According to a New York Times report of May 20, 1901, he committed suicide by slitting his wrist and ingesting " corrosive sublimate " or mercuric chloride.
6.
Mercury ( II ) chloride is one obvious suggestion, but that's " corrosive sublimate ", and the " oxy " might suggest it contains oxygen.
7.
The preservative action of a solution of bichloride of mercury was previously well known, and Kyan's process merely consisted in the submersion of timber or other materials in a tank containing a solution of corrosive sublimate in water.
8.
John Thornton Doniphan died from accidental poisoning : while visiting his uncle James Baldwin, he sought relief for a toothache in the middle of the night but mistakenly took corrosive sublimate ( Bethany College, in Bethany, West Virginia, when he drowned in a flood-swollen river.