In this 1910 news article we learn of a troubled young man who poisoned his mother’s coffee with formaldehyde because she would not give him spending money.
Boy Attempts to Poison Mother
February 10, 1910. LOS ANGELES, Ca. — Charged with attempting to poison his aged mother because she would not give him money to spend, John Hamusbeck, an 18-year-old youth, is in jail today.
After a chase of several days, officers apprehended the boy at Cole Grave late yesterday.
Two years ago, the boy was sent to Whittier on the request of his father, who stated that the youth had been beating his mother.
Six months ago the father died and Mrs. Hamusbeck petitioned to have her son paroled so he could help her conduct a dairy ranch.
Last week the youth demanded money from her. She refused him. Later she drank a cup of coffee which he had prepared for her. A few minutes afterward she began to suffer intense pain.
She saved her life by running into the road where she was picked up unconscious later by neighbors and taken to a doctor.
Investigation shows that formaldehyde had been poured into her coffee.
The youth disappeared while a physician was working to save his mother’s life.
Source: The Tacoma times. (Tacoma, Wash.), 10 Feb. 1910.
