MATTOON PROWLER TERMED MYTH: GAS FROM WAR PLANT
State Police Officer Says 'Attacks' Are 'Examples of Mass Hysteria.'
MATTOON, Ill., Sept. 13 (AP). -- Mattoon's gas-spraying prowler, State and city police officials now believe, is non-existent.
Fumes from a war plant and mass hysteria, they said yesterday, were to blame for the reports by more than 20 persons that they had been attacked by the prowler who supposedly sprayed a sickening gas through open bedroom windows.
"The whole thing is a mistake," said Police Chief C.E. Cole and State Police Capt. Harry Curtis, who was in charge of State police sent here to aid local police. Curtis termed it a perfect example of mass psychology "aided by a whispering campaign, blossoming into mass hysteria."
Investigation disclosed no evidence to support stories told police. Curtis said a prowler may have been seen in some of the cases but "merely by coincidence." Police said large quantities of carbon tetrachloride are used in war work at the Atlas Imperial Diesel Engine Co., and that "it has an odor that can be carried to all parts of the city as the wind shifts."
Investigators said such a chemical would cause symptoms reported by some of the victims--dry lips and parched throat. Some also had reported they were nauseated and affected by partial paralysis for a brief time. -- Wednesday, September 14, page 4A
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