Mickey Finn (drugs)
Encyclopedia
A Mickey Finn, is a slang
term for a drink
laced with a drug
(especially chloral hydrate
) given to someone without his knowledge in order to incapacitate him. Serving someone a Mickey is most commonly referred to as slipping a mickey, sometimes spelled "slipping a mickie".
of a Chicago establishment, the Lone Star Saloon
and Palm Garden Restaurant, which operated from 1896 to 1903 in the city's South Loop
neighborhood on South State Street
. In December 1903, several Chicago newspapers document 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. Moreover, the first known written example (according to the Oxford English Dictionary
) of the use of the term Mickey Finn is in 1915, twelve years after his trial, lending credence to this theory of the origination of the phrase.
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, which included "house girls", would slip a drug (chloral hydrate
) in 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 the victim and dump him in an alley. Upon awaking the next morning in a nearby alley, the victim would remember little or nothing of what had happened. Finn's saloon was ordered closed on December 16, 1903.
In 1918, Mickey Finn was apparently arrested again, this time for running an illegal bar in South Chicago.
and potassium tartrate
. Antimony is known to cause headache
s, dizziness
, depression
, and vomiting and can be lethal in large quantities. W. Stuart Wood and his wife were arrested for manufacturing the powder, and two bartenders were arrested for selling the powder at the bar at the waiters' union headquarters. Wood sold packets of the powder for 20 cents and referred to it as "Mickey Finn Powder" in a letter to union bartender John Millian. A followup article mentions the pursuit of a man named Jean Crones who was believed to be responsible for poisoning over 100 people at a Chicago University Club banquet at which three people died.
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". The first listed reference as a knock-out drop in the OED, "Wish I had a drink and a Mike Finn for him", is from a March 11, 1924 article in the New York Evening Journal
. A description of a Mickey Finn is given in the January 18, 1927 issue of the Bismarck Tribune
, "a Mickey Finn is an up-to-date variant on the knock-out drops of pre-war days". 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". The phrase also appears in the January 13, 1928, issue of Variety
, "Mickeyfinning isn't describable, but it's easily worked, leaving its victims miserable. The work is accomplished mainly by bartenders... Mickeyfinning has been behind some of the nite club liquor trouble, with the victims so sore they don't care what their revenge might bring".
As a plot device, Mickey Finning first appears in the 1930 film Hold Everything
and the 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon. Since that time it has been used many times in books, film, television, often occurring in detective stories and comedy scenes.
In W.C. Fields' 1940 classic film The Bank Dick
, Fields is attempting to delay the bank examiner with an alcoholic beverage at The Black Pussy Café in Lompoc, California. He signals bartender Shemp Howard his nefarious intentions by asking, pointedly, "Has my friend Michael Finn been in?"
In the 1957 film The Naked Truth
, Peggy Mount
goes in search for some Mickey Finns at the Limehouse Arms.
In the popular TV series Columbo in the episode "A Matter of Honor", 1 February 1976, the Lieutenant refers to it speaking with the alleged murder Montoia about the possibility, that the victim could have been first doped with Mickey Finn and than subsequently killed by the bull in the arena.
In the Seinfeld
episode "The Revenge", George Costanza
tries to get revenge on his Boss for firing him by slipping him a Mickey.
Martin Charnin
used the term in his lyrics for the musical Annie
with opened on Broadway on 1977. The song "It's a Hard Knock Life" has the following verse: Yank the whiskers from her chin /
Jab her with a safety pin /
Make her drink a Mickey Finn /
I love you, Miss Hannigan.
In the Pogues song "London You're a Lady" is the lyric: where Chinamen play cards and draughts, and knock back Mickey Finns
published a series of fictional stories about a boy named "Mickey Finn" growing up in the Irish section of bucolic Rondout, New York
. The "Mickey Finn" stories were published in newspapers across the United States
, bringing nationwide fame to Jarrold. Mickey is also a very old slang term for Irishman. The Oxford English Dictionary
entry for mickey n1 lists the term as derogatory slang for an Irishman, with first known written usage in 1851. From these facts, some argue that by the time the term entered popular usage, Mickey Finn had become something of a generic Irish
name, making any specific origin difficult to pin down.
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
term for a drink
Drink
A drink, or beverage, is a liquid which is specifically prepared for human consumption. In addition to fulfilling a basic human need, beverages form part of the culture of human society.-Water:...
laced with a drug
Psychoactive drug
A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, or psychotropic is a chemical substance that crosses the blood–brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function, resulting in changes in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and behavior...
(especially chloral hydrate
Chloral hydrate
Chloral hydrate is a sedative and hypnotic drug as well as a chemical reagent and precursor. The name chloral hydrate indicates that it is formed from chloral by the addition of one molecule of water. Its chemical formula is C2H3Cl3O2....
) given to someone without his knowledge in order to incapacitate him. Serving someone a Mickey is most commonly referred to as slipping a mickey, sometimes spelled "slipping a mickie".
The Chicago bartender Michael "Mickey" Finn
The Mickey Finn is most likely named for the manager and bartenderBartender
A bartender is a person who serves beverages behind a counter in a bar, pub, tavern, or similar establishment. A bartender, in short, "tends the bar". The term barkeeper may carry a connotation of being the bar's owner...
of a Chicago establishment, the Lone Star Saloon
Bar (establishment)
A bar is a business establishment that serves alcoholic drinks — beer, wine, liquor, and cocktails — for consumption on the premises.Bars provide stools or chairs that are placed at tables or counters for their patrons. Some bars have entertainment on a stage, such as a live band, comedians, go-go...
and Palm Garden Restaurant, which operated from 1896 to 1903 in the city's South Loop
Chicago Loop
The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...
neighborhood on South State Street
State Street (Chicago)
State Street is a large south-north street in Chicago, Illinois, USA and its south suburbs. It begins on the Near North Side at North Avenue. For much of its course, it lies between Wabash Avenue on the east and Dearborn Street/Lafayette Avenue on the west...
. In December 1903, several Chicago newspapers document 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. Moreover, the first known written example (according to the Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
) of the use of the term Mickey Finn is in 1915, twelve years after his trial, lending credence to this theory of the origination of the phrase.
The first popular account of Mickey Finn was given by Herbert Asbury
Herbert Asbury
Herbert Asbury was an American journalist and writer who is best known for his true crime books detailing crime during the 19th and early 20th century such as Gem of the Prairie, Barbary Coast: An Informal History of the San Francisco Underworld and The Gangs of New York...
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, which included "house girls", would slip a drug (chloral hydrate
Chloral hydrate
Chloral hydrate is a sedative and hypnotic drug as well as a chemical reagent and precursor. The name chloral hydrate indicates that it is formed from chloral by the addition of one molecule of water. Its chemical formula is C2H3Cl3O2....
) in 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 the victim and dump him in an alley. Upon awaking the next morning in a nearby alley, the victim would remember little or nothing of what had happened. Finn's saloon was ordered closed on December 16, 1903.
In 1918, Mickey Finn was apparently arrested again, this time for running an illegal bar in South Chicago.
The 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 antimonyAntimony
Antimony is a toxic chemical element with the symbol Sb and an atomic number of 51. A lustrous grey metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite...
and potassium tartrate
Potassium tartrate
Potassium tartrate, dipotassium tartrate or argol has formula K2C4H4O6. It is the potassium salt of tartaric acid. It is often confused with potassium bitartrate, also known as cream of tartar...
. Antimony is known to cause headache
Headache
A headache or cephalalgia is pain anywhere in the region of the head or neck. It can be a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and neck. The brain tissue itself is not sensitive to pain because it lacks pain receptors. Rather, the pain is caused by disturbance of the...
s, dizziness
Dizziness
Dizziness refers to an impairment in spatial perception and stability. The term is somewhat imprecise. It can be used to mean vertigo, presyncope, disequilibrium, or a non-specific feeling such as giddiness or foolishness....
, depression
Depression (mood)
Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behaviour, feelings and physical well-being. Depressed people may feel sad, anxious, empty, hopeless, helpless, worthless, guilty, irritable, or restless...
, and vomiting and can be lethal in large quantities. W. Stuart Wood and his wife were arrested for manufacturing the powder, and two bartenders were arrested for selling the powder at the bar at the waiters' union headquarters. Wood sold packets of the powder for 20 cents and referred to it as "Mickey Finn Powder" in a letter to union bartender John Millian. A followup article mentions the pursuit of a man named Jean Crones who was believed to be responsible for poisoning over 100 people at a Chicago University Club banquet at which three people died.
Tracing usage of the phrase "Mickey Finn"
The Oxford English DictionaryOxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
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". The first listed reference as a knock-out drop in the OED, "Wish I had a drink and a Mike Finn for him", is from a March 11, 1924 article in the New York Evening Journal
New York Journal American
The New York Journal American was a newspaper published from 1937 to 1966. The Journal American was the product of a merger between two New York newspapers owned by William Randolph Hearst: The New York American , a morning paper, and the New York Evening Journal, an afternoon paper...
. A description of a Mickey Finn is given in the January 18, 1927 issue of the Bismarck Tribune
Bismarck Tribune
The Bismarck Tribune is a daily newspaper printed in Bismarck, North Dakota. The Tribune is the primary daily newspaper for south-central and southwest North Dakota. Its average daily circulation is 31,081 on Sundays and 27,620 on weekdays. One notable reporter for the paper was Mark H...
, "a Mickey Finn is an up-to-date variant on the knock-out drops of pre-war days". In the September 3, 1927 issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune, the phrase appears in an article on the use of ethylene
Ethylene
Ethylene is a gaseous organic compound with the formula . It is the simplest alkene . Because it contains a carbon-carbon double bond, ethylene is classified as an unsaturated hydrocarbon. Ethylene is widely used in industry and is also a plant hormone...
for artificial ripening of fruit, "Applied to a human, ethylene is an anaesthetic as the old-time Mickey Finn in a lumber-jack saloon". The phrase also appears in the January 13, 1928, issue of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
, "Mickeyfinning isn't describable, but it's easily worked, leaving its victims miserable. The work is accomplished mainly by bartenders... Mickeyfinning has been behind some of the nite club liquor trouble, with the victims so sore they don't care what their revenge might bring".
As a plot device, Mickey Finning first appears in the 1930 film Hold Everything
Hold Everything
Hold Everything may refer to:*Hold Everything!, 1928 Broadway musical*Hold Everything *Hold Everything , defunct retail chain...
and the 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon. Since that time it has been used many times in books, film, television, often occurring in detective stories and comedy scenes.
In W.C. Fields' 1940 classic film The Bank Dick
The Bank Dick
The Bank Dick is a 1940 comedy film. W. C. Fields plays a character named Egbert Sousé who trips a bank robber and ends up a security guard as a result...
, Fields is attempting to delay the bank examiner with an alcoholic beverage at The Black Pussy Café in Lompoc, California. He signals bartender Shemp Howard his nefarious intentions by asking, pointedly, "Has my friend Michael Finn been in?"
In the 1957 film The Naked Truth
The Naked Truth
-Literature:* The Naked Truth , a fictional memoir by Leslie Nielsen* The Naked Truth , a commentary on film ratings-Film:* The Naked Truth , a 1914 silent Italian film* The Naked Truth...
, Peggy Mount
Peggy Mount
Margaret Rose "Peggy" Mount OBE, was an English actress of stage and screen. She was perhaps best known for playing battleaxe characters, though her real personality was said to have been far removed from such roles. She was also well-known for her distinctive voice.- Early life :Mount was born in...
goes in search for some Mickey Finns at the Limehouse Arms.
In the popular TV series Columbo in the episode "A Matter of Honor", 1 February 1976, the Lieutenant refers to it speaking with the alleged murder Montoia about the possibility, that the victim could have been first doped with Mickey Finn and than subsequently killed by the bull in the arena.
In the Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
episode "The Revenge", George Costanza
George Costanza
George Louis Costanza is a character in the American television sitcom Seinfeld , played by Jason Alexander. He has variously been described as a "short, stocky, slow-witted, bald man" , "Lord of the Idiots" , and as "the greatest sitcom character of all time"...
tries to get revenge on his Boss for firing him by slipping him a Mickey.
Martin Charnin
Martin Charnin
Martin Charnin is an American lyricist, writer, and theatre director. Charnin's best-known work is as conceiver, director and lyricist of the hit musical Annie....
used the term in his lyrics for the musical Annie
Annie (musical)
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...
with opened on Broadway on 1977. The song "It's a Hard Knock Life" has the following verse: Yank the whiskers from her chin /
Jab her with a safety pin /
Make her drink a Mickey Finn /
I love you, Miss Hannigan.
In the Pogues song "London You're a Lady" is the lyric: where Chinamen play cards and draughts, and knock back Mickey Finns
Other possible origins
Starting in the 1880s, the author Ernest JarroldErnest Jarrold
Ernest Justin Jarrold was the author of a series of popular fictional stories about a boy named Mickey Finn. The "Mickey Finn" stories were published in newspapers across the United States, bringing nationwide fame to Jarrold....
published a series of fictional stories about a boy named "Mickey Finn" growing up in the Irish section of bucolic Rondout, New York
Rondout, New York
Rondout was a village located on the north side of Rondout Creek near its mouth on the Hudson River in Ulster County and includes the Rondout-West Strand Historic District....
. The "Mickey Finn" stories were published in newspapers across the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, bringing nationwide fame to Jarrold. Mickey is also a very old slang term for Irishman. The Oxford English Dictionary
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
entry for mickey n1 lists the term as derogatory slang for an Irishman, with first known written usage in 1851. From these facts, some argue that by the time the term entered popular usage, Mickey Finn had become something of a generic Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
name, making any specific origin difficult to pin down.
See also
- FlunitrazepamFlunitrazepamFlunitrazepam is marketed as a potent hypnotic, sedative, anticonvulsant, anxiolytic, amnestic, and skeletal muscle relaxant drug most commonly known as Rohypnol...
- TemazepamTemazepamTemazepam is an intermediate-acting 3-hydroxy benzodiazepine. It is mostly prescribed for the short-term treatment of sleeplessness in patients who have difficulty maintaining sleep...
- MidazolamMidazolamMidazolam is a short-acting drug in the benzodiazepine class developed by Hoffmann-La Roche in the 1970s. The drug is used for treatment of acute seizures, moderate to severe insomnia, and for inducing sedation and amnesia before medical procedures. It possesses profoundly potent anxiolytic,...
- GHBGamma-Hydroxybutyric acidγ-Hydroxybutyric acid , also known as 4-hydroxybutanoic acid and sodium oxybate when used for medicinal purposes, is a naturally occurring substance found in the central nervous system, wine, beef, small citrus fruits, and almost all animals in small amounts. It is also categorized as an illegal...
- Date rape drugDate rape drugA date rape drug is any drug that can be used to assist in the execution of a sexual assault, such as date rape. Drugs used to facilitate rape may have sedative, hypnotic, dissociative, and/or amnesiac effects, and can be added to a food or drink without the victim's knowledge.The act of adding...
Further reading
- Herbert Asbury, Gem of the Prairie: An Informal History of the Chicago Underworld (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1940).
- James A. lnciardi, "THE CHANGING LIFE OF MICKEY FINN: Some Notes On Chloral Hydrate Down Through the Ages", Journal of Popular Culture, Winter 1977 - Vol. 11 Issue 3 Page 591.
External links
- The Straight Dope — supporting the knockout explanation
- The Phrase Finder — thorough history of the phrase
- Chicago City of the Century - supports Chicago bartender origin
- Word Detective — supporting the noxious substance explanation, but acknowledging common usage as knockout drug.