Mickey Finn (drugs)

History

Michael "Mickey" Finn

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. 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.{{Citation

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. 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 apparently arrested again in 1918, this time for running an illegal bar in South Chicago.{{Citation

Chicago restaurant poisonings

On June 22, 1918, four people were arrested and over one hundred waiters 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. Chemical analysis showed that it contained antimony potassium tartrate, 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{{Citation

Society and culture

Media

The OED gives a chronology of the term, starting in 1915:

• 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."

References

Notes

Further reading

References

1. "The meaning and origin of the expression: A Mickey Finn".
2. (19 June 2019). "Tourists drinks spiked with date rape drugs by thieving gangs in Benidorm". Metro.
3. (20 September 2018). "How to tell if your drink has been spiked on a night out and what to do". The Independent.
4. (3 May 2011). "Slip Him a Mickey (Finn)".
5. The saloon's exact location is usually said to be on the west side of South State Street, just north of Congress Parkway. The entire west side of South State Street between Congress and Van Buren is now occupied by Chicago Public Library's Central Library (also known as the [[Harold Washington Library]] at 400 South State Street). The December 16–17, 1903 ''[[Chicago Tribune. Chicago Daily Tribune]]'' articles give the address as 527 State Street (corner of State and Harmon Court), however, which is now the 1100 block of South State Street. The 500 block of South State Street now is between Congress Street and Harrison Street, which may be the reason for the confusion of the saloon's location. Refer to "New map of Chicago showing street car lines in colors and street numbers in even hundreds" (Chicago: Rufus Blanchard, 1897) for the 1903 Chicago street names and numbering.
6. The area on State Street centered between Van Buren Street (to the north) to Harrison Street (to the south) was known as "Whiskey Row" from the late 1880s to the early 1910s. Just south of Harrison Street was a block known as "[[Hell's Half Mile]]". The area of State Street south of Harrison was also known as "[[Satan's Mile]]".
7. (18 January 1991). "What's in a Mickey Finn?".
8. (June 23, 1918). "Drugs to the Non-Tippers Arrested Chicago Waiters Confess Poisoning Hotel Guests. Detective Seize Large Quantity". The Kansas City Times.
9. (June 24, 1918). "Charge Waiters Gave Poison to Tipless Diners Alleged Drug Maker, His Wife and Two Bartenders". Duluth News Tribune.
10. (June 23, 1918). "WAITERS TAKEN FOR DRUGGING NONTIPPERS — Hoyne gets evidence of plot against Hotel Guests". Chicago Daily Tribune.
11. (June 24, 1918). "WAITER POISON VICTIMS NAMED TO POLICEMEN". Chicago Daily Tribune.
12. (June 25, 1918). "WAITERS DISOWN "MICKEY FINNS"; DENOUNCE HOYNE". Chicago Daily Tribune.
13. (July 8, 1918). "WOMEN TO BARE NEFARIOUS WORK OF "MICKEY FINN"". Chicago Daily Tribune.
14. (August 7, 1918). ""MICKEY FINN" POWDER GIVEN TO PROSECUTOR — Michels, Hoyne Assistant gets dose while investigating case". Chicago Daily Tribune.
15. (1915). "Mickey Finn". Oxford English Dictionary.
16. (September 3, 1927). "Synthetic sun to ripen fruit while its iced". Chicago Daily Tribune.