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Commonwealth v. Feinberg
The Canned Heat
The facts
The Defendant operated a small cigar store in the skid-row section of Philadelphia. For years, he had sold Sterno — a jellied fuel product intended for cooking and heating — to the neighborhood's alcoholic residents, who diluted it with water and drank it to extract the alcohol. The previous formulation of Sterno contained approximately 4% methanol and 71% ethanol; while it was not meant for consumption, drinking it had not previously caused fatalities among his customers. In December 1963, the Defendant purchased from a distributor ten additional cases of a new "institutional Sterno" — unaware that it contained 54% methanol rather than the usual 4%. The lids of the new cans were marked with a skull and crossbones and the words "Danger. Poison. For use only as a Fuel. Not for consumer use." However, the cartons in which the cans were shipped bore no indication that the contents differed from the old product, and the distributor had not opened the cartons. The Defendant sold approximately 400 cans of the new Sterno. Between December 23 and December 30, 1963, thirty-one people died in the skid-row area from methanol poisoning. The deaths were traced to the new industrial Sterno. The Defendant was the sole retail outlet for this product in the area.
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