiras. He means that much more perception might be gleaned if the stays of at the least one supposed sufferer might be recognized. The excellent news is that Dinis-Oliveiras lastly tracked down the placement of the corpse of Sampaio Jr. in 2020, and was capable of carry out a brand new post-mortem. DNA evaluation to verify the corpse’s id, and toxicological evaluation testing for morphine, delphinine, or narceine, is underway. The outcomes will probably be reported in a future paper.

DOI: Forensic Sciences Analysis, 2021. 10.1080/20961790.2021.1898079  (About DOIs).

DOI: Forensic Sciences Analysis, 2019. 10.1080/20961790.2019.1682218  (About DOIs).

DOI: Forensic Sciences Analysis, 2018. 10.1080/20961790.2018.1534538  (About DOIs).