SPIES & POISONED CIGARETTES
TROVE: HERALD MELBOURNE 16th FEBRUARY 1944
A most interesting article! Not just from the perspective of the cigarettes but also to the chase of the suspected double agents, but the latter will be subject of another post.
Been spending a little more time than usual reviewing the 1948 Somerton Man Inquest papers and it struck me that one of the potential ways in which he could have been poisoned was via his cigarette. Those familiar will know that a cigarette, more than half smoked according to Constable Moss who was the first Police Officer on the scene, was found lying between his right cheek and his coat lapel.
On another blog, I had stepped through the process of how cigarettes are generally lit up, take out cigarette, take out matches, extract a match, strike it and light up and then shake the match to extinguish it or alternatively, given he was seated on the sand, he may have simply dropped it. In either case, that dead match should have been near his right hand. it wasn't. Constable Moss said that the sand around the body hadn't been disturbed.
So, we have our man, lighted cigarette in mouth, when suddenly he stops drawing on it. The cigarette goes out and shortly after it falls from his lips and wedges between his cheek and coat lapel. With it being out then it couldn't have burnt his cheek or scorched his lapel.
How long does it take to smoke a cigarette? 4 minutes maybe 5? If we take 5 minutes as our starting position and the man had smoked over half of his cigarette then we could probably say 3 minutes for that to be achieved. Enough time for a fast-acting and non-traceable poison within the cigarette to be delivered and to stop him dead. The question is would the length of time between his time of death and the time of the autopsy be enough for a fast-acting poison to dissipate?
So, we have our man, lighted cigarette in mouth, when suddenly he stops drawing on it. The cigarette goes out and shortly after it falls from his lips and wedges between his cheek and coat lapel. With it being out then it couldn't have burnt his cheek or scorched his lapel.
How long does it take to smoke a cigarette? 4 minutes maybe 5? If we take 5 minutes as our starting position and the man had smoked over half of his cigarette then we could probably say 3 minutes for that to be achieved. Enough time for a fast-acting and non-traceable poison within the cigarette to be delivered and to stop him dead. The question is would the length of time between his time of death and the time of the autopsy be enough for a fast-acting poison to dissipate?
I think we can take it as read that poisoned cigarettes were a reality, I think we can also take it that they would have been in use by all sides in the Cold War period. The question is, did they have fast acting poisons that could be delivered this way and if so would they dissipate quickly in the body?
THE BURNING QUESTION
AN OPTICAL ILLUSION
One last matter to consider, colours and shadows can be deceiving, below you can see an example of one optical illusion. You can probably see that there is what looks like a cube in the image with two distinct shades of grey showing within it. If you take either your finger or perhaps a pen and lay it across the paler shade that lies between the two panels, what do you now see in terms of colours?
What now in terms of the photographs of Fedosimov and the shape of his nose?
NB:
Milongal, if you check Constable Moss's statement, he makes reference to the weather.
Document download here..
Document download here..
I agree re the lack of a matchstick...very interesting. But does a cigarette go out when you stop drawing on it? Surely it keeps burning? Maybe it was a touch wet in the middle and the tobacco didn't burn as much, or something.
ReplyDeleteWhere is that inquest from, it doesn't looks in the same format as the one on naa
With regards to the inquest documents, to be very honest I have had that for about 7 years and maybe more. I can't recall where that came from.
DeleteIt's a good question. I used to smoke in the late 60s and can recall them going out but then perhaps the formulation was different to now. Anyway, I did a look around and found this item on Quora:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.quora.com/Without-puffing-on-it-how-long-will-a-cigerette-and-cigarillo-stay-lit
It seems that the cigarette stays alight for about 1 minute before it goes out. From that, and given that a cigarette lasts about 5 minutes but let's say 4, and the facts say that it was over half smoked, could we then say that he only had the cigarette in his mouth and being puffed for less than 2 minutes?
We agree on the absence of the match, another question would be, f there was o match, did someone else light his cigarette? But then, there should still have been a match. The next logical question would be, was a lighter used to light his cigarette?
However, PC Moss stated that the sand around the man was not disturbed. SO if that's correct, then it is unlikely that another person lit the cigarette for him.
Just to add spice, if the sand was not disturbed around the man, what of the story of the man being carried onto the beach and propped against the sea wall? That wouldn't work. Unless of course someone 'dusted' over the area around the man with a bunch of grass or a few twigs. For the record it has been known to be done.
As you say, it's interesting.
One poison that can be delivered by cigarette is, I am led to believe, SAXITOXIN, Shellfish poison. It can kill in minutes and was difficult to trace. It was available in the 40s and was used certainly by the KGB and the CIA. There were ther fast acting poisons available at the time and that research carries on.
ReplyDelete