When a Poisoned Loaf Nearly Killed an Empire: The Esing Mystery

A Chinese-owned bakery in colonial Hong Kong served arsenic-laced loaves to Europeans at breakfast - who added the poison, and why?

When a Poisoned Loaf Nearly Killed an Empire: The Esing Mystery

In this episode, we follow the morning of January 15, 1857, when hundreds fell violently ill after eating bread from the Esing Bakery and the seven-month crisis that followed. We trace who handled the loaves, how the colony responded, and the unanswered questions that led to a strange criminal trial.

Date: January 15, 1857 Location: Hong Kong Person: Cheong Ah-lum Event: Mass arsenic poisoning of European breakfast loaves Period: Early colonial Hong Kong, sixteen years after British possession

- Between 300 and 500 European residents ate bread from the Esing Bakery and were violently ill by mid-morning. - Chemists measured 62-64 grains of arsenic per pound in the finished loaves, a dose so large it induced vomiting before fatal absorption. - Forensic review of records in 2015 found arsenic present only in baked loaves, not in flour, yeast, scraps, or bakery floor samples. - Bakery owner Cheong Ah-lum fled to Macau with his family, was detained and returned; his children had also shown symptoms. - The trial against those accused opened on February 2, 1857, after seven months of panic, emergency laws, and military and civilian tensions.

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