Mickey Finn (drugs)
In American slang, a Mickey Finn, or a Mickey (often called a spiked drink), is a drink laced with an incapacitating agent, particularly chloral hydrate, given to someone without their consent with the intent to incapacitate them or "knock them out"; hence the colloquial name knockout drops. Serving someone a Mickey is most commonly referred to as "slipping someone a mickey".[1] The "spiking" of drinks is a practice used by sexual predators and murderers at drinking establishments who lace alcoholic drinks with sedative drugs.[2][3]
History
[edit]Michael "Mickey" Finn
[edit]The "Mickey Finn" is most likely named after the manager and bartender of the Lone Star Saloon and Palm Garden Restaurant, which operated on South State Street in the Loop neighborhood of Chicago from 1896 to 1903.[4] In December 1903, several Chicago newspapers documented that a Michael "Mickey" Finn managed the Lone Star Saloon and was accused of using knockout drops to incapacitate and rob some of his customers.[5][6][7][8] The first known written example of the term, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), is in 1915, twelve years after his trial.
The first popular account of Mickey Finn was given by Herbert Asbury in his 1940 book Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld. His cited sources are Chicago newspapers and the 1903 court testimony of Lone Star prostitute "Gold Tooth" Mary Thornton. Before his days as a saloon proprietor, Mickey Finn was known as a pickpocket and thief who often preyed on drunken bar patrons. The act of serving a Mickey Finn Special was a coordinated robbery orchestrated by Finn. First, Finn or one of his employees (including "house girls") would slip chloral hydrate into the unsuspecting patron's drink.[9] The incapacitated patron would be escorted or carried into a back room by one of Finn's associates, who would then rob him and dump him in an alley. The victim would wake up the next morning in a nearby alley and would remember little or nothing of what had happened.
Finn's saloon was ordered to be closed on December 16, 1903. He was arrested again in 1918 for running an illegal bar in South Chicago.[10]
Chicago restaurant poisonings
[edit]On June 22, 1918, four people were arrested, and over one hundred waiters were taken into custody over the apparent widespread practice of poisoning by waiters in Chicago. Guests who tipped poorly were given "Mickey Finn powder" in their food or drinks.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17] Chemical analysis showed that it contained antimony potassium tartrate,[13] also called "emetic tartar"; which in addition to causing vomiting, headaches, dizziness and depression, can be lethal in large quantities. Two bartenders were arrested for selling the powder at the bar at the waiters' union headquarters, and W. Stuart Wood and his wife were arrested for manufacturing the powder. Wood sold packets of it for 20 cents[18] and referred to it as "Mickey Finn Powder" in a letter to union bartender John Millian.[19] A follow-up article mentions the pursuit of a man named Jean Crones, who was believed to be responsible for poisoning over 100 people at a banquet held at the University Club of Chicago at which three people died.[20][21]
Society and culture
[edit]Media
[edit]The OED gives a chronology of the term, starting in 1915:[22]
- The 1915 citation is from a photograph of a saloon in the December 26 edition of the Los Angeles Examiner. In the photograph is a sign that reads: "Try a Michael Finn cocktail".
- In the September 3, 1927, issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune, the phrase appears in an article on the use of ethylene for artificial ripening of fruit: "Applied to a human, ethylene is an anaesthetic as the old-time Mickey Finn in a lumber-jack saloon."[23]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ^ "The meaning and origin of the expression: A Mickey Finn". Retrieved July 13, 2017.
- ^ "Tourists drinks spiked with date rape drugs by thieving gangs in Benidorm". Metro. June 19, 2019.
- ^ "How to tell if your drink has been spiked on a night out and what to do". The Independent. September 20, 2018. Archived from the original on May 14, 2022.
- ^ "Slip Him a Mickey (Finn)". May 3, 2011. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
- ^ "Graft Evidence Used to Indict; Stories of Knockout Drops", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 5, December 16, 1903
- ^ "Graft Fighters Win Two Battles; License for Finn's Resort Is Revoked and One Saloon keeper Indicted", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 3, December 17, 1903
- ^ "The complete defense advanced by 'Mickey' Finn, proprietor of the Lone Star saloon ... described ... as the scene of blood-curdling crimes through the agency of drugged liquor.", Chicago Daily News, December 16, 1903.
- ^ "Lone Star Saloon loses its license. 'Mickey' Finn's alleged 'knock-out drops' ... put him out of business.", Inter-Ocean [Chicago], December 17, 1903
- ^ "What's in a Mickey Finn?". The Straight Dope. January 18, 1991.
- ^ "Extry! Extry! They've taken Mickey Finn". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 8, 1918. p. 1.
- ^ "Drugs to the Non-Tippers Arrested Chicago Waiters Confess Poisoning Hotel Guests. Detective Seize Large Quantity", The Kansas City Times, p. 3, June 23, 1918
- ^ "Charge Waiters Gave Poison to Tipless Diners Alleged Drug Maker, His Wife and Two Bartenders", Duluth News Tribune, p. 1, June 24, 1918
- ^ a b "WAITERS TAKEN FOR DRUGGING NONTIPPERS — Hoyne gets evidence of plot against Hotel Guests", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 1, June 23, 1918
- ^ "Waiter Poison Victims Named to Policemen", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 3, June 24, 1918
- ^ "Waiters disown "Mickey Finns"; denounce Hoyne", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 13, June 25, 1918
- ^ "Women to Bare Nefarious Work of "Mickey Finn"", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 7, July 8, 1918
- ^ ""Mickey Finn" Powder Given to Prosecutor — Michels, Hoyne Assistant gets dose while investigating case", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 13, August 7, 1918
- ^ "Ten Indicted in Diabolisms of 'Mickey Finn'". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 9, 1918. p. 8..
- ^ "Evidence Given U. S. of Sales of "Mickey Finns"". Chicago Daily Tribune. July 11, 1918. p. 7.
- ^ "On Trail of Poisoner Authorities Believe Jean Crones, Wanted in Chicago, is in Army", The Idaho Daily Statesman, p. 5, June 26, 1918.
- ^ "Looking for Jean Crones. Chicago Police Believe Chef Had Hand in "Micky Finn" Poison Case", The Kansas City Times, p. 5, June 26, 1918.
- ^ "Mickey Finn". Oxford English Dictionary. 1915.
- ^ "Synthetic sun to ripen fruit while its iced", Chicago Daily Tribune, p. 17, September 3, 1927
Further reading
[edit]- Asbury, Herbert (1940). Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
- Inciardi, James A. (Winter 1977). "The Changing Life of Mickey Finn: Some Notes On Chloral Hydrate Down Through the Ages". Journal of Popular Culture. 11 (3): 591–6. doi:10.1111/j.0022-3840.1977.00591.x. PMID 11614798.
External links
[edit]- Chicago City of the Century - supports Chicago bartender origin
- The Phrase Finder — thorough history of the phrase
- The Straight Dope — supporting the knockout explanation
- Word Detective — supporting the noxious substance explanation, but acknowledging common usage as knockout drug.