Slip Someone a Mickey

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Joyce Miller.

I am in Omaha, Nebraska.

Well, hello, Omaha.

What can we do for you?

I like to listen to radio classics on satellite radio after a long, hard day.

And I happen to be listening to a detective show from, I believe, the 50s.

And the detective was telling us about being slipped a Mickey and waking up with a headache.

It occurred to me that I know a Mickey is a tranquilizer, but why is it Mickey?

Who is Mickey?

Martha, Mickey’s got a heck of a tail behind it.

It really does.

I mean, it goes back apparently to a specific Mickey.

It refers to Mickey Finn, who was the manager of the Lone Star Saloon in Chicago in the late 19th and early 20th century.

And he was notorious for supposedly drugging certain customers and then waiting for them to pass out and relieving them of their valuables.

He would have people help him out doing that.

And so to slip someone a Mickey or to slip someone a Mickey Finn was to doctor a drink and give it to somebody.

But, you know, Joyce, you mentioned it being a tranquilizer.

It wasn’t always a tranquilizer or a sedative, though, because sometimes those drugs were strong laxatives or emetics.

Oh, my Lord.

Yeah, emetics that would cause vomiting.

And in fact, in 1918, there were a bunch of waiters in Chicago who were arrested on charges of conspiracy and assault to do bodily harm using what was called a Mickey Finn powder, which was a strong emetic.

That is, it would make somebody vomit like crazy.

And apparently what happened was the waiters union purchased this drug from a supplier for 20 cents and then upsold it to the waiters in the union for 25 cents.

And then if a regular patron of a hotel or cafe persistently forgot to tip the waiters or was otherwise just kind of obnoxious or overly demanding, they would get slipped a mickey.

Yes.

Wow.

Absolutely.

You know, this absolutely cracks me up because I grew up 35 miles southwest of Chicago.

So we went into the city quite a bit.

And it just cracks me up that I, you know, I’m from Chicago and I didn’t know Mickey was from Chicago.

Yeah, he was kind of famous in his time.

He made the newspapers.

All right.

You take care of yourself.

All right.

Thank you.

And make sure you cover your drink when you step away from the bar.

No kidding.

All right.

Bye-bye.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Bye.

Take care.

Bye, Joyce.