# True Story\[about drunk in NYC in 1920s\] Can Anyone Verify? -edited title **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 20, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531 "2006-04-20T21:59:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/21 "2006-04-21T01:01:03Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Source of the infamous question “What happens on May the 33rd, but only in leap years?” And the answer to that infamous question is…? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/22 "2006-04-21T01:37:02Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > And the answer to that infamous question is…? Ah, now that would be telling. You’ll have to research that. It was the subject of perhaps the longest GQ thread in history - 7 pages - back in 2001. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/23 "2006-04-21T02:05:00Z")
While modern cites seem to say he was a vagrant, newpaper cites from the time always describe him as an unemployed fireman. Later contemporary cites said he was a vagrant. The newspaper cites I’ve read tonight say that he was fed “wood alcohol” soaked oysters, and later fed “wood alcohol.” You can’t always trust news cites from the time, but they were consistant. Four men were definitely executed at Sing Sing. This was not an isolated incident. The plotters also did this to others to collect on insurance policies. That was brought out as part of how they got caught. These guys were all in cahoots. A doctor, an undertaker, the owner of the speakeasy and a chemist. Makes for a nice group to cover up things. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/24 "2006-04-21T02:25:54Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > I have no recollection of ever having been bitten by any kind of bee. You know, you got to be careful of dead bees if you’re goin’ around barefooted, 'cause if you step on them they can sting you just as bad as if they was alive, especially if they was kind of mad when they got killed. I bet I been bit a hundred times that way. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/25 "2006-04-21T02:47:04Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > A sample gem from the episode, after seeming gallons of whisky had failed to kill the would-be victim: > > Wait a minute! Irishmen’s stomachs are made of copper! Whisky polishes copper! Lager corrodes copper. Let’s give him beer! That’s a paraphrase of a Mark Twin line from **Life on the Mississippi** : > [@](#): > > Give an Irishman lager for a month, and he’s a dead man. An Irishman is lined with copper, and the beer corrodes it. But whiskey polishes the copper and is the saving of him, sir. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/26 "2006-04-21T04:25:44Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > You know, you got to be careful of dead bees if you’re goin’ around barefooted, 'cause if you step on them they can sting you just as bad as if they was alive, especially if they was kind of mad when they got killed. I bet I been bit a hundred times that way. :eek: Say, she’s allright! ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/27 "2006-04-21T04:31:50Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Ah, now that would be telling. You’ll have to research that. It was the subject of perhaps the longest GQ thread in history - 7 pages - back in 2001. I have developed both a deep admiration and a hatred for you after causing me to read that thread in its entirety. 🙂 I suppose I’m a lot more fortunate than the people who had to sit through it for four months, though… For what it’s worth (five years later), I think your judgement was correct in keeping with the spirit of the contest by withholding the answer the way you did. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/28 "2006-04-21T04:56:55Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > I bet I been bit a hundred times that way. You have? Why don’t you bite them back? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/29 "2006-04-21T12:04:34Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > You have? Why don’t you bite them back? I would, only I haven’t got a stinger! ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/30 "2006-04-21T13:10:31Z")
Can someone link to the May 33 thread? Daniel ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/31 "2006-04-21T14:47:04Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I have developed both a deep admiration and a hatred for you after causing me to read that thread in its entirety. 🙂 I suppose I’m a lot more fortunate than the people who had to sit through it for four months, though… > > For what it’s worth (five years later), I think your judgement was correct in keeping with the spirit of the contest by withholding the answer the way you did. So you’re not going to tell us either? ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/32 "2006-04-21T15:15:42Z")
> [@zoogirl](#): > > :eek: Say, she’s allright! Rats! I jumped ahead. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/33 "2006-04-21T18:48:35Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > You know, you got to be careful of dead bees if you’re goin’ around barefooted, 'cause if you step on them they can sting you just as bad as if they was alive, especially if they was kind of mad when they got killed. I bet I been bit a hundred times that way. Continuing the totally unrelated thread hijack, it’s weird this was brought up because yesterday my kid was stung by a disembodied bee abdomen and stinger. The bee itself had just been swatted to death on a window sill a short distance away. The abdomen apparently detached and got on the chair my kid was sitting in, and stung them on the back. It ALSO managed to get over to the next chair and sting my kid’s friend on the leg. We found the abdomen and couldn’t figure out what type of bug it was (no head, no wings, no legs, pointy end) until we discovered the swatted, abdomenless bee on the floor. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/34 "2006-04-21T21:12:40Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > The abdomen apparently detached and got on the chair my kid was sitting in, and stung them on the back. It ALSO managed to get over to the next chair and sting my kid’s friend on the leg. \ That is one magic abdomen! \ ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/35 "2006-04-21T21:48:05Z")
Returning to the OP (which almost feels like a hijack at this point): A detailed account of the Malloy murder can be found in _Where Death Delights: Adventures in Courtroom Medicine_ by Marshall Houts, published in 1967. It’s all about the career and cases of Milton Helpern, longtime chief medical examiner of New York City. A fascinating book if you can find a copy. The same book tells the tale of Joseph Patrick O’Malley, who was electrocuted by peeing on the third rail in the subway. _Mythbusters_ was apparently unaware of the book when they tackled that story. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/36 "2006-04-21T23:20:05Z")
The Amazing Stories episode was titled [One for the Road](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0511112/) and starred James Cromwell and Joey Pants. [sub]In case you wanted to know[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/37 "2006-04-22T01:06:11Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Ah, now that would be telling. You’ll have to research that. It was the subject of perhaps the longest GQ thread in history - 7 pages - back in 2001. I remember that one–and I remember being stumped by that one too. And I remember reading the answer when it appeared. And going D’oh! :smack: Because I’d read it before, in another source. But I’m not telling either! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/38 "2006-04-22T01:53:58Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > One emergency way to treat anti-freeze poisoning is by giving the patient ethanol…drinking alcohol. I think both ethylene glycol and methanol are metabolised by alcohol dehydrogenase, and so drinking large amounts of ethanol occupies the enzyme preferentially, giving the body the chance to expel the antifreeze without making the bad metabolites. > > I doubt this is the prefered emergency room procedure, but it was a part of my enzymology course back in university… > > Explains why the drunk never died, though 😃 It was I.V. ethanol and dialysis last time we had a guy who drank a couple of quarts of antifreeze I believe. He did quite well and was released a short time later. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/39 "2006-04-22T16:56:07Z")
> [@Left Hand of Dorkness](#): > > Can someone link to the May 33 thread? I was really hoping somebody would link it for you, but since nobody did I was forced to search for it myself. (The nerve of some people!) For the record, it was from 2000, and only 5 pages long. [I have to know the answer…What happens on May 33rd, but only on leap years?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=51506) ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531/40 "2006-04-22T17:04:39Z")
> [@Ellis Dee](#): > > I was really hoping somebody would link it for you, but since nobody did I was forced to search for it myself. (The nerve of some people!) For the record, it was from 2000, and only 5 pages long. > > [I have to know the answer…What happens on May 33rd, but only on leap years?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=51506) Never mind, that isn’t it. (Obviously.) If the board weren’t SLOW AS FUCKING SHIT right now, I’d try again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/true-story-about-drunk-in-nyc-in-1920s-can-anyone-verify-edited-title/353531.md?page=3)