On the afternoon of Monday, Sept. 26, a citizen arrived at the Merrill Police Department with a glass vial containing a clear liquid substance. The citizen indicated having found it on the back of a door of an old safe and asked for officer’s assistance in identifying the substance.
When the substance was eventually identified, the result proved quite the surprise to officers as well as the concerned citizen.
“I looked it up on the internet and located an article stating it was probably Chloropricin,” stated Lieutenant Greg Hartwig, the on-duty supervisor during Monday’s day shift. “Chloropricin was used as a chemical weapon in World War One. It was also placed in glass vials in the 1920s era and then placed on the backs of safe doors as a deterrent to persons attempting to break into the safe.”
The substance was later turned over to the Marathon County Bomb Squad for disposal.