Death from poisoning resulting from natural causes

[medpat]

Having gone through this myself, it's a blocked or a none working intestine. I had a severe case of gastroenteritis which stopped the natural movement of my intestines.

Green vomit is fecal matter escaping the only way it can.

I was given medicine to allow my intestines to start to work. A blockage perhaps would require an operation and in those days 

[Rena]

Having gone through this myself, it's a blocked or a none working intestine. I had a severe case of gastroenteritis which stopped the natural movement of my intestines.

Green vomit is fecal matter escaping the only way it can.

I was given medicine to allow my intestines to start to work. A blockage perhaps would require an operation and in those days 

How awful !

Thanks for sharing.

[Claire64]

Thanks everyone for your input.  I didn't get any emails about replies, so I have only just seen these answers.

The area is rural, but there was a steelworks in the bottom of the valley
She was ill at school at midday, died the next
She'd always been a "weak" child apparently.

They opened her stomach but did not find a cause of death.  But in 1877, how likely was that?  It's perfectly possible she did eat something.  It was in May, by the way.

I think the newspapers over-played it, as they do today, with lurid headlines about poisoning.

Thanks again

[Skoosh]

Even Carbon Monoxide poisoning from gas lights or a range might have been the cause.

Skoosh.

[Mowsehowse]

I note the reply from Medpat which sounds most likely, (and horrible).

For interest the following lists the signs of arsenic poisoning.....

In Victorian times green dye became hugely popular; known as emerald green, it was arsenic which made the colour so bright.  Used extensively, not only for clothing and gloves, but also for wallpapers and carpets, "the effects of arsenic exposure are horrific. In addition to being deadly, it produces ulcers all over the skin. Those who come in close contact with it might develop scabs and sores wherever it touched. It can also make your hair fall out, and can cause people to vomit blood before shutting down their livers and kidneys." 
(https://www.racked.com/2017/3/17/14914840/green-dye-history-death)

[Skoosh]

Green wallpaper supposedly killed Napoleon. 

Skoosh.

[Viktoria]

True Skoosh,it was pretty damp on the island and that sort of activated the
arsenic.
 MY Mum had a brooch ,about one and a half inches long,it looked like ivory ,and was tooth shaped,a big tooth .
A bit like scrimshaw,the carving and darkening with pigments on bone . I think it was done by sailors,especially whalers.
It said on it St. Helena.
Where it came from ,no idea,pretty ugly and to my knowledge never worn.
Can not imagine Mum ever going there.
Viktoria.

[andrewalston]

I have a 17-year old in a rural district who in 1788 is described as being "Casually poisoned".

It's only when the brain kicks into gear that you realise that the language has changed, and these days we would say "Accidentally".

A baby in the same village a few years later died from "St. Anthony's Fire" - ergot poisoning. Ergot is a mould which grows on old grain.

[Mike in Cumbria]

Fly Agaric,the pretty but deadly red with white patches toadstool is deadly.

You're not alone in believing this, but it's far from true. It is mildly poisonous, but hardly anyone has ever died from eating it. If cooked properly, it can be (and often is) eaten, and has hallucinogenic properties similar to LSD.

From memory, a fatal dose would be somewhere around 50 fly agaric mushrooms.