HISTORY No. 12 Snuff Death.

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Taken from an English Newspaper      1881.

AN AGED SNUFF-TAKER DIES FROM HER LUXURY

Ellen Colman who has just died in the workhouse in Liverpool, at the age of 104, might have been alive now, but that she accidentally swallowed half an ounce of snuff.    The jury at the inquest appended a rider, expressing a hope that the mischance would not prevent aged inmates of the house from getting their snuff in future.   It is better, they doubtless thought, to run the risk of a centenarian now and again dying prematurely to making old people generally uncomfortable for fear such a thing would happen.

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Awesome.  Thanks for the post.  I just watched a documentary on “the workhouse” and was pretty blown away.  As an American I didn’t understand the prevalence of the institution.  Snuff must have been just about the only good thing going for the people there, so I can imagine their hesitation to ban it.

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Lived to 104 in 1881, in a workhouse? Sounds more like she beat the hell out of the actuarial tables of the times.

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