Reports of Trials for Murder by Poisoning; - by Prussic Acid, Strychnia, Antimony, Arsenic, and Aconita.

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Title: Reports of Trials for Murder by Poisoning; - by Prussic Acid, Strychnia, Antimony, Arsenic, and Aconita.
Author: Stewart, C. G., Browne, G. Lathom
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "Reports of Trials for Murder by Poisoning; - by Prussic Acid, Strychnia, Antimony, Arsenic, and Aconita." ***

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

—Obvious print and punctuation errors were corrected.

—The subscript numbers, used in chemical formulae, have been rendered
as H_{2}SO_{4}.

REPORTS OF TRIALS

FOR

MURDER BY POISONING.

REPORTS OF TRIALS

FOR

MURDER BY POISONING;

PRUSSIC ACID, STRYCHNIA, ANTIMONY,
ARSENIC, AND ACONITIA.

INCLUDING THE

TRIALS OF TAWELL, W. PALMER, DOVE, MADELINE SMITH,
DR. PRITCHARD, SMETHURST, AND DR. LAMSON,

WITH

CHEMICAL INTRODUCTION AND NOTES ON
THE POISONS USED.

G. LATHOM BROWNE,

OF THE MIDLAND CIRCUIT, BARRISTER-AT-LAW, AUTHOR OF “NARRATIVES OF
STATE TRIALS IN THE 19TH CENTURY,”

AND

C. G. STEWART,

SENIOR ASSISTANT IN THE LABORATORY OF ST. THOMAS’S HOSPITAL;
ASSOCIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, DUBLIN;
AND OF THE SOCIETY OF PUBLIC ANALYSTS.

LONDON:

STEVENS AND SONS, 119, CHANCERY LANE,

Law Publishers and Booksellers.

1883.

LONDON:

BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.

PREFACES.

THIS volume of selected reports of the most remarkable trials for
murder by poisoning, which have been held during the past half century,
with essays and notes explanatory of the nature, and operation,
and methods of detecting the various poisons supposed to have been
employed, will it is hoped prove useful to the medical, as well as
the legal profession. With this object the evidence of the medical
and chemical witnesses has been given in detail, especially in those
cases in which a conflict of scientific testimony arose, between
experts of the highest professional character and reputation. Care has
also been taken to state the scientific nomenclature of this class of
witness correctly, a point on which the shorthand writers, otherwise
so reliable, are naturally liable to fail, catching as they do only
the sounds of a language unknown to them, in reporting which the error
even in a single letter is often most important. My colleague, besides
furnishing the latest information obtainable with reference to the
various poisons, has offered from recent experiments, made specially
for this purpose, explanations of those points in the several trials
about which the rival experts disputed, bringing to bear on them the
latest discoveries in chemical science.

In preparing these reports, I have followed the form adopted by the
late Mr. Townsend, the Recorder of Macclesfield, in his valuable
volumes of trials—now I believe quite out of print—grouping the
witnesses under the heads of the case to which their evidence specially
applied, dividing the scientific from the moral testimony, and wherever
a conflict arose between the experts called for the prosecution and
those for the defence, giving the evidence of the latter immediately
after that of the former, so as to place the points at issue more
clearly before the reader.

It would have been impossible, within reasonable limits, to have
reported in detail the elaborate speeches of counsel (most of them
models of argument, criticism, and eloquence), or the minute and
exhaustive charges of many of the presiding judges. The abstracts
which have been given will, however, serve to perpetuate the most
important and notable parts of both. In some of the cases the immediate
application of these either to certain points in the evidence, or to
the arguments adduced on either side, has been shown by quotations in
the notes. With these exceptions, and a few notes pointing out errors
or discrepancies in the evidence, I have generally forborne to express
an opinion on the verdict, preferring to present such reports of the
evidence as may enable the student to form his own conclusions.

With the progress of chemical science the field of the poisoner
is constantly extending. New poisons are yearly discovered, each
succeeding one apparently more difficult of detection than the former.
Death lurks in many unsuspected forms, and but for the parallel march
of the science of detection, the poisoner would more often escape. A
grave danger to society, too, lies in the patent medicines, so popular
and so perilous; in the vermin killers, loaded with deadly poison,
which can be bought without let or hindrance by any one; and the use
of preparations for animals—not so deleterious to the latter, as they
are death-dealing—if either intentionally or by accident given to a
human being. Stringent as the regulations of the Poisons Act appear on
paper, the facility with which Lamson purchased aconitia, merely on the
credit of his name appearing in the Medical Directory, and the really
unrestricted sale of patent medicines and vermin-killers, mark the
practical inutility of the Act. A new Act, dealing with these points,
has been promised by the Government, but there seems little probability
of its passing this session.

G. L. B.

* * * * *

IN the compilation of these chemical notes it has been found very
difficult to be sufficiently simple and complete in explanation for
non-scientific readers, without either sacrificing many important
details, or exceeding the limited space available. I have attempted
as far as possible not only to solve the questions that arose in the
trials, but to look forward to many that might occur in future cases.
No claim is laid to originality except in a few experiments; but the
search through existing authorities has involved so much labour, that I
must plead a very limited leisure as an excuse for any incompleteness.
In such portions as touched on medicine I have been guided by the later
text-books, and by living advice. It has been thought preferable to
give references in the text, at the very passage quoted, instead of in
foot-notes.

With regard to the proposed new Poisons Act one or two considerations
should not be forgotten. There are hundreds of ways of taking life: the
poisoner’s is only one. Even in his method the number of fatal agents
he may use is almost unlimited. To make a schedule of certain poisons
that are not to be sold without restriction, seems like prohibiting
knives, while allowing stilettos—the latter are certainly less usual,
but quite as fatal. Moreover, the Act of 1868 only affects one channel
by which poisons may reach the public—viz., through the retail
chemists. It secures a record of ordinary shop purchases, and thus
facilitates the tracing of crime. But the channels of trade are still
open: hundred-weights of arsenic are obtained, where ounces could not
be purchased; and these large stocks are often carelessly kept, and
left open to servants, workmen, or even children. The result is that
the supposed restrictions on obtaining poisons are almost illusory:
these substances are sown broadcast among ignorant people, and are
placed in cupboards unlabelled among articles of food. The following
are recent illustrations:—

“At Corkley, Wilts, the wife of a labourer used, instead of
baking-powder, a packet of arsenic, intended by her husband as
medicine for his horses. The husband and wife died.”—_Weekly
Dispatch, May 6, 1883._

“At Whitchurch, a farmer was accused of poisoning a large number of
cattle and other animals with arsenic. In 1881 he had obtained several
pounds of it from Liverpool, stating that he wanted it to destroy
vermin.”—_Evening Standard, June 2, 1883._

In the schedule of the 1868 Act, among the _less dangerous poisons_,
to be obtained without restriction beyond proper labelling, appears,
“Almonds, Essential Oil of (_unless deprived of prussic acid_).” Yet
this preparation is one of the most perilous, as has been shown by
numbers of deaths, and lately by the West Malling case (not yet ripe
enough for reporting). There are also other faults in the schedule.

Remembering, then, that legislation on the sale of poisons is utterly
unable to _prevent_ poisoning, that all it can do is to make the means
a little difficult, and the detection more easy, how can we approve
the proposal at this moment made, to tack on a few, very tentative
clauses to an unsuccessful Act, and four more names to a very defective
schedule? Why insert chloride of antimony, and omit nitrate of silver,
sulphate of copper, and chloride of tin? The essence of a “poison” is
_quantity_; and no Act which does not specify the maximum quantity
that may be sold, can be effective. Beyond this, why should it be more
criminal to _sell_ a dangerous substance to a poisoner than to _give_
it to him, or by culpable negligence to allow him to take possession of
it? If such neglect were made punishable, if people who left arsenic,
&c., about in cupboards without precaution, had to suffer for the
consequences, we should hear less of such “accidents.”

I am deeply indebted to Dr. Bernays, Professor of Chemistry at St.
Thomas’s Hospital, for kind advice and facilities of consultation and
experiment; to Doctors Harley, Ord, Acland, and to my namesake, Mr.
Charles Stewart, F.L.S., for many valuable suggestions; and especially
to Mr. E. G. Clayton, F.C.S., who contributed the main part of the
chapter on Aconitia, and helped me materially in other portions of the
chemical notes.

The main authorities drawn upon have been:—

Taylor’s Medical Jurisprudence, 1873.
Taylor on Poisons.
Woodman and Tidy’s Handy-Book of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology,
1877.
Blyth’s Manual of Practical Chemistry, 1879.
Guy and Ferrier’s Forensic Medicine, 1881.
Allen’s Commercial Organic Analysis, 1879.
Royle’s Materia Medica, edited by Dr. J. Harley, 1876.
Christison on Poisons, 1829.
Fresenius’ Qual. and Quant. Analysis.
Watt’s Dictionary of Chemistry.
Chemical Society’s Journal.
Chemical News, Lancet, &c.
Farquharson’s Therapeutics.
Mohr’s Toxicologie, trans. by Gautier, 1876.
Casper’s Handbook of Forensic Medicine, trans. by Balfour, 1861-5.
Beilstein’s Organische Chemie, 1882.
Year Book of Pharmacy.
British and other Pharmacopœias.
Squire’s Companion.

In conclusion, it has been obviously impossible in the limited space to
explain elementary facts or principles. These may be ascertained from
any of the standard textbooks.

C. G. S.

CONTENTS.

PAGE PREFACES v

ADDENDA: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN STRYCHNIA AND MORPHIA xv

” PROCESS FOR OBTAINING PURE CHLORINE xvi

CHAPTER I.

CHEMICAL INTRODUCTION.

Summary of symptoms exhibited by various poisons: (1) Sudden
death—(2) Insensibility—(3) Vomiting—(4) Action on the eye—(5)
Convulsions—(6) Chronic poisoning. Alkaloids, chemically
and physiologically—Processes for their detection—Necessity
for keeping the extracts separate—Dragendorff’s process—Dr.
Guy’s sublimation process—Effects on animals—Doubtful value
of this test—Preparation and effects of reagents: (1)
Mayer’s—(2) Potassium tri-iodide—(3) Sonnenschein’s test—(4)
Bismuth—(5) Phosphotungstic acid—(6) Picric acid—(7) Animal
charcoal—(8) Platinic chloride—(9) Tannin or Tannic acid—(10)
Phospho-antimonic acid—(11) Silico-tungstic acid—(12) Auric,
palladium and mercuric chlorides—Ptomaines or cadaveric
alkaloids; difficulties raised by their discovery—Principles to
be observed in analysing 1

CHAPTER II.

TRIALS FOR POISONING BY PRUSSIC ACID 16

(1) John Tawell (_Slough Case_), March, 1850.

(2) George Ball (_Lewes Case_), July, 1860.

(3) Peter Walker (_Egglesham Case_), Dec., 1857.

CHAPTER III.

HYDROCYANIC OR PRUSSIC ACID.

Nature of—Strength of different preparations of, English
and foreign—Where found—Tests, preliminary: (1) Odour—(2)
Silver—(3) Prussian blue—(4) Sulphur—(5) Guaiacum—(6)
Uranium—(7) Picric acid—(8) Cupric sulphate—(9) Cobalt
chloride—(10) Mercuric oxide—(11) Peroxide of hydrogen—(12)
Mercurous nitrate. Test apparatus—Salts of hydrocyanic acid:
(1) Potassium cyanide—(2) Mercuric cyanide—(3) Cyanides of
the heavy metals—(4) Double cyanides—(5) Sulphocyanides—Oil
of bitter almonds—Antidotes—Fatal dose—Symptoms—Post-mortem
appearances—Drops and minims—Period after death at which
hydrocyanic acid can be discovered—Formic acid to be tested
for—Processes 55

CHAPTER IV.

TRIALS FOR POISONING BY STRYCHNIA 84

(1) William Palmer (_Rugeley Case_), May, 1856.
(2) William Dove (_Leeds Case_), July, 1856.
(3) Silas Barlow (_Vauxhall Case_), November, 1876.

CHAPTER V.

STRYCHNIA AND BRUCIA.

Contained in St. Ignatius’s bean—False Angostura bark—_Nux
Vomica_, &c.—Properties of strychnia—Facility of detection.
_Tests_: (1) Microscope—(2) Taste—(3) Color test; ditto in
other alkaloids, in bile, and in resinous and saccharine
matters—(4) Physiological test (Marshall Hall)—(5) Bichromate
of potash—(6) Picric acid—(7) Sulphuric acid and sodium
nitrite—(8) Mercuric chloride. Preparations of strychnia:
_Vermin killers_—Battle’s, Gibson’s, Miller’s, Marsden’s,
Barber’s, Hunter’s, Keating’s—_Brucia_—_Igasuria_—_Igasuric
acid_. _Doses of strychnia_: medicinal, fatal, recovery—_Nux
vomica_. _Fatal period_ for strychnia—_Symptoms_ in man,
commencement of symptoms, if given in powder, in solution,
in pills. _Explanation of symptoms_: by hysteria, tetanus,
epilepsy, gritty granules on spinal cord—Angina pectoris.
_Post-mortem_ appearances—Treatment—Antidotes—Dr. Taylor’s
evidence—Ptomaine—Did Cook die from morphia?—_Granular
preparations_ at St. Thomas’s Hospital 276

CHAPTER VI.

TRIALS FOR POISONING BY ARSENIC 294

(1) Madeline Smith (_Glasgow Case_), June, 1857.
(2) Ann Merritt (_Clapton Case_), March, 1850.

CHAPTER VII.

ARSENIC.

The element (arsenicum)—The oxide (white
arsenic)—Arsenicum—Arsenicum trioxide. Forms of: (1)
Crystalline—(2) Amorphous—Solubility. Uses and occurrences: (1)
Steeping, wheat—(2) Preservation of skins—(3) Antiseptics—(4)
Glass making—(5) Fur in boilers—(6) Candles—(7) Preservation
of wood—(8) Sheep washes—(9) Scheele’s green and emerald
green as pigments in sweets (case of Franklin and Randall),
wall papers, toys, &c.—(10) Medicinal—(11) For horses—(12)
Tooth-stopping—(13) Aniline dyes—(14) Fireworks—(15) Rat
and fly poisons (case of Maria Gage)—(16) For cleansing
metals—(17) Arsenic eaters—(18) Cosmetics—(19) For bronzing
metals—(20) Beer brewed from glucose—(21) American paper
collars—(22) Speculum metal—(23) Inhalation for asthma and
bronchitis—(24) Mineral waters. Sulphides of Arsenic: (1)
Orpiment (case of M. A. Burdock)—(2) Realgar. Arsenic acid—The
arsenates—Arsenic trichloride—Arseniuretted hydrogen—Methods
of extraction—Tests—Modifications of old processes
suggested—Marsh’s test, distinction of results in arsenic
and antimony—Reinsch’s test—Doses—Antidotes—Physiological
effects—Remarks—Did L’Angelier commit suicide? 373

CHAPTER VIII.

TRIALS FOR POISONING BY ANTIMONY 397

(1) Dr. Pritchard (_Glasgow Case_), July, 1865.
(2) Dr. Smethurst (_Richmond Case_), August, 1859.
(3) Thos. Winslow (_Liverpool Case_), August, 1860.

CHAPTER IX.

ANTIMONY.

Properties of the metal—Alloys—Compounds—Chlorides,
sulphides, oxides, hydride. Tartar emetic—solubility,
composition, uses and occurrence—commercial, veterinary,
medicinal. Doses and preparations—fatal dose, fatal period.
Physiological effects—Antidotes—Separations and tests—(1)
Reinsch’s—Presence of antimony; purity of the copper employed,
how to be secured; different stains resulting from presence
of arsenic, antimony, mercury, bismuth, tin, silver, gold,
platinum, palladium, sulphur compounds—(2) Dr. Maclagan’s test
in Pritchard’s trial—(3) Marsh’s test—Remarks on Pritchard’s
trial—On Smethurst’s trial—Dr. Taylor and Mr. Herapath—Arsenic
in bismuth—Antimony in grey powder 490

CHAPTER X.

TRIALS FOR POISONING BY ACONITIA OR ACONITINE 514

(1) McConkey—Dublin.
(2) G. H. Lamson (_Wimbledon Case_), December, 1881.

CHAPTER XI.

ACONITE, AND ACONITIA, OR ACONITINE.

Plants: Aconitum napellus—A. ferox. Alkaloids:
aconitia—Pseudaconitia—other bases—Decompositions—Proportions
in the plants. Commercial aconitia—German aconitia—English
aconitia. Separation—Tests, chemical and physiological.
History—Preparations, official and non-official. Physiological
effects—Causes of death—Post-mortem appearances—Treatment and
antidotes—Remarks 568

INDEX 583

ADDENDA.

THE following is my own experience of the differences between strychnia
and morphia.—C. G. S.

┌—─—─—─—─—─—──────────—─—─—─┬—─—─—─—─—─—────────—─┬—─—─—─—───────—─—─┐
│ │ MORPHIA. │ STRYCHNIA. │
├—─—─—─—─—─—──────────—─—─—─┼—─—─—─—─—─—────────—─┼—─—─—─—─—───────—─┤
│Concent. H_{2}SO_{4}—cold. │If pure, nothing at │If pure, nothing. │
│ │ first. │Some yellow─brown.│
│ ” ” warmed.│Violet, not strong. │ Do. │
│ To this warmed solution │ │ │
│add:— │ │ │
├—─—─—─—─—─—─—─—──────────—─┼—─—─—─—─—─—────────—─┼—─—─—─—───────—─—─┤
│ MnO_{2}. │Red, changing slowly │_Deep blue purple_│
│ │ to brown, then │ —tored purple— │
│ │ orange. On dilution,│cherryred—finally │
│ │ yellow─brown. │(changes slow). On│
│ │ │ dilution, rich │
│ │ │ orange red. │
├—─—─—─—─—─—─—──────────—─—─┼—─—────────—─—─—─—─—─┼—─—─—─—───────—─—─┤
│ K_{6}Cfy_{2}. │Violet, changing to │Same changes, but │
│ │ orange; not strong. │ more rapid and │
│ │ On dilution, at once│ less distinct. On│
│ │ destroyed to │ dilution, at once│
│ │ greenish─yellow │ destroyed to │
│ │ solution, turning │ greenish─yellow │
│ │blue. │ solution. │
├—─—─—─—─—─—──────────—─—─—─┼—─—─—─—─—─—────────—─┼—─—─—───────—─—─—─┤
│ K_{2}Cr_{2}O_{7}. │Red─brown, │Same as with │
│ │ orange─brown, │ MnO_{2}, but more│
│ │ _green_. │ evanescent and │
│ │ On dilution, │ rapid in change. │
│ │ _green_. │ On dilution, at │
│ │ │ once removed to │
│ │ │ yellowish─brown. │
├—─—─—─—─—─—─—─—──────────—─┼—─—─—─—────────—─—─—─┼—─—─—───────—─—─—─┤
│ HNO_{3} concent. │_Intense brownish─ │_In the cold, │
│ │ red_, changing │ nothing if pure._│
│ │ to brown— bleached │ On warming, │
│ │ by SnCl_{2}. │ orange─yellow │
│ │ │ —then SnCl_{2} │
│ │ │ _brown_ changing│
│ │ │ with excess to │
│ │ │ yellow. │
└—─—─—─—─—─—──────────—─—─—─┴—─—─—─—────────—─—─—─┴—─—─—─—───────—─—─┘

The chlorine used in the separation of arsenic (p. 385) must be _pure_.
The best process for making it is to heat _pure_ potass. dichromate
with _pure_ hydrochloric acid. The latter may be obtained by heating
the “pure” acid of commerce in a retort until a portion of the
distillate gives no indication of arsenic by the tests. The remainder
in the retort is then arsenic-free.

* * * * *

ERRATUM.

Page 397, line 11, _for_ “Waislow,” _read_, “Winslow.”

TRIALS FOR POISONING.

CHAPTER I.

CHEMICAL INTRODUCTION.

Summary of symptoms exhibited by various poisons: (1) Sudden
death—(2) Insensibility—(3) Vomiting—(4) Action on the eye—(5)
Convulsions—(6) Chronic poisoning. Alkaloids, chemically and
physiologically—Processes for their detection—Necessity for keeping
the extracts separate—Dragendorff’s process—Dr. Guy’s sublimation
process—Effects on animals—Doubtful value of this test—Preparation
and effects of reagents: (1) Mayer’s—(2) Potassium tri-iodide—(3)
Sonnenschein’s test—(4) Bismuth—(5) Phosphotungstic acid—(6) Picric
acid—(7) Animal charcoal—(8) Platinic chloride—(9) Tannin or tannic
acid—(10) Phospho-antimonic acid—(11) Silico-tungstic acid—(11)
Auric, palladium and mercuric chlorides—Ptomaines or cadaveric
alkaloids; difficulties raised by their discovery—Principles to be
observed in analysing.

BEFORE proceeding to a separate examination of the poisons used in
the following trials, it will be advisable to take a general view
of poisons, specially noticing those that we have selected as the
most important legally. They do not admit, perhaps, of accurate
classification, but inasmuch as the manner of death and symptoms are
usually the most available indication as to the nature of the poison
that has acted, the following arrangement will be serviceable. The
heads indicate the most prominent symptom:

I. SUDDEN DEATH.—Large quantities of any poison might be rapid
in fatal result, but the sudden poisons proper are:—concentrated
sulphuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids; poisonous gases and vapours,
such as carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen (_see_ Casper’s
Forensic Medicine, Case CCXLI.), carbonic oxide, arseniuretted and
antimoniuretted hydrogen, and certain rare organic compounds, as
kakodyl, &c.; strychnia sometimes, oxalic acid in large doses,
chloroform under certain circumstances. But beyond all others, the
quickest of poisons is _hydrocyanic or prussic acid_.

II. INSENSIBILITY, generally following nervous excitement. Morphia
and opium; henbane (_Hyoscyamus_); stramonium; belladonna; nicotine
(_tobacco_); darnel (_lolium temulentum_); hemlock (_Conium
maculatum_); water hemlock (_Œnanthe crocata_); fool’s parsley (_Æthusa
cynapium_), [Dr. J. Harley shows that this is not so poisonous
as believed: _see_ St. Thomas’s Hospital Reports, x. 25]; Indian
hemp (_Cannabis indica_); Woody Nightshade (_Solanum dulcamara_);
Solanum nigrum; the berries of Potato (_Solanum tuberosum_); Lobelia
inflata: Foxglove (_Digitalis_); cocculus indicus; certain fungi
(notably _Amanita muscaria_); chloroform; chloral; butylchloral
—“croton chloral”): amylene; methylene dichloride; sulphuretted
hydrogen; carbonic oxide; and many other substances usually classed as
_narcotics_.

III. VOMITING.—Irritant poisons, such as acids, alkalies, alkaline
salts in considerable doses (even common salt has proved fatal: _see_
Christison[1]); most soluble compounds of the heavy metals (especially
antimony, arsenic, zinc, and copper); certain vegetal alkaloids (from
colchicum, laburnum, yew, savin, ipecacuanha, capsicum, pepper,
ergot, many species of Ranunculaceæ, the Hellebores, and some fungi);
cantharides, turpentine, and essential oils, &c. Pain in the digestive
organs, purging, and general inflammation are commonly present. Most of
the medicinal purgatives will produce sickness and vomiting if given in
overdoses; of course unwholesome food or disease may frequently be the
cause.

IV. ACTION ON THE EYE.—Opium and morphia, calabar bean, aconite (?),
and strychnia, _contract_ the pupil: belladonna, henbane, tobacco,
stramonium, digitalis and hemlock, _dilate_ the pupil. The effect is
often temporary, and sometimes is reversed after a time. It is a
valuable indication in after-experiments on animals.

V. CONVULSIONS.—Strychnia, brucia, and some fungi: but this symptom
is by no means confined to these, and may even result as tetanus, from
disease or irritants (_see_ Trial of Palmer). Morphia, in rare cases,
has also caused it.

VI. CHRONIC POISONING, prostration and wasting. Antimony, mercury,
and lead in small repeated doses. With the two latter, but more
especially with lead, there is a _blue line at the edge of the gums_;
constipation and colic, paralysis and trembling of the limbs. As lead
frequently occurs as an impurity in food, and also may be absorbed by
those working with it, these symptoms may be often accidental. Mercury
also is given, less than of old, it is true, but still systematically
by some, as a regular course in syphilis, &c.: also to children in
teething powders. Antimony has been almost abandoned in medicine, from
its depressant effect. In these cases, motive, amount, and necessity
of dose, and right to administer, must be considered before wilful
poisoning can be proved. The analysis, therefore, must be strictly
_quantitative_, which is fortunately tolerably easy.

The above summary is by no means perfect, since there are minor
differences in each class, which may sometimes rise into such
prominence as to confuse the classification. But in medical evidence
on the individual poisons of which we treat, those physiologically
resembling them in action are always most heard of at the trial, and
questions are asked whether this or that may not produce the same
symptoms; and hence it is well to direct attention to the analogues of
our types.

The primary idea of an _alkaloid_ is derived from its resemblance to
an _alkali_. Alkaloids are often called also “Organic Bases.” Their
names terminate in—_ia_ or _ine_.[2] They are more or less alkaline
to test paper, and combine with acids to form salts which are neutral
in reaction and often crystallizable. Only a few of the alkaloids
are liquid and easily volatile, but almost all can be volatilized
by careful heating at definite temperatures, giving in many cases
a sublimate of characteristic appearance under the microscope,
either of crystals, globules, or a mere film. In a free state, the
alkaloids are very slightly soluble in water, but soluble in alcohol,
and generally in ether and chloroform. Some are soluble in benzine,
others in amylic alcohol, petroleum spirit, acetic ether, &c. On a
judicious use of these various solvents depend the different processes
of isolation, among which Dragendorff’s is the most complete, but so
complicated that it is rarely used in its entirety. Fortunately there
is generally a clue more or less definite to the probable poison
administered, enabling a shorter and quicker method to be adopted. For
further details as to these processes see Blyth’s Manual of Practical
Chemistry. The sulphates, chlorides, and acetates of the alkaloids
are generally soluble in water; if ammonia or potash be added to the
solution, a precipitate (usually crystalline) of the free alkaloid
occurs if the solution be of moderate strength.

Chemically, the alkaloids are derived from ammonia (NH_{3}) by
substituting various organic groups or “compound radicles” (compounds
of carbon and hydrogen), for the hydrogen of the ammonia. They are
therefore “compound ammonias,” or “amines.” Nitrogen, carbon, and
hydrogen, are always present in natural alkaloids, the non-volatile
ones, including the greater number, also contain oxygen.

Physiologically, alkaloids as a class have a powerful action on
the human and animal frame. The medicinal properties of plants are
generally due to these substances, though many are still undiscovered
or imperfectly known. They exist in the plant combined with vegetal
acids, some of which are characteristic, as aconitic acid in aconite,
meconic in opium, igasuric (?) in nux vomica, &c. The very small
quantity which may sometimes be fatal (a fraction of a grain of the
pure alkaloid), the indefiniteness of many of their chemical reactions,
and the facility with which they decompose if too high a heat, or too
strong reagents, be employed in their extraction, render the detection
often a difficult, and sometimes an impossible matter. Fortunately,
however, fresh tests and better processes develop from every case, and
other indications, from symptoms and collateral circumstances, rarely
fail to bring home the guilt even to the most ingenious and scientific
of poisoners.

For extracting the alkaloids from animal matters the following process
has been used by the author. Mince finely, digest with rectified spirit
and enough acetic acid to _just acidify_, warm to blood-heat for 15
minutes, filter: this is the first extract. Warm the insoluble matters
with more alcohol and filter again: this is the second extract. Repeat
the extraction a third time. _Keep the three extracts separate._ Each
should be evaporated at as low a temperature as possible, not exceeding
50° C., and preferably in a vacuum at the ordinary temperature, if this
can be done fairly quickly. The syrupy residues must be treated with
water and a drop of acetic acid, passed through wet filters to separate
fat, rendered just alkaline with ammonia, and shaken with a moderate
quantity of a mixture of equal volumes of ether and chloroform (Allen).
By a stoppered funnel or burette the ethereal layer is separated,
the shaking with ether and chloroform and the separation repeated a
second and a third time, the ethereal extracts mixed, transferred to
a large porcelain dish, and evaporated, first in a current of air,
then in a vacuum or spontaneously. As the solvents evaporate, water
generally appears: this hinders any crystallization. Therefore the
residue must be rendered _dry_, then dissolved in a little _anhydrous_
chloroform (dried by standing over fused calcium chloride), and again
evaporated in air in a large watch glass. The residue will generally be
crystalline under the microscope if any alkaloid be present. Dissolve
again in chloroform, transfer to a graduated burette, make up to a
convenient volume (say 10 cubic centimetres), and transfer a measured
fraction to a number of watch glasses, reserving about one-fourth for
any subsequent _quantitative_ test that may be necessary. Allow the
liquid in the watch glasses to spontaneously evaporate. To the first
add a little water and a very minute quantity of dilute hydrochloric
acid, and cautiously taste a portion. A tingling of the lips and
subsequent numbness indicate _aconite_; intense bitterness points
to _strychnia_; if there be no taste at all it is unlikely that any
alkaloid is present. There are some alkaloids of a peppery taste; these
are irritants, and are not common as poisons. Bitterness is the most
frequent characteristic.

2. Moisten the contents of the second watch glass with a little water
and a trace of acetic acid, and apply through an incision in the
skin of the back of a young frog. He should be kept as comfortable
as possible and the symptoms observed. Strychnia readily produces
tetanus in this animal; other poisons also have peculiar effects. Some
observers have used mice, rabbits, or cats; in the Palmer trial it was
observed that dogs were not employed because they were inconvenient
and might bite! On the whole this so-called physiological test has
been overrated, as it is hardly to be expected that an animal with its
back cut and otherwise injured will not exhibit some symptoms; and
all who have kept wild animals in confinement will know how soon they
become, first almost convulsive from excitement, then finally sink into
stupor and die. If necessary, any judge may grant a special licence to
the experts in a trial to make experiments on animals, otherwise such
cruelty is rendered penal by the Vivisection Act.[3]

3. To the third watch glass, after the contents have been dissolved
as before, a drop of a solution of iodine in potassium iodide is
added. Nearly all alkaloids give a brown precipitate. If none occur, a
negative conclusion may be expected.

4. Test the fourth watch glass in one corner for strychnia by
concentrated sulphuric acid and peroxide of manganese; in another
corner for morphia by iodic acid and starch; in a third corner for
brucia (and morphia) by strong nitric acid. (See the special paragraphs
on these reactions, pp. 280, 285.)

5. If there is still no indication, and no information has
been obtained from other sources, it may be necessary to employ
Dragendorff’s process on the remainder. But if the poison has been
discovered, the solution reserved in the burette should be evaporated,
dissolved in water and a little dilute acid, avoiding heat, and
titrated by Mayer’s reagent to ascertain the quantity.[4]

The second and third extractions of the organs must now be considered.
Most of the text-books recommend that _all the extracts should be
mixed_. The objection to this is, that since the alkaloid is usually
present in very small amount, the first extraction will remove nearly
all of it, while the second and third will mainly contain other
matters, and therefore will be only adding to the impurities, and
consequently to the difficulty of isolation. If it be worth while, the
second and third extracts may be treated _separately_ as above, and
should any further quantity of alkaloid be found, it may be determined
quantitatively, and the amount added to that already obtained.

It has been proposed to precipitate the original spirituous extract by
neutral or basic acetate of lead, which throws down many impurities,
but leaves the alkaloids in solution. After filtration, the liquid
is treated with a current of sulphuretted hydrogen to remove lead;
again filtered, evaporated (as speedily as can be done without
overheating) to a moderate bulk, and treated with a little ammonia
and with ether-chloroform as before. If the sulphuretted hydrogen be
left exposed to the air for some time, it oxidizes to sulphuric acid,
which, during and after evaporation, tends to destroy the alkaloid.
Hence I have found it advisable to remove the H_{2}S quickly by a
current of carbonic acid and warming—previous to evaporation. But
this process is not good for alkaloids, as sulphur compounds are often
formed, which interfere with subsequent operations.

The foregoing process may fail to extract _morphia_, _curarine_, and
_solanine_, as these, being very little soluble in ether-chloroform,
may remain behind in the aqueous liquid. This, therefore, should be
afterwards treated in one of the following ways:—

1. Heat some redistilled amylic alcohol nearly to boiling (it boils
at 120° C.), add an equal volume to the aqueous (alkaline) solution;
shake vigorously, separate while still hot, and shake again with a
fresh, but rather smaller, quantity of the hot solvent. The united
amylic alcohol solutions will contain all the morphia, but can only be
distilled in vacuo, since at 120° C. the stability of the morphia would
be endangered. It is better to extract the morphia from the amylic
solution by shaking with successive small portions of weak acetic acid,
separating each time, till the acidity remains unneutralized. The
alkaloid will now be in the acid solution. Nearly neutralize this with
ammonia, evaporate at a gentle heat, and apply the special tests.

2. Instead of the above, the aqueous alkaline solution may be agitated
with a mixture of equal volumes of ether and _pure_ acetic ether (the
latter having been previously purified from free acid by standing over
powdered carbonate of lime). Although this mixture does not extract the
morphia so readily as amylic alcohol, it has this advantage that, after
separation from the aqueous layer, it can be evaporated at a moderate
temperature, when the morphia, if in sufficient quantity, will be left
in the crystalline state, and can be tested as usual.

If sufficient material be at hand, of course both processes may be
used.[5]

Selmi (Gazz. Chim. Ital. vi., 32) has given a process for alkaloidal
extraction of which I have no experience.

When the alkaloid is obtained in a sufficiently pure form and in
sufficient quantity, the sublimation process of Dr. Guy, as improved
by Blyth, may be used. For the entire original method, see Blyth’s
Practical Chemistry, page 285.

Dr. Guy’s “subliming cell” is a ring of glass tubing about ⅛-inch long
and ⅓ to ½-inch diameter, ground true and smooth at top and bottom,
resting on a circle of thin microscope glass, and covered with another
similar circle. The alkaloid, thoroughly dry, is placed on the lower
disc (a drop of the solution may be evaporated on it), the whole fitted
together, and floated on mercury, or better, fusible metal, contained
in a small glass beaker nearly full, supported on wire gauze over a
small flame. A thermometer held by a clamp dips in the liquid metal.
With a hand lens of as high power as possible, the melting point, and
also the point when the first sublimate occurs on the upper glass, may
be observed. As soon as the sublimate has become sufficiently distinct,
the upper disc is removed, replaced by another, and examined under
¼-inch power of the microscope. The heat is slowly raised till charring
occurs, and anything characteristic noted.

_Morphia_ gives a clouding, consisting of minute dots, at 150° C.; from
188° to 200° C., distinct crystals are obtained; then it commences to
brown, melt, and carbonize.

_Strychnia_ gives a minute sublimate of fine needles at 169° C., and
melts at about 221° C.

_Brucia_ melts at 151° C., browns easily, but gives no true sublimate.

_Aconitine_ or aconitia melts at 183° to 184° C.

_Pseudaconitine_ melts at 104° to 105° C., and easily decomposes,
giving off water.

_Commercial aconitine_ usually melts below 100° C., and gives an
amorphous sublimate above 150° C.

The reactions of the other alkaloids will be found in Blyth’s Practical
Chemistry.

In order to avoid repetition, the mode of preparing the general
reagents for alkaloids will be given here.

1. _Mayers Reagent_, potassio-iodide of mercury, already described (p.
7; Liebig’s Annalen, 133, 286), gives white precipitates with almost
all alkaloids. The latter can be recovered from the precipitate by
treating it with a solution of zinc chloride mixed with caustic soda.
(Mayer.)

2. _Potassium tri-iodide_, a solution of iodine in potassium iodide,
gives a brown or reddish precipitate.[6]

3. _Sonnenschein’s test_, Phosphomolybdic acid, is prepared as follows.
To a warm solution of molybdate of ammonia acidified with nitric
acid, phosphate of soda is added as long as any yellow precipitate is
obtained. The precipitate is washed with water containing a little
nitric acid, and heated with sodium carbonate solution till dissolved.
Evaporate to dryness, heat to expel ammonia, add a little nitric
acid and heat again. One part of the residue is then dissolved in a
mixture of one part of nitric acid of 1·4 sp. gr., and nine parts of
water. With this reagent _strychnia_ gives a pale, other _alkaloids_
a bright yellow flocculent precipitate, in very dilute solutions. The
precipitates are soluble in ammonia, with the production of a greenish
blue colour in the cases of aconitia and morphia. From the alkaline
liquid the _alkaloid_ can be dissolved out by at once shaking with
ether-chloroform or hot amylic alcohol as already described. Instead of
using ammonia, the precipitate may be agitated with barium carbonate,
which has less tendency to decompose the base on its liberation.

4. A solution of _bismuth iodide_ in iodide of potassium is recommended
by Dragendorff (Zeitschr. f. Chimie, 1866, 478). 80 grammes of
commercial bismuth subnitrate are dissolved in 200 cubic centimetres
of nitric acid of sp. gr. 1·18: 272 grammes of potassium iodide
dissolved in a little water are added, the potassium nitrate allowed
to crystallize out, and the whole diluted to one litre. This solution
precipitates most alkaloids. The precipitate can be treated with sodium
carbonate and the liberated alkaloid extracted by ether-chloroform, &c.
For the equivalents, see Maugini, Gazz. Chim. Ital. 12, 155.

5. Scheibler has proposed _Phosphotungstic acid_ as a precipitant.
Sodium tungstate is digested with half its weight of phosphoric
acid, sp. gr. 1·13: on standing, phosphotungstic acid crystallizes.
Its solution is said to give a distinct precipitate with 1/200000
of a grain of strychnia and 1/100000 of quina, and with similar
amounts of other alkaloids. From this precipitate the alkaloid is
obtained by treating with sufficient milk of lime and shaking with
ether-chloroform, &c., as before. He recommends the previous removal
of impurities by lead acetate and sulphuretted hydrogen as already
described (p. 7) (Fresenius, Zeitschr. f. anal. Chemie, 12, 315).

6. _Picric acid_, a saturated aqueous solution, gives precipitates in
_neutral_ solutions of morphia and atropia. In solutions acidified with
sulphuric acid it gives the following:—morphia, and pseudomorphia, no
precipitate; aconitia, a precipitate only in concentrated solutions;
other alkaloids of opium, a thick precipitate.[7]

7. _Animal charcoal_, previously purified by hydrochloric acid and
thorough washing with water, when digested with neutral or alkaline
solutions of alkaloids, not too dilute, absorbs them from the liquid.
The charcoal, washed twice or thrice with small quantities of water,
is dried at a moderate temperature, and boiled with strong alcohol,
which extracts the alkaloid. This process has been used for separating
picrotoxin from beer, but has the inconvenience that the alkaloid is
liable to gradual oxidation within the pores of the charcoal, and that
the separation is never complete. It is this property that has caused
charcoal to be recommended as an antidote in poisoning.

8. All alkaloids form with _platinic chloride_ double salts of more or
less sparing solubility. These precipitates, washed, dried and weighed,
and then burnt, leave metallic platinum, the amount of which yields
a clue to the composition of the base. But aconitine and narcotine
are only thrown down from concentrated solutions, and a few are not
precipitated at all. Hence this test is of only occasional value in
toxicological work. The same may be said of _auric chloride_.

9. _Tannin_ or tannic acid, a moderately strong solution in water,
throws down most alkaloids. Coffee and tea, and other tannin-containing
infusions, have, therefore, been used as antidotes with dubious
success. As a test it is not distinctive.

10. _Phospho-antimonic acid_ (Schultze), prepared by mixing antimony
pentachloride with ordinary sodium phosphate and decanting the clear
liquid, gives whitish amorphous precipitates with alkaloids.

11. _Silico-tungstic acid_ is prepared by boiling commercial tungstate
of soda with fresh gelatinous silica. Filter and allow to crystallize.
This gives precipitates with very dilute solutions of alkaloids, but it
is also precipitated by ammonium chloride (Godefroy, Arch. d. Pharm.,
Nov. 1879). Zaubenheimer recommends it as a most delicate test: the
precipitate may be decomposed by soda or potash, and the base extracted
by ether-chloroform.

12. Auric chloride, palladious chloride, and mercuric chloride have
been proposed, but are not of much use. Potassium chromate and
sulphocyanide, and sodium nitroprusside give somewhat insoluble
precipitates, generally crystalline and of characteristic appearance
under the microscope. These tests should be strong, and must be used in
small quantity.

PTOMAINES OR CADAVERIC ALKALOIDS.—Much attention has been attracted
lately by the possible interference to toxicological detections owing
to the undoubted existence of natural alkaloids in the dead body
unpoisoned. Some of these, called by Selmi “Ptomaines” ([Greek: ptôma],
a corpse), somewhat simulate strychnia, &c., in their chemical and
physiological characters. The observation is not new, as years ago, in
the Privy Council’s reports, Thudichum called attention to alkaloids
separated by Sonnenschein’s process (phosphomolybdic acid) from the
brain, urine, and from decomposed bodies. Various substances of the
kind have also been found by other investigators. To these “cadaveric
alkaloids” have been attributed the “sausage poisoning,” so frequent
in Germany (for cases, see Casper’s Handbook, vol. 3), poisoning by
various foods, such as tinned meats, cheese, &c. Some are irritants,
others narcotics: different periods and circumstances of putrefaction
producing different compounds.

In an Italian criminal prosecution, F. Ciotto, who made the
investigation of the corpse, gave it as his opinion that strychnia was
probably present. Selmi, for the defence, pointed out differences from
strychnia, and considered the compound to be a ptomaine. [Arch. Pharm.
(3), 19, 187.] This will show the importance of the subject.

Casali (Gazetta, 1881, 312) regards ptomaines as not true alkaloids,
but as “acid or basic amidated compounds.” It is only the basic ones
that will interfere with testing. Panum and Bergmann have isolated a
substance called “_sepsin_,” generated by putrefaction, poisonous,
acting like a ferment but not destroyed by boiling, soluble in water,
but insoluble in alcohol, and thereby distinguished from alkaloids.
Sonnenschein and Zuelzer found a product of putrefaction which
produced tetanic symptoms, besides one resembling atropine. But these
substances, or similar ones, can be produced _without_ putrefaction, as
Paterno and Spica have shown that fresh blood and fresh albumen (white
of egg) yielded, with phosphomolybdic acid, potassio-mercuric iodide,
and other alkaloidal reagents, precipitates like those of the vegetal
alkaloids. Selmi has even supposed that death from various diseases may
be due to the formation of these compounds. The same author obtained
from a dead body one month after death a considerable amount of a
_crystallizable_ ptomaine, giving reactions like those of alkaloidal
poisons, and having poisonous effects on frogs.

Brouardel and Bouting (Compt. Rend. 92, 1056) propose the reducing
action of ptomaines as a distinction between them and vegetal
alkaloids. The solution in weak acid is added to a dilute mixture of
ferric chloride and potassium ferricyanide: the latter, if a ptomaine
be present, is reduced to ferrocyanide, and Prussian blue is thereby
precipitated. But Spica (Gazetta, 11, 486) has shown that strychnia,
brucia, morphia, and some others produce this reaction readily, and
Beckurts (Arch. Pharm. 3, 20, 104) adds aconitine and others as
producing it slowly. Hence the distinction is delusive. See also
Husemann (Arch. Pharm. 3, 16, 169; also 3, 20, 270), Tauret (Compt.
Rend. 92, 1163).

The discovery of these bodies has certainly raised a new difficulty for
toxicologists, and suggested a new and plausible defence, as it must be
confessed that at present there is no general method of distinguishing
between “cadaveric” and vegetal alkaloids. Yet this mainly affects
the “physiological” tests—on frogs and other small animals—for
there is no ptomaine yet discovered which gives _all_ the reactions
of strychnia, morphia, &c. If a chemist be asked, “Could any other
substance produce these reactions?” he can only answer, “I do not know
of any”; he cannot aver the impossibility. Then the circumstantial
evidence must decide.

In conclusion, the following principles should be noted:—

1. The quantity of poison found is generally only a small fraction
of the quantity taken. The vomit and evacuations are frequently
lost, and much may be decomposed by vital actions in the body, or by
putrefaction. That which has caused death is probably thereby either
decomposed or so combined as to be rendered undetectible: that which is
found is merely the surplus beyond the fatal dose. This would account
for the frequent non-discovery in the tissues when a small amount has
been given, or much time has elapsed. To metallic poisons this does not
apply, as, unless eliminated, they can always be found. See further
under Strychnia.

2. The symptoms will differ according to the dose, the form (solid
or solution, pure or admixed), habit, or idiosyncrasy, the state of
health, &c.

3. In the post-mortem examination, appearances common to dead bodies
generally are often mistaken for the effects of poison. See Casper’s
Handbook, vol. I., _et passim_.

4. Unhealthy or improper food or acute disease may cause suspicious
symptoms. This is the commonest solution of suspected poisoning.

5. In experiments on animals, it may be objected that they are
inconclusive as to man. This is not strictly true. But if a _recent
vomit_ proves poisonous to an animal, _with the same symptoms as in the
man_, that is almost conclusive evidence.

6. When a poison is not found by analysis, it does not follow that
it has not caused death. Unequal distribution, uncertainty of tests,
improper securing of the samples (Palmer case), decomposition or
elimination of the poison, may hinder discovery.

7. In every case, if possible, the approximate _quantity_ of the poison
should be ascertained and stated. This specially applies to substances
that _may_ have been administered medicinally.

“If poison be administered _with intent to murder_, it is not necessary
that there should be enough in the article administered to cause death,
or that it should be given in such a way as to act fatally. If any
poison be there, and the intent be proved, the crime of attempting to
administer poison is complete.” [Judge’s ruling in _Hartley_, Cent.
Crim. Court, May 12th, 1850; _Reg._ v. _Bacon_, Lincoln Summer Assizes,
1857; _Reg._ v. _Southgate_, Chelmsford Lent Assizes; _Reg._ v.
_Cluderay_, York, 1849].

For minute directions as to the conduct of toxicological
investigations, see Taylor’s Medical Jurisprudence, 1873, I., 202-209;
also Guy and Ferrier’s Forensic Medicine, 1881, p. 359, _et seq._

CHAPTER II.

TRIALS FOR POISONING BY HYDROCYANIC OR PRUSSIC ACID.

Two cases are reported under this head. The first that of John Tawell,
for the murder of his mistress, Sarah Hart, at Salthill, near Windsor,
tried at the Spring Assizes at Aylesbury, 1845, before the late Baron
Parke (Lord Wensleydale). The second—a case of misadventure—the
trial of George Ball, a surgeon, at Lewes, for the murder of his
mother by the negligent administration of an overdose of this poison,
medicinally, before the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas
(Coleridge) Summer Assizes, Lewes, 1860.

TRIAL OF JOHN TAWELL FOR POISONING SARAH HART AT SALTHILL BY PRUSSIC
ACID.

_March 12, 13, and 14_, 1845, SPRING ASSIZES, AYLESBURY, _before_ BARON
PARKE.

HISTORY OF THE CASE.

The trial of John Tawell, of Berkhampstead, Berks, for the murder of
Sarah Hart, at Hall Place, Slough, attracted more than usual attention,
from the cruelty of the act in poisoning the woman whom he had seduced,
the position and popular character of the murderer as a benevolent and
hospitable Quaker, noted for his charities, and the novelty of the
mode by which his detection was mainly insured. The electric telegraph
had only very lately been established on the line of the Great Western
Railway, and though Tawell lost no time after committing the act, in
getting into the train for London at Slough, the telegraph outstripped
him, and on his arrival at the Paddington station he was recognised,
and tracked to his lodgings, and thus his immediate arrest secured.

Tawell’s life had been of a remarkable character. Originally a
commercial traveller, he had exhibited a strange mixture of great
shrewdness and money-making talent, combined with an outward show of
religious observance. As a young man he had been indicted for forging
a bill for £1000, and had he been tried on the counts for forging, or
uttering, he would doubtless have been executed. By some influence,
however, he was allowed to plead guilty to the count for having the
bill in his possession (a _nolle prosequi_ being entered on the
others), and sentenced to transportation for life. “Accordingly,”
says Mr. Justice Therry, who knew him well in Sydney, “he came out
to the colony as a convict. Besides being a commercial traveller
for some time, he had been in an apothecary’s shop in England, and
on obtaining partial exemption from convict discipline, became the
principal druggist in Sydney. After a prosperous career he sold his
business for, it was said, £14,000, and judiciously invested this
sum in buildings and other pursuits of profit. For nearly two years
he occupied the house opposite to mine in Sydney, which gave me
almost daily opportunity then of seeing him. He struck me as being a
remarkably well-conducted person. He had once been a member of the
Society of Friends; he wore a broad-brimmed hat, appeared always in
a neat and carefully adjusted costume, and his whole appearance and
manner impressed one with the notion of his being a very saintly
personage. He always sought the society in public of persons of reputed
piety. I have often met him in the street accompanied by a secretary or
collector to a charitable institution, whom he assisted in obtaining
contributions for benevolent objects. At one time he took up the cause
of temperance in such an intemperate and silly spirit, that he ordered
a puncheon of rum he had imported to be staved on the wharf at Sydney,
and its contents poured into the sea, saying that, ‘he would not be
instrumental to the guilt of disseminating such poison throughout the
colony.’ At another time his zeal took an apparently religious turn.
He built, in Macquarie Street, Sydney, a commodious meeting-house for
the Society of Friends, on the front of which was inscribed on a large
square stone inserted in the wall some such words as these—

JOHN TAWELL
TO
THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.

He conveyed no title, however, to the Society to secure them the
tenure of the property. After his execution it was sold, I understood,
with other portions of his property, for the benefit of the party
entitled to it under his will, the Crown having waived its right to the
forfeiture of the estate.

“Tawell was himself a liberal contributor to charities, and the opinion
of his character was so favourable, that the act for which he suffered
created great astonishment in Sydney. A considerable part of his money
had been realised by buying up all the whalebone that trading vessels,
at an early period, imported into Sydney. This he sent to a London
house, where it was manufactured into combs, handles for brushes, and
various other articles of domestic use. He was the first person in the
colony who converted whalebone into an article of profitable export.
When he left the colony, he had a considerable property from rents and
other sources which became much reduced by the general distress that
prevailed in New South Wales in 1843.” Hence the anxiety expressed by
him for his Sydney letters, referred to in the course of his trial.
Still, however, a man of good means, occupying a respected position
in his town, and noted, through a long and industrious life, for his
benevolence and straightforward conduct in his relations with his
neighbours, he might well say when first charged with the murder of his
mistress, “My station in society places me beyond suspicion.” Such had
been the remarkable career, and such was the ostensible character of
the man to whom the most cold-blooded of murders was clearly brought
home in the following trial.”

At the trial before Mr. Baron Parke, at Aylesbury, on the 12th, 13th,
and 14th of March, 1845, Sergeant Byles and Mr. Prendergast appeared
for the prosecution, and Mr. Fitzroy Kelly, Q.C., Mr. Gunning, and Mr.
O’Malley, assisted by Messrs. Herapath, of Bristol, Professor Graham
and Dr. Letheby, of London, the eminent chemists, for the defence.

In consequence of the excitement in the county caused by the event,
numerous objections were taken to jurymen by the prisoner’s counsel. At
length, however, a jury was formed, and after a brief recapitulation
of the leading facts of the proposed evidence by Sergeant Byles, Mary
Ashley, a next door neighbour of the deceased, was called, who had
seen Tawell go to Sarah Hart’s between 4 and 5 in the afternoon of the
1st of January, and between 6 and 7 the same evening, “hearing a sort
of stifled scream,” had gone to her door with a candle and seen him
leaving the cottage. The cottages stood in a row, with small gardens
in front, with rails and gates, and contained four rooms, two on the
ground floor, and the same number above.

“The prisoner,” said the witness, “appeared to be agitated, and unable
to open the gate. I opened it for him; it was fastened with a small
button. When I went out of my house, I said, ‘I am afraid my neighbour
is ill’—not speaking to any person in particular, but as the prisoner
was then coming down the garden I should think that I spoke loud
enough for him to hear me: I was about six yards from him. No reply
was made by him. When I got to the gate I could hear Mrs. Hart still
making the same description of noise: the prisoner made me no answer
when I asked him if I should open the gate; he appeared very much
agitated, and was trying in a hurried manner to open the gate; he came
out of the gate before I went in; I saw his face; I held the candle
over the gate to open it: I have no doubt that he is the same man,
though I had never seen him before that afternoon. In the afternoon
Mrs. Hart said to me, ‘I expect my old master, but perhaps he will
not come till to-morrow.’ When I got to Mrs. Hart’s door it was shut,
and upon my opening it I saw Mrs. Hart lying on the floor with her
head not a great way from the door; her legs were towards the fire,
her dress was quite in a disordered state, her petticoats nearly up
to her knees, her left stocking down to her ankle, and torn, and her
left shoe off: her cap was off, and her hair hanging down over her
head: her cap was a little distance from her: she was still making a
noise, and her eyes were fixed, but her lips moving. I took hold of
her hands and raised her head, and said, ‘Oh, Mrs. Hart, what is the
matter?’ She did not make any answer, but I thought she seemed to
press my hand, but I could not positively tell. I then raised her up,
and a little froth came out of her mouth, and I thought she was dying.
I laid her down again, and took my candle and went into Mrs. Wheeler’s
house, next door but one. When I went into Mrs. Hart’s I observed a
bottle and a glass by the side of it half full, and another glass
on the opposite side of the table, near the door, empty; but there
appeared to be something in the bottom of it. A chair was beside Mrs.
Hart, and another opposite her. I returned from Mrs. Wheeler’s with
Mrs. Barrett, and we placed a pillow on the child’s chair and bathed
her temples. One of Mrs. Barrett’s apprentices went for Dr. Champneys,
and he came. I searched the place immediately, and found no small vial
about the size of a thimble. There was a middling fire in the house.
Before I got into the house I thought the prisoner was looking, and I
locked the door, because I was frightened. The deceased was breathing
hard in a short way, and making a noise like ‘oh! oh!’ and her eyes
looked very full.”

On _cross-examination_ by _Mr. Kelly_, she said—

“That she heard Mrs. Hart’s voice rather loud after Mr. Tawell went
in—only a few words, but could not hear what she said. She did not
think that they were quarrelling, but that perhaps Mrs. Hart was in
hysterics, as money matters were always talked over when Tawell came.
When Mr. Champneys came in, he said he must try to bleed her: he did
so, and there was about as much blood as would cover a plate; she
died immediately afterwards; indeed, I think she was dead when he
bled her. About Christmas Mrs. Hart received a basket of apples as a
present—about a peck, some of which were left in a box.”

On _re-examination_, she said—

“That it was not more than a minute after she left her own house that
she entered Mrs. Hart’s, and that she saw about ten or a dozen apples
in the box after her death.”

_Mrs. Barrett_ confirmed Mrs. Ashley’s account of the condition in
which she found the deceased, but did not see any foam on her lips
until after she tried to pour some water down her throat.[8]

It was then proved by the barmaid at the “Windmill,” on Salthill, and a
gardener, that about half after six on that day the deceased came there
for a bottle of Guinness’s stout, and that she was met between her
house and the “Windmill” about the same time in high spirits running
towards her cottage.

The next witness spoke to the acts of the prisoner before he arrived
at the cottage. At three o’clock in the afternoon he had been at the
Jerusalem Coffee-house, inquiring at what hour they closed, saying
he was going to the West End, and should not be back until half-past
eight, and wishing to leave a greatcoat and a parcel, which, by
arrangement with the waiter, he fetched away about half-past nine or a
quarter to ten that night, leaving his umbrella there. Other witnesses
proved his being seen running from Bath Place towards Slough, getting
into the Eton omnibus and stopping opposite Sir John Herschel’s house,
then returning towards the Slough station and leaving it for Paddington
by the half-past eight train.[9] The evidence of the next witness, who
tracked him from the moment of his arrival at Paddington, must be given
in detail.

_William Williams_ said—

“I am a sergeant of police on the Great Western Railway, at Paddington
Station. On the 1st of January, in consequence of a telegraphic
communication, I observed the prisoner get out of a carriage and get
into a New Road omnibus. I put on a private coat, and acted as guard.
He got out opposite Princes’ Street, near the Bank, about a quarter
past nine. I opened the door on purpose to look at him; he went
towards the Wellington Statue, and then crossed over to Birch’s, the
pastrycooks: he stood a moment, as if he was considering; I watched
him from behind the statue. He then went towards the Jerusalem
Coffee-house, and I followed him; he then went down a court into
Birchin Lane, and from thence to Scott’s Yard, in the Borough, where
he lodged, where I left him. On returning there next morning he was
gone, so I went to the Jerusalem, and an officer (_Wiggins_) went
in and took him into custody. Wiggins said to him that he was last
seen in the house of a woman at Slough who was found dead, when he
replied that, ‘I was not at Slough yesterday—I know no one there.’ I
then remarked that I had seen him get off the train from Slough, and
that he had given me sixpence after riding in the omnibus from the
Paddington station. ‘You must be mistaken,’ he replied; ‘my station in
life must rebut any suspicion that might be attached to me.’”

_Wiggins_, an inspector of the Metropolitan police, gave a graphic
account of the arrest.

“On Thursday, the 2nd of January, I went into the Jerusalem
Coffee-house with the last witness, and asked the prisoner if his
name was Tawell; he said, ‘Yes.’ I then asked him if he had been at
Slough last night, and he said, ‘No, I did not leave town all day
yesterday.’ I then opened my coat, showed my uniform, and said, ‘I
want you concerning the woman you were with last night.’ He said,
‘I don’t know anyone there.’ I said, ‘There was a woman found dead
there, and you are supposed to be the last person who was seen with
her alive.’ He said, ‘Thee must be mistaken in the identity, my
station in society places me beyond suspicion.’ I then took him down
to Salt Hill, to the ‘Three Tuns,’ where the inquest was being held.
I searched him, and found £12. 10_s._ in gold and £1. 1_s._ 6_d._ in
silver, a gold watch, and a letter addressed to him, which he said he
had received from his wife. On the second day of the inquest I saw him
again. After consulting with his lawyer, he said to me, ‘I took thee
for a gentleman in the railway carriage.’ I said, ‘I told you I was an
officer.’ He replied, ‘Yes, but that was afterwards.’ The first day of
the inquest he said, ‘Mind, I have disclosed nothing.’”

In _cross-examination, Mr. Kelly_ failed to get the witness to say that
when asked about Slough the prisoner said he came from Berkhampstead,
and only led the witness to reiterate that he stated “that he had not
been at Slough that day.”

To _Perkins_, the inspector of the Eton police, Tawell was dangerously
communicative.

“On the day after I had taken him into custody,” said this witness,
“and brought him to my own house, after he had seen his lawyer, he
said to me, ‘The unfortunate woman once lived in my service, about two
years and a half, or nearly so.’ He asked me if I knew this. I told
him I had heard so. Then Holmes, the other constable, came in, and he
added, ‘She left my service about five years ago.’ I told him whatever
he said I should communicate to the coroner to-morrow. He said, ‘he
would have no objection to that,’ and then continued, ‘she had been in
the habit of writing letters to him for money,’ and that he had been
pestered with her; she was a very good servant when in his service,
but a bad principled woman. She wrote to him that if he did not send
her something she would make away with herself. He came down to her
house and told her that he would not give her any more money. She then
asked him if he would not give her some porter. I then sent for a
bottle of stout, and she had a glass and I had a glass. She then took
out a small phial, about the size of a thimble, and said, “I will,
I will,” and poured some into her glass and drank a part of it—the
remainder was thrown into the fire. She then done herself about and
laid down on the hearth-rug; I then went out. I did not think she was
in earnest, otherwise I would have called somebody.’ I asked him if he
had got those letters, and he said, ‘No, I never keep such letters as
those.’ I knew him by person, having seen him at Aylesbury.”

The _cross-examination_ was unimportant—mainly directed to the
probable inaccuracy of his recollection and to the nature of the
communication he made to the coroner. _Holmes_, in addition to
confirming _Perkins’_ report of the prisoner’s statement, was present
when Mrs. Tawell visited her husband, when, in reply to her question,
“what he had been doing,” he replied, “Nothing. I hope you will forgive
me.”

MEDICAL EVIDENCE.

_H. Montague Champneys_, surgeon at Salthill, sent for a few minutes
before 7 P.M. on January 1st, said—

“I ran, and when I got there saw deceased on the floor, felt her
pulse, but am not certain whether I felt any pulsation. I put my
hand under her clothes over her heart, and could not discover any
pulsation; considered her dead, but still thought it best to open a
vein in her arm, and obtained about an ounce of blood. Next day I
made a _post mortem_ examination with Mr. Norblad and Mr. Pickering.
Having previously examined the external parts, we opened the body,
when I smelt the odour of prussic acid; the lungs were perfectly
healthy, but the coverings had the appearance of inflammation.
Examined stomach and contents. Rather more mucus than there ought to
be; the abdominal viscera perfectly healthy. Put contents of stomach
into a bottle, which I, with Messrs. Norblad and Pickering, took to
Mr. Cooper, in London. The contents were tested for sulphuric acid,
oxalic acid, and some poisonous salts, but nothing was discovered;
afterwards an experiment was tried for prussic acid. Mr. Cooper tried
protosulphate of iron, and also nitrate of silver, but could not
during the experiment discover any prussic acid; but nevertheless,
it is my opinion that she died from the effects of that poison. On
the following Sunday I took the beer and the part of a bun found on
the table to Mr. Cooper, which were tested for prussic acid, but
none discovered. When I stated that in my opinion the deceased died
from the effects of prussic acid I did not know that the prisoner
had bought any. I know Scheele’s prussic acid and that of the London
Pharmacopœia; less than a grain of pure prussic acid would be a dose;
two drams of Scheele’s would contain six grains. There are cases on
record where the smell of prussic acid could not be discovered in the
stomach of a person who had taken it. A person in Paris died from
taking seven-tenths of a grain. Prussic acid is volatile, and may
be carried off by the lungs or absorbed by the tissues. There is a
case in the _Lancet_ of a person dying from having less than a grain
administered to her. After this occurrence I put thirty grains of
Scheele’s acid into a glass of Guinness’s stout, and the smell was
scarcely perceptible. The symptoms would come on in less than two
minutes.”

In the very minute and detailed _cross-examination_ to which
this witness was subjected by _Mr. Kelly_, he made the following
statements:—

“I have no experience in detecting the odour of prussic acid in a
human subject—should think it may be taken without detection; should
expect to find the odour in the mouth and in the breath, but there may
be exceptions. Neither Mr. Pickering nor Mr. Norblad smelt it when
the body was opened. It was not a conjecture of mine; I was positive
of it. The smell is very peculiar and strong, and easy to be detected
by those acquainted with it. It is more likely to be detected when
exposed as this was to a heat of 212 degrees. At every heat we tried
to smell it, but failed. There was no such smell in the blood which I
drew shortly after death. I am not competent to say whether epileptic
patients die more quickly from prussic acid than others. It is said to
act powerfully on the nervous system. Have read the case of the seven
epileptic patients who died from a dose of seven-tenths of a grain
each in from thirty to forty-five hours. There was a case in which the
French doctors discovered poison eight days after death.

“This acid exists in a great number of substances, in apples for
instance, and probably in many other substances in which it has never
been discovered. I agree with Dr. Christisön in his opinion (p. 756)
in respect of the formation of this acid in various organic substances
and other articles. It is made from the blood, bones, and horns of
animals. It consists of 12 carbon, 14 nitrogen, and 1 hydrogen. Those
are its elements. They exist and can be obtained in great quantities
from various substances—cherry-stones, and stones of various fruits;
they are found in the human saliva, but not in the form of prussic
acid. It (the salt) is called sulphocyanide, and when taken is
perceptible in the blood and breath, but most in the stomach.[10] In
apple-pips or other substances the smell would not be given off until
disengaged by some process for that purpose.

“During the experiments for oxalic acid and other poisons, Messrs.
Cooper, Pickering, and Norblad failed to perceive any smell. One of
them then came to the conclusion that there must be prussic acid.”

_Question._—“Did Mr. Cooper then apply a process which would set free
prussic acid from apple-pips and other substances?”

_Answer._—“I believe that is the process, but it was not carried
to the full extent. I refer to the heat. When this new process was
applied, the result was that prussic acid was found. I did not smell
it, nor anyone else. Beyond the smell in opening the body, I smelt
none at all.”

“When I first saw the deceased I thought I felt a few beats of the
pulse, but I imagine that I was mistaken. It might have been the
pulse in my own finger. The analogy between animals and human beings
dying of prussic acid is considered doubtful by the best authorities.
The heart would continue to beat for a short time after the pulse
had receded from the arms. The lungs might be considered slightly
congested.”

_Mr. Kelly._—“Why then inform my learned friend that they were sound
and healthy?”

_Witness._—“The lungs themselves were not diseased.”

_Mr. Kelly._—“Is it natural and healthy when the lungs are congested?”

_Witness._—“They contained rather more blood than usual.”

_Mr. Kelly._—“Is that a healthy state?”

_Witness._—“Not perfectly so.”

_Mr. Kelly._—“Is not congested lungs the cause of various modes of
sudden death?”

_Witness._—“Yes.”

“I then examined the _pericardium_, it was empty. The heart had a
natural appearance. I do not recollect that I examined the arteries
proceeding from the aorta. Any disease of the coronary arteries is
likely to cause sudden death. I did not examine the spinal marrow.
The valves of the heart were very clear. Death might suddenly result
from the adhesion of the spinal marrow, if it had existed some time. A
sudden termination also might take place where the disease is latent.
I looked at the gall-bladder, the colour was natural. My experience
teaches me that prussic acid would colour it blue.[11] I examined the
œsophagus to see if there was any foreign substance, and found none. I
opened the trachea, but not the bronchial tubes, so I could not tell
whether there was water in them or not. When I felt the pulse and
heart of the deceased I was satisfied that she was dead, still I bled
her, as I thought it best to try every means to restore animation.
I did not do it to ascertain the cause of death. I then got no
information as to the cause of death. I saw a slight motion of the jaw
as I felt the pulse, and apprehend she died then. I took the stomach
from the body eighteen hours after death. The contents were turned
into a jug or basin, and afterwards into a bottle. I do not know
for what purpose the bottle had been used. I did not wash it out.”
(_The bottle was here produced, a large-mouthed one, like a pickle
bottle._) The witness then stated what care he took of it to prevent
its being tampered with before taking it to Mr. Cooper:—“The exact
dose to cause death is still undetermined, also whether the effect
is cumulative or not, also the effect of the same quantity diluted
more or less is unsettled. Scheele’s prussic acid varies in strength.
Prussic acid evaporates by keeping.”

_Mr. Kelly, reading from Watson’s “Lectures on Physic.”_—“Do you
agree to this—‘A blow, a fall, an electric shock, a teaspoonful
of prussic acid, may cause death and leave no trace on the nervous
system?’”

_Witness._—“Yes.”

On his _re-examination_ by _Serjt. Byles_, the witness said:—

“In the case of the seven epileptic patients two medical men did
not smell the acid, but two chemists did some time afterwards. It
requires an extensive experience readily to detect the smell. Some may
perceive it, some not. Several persons should smell, some not being
so susceptible of the odour as others. I agree with a French chemist
that ‘under a considerable number of circumstances there must be great
practical knowledge to detect smell.’ If a person once knows the
smell, I think he will know it again.”[12]

“I should think that before prussic acid could be obtained from horns,
blood, and bones of animals, a heat of from 400 to 500 degrees would
be necessary. All animals, whether human or not, die if they take
prussic acid. There is no difference in its operation upon man and the
inferior animals. There was no appearance of disease in the heart of
the deceased. Had there been any rupture of the coronary arteries it
would have been apparent. I never knew such a disease of the spinal
marrow to cause sudden death. I know only of the two cases mentioned
by Taylor of the gall bladder having a blue tint. The absence of it
is no proof that the person did not die from prussic acid. The bottle
into which I put the contents was perfectly clean and dry. The ends
of the stomach were securely tied up with string when I moved the
contents into the jug, which was also perfectly dry and clean. I have
no doubt the deceased died from prussic acid.”

After two constables (_Hill_ and _Larkin_) had proved the finding of a
phial in a cupboard and two others in a jug, one of which contained
hartshorn, the case was adjourned to the following morning.

* * * * *

_SECOND DAY. Thursday_, MARCH 13.

* * * * *

SUPPOSED PREVIOUS ATTEMPT TO POISON.

_Charlotte Howard_, unmarried, a servant, said:—

“I knew Mrs. Hart, and went to see her at Salthill on the 26th
September, 1843. She had a child of mine in her care. I was there from
three to four months, in which time I saw Mr. Tawell there twice. On
the 30th of September he came, and in ten minutes after, Mrs. Hart
sent me out for a bottle of stout, which I got and gave to her. She
took it into the room where he was. Shortly after she came out and
sent me for a sheet of paper, leaving Mr. Tawell in the room with
the stout. When I came back she said to me ‘I am so ill, I shall be
obliged to tell my master to go; I am so sick, my head is so bad.’
She was very sick, and I helped her upstairs to bed. After she got
upstairs she was sick again. She was in very good health when Tawell
came. She said she only drank one glass of porter and felt sick
directly afterwards. I went down again and saw eighteen sovereigns on
the table, which I put into a drawer. There was some porter in the
glasses and in the bottle. That in the glasses I threw away, and drank
that in the bottle, and it did not make me ill. Mrs. Hart complained
of being very giddy, but did not say anything about her throat.”

ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE.

_Mr. Cooper_, the Analytical Chemist and Lecturer on Medical
Jurisprudence, was then called and examined by _Serjeant Byles_.

“On the 3rd of January,” said the witness, “Messrs. Champneys,
Norblad, and Pickering called on me with a carpet bag. The bag
contained a bottle (ordinary one, such as olives are usually sold
in) full or nearly so with the contents of the stomach; a portion
of porter in an ordinary beer-bottle, on which was a paper label
signifying that it contained Guinness’s beer; a glass tumbler, about
half full of what appeared to be a mixture of beer and water; a part
of a plum bun, and a phial containing a few drops (perhaps about half
a drachm) of a nearly colourless fluid; a small piece of pink paper,
such as is generally used by apothecaries for tying over the corks of
medicine phials, and had apparently been used for such purpose; and
the stomach and part of the intestines. The bottle which contained the
contents of the stomach was tied over with a piece of bladder, and,
I think, corked as well, but of the latter I am not certain; it was
opened and smelt strongly of food in the progress of digestion, it
had also the smell of beer. On the application of litmus paper to the
surface of the contents it became red instantly, and so very red that
I was disposed to consider that Mr. Norblad and the other gentlemen
were right in their conjecture as to its containing oxalic acid. A
portion was now taken out of this bottle and put into a porcelain
evaporating basin, to which some distilled water was added, and
stirred well together with a glass rod; the basin with its contents
was then placed on the heated sand bath and kept stirring until it
boiled, and even after it had boiled for some minutes. During the
whole of this operation I was standing over it, and the vapour that
escaped I smelt the whole time, but did not recognise the slightest
odour of prussic acid; the odour was the same as that of the contents
of the bottle, but it was more powerful. The contents of the basin
were then put into a paper filter placed in a glass funnel, and that
which passed through the filter was collected in a glass vessel placed
for its reception. While this operation was going on I directed my
attention to the contents of the beer bottle and the tumbler. I found
them both to have an acid reaction on litmus paper, the contents of
the beer bottle very decidedly so; but on the application of the usual
tests employed for the detection of oxalic acid, not a trace of it
could be found.

“By this time a small quantity of clear liquid from the contents
of the basin had passed the filter; this was removed from the
glass vessel employed to receive it into a test glass, and on the
application of the tests for the detection of oxalic acid not the
smallest trace was indicated. I then felt quite certain that oxalic
acid had not been the cause of death.

“I was then shown the stomach by Messrs. Champneys and Norblad, and on
examining its interior surface it did not appear to have been acted
on by any corrosive substance: nevertheless I thought it advisable to
search for sulphuric acid, and accordingly applied to a small portion
of the liquid, filtered from that which had been boiled, the test for
that substance, but none could be detected. In like manner I did also
apply the tests for the detection of baryta, opium, arsenic, the
salts of mercury, and other metallic poisons, and could find none of
them. I then came to the conclusion that, if the person had died from
the effect of poison, it could be no other than prussic acid.

“A portion of the contents of the stomach was then taken from
the bottle and put into a tubulated retort, to which was added a
very small quantity of dilute sulphuric acid; the retort with its
contents was placed on the sand bath, a receiver applied and a
portion distilled off. When about two drachms of clear liquid had
distilled over, it was removed from the receiver into a test glass,
about a grain of green sulphate of iron was added, and when this
was dissolved, a small quantity of solution of potassa. These were
allowed to remain a short time together and stirred with a glass rod.
Subsequently muriatic acid was added in sufficient quantity _when
instantly Prussian blue appeared_, which could not have resulted
unless cyanogen or hydrocyanic acid had been present. But it could not
be recognised by the smell. Although I had no doubt in my own mind,
from the gentle heat that had been employed in the above detailed
process of distillation, that the prussic acid could not have resulted
from any decomposition of the animal matters present in the contents
of the stomach, yet I thought it prudent to conduct the process of
distillation in such a manner as to preclude the possibility of such
occurrence.

“Another and much larger portion of the contents of the stomach was
put into another retort, to which a little dilute sulphuric acid
was added as before, and the retort with its contents placed in a
water bath, to which some common salt was added. The salt-water bath
was heated until it boiled; a receiver was put on to the retort, an
adapter intervening so as to remove the receiver to a greater distance
from the furnace, and the receiver was kept as cool as possible by
folds of blotting paper kept constantly wet applied to its external
surface. In this manner was the distillation slowly conducted, until
about an ounce of clear liquid had distilled over.”

On the removal of this liquid from the receiver it had the same smell
as that contained in the bottle had before distillation, and neither
myself, Mr. Norblad, Mr. Champneys, nor my son could detect the smell
of prussic acid in the slightest degree. In fact the odour of beer and
digesting food was so powerful as to cover or disguise the smell of
the prussic acid in this weak state, but on applying the same tests as
before Prussian blue was found in considerable quantity.

“The few drops of liquid which were in the phial before mentioned
were now examined: they had no action on litmus paper, they smelt of
camphor and acetate of ammonia. The test for prussic acid was applied,
but it did not show the smallest quantity. The phial was then washed
out, and the distilled liquid, with the precipitated Prussian blue
obtained by the two above-detailed processes was put into it. It was
corked up and taken by Messrs. Norblad and Champneys to keep in their
possession. I also added the same test to distilled water containing
a few drops of prussic acid, for the sake of comparison and to try
the test. This was also taken by Messrs. Norblad and Champneys, as
was also some distilled water with the same tests applied, to which
no prussic acid had been added, and which was colourless. As far as I
can recollect this completed the first day’s proceedings, it being now
nearly dark.

“On the evening of the following day (Saturday) Mr. Pickering came
to me to request I would on the Monday following examine, by the
coroner’s desire, the contents of the glass tumbler, the beer bottle,
and the remainder of the beer, to determine if prussic acid existed
in any of them. On Sunday the 6th, being engaged at Derby on the
Monday, Messrs. Norblad and Champneys came, bringing with them the
whole of the things they took away with them on the Friday. The beer,
the contents of the tumbler, and the remains of the plum bun we each
subjected separately to distillation in the salt-water bath, and to
the liquor obtained by distillation the same tests for detecting
prussic acid were added, but not a trace could be found.

“I may here observe that, on the intervening Saturday, I continued the
distillation of the larger portion before spoken of for the purpose of
obtaining more of the distilled liquid, and in fact to continue the
distillation until the whole of the prussic acid had been separated.
A part of the distilled liquor had its Prussian blue precipitated,
which was given to Messrs. Norblad and Champneys on the Sunday, and to
another part I added nitrate of silver for the purpose of separating
the hydrocyanic acid, or rather the cyanogen it contained. I kept
it safe from decomposition or change during my absence, and for the
purpose of further experiments on my return, and at my leisure.

“Accordingly, shortly after my return, I put the cyanide of silver
obtained by the above process, together with some very dilute muriatic
acid, into a small retort, to which a receiver was attached. The
retort was placed over a lamp in order to be heated, and the receiver
was surrounded by cold water. The distillation proceeded until about a
drachm and a half had distilled over. _This liquor possessed the odour
of prussic acid_, distinctly recognised by myself, and also by two of
my sons.

“It occurred to me that as Messrs. Norblad, Champneys, and myself had
distinctly seen among the contents of the stomach some undigested
apples, that the seeds or pips of the apple might give rise to the
formation of prussic acid by distillation. I therefore determined on
making an experiment to see if any and what quantity of prussic acid
they were capable of producing. Accordingly the seeds from fifteen
apples were bruised and put into a retort with some distilled water,
and about an ounce of liquor was distilled off. On the application
of the tests before spoken of, Prussian blue, in exceeding small
quantity, was produced. On testing the last product of distillation,
no Prussian blue was found. I have the whole of the Prussian blue thus
produced.

“About ten days ago I was applied to and requested to make more
experiments for the purpose (if possible) of discovering the whole
amount of prussic acid originally contained in the contents of the
stomach, or at least of that portion brought to me. I stated that I
had not the means in my possession of doing so, and that Mr. Norblad
or Mr. Champneys possessed almost everything relating to the matter;
but I thought it possible, if I had the remainder of the contents of
the stomach, and that if it were contained in the same bottle in which
it was originally brought, I might be able to do so—having a distinct
recollection of about the height at which the matter stood in the
neck of the bottle. Mr. Champneys, on Saturday, the 8th of February,
delivered, with other matters, into my charge, the remainder of the
contents of the stomach which had not before been subjected to any
operation or experiment, and which, when I gave it him back, after my
former experiments, I requested him to keep in a cool dark place for
further investigation, should it be deemed requisite. The bottle was
tightly corked and securely tied over with a piece of bladder. Before
uncorking it, I made a mark with a file outside the bottle coincident
with the surface of the contents in the interior. I then emptied the
contents into a glass alembic, washed the bottle out with a little
distilled water, and added this to the matter in the alembic. The head
of the alembic was then put on, a condensing apparatus attached, the
alembic placed as before on a salt-water bath, the bath brought to
the boiling point, and distillation conducted until the whole of the
prussic acid was expelled. A solution of nitrate of silver was put
into the recipient for the purpose of seizing hold of the hydrocyanic
acid the moment it reached that vessel. By this process I succeeded
in obtaining 1·455 grains of dry cyanide of silver, very slightly
contaminated with chloride of silver. The latter did not amount to
a quantity which could be collected and weighed. But if I allow
0·025 grains, and call the quantity of cyanide of silver produced in
reality 1·43 on the quantity operated on in this instance, it must be
very near the truth. But as the quantity operated on in this instance
formed only 51 parts out of the 180 of the whole volume of the
contents of the bottle as it was first brought to me, the following
proportion will show how much was contained in the whole. For if 51
parts give 1·43 grains of cyanide of silver, 180 parts will give
5·047 grains of cyanide of silver. This quantity of cyanide of silver
is equivalent to 1·002 grains of real hydrocyanic or prussic acid,
which is equal to 50 grains of the prussic acid of the strength of
the London Pharmacopeia. The determination of the relative quantity
operated on, and the original volume of the contents of the stomach,
was ascertained by measuring, with water, the bottle filled, as near
as possible to remember, to that part in the neck where the contents
originally stood, which was 180½ drachms, and to the mark made by the
file 51½ drachms.

“I may also remark that the contents of the stomach, after
distillation, was still strongly acid, occasioned most probably by the
acid in the beer, and also by the acid which is invariably produced
during the process of digestion.”[13]

During his _examination, Mr. Cooper_ produced the bottles
containing the Prussian blue produced from the stomach and from the
apple-pips—the former dark blue in colour, the latter hardly more
than tinged with it. When placed side by side on the front of the
witness-box the marked contrast caused much excitement in Court.

The _cross-examination_ of this witness by _Mr. Kelly_ was so
important, that though very lengthy it is necessary to give it in
considerable detail.

“Until this case,” said the witness, “I had never examined the
contents of a human stomach where a person had been killed by prussic
acid, or a human stomach containing prussic acid. Respecting the
effect of prussic acid on the stomach and tissues of the body, my
knowledge is only theoretical. Prussic acid, which I have smelt from
its most concentrated to its weakest state, has a peculiar smell; it
affects different persons differently. When I smell it, it affects
spasmodically the back of the throat. But it loses its smell in
combinations. I am not aware what quantity of prussic acid destroys
life. I have no practical knowledge on the subject. The case I am most
familiar with is that of the seven epileptics.

“I began my investigation with the view of seeing if oxalic acid was
present. I recognised the odour of beer more strongly in the contents
of the stomach than anything else. I did not trace the smell of
prussic acid in them, nor feel any spasmodic affection in the throat
in smelling them. I did not come to the conclusion, after trying for
those acids and mercurial poisons, which I did not discover, that
there was prussic acid in the stomach, but I remarked to those present
at that time, ‘Well, if this person has taken poison, it must be
prussic acid.’

“I have no idea how much Prussian blue I obtained from the first
experiment, as it was made in a hurry. (_The bottle of dark blue
liquid was here shown again._) I thought the obtaining evidence of its
presence sufficient. I got more Prussian blue in the second experiment
than in the first, and more in the third experiment than the second. I
have not calculated the total amount of Prussian blue in the bottle.”

_As to the contents of the stomach_: “There was undigested flesh and a
pulpy mass of which I could make nothing, and some portion of apple,
but no pips either partially digested or undigested with the apple.
I am not prepared to say that the pips of this apple contained more
prussic acid than others. There is a great difference between bitter
and sweet apples—_the bitter contain a great deal of prussic acid,
the sweet, I believe, none_.”[14]

_As to prussic acid being in many substances_: “Strictly speaking, I
don’t think it exists in any substance, not even in bitter almonds.
I mean in a free state; it is so extremely volatile that it cannot
possibly exist unless in combination with some other substance. It is
my opinion that prussic acid is a ‘product,’ and not an ‘educt’—that
is to say, in consequence of its great volatility it cannot exist
unless in combination with some other substance; you liberate it by
combination and change. The elements of it exist in a great many
substances. These elements, on taking new arrangements, may produce
prussic acid. Therefore I feel that it is always a ‘product,’ and that
it does not exist in any substance in a free state, because if it did
it would be continually evaporating from that substance.”

_Question._—“Are not the substances which are already known to
contain the elements of prussic acid, and from which it can be
obtained, very numerous?”

_Answer._—“They are very numerous certainly, because all those
compounds which contain carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen, may,
in my opinion, by new changes be made to produce prussic acid. All
animal substances of any kind contain those elements, in which are
contained the elements of prussic acid. I agree, as far as I know,
with Christison, that the distilled seeds of bitter almonds, and
pomaceous seeds, yield prussic acid by distillation.”

_Question._—“Is it not found, from time to time, by accident or
experiment, to exist in organic and other matters?”

_Answer._—“I believe it is. I was the first person to discover it
in fulminating silver, and perhaps also in apple-pips, from recent
experiments. I am not aware of it ever having been produced by mere
organic changes in the stomach. If the apple-pips on which I operated
had been macerated, I cannot say that I should have obtained more
Prussian blue. I know it is the habit to macerate bitter almonds, but
I also know that without maceration they have sometimes yielded more
prussic acid than with maceration.”

_Question._—“I will ask you one question more, ‘Do you agree with Dr.
Taylor that the odour of prussic acid, which is said to be peculiar,
may be found when all tests fail?”

_Answer._—“_I do not believe it._ As far as my experience goes, it
would lead me to the contrary conclusion.”

_Question._—“But if I understand you rightly, you do not smell
prussic acid, but feel its effects in another way?”

_Answer._—“Sometimes it has produced a spasmodic constriction about
the throat, without my smelling it. At other times I have distinctly
smelt it. It depends very much, I think, on the state of the nasal
organ at the time.”

_To Serjeant Byles._—“The same peculiar action at the back of the
throat is, I think, felt by others on putting prussic acid to the
nose. I communicated the nature of my evidence to the solicitor of the
prisoner about a month ago.”

_Baron Parke._—“Have you or have you not a doubt upon your mind from
the result of your experiments as to the existence of prussic acid in
the stomach?”

_Witness._—“None whatever! I have no doubt that prussic acid may
exist without being smelt.”

_Baron Parke._—“If there was an absence of smell, would you suppose
that the prussic acid was present in the shape of a salt, and that,
therefore, you did not smell it?”

_Witness._—“Absence of smell may arise from dilution, or from its
being covered by the smell of other substances.”

_Baron Parke._—“Do you, in this particular case, ascribe the absence
of smell to the circumstance of the prussic acid being in the form of
a salt?”

_Witness._—“_No, because it could not exist in the stomach as a
cyanide of potassium, which is a salt, or as a cyanide of soda, when
another and more powerful acid was present; as, for instance, muriatic
acid, which in this case was found in considerable quantity, it being
an acid generated by the process of digestion._”

_Baron Parke._—“Do you not believe that there was also acetic acid
present. Is not that a strong acid?”

_Witness._—“I have no doubt there was also acetic acid present, and
it would have a greater affinity for soda or potash than prussic acid.
I think prussic acid cannot be formed by putrefaction in the stomach.”

_Mr. Joseph Cooper_, a son of the last witness, and his assistant for
four years, deposed to having smelt the ordinary prussic acid at the
time in the process, mentioned by his father.

_Mr. Norblad_, surgeon and apothecary at Slough for 10 years, said:

“On January 2 I went to Mrs. Hart’s house and saw her body; have heard
the evidence of Mr. Champneys, and should say that death was caused by
prussic or oxalic acid; do not know of any other poisons that would
produce death so rapidly; was present at Mr. Cooper’s experiments;
have heard and perfectly agree with his evidence; oxalic acid must
have been detected if present; I am quite of opinion that prussic acid
was present in the stomach, and have no doubt about it; have heard
the evidence of the witness Howard, the symptoms she describes (of
supposed former attempt) are precisely those of prussic acid. That
acid acts uniformly upon all animal subjects, and destroys life in
the same way in all cases. Have tried experiments on dogs, and have
seen cats and dogs poisoned by that acid. On the 18th February I made
an experiment on two dogs. Five hours after feeding them I gave one
of them half an ounce and the other one drachm of Scheele’s acid,
administered it at 7 p.m., and exactly in ten seconds after receiving
the smaller dose the dog fell as if dead, and the other in half the
time; _I opened their bodies eighteen hours after and could not
discover any odour_; I smelt the mouth of the dog and could not detect
it then, nor at any other time; I opened the stomach of the dog, which
smelt intensely of sour beer, the acid having been administered in
beer. I attributed the absence of smell to the admixture of Guinness’s
stout; I should have expected on opening Mrs. Hart’s body to have
discovered the cause of death.”

_By the Court._—“I examined the brain; it was perfectly healthy;
death did not arise from apoplexy.”

_By Serjeant Byles._—“Less than a grain of pure prussic acid would be
sufficient to produce death.”

_Cross-examined_ by _Mr. Kelly_:—

“I have never attended any one who had taken prussic acid except in
the form of medicine. The average dose of Scheele’s is five minims,
and a minim is about a grain. Never heard of prussic acid being
administered externally for varicose veins, and should think it
useless (_prescription handed to him_). That is a proper prescription
for varicose veins. I agree with Dr. Thompson, of London, that prussic
acid may be applied successfully to diseases of the skin and cancerous
affections to alleviate pain. I consider my sense of smell very acute.
_I mixed twelve grains of prussic acid with a pint of porter, but
could not smell it. Some porter dropped on the table and I did then
smell it._ I know that prussic acid when combined with the blood of
an animal volatilises very rapidly when exposed to the air. There is
a case in which prussic acid appears to have allayed irritation of
the stomach; it is a useful medicine sometimes in small doses. I have
seen dogs vomit after it. Disease of the heart would produce death
from mental emotion or rupture of the coronaries of the heart. Forcing
water down the throat of a person in a syncope might cause sudden
death. There was no congestion or gorging of the lungs. I saw but did
not examine specially the coronary arteries.”

_Kelly._—“If sudden death had occurred from a disease of the coronary
arteries, what would be the appearance of the lungs?”

_Witness._—“The lungs have nothing to do with the coronary arteries;
ossification of them is supposed to cause sudden death. The blood in
the lungs would not be prevented from returning the heart so as to
gorge the lungs. I did not see any symptoms of the coronary arteries
being ossified.”

“I examined the lungs carefully. The lungs have been found gorged in
some persons who have died of prussic acid. I don’t think that what
has been called congestion was always clearly so. In all cases of
paralysis of the heart, the blood has not been returned to the heart,
and remaining in it gorges the lungs. Death by prussic acid paralyses
the heart. In death from prussic acid, death is often denoted by an
involuntary scream. I cannot say that I have heard of a succession
of screams in any case of the kind. When I first saw the body, my
impression was that death had been caused by oxalic acid, and that
impression continued until the tests were applied. Blackness of the
stomach is a symptom. There was a dark spot on the surface of the
stomach. I have not seen a case of poisoning by oxalic acid.”

_Re-examined by Mr. Prendergast._

“There was nothing in the stifled screams described by Mrs. Ashley
yesterday at all inconsistent with poisoning by prussic acid; on the
contrary, the catching of the breath is the last symptom. Less than
one grain of prussic acid will kill a healthy person.”

_By the Court._—“I saw nothing on the brain to indicate death by
apoplexy. If a sudden emotion had caused death I don’t think I could
have told that by the brain.”

Mr. Pickering, who had been in practice as a surgeon for nine years,
and was present when Mr. Champneys made the first incision through the
integuments, said he then smelt the odour of prussic acid,[15] and
confirmed the accounts of the previous witnesses of the experiments in
Mr. Cooper’s laboratory. On _cross-examination_ he admitted that before
they examined the body they were led to suppose that the death had
been caused by poison, and that he had never seen a case of death from
poisoning either by oxalic or prussic acid.

Previous visits of Tawell to Mrs. Hart, were proved by _Kesiah
Harding_, a washerwoman at Slough, in December, 1844, and particularly
on the Monday week before her death, when he told the deceased that he
wished her to be alone when he next came, and that he would come on the
Tuesday or Saturday week.

PURCHASE OF PRUSSIC ACID BY TAWELL.

This was proved by _Henry Thomas_, shopman to a Mr. Hughes, a chemist
in Bishopsgate Street, who said,

“On the 1st of January, between twelve and two the prisoner came to
the shop dressed in a great coat and usual quaker garb and asked for
two drachms of Scheele’s Prussic Acid, bringing with him a ½oz.
bottle with a regular label of Scheele’s Acid on it. As I could
not get the stopper out, I gave it him in one of our own bottles.
When about to put on a label, I believe the prisoner said “You need
not,” but I would not swear it. He said he wanted it for an external
application to varicose veins, paid 4_d._ for it, which was entered in
the book now produced. Next day he came again between ten and two and
asked for the same quantity, and, as he had broken our bottle, took it
in the one he had originally brought. I had seen him frequently before
and might have sold him prussic acid, but am not certain. He told me,
three months before, that he had been a chemist and apothecary abroad.
I do not remember his being in a hurry to catch the train and my being
not able to get the stopper out. It is our practice to do it. We
usually cover our bottles with leather. Attended at Aylesbury on the
13th of January, and recognised the prisoner the next morning in gaol.”

The _cross-examination_ of this witness, who was evidently favourable
to the prisoner and in communication with his solicitor, was directed
to three points—the suitability of prussic acid to the disease in the
legs from which the prisoner suffered; the effect of porter on the
odour of prussic acid when mixed with it; and the amount that can be
produced from apple-pips.

“The prisoner,” said the witness, “told me he was suffering from
varicose veins. I judged that he was, from the medicine I sold him.
He rubbed his leg. The prescription now shown me would be a good
external application for the ulceration produced by varicose veins.”

_Baron Parke._—“What is that?”

_Kelly._—“Scheele’s Acid.”

_Witness._—“That prescription is in the handwriting of Dr. Addison.
I do not believe that Scheele’s Prussic Acid could be mixed with a
drink and taken by a person and not smelt after death. _I do not think
porter would disguise it._ I put about twenty drops of Scheele’s
Prussic Acid down the throat of a parrot with a glass syringe. Three
women were present, and the smell was so strong and suffocating,
that it compelled them to leave the room. The bird was afterwards
stuffed. _I mixed thirty drops of this acid with eleven ounces of
porter, and found the odour slightly perceptible. I did not perceive
the difference when the froth was on and when there was none._ It is
the property of prussic acid to give out a smell when volatilising.
_Apple-pips contain prussic acid. I have assisted at the extracting it
from fifteen small apples. The process was a soft-water bath, diluted
sulphuric acid, and sulphate of iron._ TWO GRAINS AND A QUARTER OF
CYANIDE OF SILVER WERE PRODUCED. _I did this under the direction of
Dr. Lievesley, a lecturer at the London Hospital. In this process two
sweet almonds were used._”[16]

On _cross-examination_ by _Serjeant Byles_ the witness admitted that
he made this experiment on the 9th of March at the request of the
Prisoner’s solicitor, and that he had never made this experiment
before; that he had been with Mr. Hughes only about a year and half,
and was paid £80 a year, and that Dr. Lievesley provided the London
Pharmacopœia acid, and the porter. On being shown a leather or paper
covering of a small bottle that had been found in the ashes of the
grate in Mrs. Hart’s house, the witness declared that it could not be
the covering of the bottle that he had put on, as it was too small for
leather.

HISTORY OF MRS. HART.

_Sarah Bateman_ said that she knew Mrs. Hart six years ago, when
employed to nurse the Prisoner’s first wife, who soon after died. The
witness at that time observed that Mrs. Hart—then known as Hadler—was
with child, and the following statement was subsequently made by her
when at tea with Tawell and the witness.

“I am in the family way, and will vindicate my master in it. He is
going to be married to Sarah Catforth (the present wife), ‘and if
it was to get abroad it would make a great difference to him.’ She
seemed much excited, and Tawell begged her not to excite herself. ‘He
was about to be admitted into the Society of Friends,’ he said, ‘and
should not like these things to get abroad.’ She said, ‘He could marry
Miss Catforth, and no one, not even her mother, should know what had
become of her.’”

_Mary Ann Moss_, of Crawford Street, Bryanston Square, with whom
Mrs. Hart came to lodge in 1841, when she was confined of a girl,
remembered Tawell frequently visiting her, as Mrs. Hart said, “to
bring her money from her husband.” From there she removed to a small
house on Paddington Green for the sake of privacy, where Tawell paid
regular visits, and eventually to Salt Hill, at Tawell’s desire. She
represented to this witness that her husband was Tawell’s son, that
Tawell disapproved of the marriage, and that the girl and a boy of whom
she had been subsequently delivered were his. Mrs. Hart’s mother, Mrs.
Hadler, also spoke to her having not heard of her for several years.

With the proof by a clerk of Barnet’s Bank that Tawell had drawn a
cheque for £14 on the 1st of January, and the identification of certain
letters being in his handwriting, the case for the prosecution was
closed.

THE DEFENCE.

The nature of the defence opened by Mr. Fitzroy Kelly, in his long
and eloquent address to the jury has already been indicated by his
cross-examination of the medical witnesses, and was so fully commented
on by the learned judge in his charge to the jury that it is needless
to reprint it. On its conclusion residents at Berkhampstead who had
known him for several years, testified to the good character which he
had borne for kindness, charity, and benevolence, and a Mr. Richards,
of Dover, and a Captain Dillon, who had both known him abroad—the
latter for nearly thirty years—gave similar evidence of his kind,
charitable, and hospitable disposition. On the conclusion of this
evidence Baron Parke adjourned the Court to the next morning, when he
gave the following exhaustive charge to the jury.

THE JUDGE’S CHARGE.

After the usual introductory caution to the _Jury_ to be strictly
impartial, _Baron Parke_ said:—

“He would next tell them what the case was, and how it was to be
proved. It was to be proved by circumstantial evidence—the only
sort of evidence that could be obtained in most cases of a similar
nature. The most atrocious crimes were committed in secret, but
Providence had so ordered it that some traces were frequently left
which were sufficient to lead to the discovery of the perpetrators.
The law, therefore, wisely provided that direct proof of crime was not
absolutely necessary; but on the other hand it was equally necessary
that by circumstantial evidence the case should be so fully made out
as to leave no rational doubt of its committal. He should, therefore,
advise them to lay down the rule, that they should first consider what
had been proved to their satisfaction, and then whether all those
facts were consistent with the guilt of the prisoner. If they thought
that they were consistent with his guilt—and there was nothing
inconsistent with it except the prisoner’s previous character—then
they should consider whether they were inconsistent with his
innocence, and they should remember that the existence of the crime
was not inconsistent with the other parts of the case. Whilst on this
part of the case, he should observe that the counsel for the prisoner
had admitted all those facts, but had asserted that the law required
not only that those facts should be proved, but that it should be
shown directly that the deceased had died from poison, and that a
sufficient quantity of poison to cause death had been found in her
stomach. _That was not true of the law._ It was not necessary to give
direct and positive evidence in every step of the case. There was no
difference between direct and circumstantial evidence, if the evidence
was sufficient to satisfy their minds that death had ensued from
poison. It was not necessary to prove what quantity of that poison
was necessary to produce death by the testimony of the person who had
actually seen death produced by it; nor was it necessary to prove that
such a quantity as would destroy life was actually found in the body.
If they were satisfied that the prisoner administered poison to the
deceased, and that she died of it, it was not necessary to prove what
quantity had been administered to her. The only positive fact which
the law required to be proved was the finding of the body, where such
was possible. The body of the deceased having been found, it was to be
considered whether the prisoner administered poison to her—whether it
had been administered to her by the prisoner or by herself. The only
allegation that she had done so was that of the prisoner himself, and
if the jury thought the extraordinary story told by him was worthy
of credit, it would agree with the latter mode of accounting for her
death. But if they did not believe it, they had no other conclusion
left than that he had committed the crime imputed to him.”

The learned judge then proceeded to comment on the evidence of Mrs.
Ashley, and others, who deposed to the perfect health and good
spirits of the deceased up to a few minutes of the discovery of her
lifeless body, and to the medical evidence of the perfect state of her
internal bodily organs, leaving no doubt that she had not died from
natural causes. He then went to the evidence of Messrs. Champneys and
Pickering, the surgeons, who, on opening the body of the deceased on
the day following her death smelt the odour of the prussic acid.[17]
“There, then,” he said, “was evidence at once of the presence of
prussic acid in the stomach on the day following a sudden death
accompanied by appearances, such as would be symptomatic of sudden
death from that powerful poison. Mr. Cooper, the chemist, analysed
the contents of the stomach subsequently and obtained a quantity of
pure Prussian blue from it, and before he proceeded further with
the evidence on this point, he would observe, that the jury should
never lose sight of the conduct of the prisoner during the whole of
the proceedings. He then proceeded to comment on the evidence of the
presence of prussic acid in the stomach immediately after death, and
the allegation of the Prisoner’s counsel, that it was producible from
apples, and that it might have been produced from natural causes in
the stomach, which contained a quantity of apple pulp. He pointed out
that from all the medical evidence, it was proved that, that acid
was contained not in the apple, but in the pip, and that pips were
not found in the pulp in the deceased’s stomach. It was also proved
that prussic acid had been obtained from the pips themselves only by
a process of distillation, and was not produced by the mere natural
process of digestion.[18] No one would die from eating apple pips,
although a person might be killed by the prussic acid obtained from
them by a chemist. Besides, the action of the acid was sudden and
immediate, and the deceased had died in the manner she would have done
after suddenly swallowing some.”

With respect to the evidence regarding the odour of the acid being
perceptible under this or that circumstance, said the Judge:—

“All that could be inferred was, that though the perception of it was
a positive proof of its presence, the non-perception was no proof
of its not being present. As to the deceased having died from water
having been poured down her throat, it was quite idle to attribute it
to that. At that moment she was not living: death had already done its
work. With regard to the quantity of prussic acid requisite to kill a
human being, it had been proved that less than a grain would kill in
some cases, as appeared by the melancholy cases so frequently referred
to of the seven epileptic patients in Paris; and Mr. Cooper had proved
that more than a grain existed in the stomach of the deceased. It was
said that the experiments were not satisfactorily conducted—that was
a question for the jury.

“In considering the conduct of the prisoner, the jury must couple it
with all the other evidence, in order to judge how far it bore out or
contradicted the inferences that might be derived from it. It appeared
that on the day in question the prisoner had gone to the Paddington
station of the Great Western Railway and taken his place for Slough.
He had left his great coat at the Jerusalem coffee-house, and told the
waiter that he was going to dine at the West End of town. That was
untrue, and he must have made that false statement for some object or
other. He went down to Slough at five o’clock, and between six and
seven Mrs. Ashley went round to the deceased’s house, in consequence
of the noise she heard of stifled screaming. She met the prisoner in
the garden in a state of agitation—so great that he could not undo
the latch of the gate. She opened it for him. As to the observation
she made about fearing that her neighbour was ill, she could not say
that the prisoner heard it, and therefore it went for nothing. Let
that pass. However, after she got in at the door of the deceased’s
house, she turned round and saw the prisoner looking at her, and such
was the effect upon her that she felt alarmed, and closed and fastened
the door. At seven o’clock the prisoner was seen by a postboy, and he
was then making towards the station. At ten minutes after seven he
was at the station. He was next seen getting into the Eton omnibus,
and asking to be set down at Herschel House. What his intention was
in going to Herschel House does not appear. He was traced back again
to the station, and an alarm having been given, a signal was made by
the electric telegraph, and he was seen to alight from the railway
carriage at Paddington, and was then traced home. When he was taken up
next morning, and told what he was taken for, his answer was, that he
knew no one at Slough. It had been suggested by his counsel that this
was strictly true, as the deceased did not live exactly at Slough, but
a little distance from it. It had also been suggested that he wished
to prevent his wife hearing of his improper connection. It would be
for the jury to say what degree of weight should be given to these
explanations.

“He had told several falsehoods when informed of the nature of
the charge. On the Friday, about one o’clock, the prisoner had an
interview with his legal adviser, and after that, but not until after
that, did he make any attempt at explanation or give any account
of what had taken place; and the account which he then gave was
the extraordinary statement of her self-destruction. Here, then,
the prisoner represented himself as present when the poison was
administered, and as it was found in her stomach, it was for the jury
to say whether the question did not amount to the simple one, of
whether she had destroyed herself or the prisoner had administered
it. If he thought she had been threatening to poison herself, he
should at least have stayed to see what would be the effect upon her.
The jury would next observe, keeping the prisoner’s story in mind,
that no such vial as that described by him was found in the house.
It had been proved by Mr. Thomas, who had sold him the poison in the
morning, that the prisoner had prussic acid in his possession that
day. He (the judge) did not give much weight to the observation that
he would not have gone back the next day to the same shop for more if
he were conscious of guilt, because in cases of murder, and especially
of murder by poison, it was found that great precautions were not
used. The perpetrators did not at all expect to be found out. As to
the medicinal use alleged to have been made by the prisoner of the
deadly poison, he might have had varicose veins; but at all events it
had been shown that he had poison in his possession—he had the means
of doing this act on the day it was committed.”

Coming then to the question of motive the Judge gave a brief history
of the connection between the prisoner and the deceased, and,
after detailing its commencement, commented on it as showing her
extraordinary affection and devotion to the prisoner.

“With striking self-devotion,” said Baron Parke, “she had said, that,
in order not to prevent the union of the prisoner with the lady to whom
he was about to be married, she would go out of the world, and be dead
to the world, even to her own mother, from that day forth; and the
jury had heard from that very mother that from that time she had never
heard of her unfortunate daughter until after her death. She kept her
promise. She did go out of the world, and went from place to place till
she went to reside at Slough. It appeared that there she received from
the prisoner an allowance of £13 a quarter, and on the day in question
it was seen that he was to have taken her her quarterly allowance. When
taken into custody, the sum of £12 10_s._, besides silver, was found in
his pocket; and it was proved that he had drawn a cheque for £14 that
morning. From that fact it might be inferred that he had gone down with
a sort of mixed feeling, either of paying her the money or, if he had
the opportunity of accomplishing his purpose, of poisoning her. But as
to motive for destroying her, it had been suggested that no man would
commit such a dreadful crime for the sake of getting rid of expense.
That, he should say, was not a matter to be easily judged of.”

His Lordship then touched upon all the evidence regarding his alleged
pecuniary circumstances, and read the letter from his wife, in which
allusion was made to his anxiety to have the papers from Sydney. “As to
the feeling appeal made upon that affectionate letter by his counsel,
it only proved that the prisoner had been very kind to and enjoyed
the affection of his wife, which was not at all incompatible with the
commission of the crime with which he stood charged towards another
woman.”

As to the alleged previous attempt to poison the deceased in September
last, the Judge considered that there was no sufficient proof that he
then administered prussic acid to her. It was, however, remarkable that
after drinking porter with the prisoner on the 30th September, she
should have been so ill, and that after drinking porter with him on
the 1st of January she should have been taken ill and died. The strong
facts against the prisoner, in his opinion, “were his presence at the
woman’s house at the time she died; his declarations before and after
his arrest, and the fact that prussic acid was found in her stomach.”

The Judge then read over the whole of the material evidence, and, with
the usual caution, left the case in the hands of the jury. On Mr.
Gunning reminding him of the evidence to the prisoner’s character which
had been produced, Baron Parke said—“Such evidence was admissible in
cases of this kind, because it went to show the general impression
of the habits and feelings of a person. The prisoner was reputed to
be a kind-hearted, benevolent man. It was admitted that he had been
transported for some offence, the nature of which they had not been
told, but it was said that it was not one to affect his character for
kindness of disposition.” The Judge then read over the evidence to
character, and left it to the jury to decide in reference to its value
to the prisoner in his present position.

On the conclusion of the Judge’s charge, which lasted from eight in the
morning until half-past eleven, the Jury retired, and in about half
an hour returned a verdict of Guilty. In a few impressive sentences,
in which he spoke of the hypocrisy that had characterised the
prisoner’s life in the assumption of the garb of a virtuous, peaceful,
benevolent, and religious body of persons, the Judge passed on him the
dread sentence of the law, which he suffered on the 28th of March.
Previously to his execution Tawell handed a written confession to the
jail chaplain, that he committed the murder for fear that his wife
should discover his connection with the deceased, and that the previous
attempt was not made with prussic acid. He never imagined that Sarah
Hart had spoken of him to her neighbours, to whom he believed that he
was personally unknown, and so more likely to escape detection.

At the Easter Quarter Sessions of the County, held subsequently to the
execution of Tawell, an ineffectual attempt was made by a section of
the magistrates to compel the jail chaplain to deliver to the visiting
justices this written confession, which the chaplain refused to hand
over, on the ground of its having been received under the seal of
confession, and on the promise that it should not be published. All
that was known of it rested on the statement of the governor of the
prison, and the general admission of the chaplain that it was a full
confession of the prisoner’s guilt.

A difficult legal question arose, after Tawell’s death, with reference
to his Australian land, which the Crown re-granted to his widow and
family, after its forfeiture by his conviction; whether this re-grant
should prevail over the claims of a previous purchaser, a retired
auctioneer, who had houses on it, who alleged that he had purchased it
for a _bonâ fide_ consideration, under a sufficient power of attorney,
executed before Tawell’s conviction. “The affixing the seal of the
colony to this grant by Sir W. Denison, created a serious difference
between that governor and his chief minister, Mr. Cowper. The seal was
affixed pursuant to the instructions of the Secretary of the Colonies,
who only acted in the matter in accordance with the opinion of the
Attorney and Solicitor-General of England. A part of the sworn duty of
a colonial governor is to obey the instructions of the Secretary of
State for the Colonies.”[19] The governor, therefore, sent his private
secretary for the great seal of the colony and himself executed the new
deed. On this being done the owners of the property found the ground
cut from under their feet, and it never came before the law courts, but
it is believed that some compromise was effected with the family of
Tawell, and so the matter ended.

TRIAL OF GEORGE BALL FOR POISONING HIS MOTHER WITH PRUSSIC ACID.

_July, 1860_, HOME CIRCUIT, LEWES, _before_ COLERIDGE, CHIEF JUSTICE
_of Common Pleas_. BARROW, _for the Prosecution_. SERJEANT BALLANTINE
_for the Defence_.

This case, really of misadventure, is reported, briefly, as showing
the carelessness with which dangerous medicines may, no doubt most
unintentionally, be administered even by professional men, the
culpable ignorance in some of those chemists who deal in such deadly
preparations.

The accused, a medical man, but not in regular practice, had for
some time attended his mother, a very ailing old lady, and been in
the habit of giving her small doses of prussic acid, as a remedy for
violent attacks of vomiting to which she was subject. On the 11th
of July in consequence, he purchased of a Mr. Moswell, a chemist in
Lewes, a drachm of Scheele’s prussic acid, equal to 60 “minims,” and
gave her a dose of 4 “minims.” The result was favourable, and the old
lady went for a walk. On her return, however, she again complained,
and the accused administered another dose of prussic acid, evidently
from its effects, a deadly quantity, as she hardly got to her bedroom
before she became insensible, and died almost instantaneously. The
accused believed he had given her only seven drops, the proper quantity
to be given. That he gave her seven drops was not doubted, but that
the size of drops differ under circumstances as much as the strength
of Scheele’s preparation of the acid, will be seen from the following
evidence.

_Mr. Scrate_, a surgeon at Lewes (who was sent for by the accused,
found the lady dead and the accused apparently in a very distressed
state of mind), said:—

“I asked what was the matter; and the accused said he had given her
seven drops of prussic acid, and witness replied he must have given
her more.”

_Chief Justice._—“Would seven drops be sufficient to cause death?”

_Witness._—“Not according to my experience; it was the proper
quantity to be given. The smallest quantity of prussic acid on record
having caused death was of nine-tenths of a grain.”

_Chief Justice._—“How many ‘minims’ would a ‘drop’ contain?”

_Witness._—“That would depend upon how the drops were obtained from
the bottle. If the cork was partly in, the drop would be larger than
if it was carefully poured from the open neck of the bottle. Some
medical men made use of one method and some of the other, but it was
his practice not to rely on ‘drops,’ but to measure ‘minims.’”

_To Mr. Barrow._—“With such a deadly poison as prussic acid I should
say that it was not prudent for any medical man to rely on ‘drops,’
but to measure ‘minims.’ The proper doses, as marked on all bottles
of Scheele’s strength, to be administered were _one_, _two_, or the
largest _three_ ‘minims.’ Scheele’s acid was not uniform in strength:
sometimes it contained _four_, sometimes _five_, and sometimes as much
as _six_ per cent.”

_Chief Justice._—“Would not that amount to almost the difference
between life and death?”

_Witness._—“It would make a very great difference certainly. Taylor
and other eminent medical men have recommended that Scheele’s prussic
acid should not be used, on account of the very great variation
of strength. I myself always use that of the Pharmacopœia. But
notwithstanding what has been written upon the subject by many eminent
men, Scheele’s acid is generally used in the profession.”

_Chief Justice._—“Supposing the acid to be of the highest strength
you have mentioned, do you consider seven drops would have been
sufficient to cause death?”

_Witness._—“I don’t believe they would.”

_To Mr. Barrow._—“Six per cent. is an exceptional strength, but I
should think that it would take seventeen minims of that strength to
cause death.”

_Chief Justice._—“What do you say is the difference between a ‘drop’
and a ‘minim’?”

_Witness._—“That would depend on the sort of ‘drop.’ The prisoner
afterwards gave me a bottle which contained prussic acid. He told me
he had given his mother _four_ minims, and 2·5 minims remained. I did
not test the strength of what remained, but had no doubt the deceased
died from the effects of prussic acid.”

_To Serjeant Ballantine._—“There was a broken cork in the bottle when
the accused gave it to me. In his opinion ‘seventeen minims’ was the
smallest dose that would destroy life. It was very easy to destroy
life when dropping the liquid from a bottle. When accused told him he
had given seven drops, he understood that he had given three and a
half minims. He had never heard of any instance in which the strength
of Scheele’s acid had exceeded six per cent.”

_Mr. C. H. Moswell_ (chemist in Lewes).—“On the 11th of July accused
came to his shop and asked for some prussic acid. Gave him a drachm,
which would contain sixty minims. Did not measure it, but gave what he
considered a quarter of the bottle.”

_Cross-examined by Serjeant Ballantine._—“As you say you really did
not measure it, can you tell us how much prussic acid you really did
give?”

_Witness._—“I cannot say to a drop. I am sure he had fifty drops.
I consider a ‘drop’ and a ‘minim’ synonymous. I gave him about the
quantity, but when prussic acid is dispensed by a medical man, he is,
of course, careful as to the quantity he uses.”

_Chief Justice._—“We have been told that a ‘drop’ contains two
‘minims,’ and this witness says he looks upon them as synonymous.”

_Serjeant Ballantine._—“If you were told to give a patient so many
‘minims,’ should you give him so many ‘drops’?”

_Witness._—“Certainly not.”

_Serjeant Ballantine._—“Can you tell us the strength of the prussic
acid you sold?”

_Witness._—“I don’t know what the strength was—I should suppose
about _four_ per cent.”

Case for the prosecution closed.

The _Chief Justice_ called the attention of the Jury to the evidence
and observed, that the fact of the cork being broken in the bottle and
defective was certainly an important matter for their consideration, as
it admitted the possibility that the prussic acid might have escaped
from the bottle accidentally, and then there was an absence of evidence
that an excessive dose had been administered by the accused.

The _Jury_ almost immediately returned a verdict of “Not Guilty.”

If the estimate of the witness Scrate is taken for the difference
between a drop and a minim, and the second witness, Moswell, is correct
in saying that he gave the accused at least 50 drops, equal to 25
minims, as only 2·5 minims were left in the bottle, equal to 4¼ drops;
in the two doses the accused must have administered more than 45 drops,
equal to 22½ minims. If the cork was not broken in the bottle when the
first dose was administered, the probability is that the dose then
given did not exceed seven drops of the size that would make them equal
to 3½ minims, thus leaving 19 minims for the second dose. It is to be
regretted that the strength of the prussic acid was not tested.

* * * * *

NOTE ON TAWELL’S CASE.

In a case of the poisoning at Egglesham, near Glasgow, by prussic acid,
of a young woman, of the name of Agnes Montgomery, by Peter Walker, a
tailor, the symptoms were thus described by one of the witnesses, as
well as the effect of prussic acid on herself:—

“After we learnt that the moaning came from Aggie’s room, we came up,
got Clarkson’s key, and went in. (As in Tawell’s case, the prisoner
had left the girl’s room only a few minutes before.) Aggie was sitting
on a chair (in which it was probable from other evidence that she had
been placed by her murderer), with her head leaning on the table.
The body was quite still. There was a little froth coming out of the
_wicks_ of her mouth. It was a little coloured with blood; and we
afterwards found she had bit her tongue and her lips. She threw back
at different times, as if in distress. Her right hand was very firmly
closed. I loosed the boot of the left foot, and found it was swelled
and quite stiff. About ten minutes after that was another groan: the
breathing was slow, and with great oppression. She sighed six times
before she died. Her skin was getting quite cold after we got her.
I thought there was a little sweat on her face. We got hot water to
bathe her arms. The eyes were large and staring. She died about three
quarters of an hour after we got her. When we went into her room, I
found a sickening smell. I felt in my nostrils a kind of nipping, and
my throat was dry. I felt it off Aggie the moment I came forward. I
know the smell of almonds, but can’t say it was exactly like that. On
the 5th of November I saw the superintendent of police, and others,
and saw something (it was prussic acid) put into beer. I smelt the
beer; and after some of it was poured on the floor, I recognised it
as the same smell. It affected me in the same way as before in the
nostrils and throat.”—_Evidence of Mrs. M’Donald._

* * * * *

In this case, on a _post-mortem_ examination of the exhumed body, the
presence of prussic acid was clearly detected; and it was proved on the
trial that the prisoner had employed a carrier to get some prussic acid
for him, and that the bottle containing it had been given to him on the
day of the murder; and the fragments of a glass phial were subsequently
discovered, with the key of the girl’s room, at the root of a tree, at
which the prisoner had been seen stopping, as he returned from going
for a doctor. In this case the poison had been most probably given in
beer, as in Tawell’s, a tumbler in which beer had been being found on
the girl’s table.

The fellow, two months afterwards, tried to poison a Mr. Mason and his
wife, with whom he had gone to lodge in Glasgow, with prussic acid, but
happily failed in his attempt.

He confessed his guilt; and at first gave as his motive his desire to
possess himself of the girl’s money, but subsequently said he could not
tell what possessed him to do it. “Following so closely on the case of
Madeleine Smith, the probability is that her case had had on him the
same effect as Palmer’s on Dove—exciting a morbid desire to tamper
with deadly drugs, and that the death of his victim, and the danger of
the others, was as much due to this feeling as the desire for plunder.”
He was discovered to have been transported for robbery, and to have
been guilty of other crimes. He now confessed that he had murdered a
lad, by pushing him into a quarry hole. He was executed at Paisley,
Jan. 14, 1858.—_Annual Register for 1858._

CHAPTER III.

CHEMICAL NOTES.

NOTE I.—HYDROCYANIC OR PRUSSIC ACID.

Nature of—Strength of different preparations of, English and
foreign—Where found—Tests, preliminary: (1) Odour—(2) Silver—(3)
Prussian blue—(4) Sulphur—(5) Guaiacum—(6) Uranium—(7) Picric
acid—(8) Cupric sulphate—(9) Cobalt chloride—(10) Mercuric
oxide—(11) Peroxide of hydrogen—(12) Mercurous nitrate. Test
apparatus—Salts of hydrocyanic acid: (1) Potassium cyanide—(2)
Mercuric cyanide—(3) Cyanides of the heavy metals—(4) Double
cyanides—(5) Sulphocyanides—Oil of bitter almonds—Antidotes—Fatal
dose—Symptoms—Post-mortem appearances—Drops and minims—Period
after death at which hydrocyanic acid can be discovered—Formic acid
to be tested for—Processes.

_Synonyms._—Cyanhydric or prussic acid, Hydric cyanide, Hydrogen
cyanide, Acidum borussicum, Blausaüre, Berlinerblausaüre.

Formula HCN, _i.e._, a compound of single atoms, of hydrogen, carbon,
and nitrogen, in the proportions by weight of 1 + 12 + 14 = 27.
In its pure state (anhydrous, or free from water), it is a feebly
acid, colourless, mobile liquid, inflammable and very volatile.
Boiling point 24·5° C. Much lighter than water: sp. gr. ·7058. It
has a characteristic overpowering and oppressive odour, resembling
peach-blossom or laurel-water. But the anhydrous acid, from its
volatility and dangerous character is rarely seen or made. In commerce
it is always found as a dilute aqueous solution, the varying strengths
in real HCN being:—

Per cent. HCN.

Pharmacopœia, British, Swiss, America,}
Borussica, London, Norway, } 2
Schräders 1·5
Pharmac. Saxony 1·9
” Austria, Baden, Batavia 2·5
” Edinburgh, Dublin 3·3
Vauquelin’s acid 3·3 to 3·5
Pharmac. Bavaria 4
Scheele’s acid 4 to 5 (rarely 6)
Duflos’s acid 9
French Pharmacopœia 10 to 10·5
Riner’s and Pfaff’s acids 10
Hessian Pharmacopœia 18 to 20
Koller’s 25
Robiquet’s 50

In this country, only Scheele’s, and the British Pharmacopœia (2 per
cent.) acid, are usually met with.

These numbers, however, must be regarded merely as rough approximations
for two reasons; first, on account of the extreme volatility of the
acid—if loosely stoppered, or frequently opened, it rapidly loses
strength—second, both the anhydrous acid and its aqueous solution are
decomposed by light, with formation of a brown matter. This change is
supposed to be retarded by a trace of mineral acid, hence a little
hydrochloric or sulphuric acid is frequently added to the commercial
solution with this object. But the acid may even be _stronger_ than
supposed, as the methods of preparation are somewhat various, and the
one adopted may have been carelessly carried out. Scheele’s acid is
said to be the most popular among medical men; samples of it obtained
from different large firms and examined by the author showed very
irregular strengths, the lowest being 2, and the highest 8 per cent.
The latter was purchased at the shop of a chemist who said he had
made it himself, and could guarantee it was of full strength. He had
evidently made allowance for deterioration. Woodman and Tidy found 16
samples sold in one neighbourhood as B.P. acid to contain 0·6 to 3·2
per cent. of HCN; others have found 0·25 per cent. not infrequent.
It follows that if, in a poison case, a bottle has been found of a
hydrocyanic preparation of a definite name, or even with a certain
strength or dose marked on it, it will not be safe to trust to such
figures without actually determining the amount. In Ball’s trial
(Lewes, 1860), the judge asked whether this variation in strength would
not make the difference between a medicinal and a poisonous dose?
It would not, as the maximum medicinal dose, 4 grains, of even the
abnormally strong (8 per cent.) Scheele’s acid mentioned above, would
only contain 0·32 grain of anhydrous HCN, and it requires at least
half a grain to cause death, while about 1 grain is the usual fatal
quantity. And a medical man would not even give the maximum medicinal
dose as a beginning, and without precaution.

ACIDUM HYDROCYANICUM DILUTUM, PHARMACOPŒIA BRITANNICA.

We shall use the abbreviation “B. P. 2 per cent.” for this acid, which
has the characteristic odour, a sp. gr. of ·997, and a taste “at first
bland and sweet, ultimately pungent and acrid” (Thomson), “hot and
bitter” (Taylor), “cooling, with pungent bitter aftertaste” (Watts).
If pure, it only slightly and transiently reddens litmus; if other
acids have been added to keep it, it may have a stronger reddening
effect. Also, if pure, it leaves no residue on platinum, and gives no
precipitate with barium chloride, but with silver nitrate it gives an
immediate white curdy precipitate of silver cyanide, not blackening
in daylight as the chloride does, soluble in ammonia, insoluble in
dilute, but soluble in hot concentrated nitric acid. It dissolves
mercuric oxide, giving a mercuric cyanide which may be obtained in
white crystals on evaporation. The vapour is said to be more deadly
than the fluid acid. The weaker the acid, the more permanent it is.
Glycerine increases its stability (J. Williams); this might be useful
if suspected substances had to be kept a long time.

_Occurrence._—Hydrocyanic acid itself has never been found as a
natural constituent of the body, although a compound of cyanogen occurs
in the saliva (_see_ Sulphocyanides). Hydrocyanic acid is not formed
during putrefaction, nor by heating organic substances with chemical
reagents at temperatures up to 212° F., as in testing for poisons. The
only way in which it may be generated from animal matter is by heating
with alkalies _to a red heat_;[20] this cannot, of course, happen in
the ordinary process of testing for prussic acid, though it must be
remembered that cyanide might thus be formed in an _ash_ (by burning),
without having been present in the original substance.

It is rather frequent, however, in the vegetable kingdom, and
consequently in a poisoning case the defence often sets up the theory
that it has been ingested in the food (Tawell’s Trial, &c.). It is
necessary, therefore, to examine in what kind of food, and to what
amount, it may be taken.

Its principal source is the seeds, leaves, and flowers, and sometimes
the bark, of most of the species of the sub-orders Amygdaleæ and Pomeæ
of the natural order Rosaceæ. It does not occur in them ready-formed.
There is a substance called _Amygdalin_, a white bitterish crystalline
body, which may be extracted by alcohol from these plants. Amygdalin
when dissolved by itself in water does not produce HCN, and is probably
harmless, but there exists by its side in the plant a species of
ferment called _Emulsin_ or Synaptase, which has the power, when
macerated in water with amygdalin, of breaking up the latter into
glucose (so-called grape-sugar), benzoyl hydride (oil of bitter
almonds), and hydrocyanic acid. In the plant the amygdalin apparently
exists in cells apart from the emulsin, but by crushing in water, or
masticating in the mouth, the change is very rapidly effected. By
long soaking the same result may happen, as in cherry brandy; here
the diluted spirit dissolves the amygdalin, and the emulsin then may
act. But if, in the stomach, the apple-pips or cherry-stones should be
found _whole_, it is almost impossible that the amygdalin should be
decomposed, protected as it is by its horny or stony envelope. Stones
and pips, in fact, pass through the body intact, and are found in the
fæces.

Yet as amygdalin and its decomposition may be much mentioned by the
defence, the following account may be useful.

100 parts of amygdalin yield 6 parts HCN.

It has been found in the species of Rosaceæ given below, generally in
fruit, flowers, leaves, sometimes bark, rarely root.

_Pyrus_ malus (apple pips), domesticus (pear).

_Prunus_ spinosa (sloe), avium (bird cherry), padus (wild service),
Virginiana or serotina (wild black cherry), capricida, insititia
(bullace), domestica (plum, damson, &c.).

_Amygdalus_ communis (almond), Persica (peach), lævis (nectarine).

_Armeniaca_ vulgaris (apricot).

_Cerasus_ communis (cherry), acida, laurocerasus (cherry-laurel),
Lusitanica (Portugal laurel).

_Cydonia_ vulgaris (quince).

_Sorbus_ aucuparia (mountain ash), torminalis, hybrida.

_Cratægus_ oxyacantha (hawthorn, young branches).

_Spiræa_ aruncus, sorbifolia, japonica (not in herbaceous species).

Hydrocyanic acid, ready formed, has been found in the roots of the
bitter and sweet cassava (Jatropha manihot).

If the poisonous dose of the B. P. (2 per cent.) acid be at least 30
minims (Royle’s Mat. Med., Dr. Harley, 6th ed.) the following table
shows the amount of some of the above which is needed.

┌─────────────────────┬──────────┬─────────┬────────────┬────────────┐
│ │Percentage│Equal to │Amount │ │
│ Substance. │ of │ HCN │required for│ Observer. │
│ │amygdalin.│per cent.│poisonous │ │
│ │ │ │ dose. │ │
├─────────────────────┼──────────┼─────────┼────────────┼────────────+
│Cherry kernels │ 3 │ 0·18 │ 333 grains│Gieseler. │
│Pips of sweet apples │ 0·45 │ 0·027 │ 2222 ” │C.G. Stewart│
│Pips of bitter apples│ 0·85 │ 0·051 │ 1176 ” │ ” │
│Wild service kernels │ 1·5 │ 0·08 │ 750 ” │Hermann. │
│Flowers, fruit, and }│ 1·0 │ 0·06 │ 1000 ” │Riegel. │
│bark of do. }│ │ │ │ │
│Bitter almond pulp │ 4·25 │ 0·25 │ 240 ” │Allen. │
│Sweet Cassava │ │ 0·017 │ 3500 ” │Francis. │
│Bitter do. │ │ 0·027 │ 2222 ” │ ” │
└─────────────────────┴──────────┴─────────┴────────────┴────────────┘

Sweet almonds contain emulsin, but no amygdalin, hence give no HCN
(_see_ Tawell’s Trial, p. 40).

According to my own experiments, 837 _sweet_ apples (apples weighing
135 pounds, pips about 5 oz.), would be required for a poisonous dose
of HCN; whereas 130 _bitter_ apples, weighing 18 pounds, and the pips
about 2½ oz., would suffice. The pips of bitter apples are bigger, more
numerous, and weigh about three times as much as those of sweet apples.

Among substances containing much more HCN, and actually poisonous on
that account, are:—

HCN.
Crude bitter almond oil 8 to 15 per cent.
Bitter almond water ¼ to 1 ”
Cherry laurel oil 2 to 3 ”
” ” water[21] ¼ to ¾ ”
Cluster cherry oil 9 to 10 ”

(Allen, Comm. Org. Anal.) It is obvious that of fruits an impossibly
large quantity must be eaten to produce any considerable amount of HCN.
In Tawell’s trial, Mr. Cooper, the analyst, deposed that the seeds from
15 apples gave him an exceedingly small quantity of Prussian blue.
Whereas, Henry Thomas, a druggist’s assistant, stated that “15 small
apples gave 2¼ grains of silver cyanide” [equal to 0·46, or nearly ½
a grain, of anhydrous HCN, corresponding to 25 minims of B. P. acid,
nearly a poisonous dose!] “This was done under the direction of a
lecturer at the London Hospital.” A fair sample of the erroneous and
bewildering evidence that is frequently offered in courts of justice.

Mr. Cooper also stated “there is a great difference between bitter and
sweet apples; the bitter contain a great deal of prussic acid, the
sweet, I believe, none at all!” This statement is misleading; no apples
_contain_ prussic acid, but all that I have met with will _yield_ it
by maceration, as all contain amygdalin. The highest class of eating
apples, such as Newtown pippins, Ribstones, and Blenheims, contain only
a minute trace. These have very few pips, 3 to 5 to each apple, while
the bitter varieties, such as “winesours,” have 9 to 13 pips.

In the arts, cyanides are used in photography, dyeing, cleaning
lace and metals, electro-plating, removing silver stains, &c. Their
solutions may cause accidental poisoning, either by the fumes or by
absorption through the skin, especially if the latter is abraded.

Hydrocyanic acid is also formed (1) in the preparation of nitrous ether
(sweet spirit of nitre), (2) by distilling albumen, fibrin, casein, or
gelatin, with sulphuric acid and bichromate of potash, or manganese
peroxide, (3) by the dry distillation of albuminous bodies. It is
hardly necessary to say that these formations could not occur in the
ordinary methods of testing.

TESTS: PRELIMINARY.—It cannot be too strongly insisted that all
operations for the detection of HCN should be carried out as soon after
death as possible, on account of the loss from volatility, or from
secondary changes. (See Sulphocyanides.)

Allen asserts (Commercial Organic Analysis, 1879), that detection in
the body is rarely possible more than twenty-four hours after death;
but Taylor (Med. Juris., 1873, p. 368) has found it in the stomach
twelve days after, saying, however, that “after the stomach had been
exposed a few days longer, all had disappeared.” In a dog’s stomach he
found it, after twenty-four hours’ exposure, _and washing with water_.
In a human stomach, success was achieved seven days after death, where
no odour was perceptible; in another case, after twenty-two days in
the stomach, and after two months in the spleen. It may be found in
the stomach, and not in the tissues; but in most cases it is easily
detected, soon after death, in the blood, organs, &c. The vapour of
HCN will traverse paper, wet or dry bladder, &c., in a few minutes
(Taylor), and few stoppers are close enough to retain it. Hence care
should be taken to shut up the suspected matters at once in glass
bottles _accurately stoppered_; bad stoppers are worse than corks.

The stomach should be first examined entire, to ascertain _odour_,
&c., _noticing whether alkaline or acid_, then cut in pieces, under
distilled water sufficient to cover it, the whole measured, and
one-half (acidulated with tartaric acid, if alkaline), placed in a
capacious retort, and distilled in a bath of water saturated with salt
to raise the boiling point. The condenser should be well supplied with
cold water, the receiver attached airtight, with a mercury valve (a
narrow glass U-tube, containing mercury), to prevent undue pressure. A
little distilled water, about ½ oz., should be placed in the receiver.
The distillation should be continued till one-third to one-half of the
original liquid has passed over. The tests may then be applied to the
distillate.

Allen recommends us to distil _with water alone_ about one-half. If
there is no result on testing the distillate, continue with addition of
tartaric acid. Finally, add a considerable excess of moderately dilute
sulphuric _and_ hydrochloric acid, and carry the distillation nearly
to dryness. In the last stage sulpho-, ferro-and ferricyanides and
mercuric cyanide are decomposed, and give HCN. The original should be
tested for ferrocyanide, &c. This seems a process calculated to give
the clearest idea of the form in which the HCN is present, but is open
to the objection that it is protracted, and may hence cause loss.

Sokoloff. (Chem. Centr., 1876, 603) advises a much more heroic
treatment. “Strongly acidify with sulphuric acid, and distil over
a water bath for _two or three days_, replenishing the water as
evaporated. The longer the distillation, the more accurate the result.”
He adds, that the muscles contain the greater part of the HCN. He
quotes figures in support of his results, but I have not found such
prolongation necessary; and we must remember that HCN is decomposed by
heating with moderately strong mineral acids.

The following modification, proposed by the author, may be
advantageous, as diminishing the risk of loss, and also effecting
concentration:—Prepare _exactly_ equivalent solutions of silver
nitrate, and hydrochloric acid: the silver solution may contain 17
grammes of silver nitrate, the hydrochloric solution 3·65 grammes
of hydric chloride, per litre. Place in the receiver 100 cubic
centimetres of the silver solution (= 1·70 gramme silver nitrate)
before distillation. This is allowing large excess, to provide for
exceptional quantities of HCN. If any quantity of HCN be present, the
liquid in the receiver will become milky; if it does not, there cannot
be more than a minute trace. Transfer the distillate and washings to
a retort, provided with a thistle-funnel, and boil down to one-third
of its bulk; then add, through the funnel, 100 cubic centimetres of
the hydric chloride solution, which will precipitate all the silver
as chloride, and liberate the HCN. Distill with the same precautions
as before: the first 25 cubic centimetres will contain probably all
the HCN. If doubted, a further quantity may be collected and tested.
The 25 cubic centimetres of distillate may now be subjected to the
following tests, taking care that each portion is _measured_ before
being examined, in order that the idea of the quantity present may be
definite. For instance, in the Prussian blue, and sulphocyanide tests,
the resulting colour may be imitated by standard solutions: in the
silver test, a standard silver solution should also be used, and thus a
triply-confirmed knowledge of the quantity present may be attained; and
little bottles, containing the results, should be preserved, to show in
the courts of justice.

I. ODOUR.—All tests involving odour are affected seriously by the
remarkable differences between different people as to their sense of
smell. We hear much of “colour-blindness;” but the analogous olfactory
defect has almost escaped remark. Yet “smell-blindness,” as I have
formerly christened it, or “anozism,” if a Greek word be required,
is exceedingly common, and chemists and medical men are frequently
afflicted with it. I have known an artist, who could not smell strong
ammonia, yet delighted in the odour of new paint, which he compared
to roses. Many laboratory students can neither smell acetic acid,
arseniuretted hydrogen, nor cyanogen. An assistant was so fond of
sulphuretted hydrogen, that he was once found insensible beside the
apparatus, having narcotized himself with the gas (he recovered);
and many more such eccentricities. In the case of prussic acid these
diversities are enormous. Some are so sensitive, that the least trace
in a room becomes rapidly unbearable, causing headache and nausea;
others are like photographers, and can work in a heavily-cyanogened
atmosphere. Such idiosyncrasies become of great importance in evidence;
for example:—

In Tawell’s trial, Mr. Champneys, surgeon, testified as follows: “Have
no experience in detecting odour of prussic acid in a human subject.
Should think it may be taken without detection. Should expect it in the
mouth and breath, but there may be exceptions. There was no odour in
her [the deceased’s] breath; but, on opening the body, I was positive
I smelt prussic acid. The other two surgeons could not smell it.”
Afterwards, when the contents of the stomach were transferred to a jar,
neither the three surgeons, nor Mr. Cooper, the analyst, could perceive
the least odour of prussic acid, even when the contents were boiled.
Nor was it smelt in the blood. Mr. Cooper subsequently stated: “I have
no doubt that prussic acid may exist without being smelt: absence of
smell may arise from dilution, or from its being covered by the smell
of other substances. When I smell it, it affects spasmodically the back
of the throat. _Sometimes it has produced a spasmodic constriction
about the throat without my smelling it._” Here was a well-marked case
of intermittent smell-blindness.

There were also several questions as to whether prussic acid might
have existed in the form of an inodorous salt. Mr. Champneys further
stated that he put ½ drachm of prussic acid into a tumbler filled
with Guinness’s porter, and the smell was _scarcely perceptible_. Mr.
Norblad, surgeon, deposed that he mixed 12 grains of prussic acid with
a pint of porter, but could not then smell it. “Some of the porter
dropped on the table, and I did then smell it.” In the same trial,
Henry Thomas, druggist’s assistant, mixed 30 drops of B.P. prussic
acid with 11 oz. of porter, and found the odour of the acid _slightly
perceptible_; yet, when he was pouring Scheele’s acid from a bottle,
three women had to leave the room to avoid suffocation!

In a case of suicide by cyanide of potassium (Chem. News, 1861, p.
261), the smell of prussic acid was not perceived by the surgeon,
either immediately after death or at the post-mortem examination,
nor by the analyst until the contents had been distilled with dilute
sulphuric acid.

To help in elucidating this matter I have made some experiments as to
the detection of the odour of prussic acid. An acid of 2 per cent.
strength (B.P.) was used.

1. From a bottle of Guinness’s stout, freshly opened, 3 samples of
1 fluid oz. each were measured. To the first 1 drop of the acid was
added, to the second 2 drops, the third being left untouched. This was
done out of my sight in another room. They were then privately marked
by an assistant, and brought in; when myself and two others, one of
them entirely inexperienced, independently and at once classified them
without hesitation correctly as to the relative _amounts_ of prussic
acid. The odour was so distinct as to produce, when inhaled, a feeling
of oppression, and to _quite overpower the odour of the beer_.

1 drop in 1 fl. oz. = 0·23 per cent. of the dilute (B.P.) acid.
” = ·0046 per cent. of real anhydrous HCN.

About 1/30 of a poisonous dose. Hence if a poisonous dose were put into
a pint and a half of stout, the odour would be distinct.

2. One drop of the dilute (2 per cent.) acid was added to 6 oz.
stout: there resulted a slight but distinct odour of prussic acid.
Hence a poisonous dose in _nine pints_ would be smelt. Covered by a
watch-glass, with a drop of yellow ammonium sulphide on it, it was
warmed; the drop, on evaporation, gave a distinct red sulphocyanide
reaction with ferric chloride. Exposed to the air for twenty-four
hours, all the above samples had lost their odour, and failed to give
the sulphocyanide reaction.

3. Two samples of urine, measuring ½ pint each, were treated
respectively with 1 and 2 drops of B.P. acid (strength in this case
1·18 per cent. HCN), and a third ½ pint left untouched, the same
precautions being used as with the above beers. Three independent
witnesses again classified them without difficulty as to relative
amounts of the poison. This is 2 drops of an exceptionally weak acid to
the pint.

4. The contents of a human stomach, very fetid from decomposition, were
divided into two portions of about 2 oz. each: one was left untouched;
to the other 1 grain of mercuric cyanide was added, and then about
5 drops of hydrochloric acid, and a little zinc dust. The whole was
well stirred, and shut up close. Next day the odour of HCN was very
prominent in the one to which the cyanide had been added, in spite of
the strong original smell of both.

5. I cannot agree with Taylor that either peppermint or tobacco mask
the odour appreciably.

The odour of _nitrobenzol_, being similar to that of bitter almonds,
might lead to a suspicion of prussic acid without due caution (Woodman
and Tidy).

In putrefying, organic matters often develope ammonium sulphide,
becoming alkaline. The ammonium sulphide would combine with the HCN
to form sulphocyanide of ammonium, _which is inodorous_, but, by
distillation with acids, gives HCN. Sulphocyanide, however, could not
be produced _unless the original matters were alkaline_. In Tawell’s,
and most other trials, the stomach contents were _acid_, as they always
are naturally from the gastric juice.

Taylor (Med. Jurisprudence, 1873, vol. i., p. 364) mentions a case
where the blood had a strong odour of prussic acid, and the mucous
membrane of the stomach, _even after it had been washed three times
with water_, also exhaled a strong odour. In another case (Med. Gaz.,
vol. xxxvi., p. 104), where 20 grains of Scheele’s acid had been taken
with ultimate recovery, the vomited matters had _no odour_, “showing
that, if not concealed by other odours, the whole of the acid must
have been absorbed.” Many other instances might be quoted where nothing
was smelt, and yet the tests revealed prussic acid.

As to the question about the _salts_ of prussic acid, it may be
generally said that all poisonous cyanides would smell in the stomach,
except, perhaps, mercuric cyanide. _See_ “Properties of the Salts,”
p. 73. Possibly the formation of mercuric cyanide may have accounted
for the absence of odour in some of the above cases, as I do not find
that mercury was tested for, though its compounds are common medicines.
Otherwise it is hardly possible that hydrocyanic poisoning should
have been effected, and the acid be still there, without its very
characteristic odour being perceptible to an observer with an acute
olfactory sense. I have entered at some length into the question of
odour, as much importance has been attached to it in the trials, and I
still consider it as one of the most delicate and positive of tests.

II. SILVER TEST.—When silver nitrate is added to a solution containing
HCN or a cyanide acidulated with nitric acid, a white precipitate
falls of silver cyanide, soluble in ammonia, insoluble in dilute, but
soluble in hot concentrated nitric acid, and not blackened by light.
This reaction is rendered quantitative according to Liebig’s volumetric
method. The original solution is made slightly alkaline by potash, and
a standard solution containing 1·7 grammes of silver nitrate per litre
(1 cub. centimetre = ·0017 grm. AgNO_{3}) is added until a permanent
white turbidity is produced, seen best over a sheet of black paper
or a black book. Then each cub. centimetre used is equivalent to a
_double_ quantity or ·00054 grammes of HCN. Formic acid, or chlorides,
do not interfere; in fact, it is advantageous to have a little chloride
present.

The silver cyanide may be also estimated _gravimetrically_ by adding
excess of silver nitrate, collecting the precipitate on a weighed
filter, washing, drying, and weighing. Silver cyanide corresponds
to two-tenths of its weight of HCN (134 gives 27). If chlorides be
present, the mixed precipitate of silver cyanide and chloride is
weighed, treated with dilute hydrochloric acid, and weighed again.
The HCN is thus displaced, and passes into the filtrate; the silver
precipitate, now all as chloride, is weighed again: then the increase
of weight multiplied by 27 and divided by 9·5 (the difference between
the equivalent weights of silver chloride and cyanide) is equal to
the _weight_ of HCN present. But the volumetric process is quite as
accurate, and more expeditious.

In poisoning cases advantage is taken of the opacity of silver cyanide
thus: A drop of moderately dilute silver nitrate is placed on a
watch-glass over the substance, which may be gently warmed, taking
care that the steam condensed does not cause the drop to fall. If
HCN be present, the drop will become opaque-white from formation of
silver cyanide. 1/100 grain of HCN, equal to ¼ grain of B.P. acid, will
give this reaction (Taylor). If there is only a small amount, and the
action is gradual, the drop on drying in the air may exhibit crystals
of silver cyanide, recognizable under the microscope as minute prisms
obliquely truncated. Of course the silver nitrate itself may give
crystals, but they will be very soluble in water.

Cyanide of silver is decomposed by (1) hydrochloric acid, giving
silver chloride; (2) dilute sulphuric acid and zinc, giving silver;
(3) sulphuretted hydrogen, giving silver sulphide; in each case HCN is
liberated and may be distilled off: then the other tests may be applied.

If sulphuretted hydrogen be present, it will give a _black_ with silver
nitrate. The liquid should in this case be previously shaken with just
enough carbonate of lead to remove the sulphuretted hydrogen. The
latter, however, does not interfere with the Prussian blue or sulphur
tests.

When sufficient in quantity, the cyanide of silver, thoroughly dried
in a water-bath, may be transferred to a small bulb-tube and heated,
the end being closed with the finger. It breaks up into cyanogen gas,
silver, and paracyanide of silver, a peculiar glow and effervescence
occurring as it decomposes. The cyanogen will have the characteristic
bitter almond odour, and, on removing the finger, will burn with a
flame violet on the margin and rosy in the centre.

III. PRUSSIAN BLUE (Scheele).—Add to the solution or distillate
caustic potash in excess, then a drop or two of fresh ferrous sulphate
(protosulphate of iron), and a little ferric chloride (perchloride
of iron—the tinct. ferri perchlor. of the Pharmacopœia will do),
warm gently for a few minutes, add dilute hydrochloric acid in slight
excess: if much HCN be present, a deep blue precipitate (Prussian blue)
will remain; if only a trace, the liquid will be greenish, and on
standing till the next day a blue deposit will form.[22] This is the
only _blue_ iron precipitate which is insoluble in dilute hydrochloric
acid.[23]

_Remarks._—Sulphuretted hydrogen does not interfere with this test,
as the black ferrous sulphide dissolves in hydrochloric acid. The
amount of iron salts added should have some relation to the amount
of HCN present, an idea of which will have been attained by the
silver test. Moderate excess of potash must be present all the time
till the hydrochloric acid is added. A large amount of iron salt is
objectionable, as the yellow colour interferes with the final green
tint with traces of HCN. The test may be made quantitative by imitating
the tint with a weak standard solution of potassium ferrocyanide
treated with a drop of hydrochloric acid and a drop of ferric chloride,
on the same principle as “_Nesslerizing_” (see Wanklyn’s Water
Analysis). Finally the precipitate of Prussian blue should be preserved
to exhibit at the trial, as this is the most positive, though not the
most delicate, test.

IV. SULPHUR TEST (Liebig).—The liquid to be examined is placed in a
somewhat shallow glass dish or beaker, covered almost airtight with
a watch-glass, moistened on the under surface with a drop or two of
_yellow_ ammonium sulphide. [The ordinary sulphide is commonly yellow
enough for the purpose, or, if not, can be made so by warming with a
little flowers of sulphur.] After warming gently for a short time (the
periods recommended by different authorities vary from half a minute to
ten minutes), great care being taken that the steam does not condense
and cause the solution on the watch-glass to drop back into the liquid,
the cover is removed, dried on a water bath to drive off any excess
of ammonium sulphide, treated with a drop or two of water, and a drop
of not too acid ferric chloride free from nitric acid and diluted
till nearly free from colour. If HCN be present, it will have formed
sulphocyanide with the ammonium sulphide, and will therefore generate
a blood-red colour with the ferric chloride. If a colour be produced,
continue the addition of ferric chloride till no further deepening
occurs. The reaction is made quantitative by comparing the tint with
that produced by a known quantity of sulphocyanide and ferric solution
(Herapath). But there are difficulties in making it exact.

This is the most delicate test for HCN, detecting 1/7930th of a
grain of HCN in a very dilute liquid, whereas Prussian blue does not
discover less than 1/780th of a grain (Taylor, Ann. Ch. Pharm. lxv.,
263). Salts of acetic, formic, and meconic acids give red colours with
ferric chloride, but (1) meconic acid is not volatile; (2) the red
from acetic and formic acids is at once removed by a slight excess of
dilute hydrochloric acid, sulphocyanide is not; (3) sulphocyanide-red
is destroyed by solution of mercuric chloride, the others are not.

The above tests are sufficient, but the following additional ones have
been at different times proposed.

V. GUAIACUM TEST.—Paper dipped in fresh tincture of guaiacum,
containing about 3 per cent. of the resin, then dried, then moistened
with dilute cupric sulphate solution (2 per cent.), becomes blue in HCN
vapour. But the same effect is produced _without HCN_ by almost all
oxydants, such as chlorine, bromine, or iodine, ferric chloride, nitric
and nitrous acids, chromic acid, peroxide of hydrogen, ozone (Mohr’s
Toxicologie), also by ammonia, hypochlorous acid, soluble chromates,
&c. (Blyth).

VI. URANIUM TEST.—A grain or two of pure ferrous salt (ammonio-ferrous
sulphate will do), and the same quantity of uranium nitrate, are
dissolved in half an ounce of water. Two or three drops of this are
placed on a white plate, and a drop of the suspected liquid added.
A purple precipitate, or a greyish purple colour in weak solutions,
indicates HCN. Cobalt nitrate may be used instead of the uranium salt,
and is nearly as delicate. (Carey Lea, American J. of Science [3] ix.,
121.)

VII. A hot solution of potassium cyanide mixed with _picric acid_ gives
a deep blood-red —“picrocyanic” acid). Free HCN does not give this
reaction, and therefore must first be neutralized by an alkali. Said to
be more delicate than the iron tests. (C. D. Braun, Zeitschr. f. anal.
Ch. iii., 464.)

VIII. Slightly alkalize the distillate with potash, add a few drops
of _cupric sulphate_, and afterwards just enough hydrochloric acid
to dissolve the excess of cupric hydrate: white cuprous cyanide will
remain undissolved. “This test will detect 1/20000 of HCN in solution.”
(Lassaigne, Ann. de Chimie, xxvii., 200.) But a similar effect is
produced by hydriodic acid, and potassium iodide might have been
administered.

IX. Mix the HCN with excess of alkali, add cobalt chloride and tartaric
acid: on exposure to air a deep brown-red colour will be produced. (C.
D. Braun, loc. cit.).

X. If to a solution of HCN, potash be added in excess, and then a
little very finely pulverised, or precipitated, mercuric oxide, the
latter will dissolve. Mercuric oxide is soluble in alkaline fluids only
in presence of HCN. (Fresenius, Qual. Anal.).

XI. “With peroxide of hydrogen, natural blood gives effervescence
from escape of oxygen, but no discoloration. Blood containing HCN
gives a brown colour, the spectroscopic bands disappearing, and no
effervescence.” (Schönbein.) Hæmatocrystallin, the colouring matter
of the blood corpuscles, combines, in fact, with HCN, giving a dark
coloured compound which appears to be crystallizable and definite in
composition (Hoppe Seyler), does not act as a carrier of oxygen like
the natural hæmatocrystallin, and possesses a distinct spectrum (see
Thudichum, Chem. Physiology). The blue masses in the blood described by
Ralph (Journ. Microsc. Science, Oct. 24, 1866) have not been found by
others.

XII. Mercurous nitrate gives at once with HCN solutions, a black
deposit of metallic mercury, and a solution of mercuric cyanide. With
calomel, a similar reaction takes place according to Allen, but I have
found that the solution is not deodorized even by large excess of
calomel, the odour becoming stronger and more pungent than the original
HCN. On evaporating, mercuric chloride is left. Probably some cyanogen
chloride is formed. The odour is so much intensified that it might be
of use as a test. In view of the possible administration of calomel,
the reaction is interesting.

Of course it will not be necessary to employ all these methods. The
odour, and the silver, Prussian blue, and “sulphur” tests will be
sufficient. I would suggest a form of apparatus by which all the latter
could be obtained from the original substance without distillation in a
retort.

A shallow beaker or glass jar is closed by an india-rubber stopper,
through two holes in which are passed glass rods ending in glass spoon
bowls bent at right angles, so as to be horizontal when mounted. The
bowls should be one inch in diameter, and will have to be specially
made. In the first bowl a few drops of silver nitrate are placed, in
the second a little potash. The apparatus is put in a warm place
for six or eight hours, then the two rods are removed, a third rod
substituted, its bowl containing a drop or two of yellow ammonium
sulphide, the other hole plugged, and the apparatus put back in the
warm place for two or three hours more. The first bowl will have the
silver cyanide, the second should be treated with ferric and ferrous
salt and hydrochloric acid for Prussian blue (_vide_), the third
evaporated and ferric chloride added for the sulphocyanide test. This
arrangement prevents loss of HCN by volatilization, and also, with a
little care, avoids any danger of the reagent dropping back into the
solution. The three rods cannot safely be placed in together, as the
sulphide vapour would blacken the silver.

For the modifications in testing necessitated by the presence of
mercury, &c., see under the different _Salts_.

SALTS.

Hydrocyanic acid combines with bases to form the _cyanides_, which may
be thus grouped:—

A. CYANIDES OF THE ALKALIES (potassium, sodium, ammonium), and of the
ALKALINE EARTHS (barium, strontium, calcium, magnesium). These are all
soluble in water, are alkaline to test paper, and are decomposed by
all acids, even carbonic, hence they _exhale an odour of HCN_, and are
nearly as poisonous as prussic acid itself. If they are present, the
stomach contents must be alkaline. The only member of this group likely
to be met with is

POTASSIUM CYANIDE, KCN. Broken opaque white lumps, or small crystals,
deliquescent, smelling strongly of HCN, soapy to the feel, often
containing much carbonate, and therefore effervescing with acids,
easily fused by heat to a clear liquid, very soluble in water, less
in alcohol. Used for removing silver stains in the form of “cyanogen
soap,” but very dangerous, as a cut or scratch may cause absorption,
and even the unbroken skin, according to Allen, may absorb enough
to cause symptoms. Its aqueous solution decomposes spontaneously
into formiate of potassium, ammonia, and a brown substance. Its taste
is bitter and acrid, causing constriction and a burning heat in the
throat. It is very strongly alkaline. Distilled with dilute acids it
gives off all its HCN. It easily responds to the other tests. In a
case of poisoning investigated by Dr. Bernays, a piece of potassium
cyanide was found in the deceased’s mouth, which was much inflamed by
its acridity. The alkali being strong, and the acid weak, cyanide of
potassium has most of the effects of an alkaline irritant.

The _potassium_ may be found by incinerating a portion of the substance
and testing for it in the ash. Taylor (Med. Jurisprudence) improperly
says that the _salt itself_ (cyanide of potassium) may be recovered
from the organs by incinerating them in close vessels and treating the
ash with water. I have already mentioned that cyanide would be formed
in this way from the organic matters themselves, even if not originally
present.

B. MERCURIC CYANIDE, Hg(CN)_{2}. Of all metals mercury has most
affinity for HCN, mercuric oxide decomposing other cyanides, even
Prussian blue, and dissolving readily, as we have seen, in free HCN,
or in alkaline cyanides. Hence if a compound of mercury have been
given medicinally, the prussic acid will be found in the stomach
as mercuric cyanide, which is easily soluble in water, neutral to
test paper, _quite inodorous_, and extremely poisonous. It is not
officially recognised in any Pharmacopœia, except the French; has
been occasionally used in medicine instead of mercuric chloride,
which it resembles in action, but has the advantage of not being
incompatible with alkalies and organic matters (Royle’s Mat. Med.,
6th ed.). It crystallizes in anhydrous four-sided obliquely-truncated
white opaque prisms, with a disagreeable metallic taste, is permanent
in the air, easily soluble in water, less in alcohol. It fails to
respond to the silver nitrate (partially) or Prussian blue tests,
and gives the sulphur test with difficulty. It is decomposed by
distillation with hydrochloric acid, but only ⅔rds of the HCN pass over
into the distillate, unless ammonium chloride be added (Roscoe and
Schorlemmer’s Chemistry). Whenever HCN is looked for, it is safer to
examine also for mercury, and, if found, to add a little hydrochloric
acid and sulphuretted hydrogen to the original liquid, thereby
precipitating mercuric sulphide (black) and liberating the HCN, which
may be distilled off. If, however, excess of sulphuretted hydrogen
has been inadvertently added, it would blacken silver nitrate, and
hence the silver test would not be available, unless the solution was
previously shaken with lead carbonate to remove the sulphide. But it
would not affect the Prussian blue or sulphur tests, as sulphide of
iron is soluble in hydrochloric acid. Mercuric cyanide also gives off
all its HCN when distilled with iron filings or zinc dust, sulphuric
acid, and water. This seems a better method.

Mercuric cyanide is said to be an irritant poison, and to be similar
in its action to corrosive sublimate. Combination with mercury seems
to mask the physiological action of HCN, just as it does its chemical
action. The medicinal dose is 1/16th grain gradually increased to ½
grain, in pills or solution (Royle). 10 grains have proved fatal. By
heat, when dry, it is broken up like silver cyanide into mercury and
cyanogen.

C. CYANIDES OF THE HEAVY METALS, as zinc, lead, copper, &c. _Silver
cyanide_ has already been described. These are insoluble in water,
inodorous, and probably, while intact, not poisonous. But they are
decomposed by mineral acids, and, as the gastric juice is acid, they
would more or less readily yield free HCN, with its usual odour and
effects. The influence of the metal has also to be considered.

D. DOUBLE CYANIDES, derived from iron, cobalt, manganese, chromium,
platinum, &c., are inodorous. Those of the alkalies and alkaline earths
are alone soluble. The only common ones are ferro-and ferricyanide of
potassium, the so-called yellow and red prussiates of potash. They are
said to be merely purgative, not poisonous, but, from the comparative
facility with which they yield HCN by acids, they cannot be considered
safe. Soluble ferrocyanides give, with pure ferrous sulphate, a white
precipitate turning blue in air; with ferric chloride a precipitate of
Prussian blue; with cupric sulphate a maroon precipitate. Ferricyanide
solutions give with ferrous salts a deep blue precipitate; with ferric
salts a dark-brown coloration. These reactions would be applied to a
filtered portion of the stomach contents. _Prussian blue_ is ferric
ferrocyanide mainly, but varies in composition: it is supposed to be
inert.

Almen states (Chem. Centr. 1872, 439) that potassium ferrocyanide in
solution decomposes at ordinary temperatures, especially if a little
free acid be present, HCN being formed. Prussian blue only decomposes
when warmed to 40° or 50° C. (therefore not in the body, C. G. S.),
“hence the presence of HCN, if accompanied by ferrocyanide, is not a
proof of poisoning.” But ferrocyanide is not in any Pharmacopœia, and
is not administered medicinally. Yet, to answer a possible question, a
known fraction of the original substance might be extracted with water,
and tested as above. The same observations apply to ferricyanide.

When ferro-or ferricyanides are distilled with moderately strong
sulphuric acid, a _portion_ of the contained HCN passes over; in
fact, this is the common process for preparing prussic acid. The iron
remains behind in the retort, in combination with potassium and the
rest of the cyanogen. If ferric hydrate —“ferri peroxidum humidum”),
or ferrous sulphate and potash, have been administered as antidotes to
HCN, Prussian blue might be formed in the stomach. It would then show
a blue colour, either by itself or on addition of an acid, and blue
particles under the microscope, if in sufficient quantity. In this case
the HCN left in the stomach would have been rendered innocuous, and the
prussic acid which had actually caused the death would be found free in
the blood, &c. The stomach contents might then show no HCN, either by
odour or distillation, as Prussian blue is inodorous, and not easily
decomposed by dilute acids. With alkalies it turns brown, giving ferric
hydrate and an alkaline ferrocyanide.

Ludwig and Maushner (Chem. Centr. 1881, 43), in a case of poisoning,
discovered a quantity of potassium ferrocyanide in the body. This was
removed by slightly acidulating and carefully precipitating by ferric
chloride. The filtrate, distilled with tartaric acid, yielded much HCN.
The sample of cyanide of potassium, which had probably caused death,
was afterwards found to contain a large proportion of ferrocyanide.

E. SULPHONCYANIDES (Thiocyanates). Those of the alkalies and alkaline
earths are soluble and colourless; ferric sulphocyanide is soluble,
and intense blood-red (sulphur test); other sulphocyanides are mostly
insoluble. They are all inodorous, poisonous in moderate quantities,
and are not officinal in any Pharmacopœia. Distilled with acids they
break up, HCN being found in the distillate. It has been mentioned
already that ammonium sulphide, produced by putrefaction, may combine
with any HCN present to form ammonium sulphocyanide; therefore, if the
matters to be examined are alkaline, and putrefaction has commenced,
Allen (Commerc. Org. Anal., 1879, art. HCN) recommends us to digest
with alcohol, filter, evaporate to dryness on a water bath, redissolve
in a little water, filter again, and test the filtrate with ferric
chloride after just acidulating with hydrochloric acid: the well-known
blood-red colour will result (_see_ “Sulphur Test”). But the ordinary
distillation with tartaric or sulphuric acid would in this case also
detect the HCN, though the _whole_ might not pass into the distillate.

_Sulphocyanide of mercury_ is the toy called “Pharaoh’s Serpent.” A
case of poisoning by it is recorded.

It is important to notice that traces of sulphocyanide are naturally
present in the saliva. If this salt be found, the question will occur,
how much could be accounted for by the saliva? Carpenter (Princ.
of Human Physiol.) quotes Harley to the effect that the average
daily secretion from the salivary glands is 1 or 2 pounds: other
observers have stated that it varies greatly. The secretion itself
is said to contain, in 1000 parts, one part (Frehrichs), or 0·6 part
(Jacubowitsch), or even 0·3 part (Oehl), of potassium sulphocyanide;
that is, 4·2 to 7 grains per pound, equivalent to from 1 to 2 grains
of HCN, or 2 to 4 grains if 2 pounds of saliva were secreted.
This would be a serious matter but for the fact that, whether from
decomposition by the gastric juice or otherwise, or from its passing
out of the stomach as it passes in, it is certain that no such quantity
is ever found naturally in the stomach, not more than a minute trace
being ever given by the processes, unless hydrocyanic acid, in one of
its forms, has actually been administered.

_Cyanide of cadmium_, and some of its double salts, are sparingly
soluble. _Double cyanide of silver and potassium_ is soluble and
crystallizable. It is the salt used in electro-plating, and,
as commonly met with, smells strongly of potassium cyanide.
_Zinc-potassium cyanide_ has been used medicinally: it occurs in
beautiful crystals, inodorous when dry, but having a faint odour of HCN
in solution.

The other cyanides are rare, and their physiological action is
unrecorded. _Cyanic acid_ and cyanates are said not to be poisonous.

_Oil of Bitter Almonds._—The crude oil contains, as we have seen, 8 to
15 per cent, of HCN. Dissolved in spirit it forms “essence of almonds,”
and is exceedingly poisonous, having caused thirty-one deaths in four
years (Taylor). Two drachms of the oil has killed a man in seventeen
minutes (_Lancet_, 1868, p. 447), two ounces caused death immediately.
The odour of almonds is always distinct in the stomach.

The oil can be freed from HCN, but then does not keep so well, and is
much more costly. Its sp. gr. is 1·049; it boils at 356° F. The crude
oil is yellow: with concentrated sulphuric acid it gives a crimson-red
colour, and on diluting a yellow emulsion. We may estimate the amount
of HCN in it by shaking with water, separating, adding dilute potash
to the aqueous liquid, and testing it with standard silver solution
as described under “Silver Test.” The other tests may also be used
to prove the _presence_ of HCN; the guaiacum and copper paper being
specially convenient.

A case of poisoning by bitter almonds is reported in the “South
Australian Register” for August 6th, 1879. A female child (whose
age is not stated) ate a dozen of them, freshly taken from the tree,
and died in three hours. The symptoms described are pain, coma, and
convulsions.

_Antidotes_ to HCN are generally useless since the death is so
sudden. A moderately dilute solution of an alkali, such as potash,
lime or washing soda, along with a little ferrous sulphate, would
render harmless so much of the poison as was still in the stomach
unabsorbed. As already mentioned, this would cause a little difficulty
in the chemical analysis. _Ammonia_ acts as an antidote by opposing
the _depressant_ action of HCN. _Chlorine water_ has been used: this
converts the HCN into ammonium chloride, carbon monoxide and dioxide,
and a little cyanogen chloride.

_Medicinal uses._—Its primary action is on the cerebrospinal nerves.
It is employed externally, largely diluted, to allay neuralgia and
itching of the skin, and to relieve earache (not more than two drops of
B. P. acid at a time)[24]: it must not come in contact with abrasions,
or it might be absorbed and produce poisoning symptoms. Internally, it
allays dyspepsia and the irritant effects of capsicum, &c. (Royle).
Safe dose internally two to six minims of the B. P. 2 per cent. acid,
suspended if there is any constriction of the throat (Farquharson’s
Therapeutics).

_Fatal dose._—Smallest recorded (Med. Gaz. 35, p. 896); twenty grains
of Scheele’s acid, fatal in twenty minutes, equal to fifty grains of
B. P. 2 per cent. acid, equal to one grain of anhydrous prussic acid.
Largest dose with recovery (_Lancet_, 1854, January 14), _one drachm_
(sixty grains) of Scheele’s acid, but in this case energetic remedies
were at once applied. Average fatal dose of 2 per cent. acid, thirty
minims (Royle’s Mat. Med., Dr. Harley, 6th ed.).

_Symptoms._—These vary with the dose, &c. A large quantity kills in
two to five minutes, though insensibility may ensue in a few seconds.
But patients may survive for twenty minutes, or even for an hour; and
may continue in imminent danger for several hours, and yet recover
(Guy and Ferrier, Forens. Med., 1881). Many cases have occurred of
voluntary acts, such as concealing or throwing away the bottle,
having been performed after fatal doses had been swallowed (_Ibid_,
p. 600). In animals, according to Mr. Nunneley, there is usually a
peculiar plaintive cry, but not in man, though there may be a call for
assistance. Convulsions, and involuntary evacuation of fæces or urine,
may or may not occur. Large doses kill by cardiac syncope; smaller ones
by paralysis of the respiratory centre, or, if gradual, by impeded
oxidation of the blood (Farquharson’s Therapeutics). Other symptoms
are, dilatation of pupils, muscular prostration, deep convulsive
breathing at long intervals, quick feeble irregular pulse, spasmodic
closure of the jaws and clenching of the hands (Taylor). Breathing
sometimes stertorous (Christison, Ed. Month. Journal, February, 1850,
p. 97. Reg. _v._ Burroughs, Cent. Crim. Court, February, 1857).
Vomiting occasional, or foaming at the mouth.

_Post-mortem appearances._—Not characteristic (Farquharson; Guy and
Ferrier). Putrefaction not accelerated (Taylor). The veins contain dark
fluid blood: the right side of the heart is gorged (Harley). There may
or may not be congestion and reddening of stomach and intestines, or of
the brain. On the whole, the appearances are those of asphyxia.[25] The
odour should be sought for in all parts, and _as soon as possible_ the
organs should be shut up in stoppered jars, or well-corked and sealed
bottles, and sent at once for analysis.

The symptoms and post-mortem appearances of poisoning by _Cyanide of
Potassium_ are the same as those of prussic acid, except that:—

1. Convulsions are more common.

2. Owing to the irritant action of the alkali, the stomach is reddened.

3. The contents are alkaline.

The fatal dose is less than five grains, but Taylor mentions a case of
recovery after nearly one ounce of the commercial cyanide, which may,
however, have contained much carbonate.

Hydrocyanic acid is not, in the strict sense, a _cumulative_ poison;
“but doses that exceed the proper medicinal limit may happen to prove
fatal though similar previous ones have appeared to be harmless,
in consequence of a change in the body itself.” (Guy and Ferrier’s
Forensic Medicine, 1881, p. 606.)

In the trial of George Ball for poisoning his mother with prussic
acid, at Lewes, July, 1860 (previously reported), the question arose
as to the difference between _minims_ and _drops_. A minim of water
is supposed to weigh a grain: if the fluid is heavier than water, it
weighs more than a grain; if lighter, it weighs less. But a _drop_ is
quite an indefinite quantity: it is affected, not only by the specific
gravity, but by the cohesion of the fluid, by the shape and size of the
vessel, the manner of pouring, and the temperature. I have made some
experiments which show the irregularity. (See also Woodman and Tidy’s
Forensic Medicine, p. 456.)

┌────────────────────────────────────┬───────────┬────────┬────────┐
│ │ │ │Measured│
│ │ │ No. of │ in │
│ Capacity of Bottle. │ Liquid. │ Drops. │Minims. │
├────────────────────────────────────┼───────────┼────────┼────────┤
│(Stoppered) 6 fluid oz. │ Water │ 117 │ 180 │
│ Do. (another observer)│ Do. │ 90 │ 120 │
│ 1½ fluid oz. │ Do. │ 47 │ 100 │
│(Corked) 6 do. │ Do. │ 36 │ 100 │
│Same capacity, dropped with the cork│ Do. │37 to 41│ 100 │
│ (Stoppered) 6 fluid oz. │ Rectified │ 243 │ 120 │
│ │ Spirit │ │ │
└────────────────────────────────────┴───────────┴────────┴────────┘

Proving that while a drop may be estimated at about 1½ to 2 minims (a
good deal more than the usual supposition, the two terms being often
regarded as synonymous), yet the inconstancy is so great that it is
absolutely imperative, in using powerful medicines, to prescribe exact
measurement, and not such a precarious process as dropping.

As to the period after death during which HCN may be detected, Allen
(Comm. Org. Anal.) asserts that its detection is rarely possible after
more than twenty-four hours. This is astonishing, as Casper separated
more than 18 milligrammes from a body eight days after death; Sokoloff
detected it in hounds sixty days after; Dragendorff after four weeks in
a dog, after eight or ten days in man. Reichardt (Arch. Pharm. 3, 19,
204) found it in a body two months after death—in the organs, but not
in the urine. In the Tawell trial, also, the interval was considerable.

Casper states in his Handbook (vol. iii., illustrative cases of HCN)
that Schauenstein (one of the Prussian official chemists), twenty-six
hours after death, found no HCN in the stomach, but a considerable
amount of _formic acid_, the result of its metamorphosis. We know that
strong HCN, exposed to light, decomposes into formate of ammonium,
which, by distillation with a dilute acid, would give formic acid in
the distillate. That such a change should occur so rapidly in a dilute
solution, and in the darkness of the body, is improbable. It would be
well, however, that formic acid should be looked for in the distillate
thus:—

Carefully neutralize a _measured portion_ with pure soda or potash;
evaporate on the water-bath to dryness. The alkaline formate will be
left in white crystals if present, together with the cyanide, which
will not crystallize, but remain as a deliquescent mass. Dissolve in a
little water, and divide into three equal portions.

(1.) To the first add silver nitrate in slight excess. Cyanide of
silver will precipitate, formate will remain in solution, if not too
concentrated. Filter, if possible. On boiling, if any blackening
happens from reduction of the silver, formic acid is _probably_
present. _Acetic_ acid does not reduce silver nitrate.

(2.) To the second add dilute _neutral_ ferric chloride (a solution of
iron-alum answers admirably). A red-brown colour, removed by a drop of
hydrochloric acid, indicates either acetic or formic acid.

(3.) Evaporate the third portion to dryness, and ignite gently in a
closed crucible. Formate and acetate will be turned into carbonate,
while cyanide will remain unchanged if air be excluded. If then
effervescence take place on treating the residue with a little
hydrochloric acid, it is a confirmation of the presence of formic or
acetic acid. The first test will have revealed which it is.

Many animal substances, when distilled with strong acids, _do_ give
acetic and formic acids, but they do not act thus with _dilute_ acids.
Yet a stomach will usually yield a little acetic acid from the food
having turned sour.

If formic acid be present, it will probably have proceeded from the
decomposition of HCN. Then the reduced silver obtained in the first
test should be weighed, and calculated into formic acid, and also into
hydrocyanic acid (108 parts of silver = 46 parts formic acid, or 27
parts HCN). The result may be stated thus:—

“Hydrocyanic acid actually found,—-- grains. Formic acid found,—--
grains. If this had proceeded from the decomposition of hydrocyanic
acid, it would correspond to an additional amount of—-- grains of
hydrocyanic acid.”

It is needless to observe that the mere finding of formic acid would
be no proof of the administration of HCN, unless strong corroborative
evidence were at hand.

On the whole, we must always try, and we may often hope, to find HCN if
given, either free, as cyanide, or as sulphocyanide, even after months
have elapsed.

CHAPTER IV.

TRIALS FOR POISONING BY STRYCHNIA. PALMER, DOVE, AND BARLOW.

THREE cases are reported in this chapter. (1) That of William Palmer,
for the poisoning of John Parsons Cook, at Rugeley, in Staffordshire,
which, in consequence of the prejudice existing against him in that
county, was transferred by Act of Parliament to the Central Criminal
Court in the City of London,[26] and taken before Lord Chief Justice
Campbell, on the 14th, and eleven following days, of May, 1856. (2)
That of William Dove, for the murder of his wife, Harriet, at Leeds,
tried at York, July 16th, 1856, before Baron Bramwell. (3) That of
Silas Barlow, for the murder of his mistress, Eliza Soper, at Vauxhall,
tried at the Central Criminal Court, November, 1876, before Mr. Justice
Denman.

The _first_ of these trials is remarkable for the conflict of the
medico-scientific evidence, the most eminent men among our physicians
and analysts being called on either side, and the most contradictory
testimony as to the possibility of detecting strychnia being given by
them. The _second_ trial shows the dangerous effect of hasty newspaper
reports in such cases—the murder of his wife by Dove having been
clearly suggested by the popular report to which some of the journals
of the day gave circulation, that Dr. Taylor, the eminent analyst, had
stated, in connection with Palmer’s case, that strychnia could not be
detected by analysis. This case is also interesting from the nature
of the insanity which was set up by the defence. The _last_ trial,
that of Silas Barlow, exposes the danger of the sale of the “Vermin
Killers,” so popular with all householders, most, if not all, of which
contain a large proportion of strychnia, and thus offer a ready means
for murder or suicide, especially as the purchase of them would not be
attributed to an evil intention. It is but a poor consolation to know
that, when the mischief has been done, the punishment of the actor can
be secured by the skill of the analyst.

THE RUGELEY POISONINGS.

TRIAL OF WILLIAM PALMER, _May 14, and following days_, 1856.[27]

_Before_ LORD CHIEF JUSTICE CAMPBELL, BARON ALDERSON, _and_ MR.
JUSTICE CRESSWELL, _at the_ CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.

_For the Prosecution_: The Attorney-General (Sir A. Cockburn), Mr.
Edwin James, Q.C., Mr. Bodkin, Mr. Welsby, and Mr. Huddlestone.

_For the Defence_: Mr. Serjeant Shee, Mr. Grove, Q.C., Mr. Gray, and
Mr. Kenealy.

_William Palmer_, surgeon, of Rugeley, Staffordshire, aged 31, was
indicted for the wilful murder of John Parsons Cook.

HISTORY OF THE CASE.

_Connection between Cook and Palmer._

_Mr. Cook_, having been originally brought up as a solicitor, on coming
into a fortune of from £12,000 to £13,000, abandoned his profession,
and took to the turf, where he became acquainted with the prisoner,
who had for some years kept racehorses. Originally in good local
practice, Palmer had of late transferred the majority of his patients
to a Mr. Thirlby, who had previously been his assistant, retaining only
two or three more immediately connected with him or his family. His
father, originally a working sawyer, had, by his industry, gradually
risen to be a timber merchant in a large way of business, and, on his
sudden death in 1837, left a fortune of £70,000. As he died intestate,
the eldest son executed a deed by which each of the children took
£7,000, and the remainder was left to the widow. Of these children,
seven in number, the prisoner was the fourth. As a child he was known
for his amiability and kindness, but also for his shy and underhand
manner, and his partiality for trying experiments of a cruel nature on
animals. “He was just and generous,” said one of his early friends,
“when he grew up, and he never forgot an old face.”[28] Originally
apprenticed to a firm of druggists in Liverpool, he had to leave
them in consequence of a scandal in money matters; was then put with
Mr. Tylecote, a surgeon, near Rugeley; walked the London hospitals,
living the gay life of so many of that class of students; passed his
examinations; married the illegitimate daughter of an Indian officer,
who left her a small property; and set up in Rugeley as a surgeon.
Of his five children only the first, a son, was living at the time of
his trial, the others all dying suddenly of convulsions within a few
weeks after their birth. He was an indulgent husband, a kind father, a
regular attendant at church, and apparently a religious man.

On his marriage, Palmer commenced to live in a handsome style, keeping
his carriage, and soon after began training and breeding racehorses,
and occupying himself on the turf. As his wife’s fortune was only for
her life, in 1854 he insured her life for £13,000, the premiums on
which exceeded the income he derived from her, further insurances of
a greater amount being declined by other offices. Within nine months
after this, his wife was dead, and the insurance money received,
relieving Palmer from difficulties that were already pressing on
him. Again, within three months after his wife’s death, Palmer was
endeavouring to effect insurances on the life of his brother Walter,
a confirmed drunkard, to the enormous extent of £80,000. Only one of
these policies, that in the Prince of Wales’ office, was accepted, the
other offices being put on their guard by the hint that “his wife had
died after the first payment of the premium had been made.” Pressed
by his pecuniary difficulties, he then tried to effect an insurance
for £10,000 on the life of one George Bate, a decayed farmer, whom he
employed as a kind of farm bailiff, and represented as a gentleman and
an esquire, with a famous cellar of wine, but the insurance offices
were now thoroughly awake; a detective was sent to interview the
esquire, whom he found hoeing turnips, and the scheme fell through.[29]

Since 1854, Palmer had been in the hands of the bill discounters,
and especially of a money-lending attorney in Mayfair of the name of
Pratt, with whom he from time to time discounted what purported to be
the acceptances of his mother, some of which were renewed on partial
payment, others cleared off by the money received from the insurance of
his wife’s life.

“This,” said the Attorney-General, “brings us to the close of 1854.
In the course of that year he effected another insurance in his
brother’s name, but Palmer was the real party, and corresponded with
Mr. Pratt on the subject of effecting it, and the policy for £13,000
was assigned to Palmer. On the strength of that policy, which remained
in the hands of Pratt, who paid the first premium out of a bill he
discounted for Palmer at 60 per cent., they proceeded to discount
further bills, this policy being kept as a collateral security. The
bills, in the whole, discounted in the course of that year, amounted
to £12,500—two in June, which were held over from month to month to
keep them alive—two of £2000 each in March, 1855, with the proceeds
of which Palmer bought two racehorses, Nettle and Chicken. These bills
were renewed from time to time, and eventually came due in January,
1856. Another bill for £2000 was discounted in April, 1855, renewed
like the others, and became due on the 25th of October. On the 9th of
July another bill for £2000 was discounted, renewed, and became due on
the 12th of January. On the 27th of September another bill for £1000
was discounted to pay for the renewal of the bills due and then coming
due. So that when the Shrewsbury races took place in November, 1855,
bills were due or rapidly maturing to the extent of £11,500, every
one of which bore the forged acceptance of the prisoner’s mother. You
will therefore understand the pressure which naturally and necessarily
arose upon him; the pressure of the liabilities for £11,500 which
he had not a shilling in the world to meet, and the still greater
pressure which arose from the consciousness that the moment he could
go on no longer, his mother would be resorted to for payment. The fact
of his having committed these forgeries would be known, and would
bring on him the penalty of the law for that crime so committed. The
insurance company having refused to pay the policy effected on his
brother’s life, no assistance could be derived from that source.”

Already, in May, 1855, Cook, with whom he had become intimately
acquainted in racing transactions, had lent him his acceptance for
£200 to meet a small claim, and had had to pay it on Palmer’s default.
In August of that year, Palmer again asked the money-lending attorney
of Mayfair to discount a bill of Cook’s for £500, representing that
Cook required the money. It was, however, declined without further
security, and then Cook assigned two of his racehorses—Polestar, the
subsequent winner at Shrewsbury, and Sirius—as a collateral security,
and obtained only £375 in money, and a wine warrant for £65, the rest
being swallowed up in discount and expenses. This money and warrant
Cook never got, Palmer asking Pratt to send it to the post-office at
Doncaster, whence he obtained it; and as it was made “to order,” and
bore a receipt stamp, Palmer, it was alleged, forged the name “John
Parsons Cook,” and took the cheque and the warrant, and appropriated
the proceeds. That bill would be due on the day of Cook’s death. In the
same month it was that he attempted to effect the insurance on Bate’s
life and failed; and though Cook had, at Palmer’s request, attested
this proposal, which referred to Palmer as the usual medical attendant,
beyond that he had nothing to do with this attempt.

Such was the desperate position of the prisoner at this time. It,
however, rapidly grew worse. On the 6th of November a writ for £2000
against Palmer, and another for the same sum against his mother, were
issued, but held over by Pratt in order that Palmer might make some
arrangement. This he did to the amount of £800, and in consequence,
after allowing for an exorbitant discount, £600 was taken off the bill,
leaving £1400 to be met. The Prince of Wales office had refused to pay
on Walter Palmer’s life, and Mr. Pratt would not wait any longer. On
the 13th of November, Pratt wrote him that all the bills, £11,500 in
amount, must be met—a letter which Palmer must have received the next
day—the day after that on which Cook’s horse, Polestar, won at the
Shrewsbury races. After the race, Cook had between £700 and £800 in
his pocket from bets paid on the course, and from the stakes and his
other bets would be entitled on the week after to receive more than
a thousand pounds at Tattersal’s. Before that day Cook was dead, his
pocket-book empty, and his betting-book not to be found.

Cook, though slightly disposed to pulmonary complaints, was a hale
and hearty young man, at the time of his fatal illness suffering only
from debility.[30] It was only natural that his victory should excite
him, and that with some friends he should celebrate it with two or
three bottles of champagne at the “Raven Hotel” on his return from the
course. He was, however, generally abstemious. He went to bed with
nothing the matter with him, got up the next day and went on the course
as usual. That night his illness began.

Late on the evening of the 14th of November, a betting agent of Cook’s,
of the name of _Fisher_, who was staying at the “Raven,” was invited by
Cook to come into the room where he, Palmer, and one Myatt were, and
take some brandy and water.

“They were drinking grog,” says _Fisher_; “the deceased had some
brandy and water before him. He asked me to sit down, and I did so.
Cook asked the prisoner to have some more brandy and water, and he
said he would not until Cook had drunk his. Cook then took up his
glass, and drank almost all the liquor that was in it, and, within a
minute, he exclaimed, ‘There is something in it; it burns my throat
dreadfully.’ Upon his saying this, Palmer took up the glass, and
sipped what remained in it, and said, ‘There is nothing in it.’ There
was a very small quantity in the glass when the prisoner took it up.
At this time a person of the name of _Reid_ came in, and the prisoner
handed the glass to him, and asked if he thought there was anything in
it, and handed it to me also, and we said there was nothing we could
recognize, as the glass was empty. I said, however, that there was a
strong scent upon it, but I could not detect anything but brandy. Cook
went out of the room, and when he returned he called me out. I went
with him into my sitting-room. He appeared very ill, and he told me he
had been very sick and asked me to take his money. He said he thought
Palmer had been dosing him. He gave me £700. He did not say what I
was to do with the money. He was very sick again after he had given
me the money, and asked me to go into his bedroom with him. I did
so. Another person named _Jones_ went with us; the deceased vomited
violently in his bedroom in our presence. He was so ill I recommended
him to send for Dr. Gibson, who attended and gave him some medicine.
He was certainly not drunk; there was nothing about him approaching to
drunkenness. He appeared very ill the next morning, but a good deal
better than the previous night, and I returned him his money.”[31]

_Mr. Gibson_, who saw Cook during this attack, confirmed Fisher’s and
Reed’s account, stating that his tongue was perfectly clean, his pulse
good, but his stomach appeared distended, that he only administered
simple remedies. Cook told him he thought he had been poisoned. He
seemed a little excited, but not drunk. A _Mrs. Brooks_, who also
attends races, added the following evidence on this incident:—

“I went to the ‘Raven’ to see Palmer about half-past ten at night
on Wednesday the 15th. I went upstairs, and asked a servant to tell
Palmer that I wished to speak to him. She said he was there. At the
top of the stairs are two passages, one facing, the other to the left.
I turned to the left. I saw Palmer standing by a small table in the
passage. He had a tumbler-glass in his hand in which there appeared to
be a small quantity of water. I did not see him put anything into it.
There was a light between me and him, and he held it up to the light.
He said to me, ‘I will be with you presently.’ He saw me the moment I
got to the top of the stairs. He stood at the table a minute or two
longer with the glass in his hand, holding it up to the light and
shaking it. The door of a sitting-room was partially open, and he went
into it, taking the glass with him. In two or three minutes he came
out again with the glass. What was in it was still of the colour of
water. He then went into his own sitting-room, and the door was shut.”

Some brandy and water, which Palmer afterwards brought to Mrs. Brooks,
proved harmless to her; but she admitted that on the previous day
a great number of the racing men at Shrewsbury were affected with
sickness and purging, and that there was a talk in the town of the
water being poisoned.[32] With the return of Cook from Shrewsbury to
Rugeley with Palmer, on the day after this suspicious attack, the
summary of the case ends, it being necessary to detail the subsequent
events in the words of the leading witnesses.

THE SYMPTOMS.

In the evening of the 15th of November, Cook returned from Shrewsbury
with Palmer to the “Talbot Arms,” at Rugeley, an inn situated
immediately opposite Palmer’s own house. He said he had been ill at
Shrewsbury, went to bed early, dined with Palmer the next day, and
returned to the inn at night, apparently none the worse, and quite
sober.

“On the following morning,” said _Mills_, the chambermaid, “Palmer
came to see him, and asked me for a cup of coffee for him, which I
procured, and I think I gave it to the deceased, and left the room.
I did not see him drink the coffee; but when I went into the room
shortly afterwards, I found it had been vomited in the utensil. I
did not observe a jug of toast-and-water in the bedroom; but a jug
that did not belong to the bedroom was sent down at night, for me to
make some fresh toast-and-water in it. The prisoner was in deceased’s
bedroom four or five times on this day, and I heard him tell Cook
that he would send him over some soup. I afterwards saw some broth
in the kitchen, which I knew had not been made in the Talbot Arms;
and the waitress took this broth to the deceased’s bedroom. I saw the
prisoner after this, and he asked me if Mr. Cook had had his broth;
and the waitress said she had taken it to him, but he refused to take
it, and said that it would not stay on his stomach. The prisoner then
told me to fetch the broth, as Mr. Cook must have it, and I did so,
and left it in deceased’s bedroom, and shortly afterwards I saw that
it had been vomited. The same evening some barley water was made for
the deceased, and also some arrowroot, but I cannot say whether they
remained on his stomach or not. Mr. Bamford, the doctor, was called
in after this. On the Sunday after the deceased came to the Talbot
Arms, I saw him in his bedroom about eight o’clock in the morning,
and he said he had slept well since twelve o’clock, and he felt
pretty comfortable. A large breakfast cup of broth was brought from
the prisoner’s house between twelve and one o’clock on the Sunday,
and I took it up to the deceased’s bedroom. I tasted the broth, and
very soon afterwards I was sick. I drunk about two tablespoonfuls. I
vomited violently all the afternoon, and was obliged to go to bed. I
was quite well up to the time of my drinking the broth. I saw the
deceased on Sunday evening, and he seemed in good spirits, and not to
be any worse. I saw the deceased on the Monday morning between seven
and eight o’clock, when I took him a cup of coffee for his breakfast.
He did not vomit the coffee. Palmer had seen him before this, but he
did not come again until ten o’clock at night. The deceased got up
about one o’clock, and he shaved and dressed himself, and appeared a
great deal better, but said that he was exceedingly weak. Ashmall,
the jockey, came to see him on the Monday, and also Mr. Saunders, the
trainer. Soon after one o’clock, the deceased took some arrowroot, and
it remained on his stomach. The deceased went to bed at four o’clock,
and between nine and ten the prisoner went into his room, and I left
him there. Some pills were sent by Dr. Bamford for the deceased, about
eight o’clock, and I took them into his room, and placed them on the
dressing-table, and they were there when the prisoner went into the
room. I went to bed between ten and eleven, and I was called up about
twelve. I then heard violent screams from the deceased’s bedroom, and
upon entering it _I saw the deceased sitting up in bed, and he desired
me to fetch the prisoner directly. I told him he had been sent for,
and I then walked to the bedside and found one of the pillows was
upon the floor. I picked it up and asked Mr. Cook if he would lay his
head down. At this time he was beating the bedclothes apparently in
great agony, and he told me he could not lie down, and he should be
suffocated if he did; and he then, in a loud tone, asked me again to
send for Mr. Palmer. There was a sort of jumping or jerking about his
head and neck and body all this time, and his breathing was very much
affected. He screamed three or four times while I was in the room, and
twice he called out, ‘Murder.’ He asked me to rub one of his hands,
and I found it quite stiff. It was the left hand. The fingers were
all stretched out and there was no motion in them, and they twitched
while I was rubbing the hand._ Palmer came into the room while this
was going on, and the deceased recognized him, and said, ‘Oh, Palmer,’
or ‘Oh, doctor, I shall die.’ The prisoner replied, ‘Oh, my lad,
you won’t;’ and after remaining a minute or two in the room he told
me to stay there, and went out. He returned in a very few minutes,
and he then produced some pills, and he gave the deceased a draught
in a wine-glass, after he had given him the pills. Cook said that
the pills stuck in his throat, and the prisoner told me to give him
some toast-and-water, and I did so in a teaspoon. _His head and body
continued jerking, and he seized the spoon fast between his teeth and
seemed to bite it very hard._ The deceased shortly after swallowed
the toast-and-water and the pills, and the prisoner then handed him
the draught. It had a thick heavy appearance. The deceased snapped
at the glass in the same way he did at the spoon, and he appeared
unable to control himself. _As soon as he had swallowed the draught,
he vomited it immediately, and it appeared to me to smell like opium._
The prisoner then made the remark that he hoped the pills had stayed,
and he searched the utensil in which the deceased had vomited with a
quill, and said that he could not find them; and he told me to take
the utensil away and empty it carefully, and I did so, but could not
see any trace of the pills. After this the deceased seemed a little
more easy. _The attack lasted altogether about half an hour, and
during the whole of the time he was quite conscious._ When he was
composed he asked the prisoner to feel how his heart beat; and Palmer
went to his bedside, and put his hand either to his heart, or the
side of his face, and he said it was all right. I left the deceased
about three o’clock in the morning, and at this time the prisoner
was sitting in the easy chair, and I believe he was asleep. About
six o’clock the same morning I saw the deceased again, and he told
me that Mr. Palmer had left him about a quarter past five o’clock.
_I asked him how he was, and he replied that he was no worse; and he
then asked me if I had ever seen any one in such agony as he was the
night before, and I told him I never had. He then said he was sure I
should never like to see anyone in such agony again, and I inquired
what he thought was the cause. He replied that it was through some
pills that Palmer had given him about half-past ten. The deceased was
quite composed and quiet at this time, and there was no jerking or
convulsion about him, but his eyes looked very wild._ About twelve
o’clock the deceased desired me to send the Boots over to Mr. Palmer
to know whether he might have a cup of coffee. A message was brought
back that he might, and Mr. Palmer would be over immediately. When I
took up the coffee the prisoner was in the room, and I gave him the
coffee, and he tasted it to see that it was not too strong. Mr. Jones
came to the inn about three o’clock, and I saw him in the deceased’s
room, and the prisoner after this told me that Cook had vomited the
coffee. _I saw Cook several times after this, and he appeared in very
good spirits, and talked about getting up the next morning, and wished
the barber to be sent for to shave him._ I did not see the deceased
later than half-past ten o’clock on the Tuesday night, and the
prisoner was then in his bedroom, and I gave him some toast-and-water
for the deceased, and the prisoner said he did not want anything more.
I sat up in the kitchen on purpose to see how Mr. Cook went on, and I
heard the bell of his room ring violently about ten minutes before
twelve, and went up immediately. _I found the deceased sitting up, and
Mr. Jones had his arm round his shoulders, apparently supporting him._
The deceased when he saw me, told me to fetch Palmer directly. I went
over to his house, and rang the surgery bell, and the prisoner came to
the window almost in an instant, and opened a small casement, and I
told him to come over to Mr. Cook, as he was in much the same state as
he was the night before. He made some reply, and I returned at once to
the ‘Talbot Arms,’ and in a minute or two the prisoner came into Mr.
Cook’s room. The first thing he said was that he did not think he had
ever dressed so quickly before in his life. At this time Mr. Jones was
supporting the deceased. I went out into the landing about a minute
or two, and the prisoner came out, and I observed to him that Mr.
Cook appeared in the same state as the night before, and he replied,
‘Not so ill by a fiftieth part.’ He then went to his own house, and
returned in a very short time to the deceased’s bedroom. _I then heard
the deceased ask to be turned on his right side_, and I then shortly
after heard that he was dead.”

The _cross-examination of Elizabeth Mills_ was mainly directed to three
points—(1.) The fact of Mr. Cook complaining of sore throat, but not
of difficulty in swallowing, in May, 1855, when the witness said all
that he did was to use a gargle sent by Dr. Bamford. (2.) Her omission
to tell the coroner that the broth had made her sick; that Cook had
said he became ill on taking the pills sent by Palmer; that he beat
the bedclothes, called “Murder!” and “twitched” when she rubbed his
hands. These omissions the witness accounted for by the fact that the
coroner did not ask her to detail all the symptoms she saw, but merely
required her to answer such questions as he put. On her depositions
being read, the Attorney-General proposed to call evidence to prove the
negligence and misconduct of the coroner, but the court ruled that it
was inadmissible.[33] (3.) That the witness had had several interviews
with Cook’s stepfather, Stevens, his attorney, and the chief constable,
before giving evidence—the defence imputing that they had instructed
her in the symptoms. She denied, however, any such conduct on their
part. She had heard of Dove’s case, but not read it, and Mr. Stevens
had never given her any money. An attempt to injure her moral character
in reference to a man of the name of Dutton entirely failed, and her
evidence remained substantially uncontradicted.

_Lavinia Barnes_, the waitress at the “Talbot Arms,” remembered Cook
coming there on Monday, the 12th, on his way to the races, and not
complaining of illness, and she saw him when he returned on Thursday,
the 15th, and after he came from dining at Palmer’s, on the Friday
evening, when he spoke to her, and was sober.

“On the Saturday,” continued this witness, “I saw him twice. Some
broth was sent over and taken up to him by me. He could not take it;
he was too sick. I carried it down, and put it in the kitchen. I
afterwards saw Palmer, and told him Cook was too sick to take it; he
said he must have it. Elizabeth Mills afterwards took it up again.
Mills was taken ill with violent vomiting on the Sunday between twelve
and one o’clock. She went to bed, and did not come downstairs till
four or five o’clock. I saw some broth that day in the kitchen; it was
in a sick cup, with two handles, not belonging to the house. I did
not see it brought; it was taken back to Palmer’s. On Monday morning
(19th) I saw Palmer, and he told Mills he was going to London. I saw
Cook during that day. Saunders came to see him, and took him up some
brandy-and-water. I slept that night in the next room to Cook’s.
Palmer came between eight and nine in the evening, but I did not
see if he went up to Cook’s room. (_According to Mills, Palmer had
seen Cook in the morning, and saw him again at ten at night._) About
twelve o’clock I was in the kitchen, when Cook’s bell rang violently.
I went upstairs. Cook was very ill, and asked me to send for Palmer.
_He screamed out ‘’Murder!’ He exclaimed that he was in violent
pain—that he was suffocating. His eyes were wild-looking, standing
a great way out of his head. He was beating his bed with his arms.
He cried out, ‘Christ, have mercy on my soul!’ I never saw a person
in such a state._ Having called up Mills, I left to send ‘Boots’ for
Palmer, who came, and I again went into Cook’s room. _Cook was then
more composed. He said, ‘Oh, doctor, I shall die!’ Palmer replied,
‘Don’t be alarmed, my lad._’ I saw Cook drink a dark mixture out of a
glass, but do not know who gave it him. I both heard and saw him snap
at the glass. He brought up the draught. I left him between twelve
and one, when he was more composed. On Tuesday he seemed a little
better. At night, a little before twelve, the bell rang again. I was
in the kitchen. Mills went upstairs, and I followed her, and _heard
Cook screaming_, but did not go into the room. I stood outside the
door, and saw Palmer come. He had been fetched. I said, as he passed
me, ‘Mr. Cook is ill again.’ He said, ‘Oh, is he?’ and went into the
room. He was dressed in his usual manner, and wore a black coat and
a cap.[34] She also heard him make the observation to Mills before
reported. She went to the room, but came out before Cook died.”

MEDICAL EVIDENCE.

In consequence of his severe illness, the following deposition of _Dr.
Bamford_ (an aged local practitioner) before the coroner was read:—

“I attended the late Mr. Cook, at the request of William Palmer, and
first saw him about three o’clock on Saturday, the 17th of November,
_when he was suffering from violent vomiting, the stomach being in
that irritable state, that it would not contain a teaspoonful of milk.
There was perfect moisture of the skin, and he was quite sensible._ I
prescribed medicine for him; and Mr. Palmer went up to my house and
waited until I had made it up, and then took it away. I prescribed a
saline draught, to be taken in an effervescing state. Between seven
and eight in the evening Mr. Palmer again requested me to visit Mr.
Cook. _The sickness still continued, everything he took being ejected
from his stomach._ I gave him two small pills as an opiate. Palmer
took the pills from my house. I did not accompany, nor do I know
what became of the pills. On the following morning (Sunday) Palmer
again called, and asked me to accompany him. _Mr. Cook’s sickness
still continued._ I remained about ten minutes. _Everything he took
that morning was ejected from his stomach. Everything he threw up
was as clear as water, except some coffee that he had taken._ Palmer
had administered some pills before I saw Mr. Cook on Saturday, which
had purged him several times. Between six and seven in the evening
I again visited the deceased, accompanied by Palmer. _The sickness
still continued._ I went on Monday morning between eight and nine,
and changed his medicine. I sent him a draught, which relieved his
sickness, and gave him ease. I did not see him again until Tuesday
night, when Palmer called for me. _I examined Mr. Cook, in the
presence of Mr. Jones and Mr. Palmer, and I observed a change in
him. He was irritable and troubled in his mind. His pulse was firm,
but tremulous, and between 80° and 90°. He threw himself down on the
bed, and turned his face away. He said he would have no more pills,
nor take any medicine._ After they had left the room, Palmer asked
me to make two more pills, similar to those on the previous night,
which I did, and he then asked me to write the directions on a slip
of paper, and I gave the pills to Palmer. The effervescing mixture
contained 20 grains of carbonate of potash, 2 drachms of compound
tincture of cardamine, and 2 drachms of simple syrup, together with
15 grains of tartaric acid for each powder. _I never gave Mr. Cook a
grain of antimony._ I did not see the preparations after they were
taken away. _His skin was moist, and there was not the least fever
about him._ I considered death to have been the result of congestion
of the brain, when the _post-mortem_ examination was made, and I
do not see any reason to alter that opinion. Palmer said he was of
the same opinion with respect to the death of the deceased. I never
knew apoplexy produce rigidity of the limbs. Drowsiness is a prelude
to apoplexy. _I attribute the sickness on the first two days to a
disordered stomach._” When called in the sixth day of the trial,
after his recovery, the witness said—speaking of the last visit to
Mr. Cook—“Having seen Cook, I left the room with Jones and Palmer:
the latter said he rather wished Cook to have his pills again (I had
prepared the same pills on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday), and he would
walk up with me for them. He did so, and stood by me in the surgery
while I prepared them. I had strychnia in a cupboard in my private
room. I put the pills in a box, and addressed it ‘Night pills, John
Parsons Cook, Esq.’ I wrote that direction all four nights. On the
Tuesday night Palmer requested me to put on a direction. After that I
did not see Cook alive. It was, as near as could be, twenty minutes
past twelve, at midnight, when I saw Cook dead. I understood he was
alive when they came for me, and I could not have been more than five
or ten minutes in going up. My house is about two hundred yards from
Palmer. _I found the body stretched out, resting on the heels and
the back of the head, as straight as possible, and stiff. The arms
were extended down each side of the body, and the hands clenched._ I
certified it was apoplexy.”

_Mr. William Henry Jones_, a surgeon at Lutterworth, and intimate
friend of Cook’s for the last five years, was written to by Palmer on
the Monday, the 19th, stating that “Cook was taken ill at Shrewsbury,
and obliged to call in a medical man;” that “_since then he had been
confined to his bed with a very serious bilious attack, combined with
diarrhœa_,” and that Palmer “thought it advisable that his friend
should come and see him.” Illness prevented this before about half-past
three in the afternoon of Tuesday, the day before Cook died.

“On my arrival at Rugeley,” said the witness, “I went up to Cook’s
room. He said he was very comfortable, but had been very ill at
Shrewsbury. He did not detail the symptoms, but said he had had to
call in a doctor. Palmer came in. I examined Cook in his presence.
_He had a natural pulse. I looked at his tongue; it was clean. I
said it was hardly the tongue of a bilious, diarrhœa attack. Palmer
replied, ‘You should have seen it before.’_ I did not then prescribe
for Cook. In the course of the afternoon I visited him several times.
_He changed for the better. His spirits and pulse both improved. I
gave him, at his request, some toast and water, and he vomited. There
was no diarrhœa._ The toast and water was in the room. Mr. Bamford
came in the evening, about 7 o’clock, and expressed his opinion that
Cook was going on very satisfactorily. We were talking about what he
was to have, and Cook objected to the pills of the previous night.
Palmer was there all the time. Cook said the pills made him ill. I do
not remember to whom he addressed this observation. We three (Palmer,
Bamford, and myself) went out upon the landing. Palmer proposed that
Mr. Bamford should make up some morphine pills as before, at the
same time requesting me not to mention to Cook what they contained,
as he objected to the morphine so much. Mr. Bamford agreed to this,
and he went away. I went back to Cook’s room, and Palmer went with
me. During the evening I was several times in Cook’s room. He seemed
very comfortable all the evening. _There was no more vomiting nor any
diarrhœa, but there was a natural motion in the bowels. I observed no
bilious symptoms about Cook._”

By _Lord Campbell_.—“_Did he appear to have recently suffered from a
bilious attack?_”

_Answer._—“No.”

_Examination resumed._—“Palmer and I went to his house about eight
o’clock. I remained there about half-an-hour, and then returned to
Cook. I next saw Palmer in Cook’s room at nearly eleven o’clock. He
had brought with him a box of pills. He opened the paper on which
the direction was written in my presence. That paper was round the
box. He called my attention to the paper, saying, ‘What an excellent
handwriting for an old man!’ I did not read the direction, but looked
at the writing, which was very good. Palmer proposed to Cook that he
should take the pills. Cook protested very much against it, because
they had made him so ill on the previous night. Palmer repeated the
request several times, and at last Cook complied with it, and took the
pills. _The moment he took them he vomited into the utensil._ Palmer
and myself (at Palmer’s request) searched in it for the pills, to see
whether they were returned. We found nothing but toast-and-water. I do
not know when Cook had drunk the toast-and-water, but it was standing
by the bedside all the evening. _The vomiting could not have been
caused by the contents of the pills, nor by the act of swallowing.
After vomiting Cook laid down and appeared quiet. Before Palmer came
Cook had got up and sat in a chair. His spirits were very good; he
was laughing and joking, talking of what he should do with himself
during the winter._ After he had taken the pills I went downstairs
to my supper, and returned to his room at nearly twelve o’clock. His
room was double-bedded, and it had been arranged that I should sleep
in it that night. I talked to Cook for a few minutes, and then went
to bed. When I last talked to him he was rather sleepy, but quite as
well as he had been during the evening. There was nothing about him
to excite any apprehensions. I had been in bed about ten minutes, and
had not got to sleep, when he suddenly started up in bed, and called
out, ‘Doctor, get up, I am going to be ill! Ring the bell and send
for Palmer.’ I rang the bell. The chambermaid came, and Cook called
out to her, ‘Fetch Mr. Palmer.’ He asked me to give him something.
I declined, and said, ‘Palmer will be here directly.’ Cook was then
sitting up in bed. _The room was rather dark, and I did not observe
anything particular in his countenance. He asked me to rub the back of
his neck. I did so. I supported him with my arm. There was a stiffness
about the muscles of his neck._ Palmer soon came in; two or three
minutes at the utmost after the chambermaid went for him. He said,
‘I never dressed so quickly in my life.’ I did not observe how he
was dressed. _He gave Cook two pills, which he told me were ammonia
pills. Cook swallowed them. Directly he did so he uttered loud
screams, threw himself back in the bed, and was dreadfully convulsed.
That could not have been the result of the pills last taken. He said,
‘Raise me up; I shall be suffocated.’ That was at the commencement of
the convulsions, which lasted five or ten minutes. The convulsions
affected every muscle of the body, and were accompanied by stiffening
of the limbs. I endeavoured to raise Cook with the assistance of
Palmer, but found it quite impossible, owing to the rigidity of the
limbs. When Cook found we could not raise him up, he asked to be
turned over. He was then quite sensible. I turned him on his side._ I
listened to the action of the heart. I found it gradually weakened,
and asked Palmer to fetch some spirits of ammonia, to be used as a
stimulant. He went to his house and fetched a bottle. He was away a
very short time. When he returned the pulsations of the heart were
gradually ceasing, and life was almost extinct. He died very quietly a
short time afterwards.

“_From the time he called to me to the time of his death there elapsed
about ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. He died of tetanus_, which
is a spasmodic affection of the muscles of the whole body. It causes
death by stopping the action of the heart. The sense of suffocation is
caused by the contraction of the respiratory muscles. The room was so
dark that I could not observe the outward appearance of Cook’s body
after death. _When he threw himself back in bed he clenched his teeth,
and they remained clenched after his death. When I was rubbing his
neck, his head and neck were unnaturally bent back by the spasmodic
action of the muscles. After his death his body was so twisted or
bowed that if I had placed it upon the back it would have rested on
the head and feet._”

By _Lord Campbell_.—“_When did you first observe the bowing and
twisting?_”

_Witness._—“_When Cook threw himself back on the bed. The jaw was
affected by the spasmodic action._”

The _cross-examination_ of this witness was directed to the previous
health of the deceased, and to his fears that he was still suffering
from a former attack of venereal disease, which Mr. Jones decidedly
negatived; to his having been in pecuniary difficulties from his racing
ventures, which the witness said he was steadily redeeming; to Cook’s
objection to take morphia; to the question whether, when before the
coroner, the witness had used the word “tetanus,” which it was evident
from the original depositions had been scratched out by the clerk,
probably from ignorance of its meaning, and to whether he agreed with
Dr. Bamford that Cook had died in an apoplectic fit, or rather, as
the witness at the time thought, of one of an epileptic character. In
_re-examination_, he said that “_he was satisfied that Cook’s death
did not arise from epilepsy, as in that disease consciousness is lost,
but there is no rigidity or convulsive spasm of the muscles, and the
symptoms quite different. He was equally certain that it did not arise
from apoplexy._” _Dr. Savage_, of Gloucester Place, London, who had
attended Cook for four years, also negatived the suggestion that he was
suffering from syphilitic symptoms, or that he had any venereal taint
about him. He was timid, no doubt, about his throat, and had had two
small ulcers on his tongue due to two bad teeth, but by the end of May
they had gradually disappeared, and were quite well.

The woman who laid out the body noticed that “_though it was quite
warm, the hands and arms were cold; the body lying on the back,
straight down the bed,[35] the arms crossed upon the chest, and the
head ‘lying a little turned on one side.’” She had never seen so stiff
a corpse before. “We,” she continued, “had difficulty in straightening
the arms. We could not keep them straight down to the body. I passed
a piece of tape under the back, and tied it round the wrists, to
fasten the arms down. The right foot turned on one side outwards. We
were obliged to tie both feet together. The eyes were open. We were
a considerable time before we could close them, because the eyelids
were so stiff. The hands were closed, and were very stiff. I have
never known them so stiff as in this case._” _Mr. Stevens_, Cook’s
stepfather, who saw the body three days after death, also noted that
the right hand was clenched, and, as he looked across the body, that
the left was clenched in the same way.

What passed between _Mr. Stevens_ and Palmer at their interview at
Rugeley on the Friday after Cook’s death, and the reasons why he
eventually insisted on a _post-mortem_ examination and a chemical
analysis of the corpse, belong rather to the section relating to the
conduct of the prisoner. It will be sufficient here to note that on
the 26th of November the _post-mortem_ examination was held with
the following results by Dr. Harland, of Stafford, assisted by Mr.
Devonshire, of the London University, and Mr. Newton, of Rugeley, in
the presence of Dr. Bamford, Palmer, and several other persons.

_POST-MORTEM_ EXAMINATION.

_Dr. John Thomas Harland_, physician, of Stafford, arrived at Rugeley
at ten in the morning of the 26th, called at Dr. Bamford’s on his
way to the hotel where the examination was to be conducted, and on
his road met Palmer, whom he had previously known. “I am glad,” said
Palmer, “that you are come to make a _post-mortem_ examination. Someone
might have been sent whom I did not know.” “What is the case?” replied
Harland; “I hear there is a suspicion of poisoning.” “Oh no,” said
Palmer; “_he had an epileptic fit on Monday and Tuesday last, and
you will find old disease in the heart and head_.” Such was not the
result of the _post-mortem_. They “found the body much stiffer than
bodies usually are five or six days after death—the muscles strongly
contracted and thrown out, and the hands stiff and firmly closed.”
According to a report which Dr. Harland sent to Mr. Stevens, and which
at the suggestion of the judge was read in full, the various internal
organs were perfectly healthy and natural, as described in detail in
the following examination, subsequent to reading the report:—

“The abdominal viscera were in a perfectly healthy state. They were
taken out of the body. We examined the liver. It was healthy. The
lungs were healthy, but contained a good deal of blood; not more than
would be accounted for by gravitation after death. We examined the
head. The brain was quite healthy. There was no extravasation of
blood, and no serum. There was nothing which, in my judgment, could
cause pressure. The heart was contracted, and contained no blood.
That was the result, not of disease, but of spasmodic action. At the
larger end of the stomach there were numerous small yellowish-white
spots, about the size of mustard seeds. They would not at all account
for death. I doubt whether they would have any effect upon the health.
I think they were mucous follicles. The kidneys were full of blood
which had gravitated there. They had no appearance of disease. The
blood was in a fluid state. That was not usual. It is found so in some
cases of sudden death, which are of rare occurrence. The lower part of
the spinal cord was not very closely examined. We examined the upper
part of that cord. It presented a perfectly natural appearance. On
a subsequent day, I think the 25th of January, it was thought right
to exhume the body, that the spinal cord might be more carefully
examined. I was present at that examination. The lower part of the
spinal cord was then minutely examined. A report was made of that
examination.”

This report was put in, and was read by the witness. It described
minutely the appearance and condition of the spinal cord and its
envelopes, and concluded with this statement:—“There is nothing in
the condition of the spinal cord or its envelopes to account for
death; nothing but the most normal and healthy state, allowance being
made for the lapse of time since the death of the deceased.”

_Examination resumed._—“I am still of opinion that there was nothing
in the appearance of the spine to account for the death of the
deceased, and nothing of an unusual kind which might not be referred
to changes after death. When the stomach and intestines were removed
from the body on the occasion of the first examination they were
separately emptied into a jar, and were afterwards placed in it.
Mr. Devonshire and Mr. Newton removed them from the body. They were
the only two who operated. At the time the prisoner was standing
on the right of Mr. Newton. While Mr. Devonshire was opening the
stomach a push was given by Palmer, which sent Mr. Newton against Mr.
Devonshire, and shook some of the contents of the stomach into the
body. I thought a joke was passing among them, and said, ‘Don’t do
that.’”

By _Lord Campbell_.—“Might not Palmer have been impelled by some one
outside him?”

_Answer._—“There was no one who could have impelled him.”

_Question._—“What did you observe Palmer do?”

_Answer._—“I saw Mr. Newton and Mr. Devonshire pushed together, and
Palmer was over them. He was smiling at the time.”

_Examination continued._—“After this interruption the opening of
the stomach was pursued. The stomach contained about three ounces
of a brownish fluid. There was nothing particular in that. Palmer
was looking on, and said, ‘They won’t hang us yet.’ He said that to
Mr. Bamford in a loud whisper. That remark was made upon his own
observation of the stomach. The stomach after being emptied, was
put into the jar. The intestines were then examined, but nothing
particular was found in them. They were contracted and very small.
The viscera, with their contents, as taken from the body, were placed
in the jar, which was then covered over with two bladders, which were
tied and sealed. I tied and sealed them. After I had done so I placed
the jar upon the table by the body. Palmer was then moving about the
room. In a few minutes I missed the jar from where I had placed it.
During that time my attention had been withdrawn by the examination.
On missing the jar I called out, ‘Where’s the jar?’ and Palmer from
the other end of the room, said, ‘It is here; I thought it would be
more convenient for you to take away.’ There was a door at the end of
the room where he was. He was within a yard or two of that door, and
about twenty-four feet from the table on which the body was lying.”
(Before making this last statement the witness referred to a plan of
the room which was put in by the Attorney-General.) “The other door
near which Palmer was standing was not the one by which he entered
the room. I called to Palmer, ‘Will you bring it here?’ I went from
the table and met Palmer half-way coming with the jar. _Since I last
saw it it had been cut through both bladders. The cut was hardly an
inch long, done with a sharp instrument._ I examined the jar. The
edges were quite clean; no part of the contents could have passed
through it. Finding this cut, I said, ‘Here is a cut! who has done
it?’ Palmer, Devonshire, and Newton, all said they had not done it,
and nothing more was said. When I was about to remove the jar from the
room, the prisoner asked me what I was going to do with it. I said I
should take it to Mr. Frere’s (a neighbouring surgeon). He said, ‘I
would rather you would take it to Stafford than take it there.’ I made
no answer that I remember. On finding the slit, I cut the strings,
and altered the bladder, so that the slits were not over the top. I
took it to Mr. Frere’s, and left it in his hall, tied and sealed.
Afterwards when I went for my carriage, whilst waiting in the yard,
the prisoner came and asked me what would be done with it, and I
said, ‘Sent either to Birmingham or London for examination.’ When I
recovered the jar, I tied each corner separately and resealed it with
my own seal. During the first _post-mortem_ examination, there were
several Rugeley persons present, but, I believe, no one on behalf of
the prisoner. At the second examination there was some one on behalf
of Palmer (_Mr. Pemberton_ and _Mr. Bolton_).”

On _cross-examination_, after stating that Palmer’s words, “they
won’t hang us yet,” were addressed to Bamford in a loud whisper, and
afterwards repeated to several persons, and that his original notes in
pencil were destroyed, a more formal report being written by him on
getting home, _Dr. Harland_ said—

“At the base of the tongue of the deceased I observed some enlarged
mucous follicles; they were not pustules containing matter, but
enlarged mucous follicles of long standing. There were a good
many of them, but I do not suppose that they would occasion much
inconvenience. They might cause some degree of pain, but it would
be slight. I do not believe they were enlarged glands. I should not
say that the deceased’s lungs were diseased, although they were not
in their normal state. The lungs were full of blood and the heart
empty. I had no lens at the _post-mortem_ examination, but I made
an examination which was satisfactory without one. The brain was
carefully taken out; the membranes and external parts were first
examined, and thin slices about a quarter of an inch in thickness
were taken off and subjected to separate examination. I think that by
that means we should have discovered disease if any had existed; and
if there had been any indication of disease I should have examined it
more carefully. _I examined the spinal cord as far down as possible,
and if there had been any appearance of disease, I should have opened
the canal. There was no appearance of disease, however. We opened
down to the first vertebra. If we had found a softening of the spinal
cord, I do not think that it would have been sufficient to have caused
Mr. Cook’s death; certainly not. A softening of the spinal cord would
not produce tetanus; it might produce paralysis. I do not think, as a
medical man investigating the cause of death, that it was necessary
carefully to examine the spinal cord. I do not know who suggested that
there should be an examination of the spinal cord two months after
death. There were some appearances of decomposition when we examined
the spinal cord, but I do not think that there was sufficient to
interfere with our examination._[36] I examined the body to ascertain
if there was any trace of venereal disease. I did find certain
indications of that description, and the marks of an old excoriation,
which was cicatrized over.”

_Re-examined by the Attorney-General._—“There were no indications
of wounds or sores such as could by possibility produce tetanus.
There was no disease of the lungs to account for death. The heart
was healthy, and its emptiness I attribute to spasmodic action. The
heart being empty, of course death ensued. The convulsive spasmodic
action of the muscles of the body, which was deposed to yesterday by
Mr. Jones, would, in my judgment occasion the emptiness of the heart.
There was nothing whatever in the brain to indicate the presence of
any disease of any sort; but if there had been, I never heard or read
of any disease of the brain ever producing tetanus. _There was no
relaxation of the spinal cord which would account for the symptoms
accompanying Mr. Cook’s death as they have been described. In fact,
there was no relaxation of the spinal cord at all, and there is no
disease of the spinal cord with which I am acquainted which would
produce tetanus._”

_Dr. Monckton_, a physician at Rugeley, made a separate examination
of the spinal marrow of the deceased on the 28th of January, when he
said that the body was in such a condition as to enable him to do
so satisfactorily, and when had there been any disease of a normal
character on the spine he should have had no difficulty in discovering
it. All that he found were certain granules, the origin of which it
was difficult to account for, though frequently found in persons of
an advanced age, but which he never knew to occasion sudden death. He
agreed entirely with the evidence of Dr. Harland.[37]

EVIDENCE OF MEDICAL EXPERTS.

We come next to a remarkable body of evidence given by men of such
eminence in their profession as Mr. Curling, Dr. Todd, Sir Benjamin
Brodie, and others of nearly equal mark, negativing the idea that had
been suggested in the previous cross-examinations that the death was
due to one of the two forms of true _tetanus_, and affirming that the
symptoms which had been detailed were those of the action of strychnia.
Not only were these opinions closely questioned in cross-examination,
but as many medical men, several of them of not less eminence
than these witnesses, were subsequently called for the defence to
contradict them; and thus the most extraordinary conflict of scientific
evidence raised that had hitherto been witnessed in a criminal court.
Subsequently, as we shall see, a similar dispute between the medical
giants of the day was roused in the case of Dr. Smethurst, but with, in
the end, a very different result. In reading the following statements
for the prosecution, it will help to make them more clear, if it is
borne in mind that _tetanus_ is of two kinds—(1), _Idiopathic_, or
self-generated, and the other (2), _Traumatic_, the result of a wound
or a sore; that the former may arise from exposure to cold or damp,
or even from the irritation of worms in the alimentary canal, but
in temperate climates is by no means a frequent disease; whilst the
latter, from the various accidents to which human beings are liable, is
of more frequent occurrence. Another point to be remembered is, that it
is a moot point in medical practice whether a syphilitic sore, unless
of course of a most aggravated character, will produce _tetanus_, and
that the difference between the symptoms and progress of _true tetanus_
and of that due to poison is, in the opinion of these experts, very
marked. _Dr. James Blizard Curling_, surgeon to the London Hospital,
was first called, and after describing the two kinds of _tetanus_
and their causes, and speaking of the very numerous cases of the
“traumatic” kind which he had seen, he thus detailed the symptoms:—

“The disease first manifests itself about the jaws and neck. Rigidity
of the muscles of the abdomen afterwards sets in. A dragging pain
at the pit of the stomach is almost a constant attendant. In many
instances the muscles of the back are extensively affected. These
symptoms, though continuous, are liable to aggravations into
paroxysms. As the disease goes on these paroxysms become more frequent
and more severe. When they occur the body is drawn backwards; in some
instances, though less frequent, it is bent forward. A difficulty
in swallowing is a very common symptom, and also a difficulty of
breathing during the paroxysms. The disease may, if fatal, end in
two ways. The patient may die somewhat suddenly, from suffocation,
owing to the closure of the opening of the windpipe; or he may be
worn out by the severe and painful spasms, the muscles may relax,
and the patient gradually sink. The disease is generally fatal. _The
locking of the jaw is an almost constant symptom attending ‘traumatic
tetanus;’ I may say a constant symptom. It is not always marked,
but generally so. It is an early symptom._ Another symptom is a
peculiar expression of countenance. I believe this is not peculiar
to ‘_traumatic tetanus_,’ but my observation is from such cases.
There is a contraction of the eyelids, a raising of the angles of the
mouth, and contraction of the brow. In ‘_traumatic tetanus_’ the lower
extremities are sometimes affected, and sometimes, but rarely, the
upper ones. When the muscles of the extremities are affected, the time
at which that occurs varies. If there is no wound in the arms or legs,
the extremities are generally not affected until late in the progress
of the disease. _I never knew of tetanus being produced by a sore
throat or a chancre. In my opinion a syphilitic sore would not produce
tetanus. I know of no instance in which one has led to tetanus. I
think it a very unlikely cause._ The time within which ‘_traumatic
tetanus_’ causes death varies from twenty-four hours to two or three
days or longer. The shortest time to my knowledge was eight to ten
hours. _When once commenced, the disease is continuous._”

_Question._—“Did you ever hear of a case in which a man was attacked
one day, had twenty-four hours’ respite, and was then attacked the
next day?”

_Witness._—“Never. Such a case could not occur.”

_Question._—“You have heard Mr. Jones’s account of the death of
the deceased. _Were the symptoms there consistent with any forms of
traumatic tetanus?_”

_Witness._—“_No._”

_Question._—“_What distinguishes it from such causes?_”

_Witness._—“_The sudden onset of the disease._ In all cases that
have come under my observation the disease was preceded by the
milder symptoms of _tetanus_, gradually proceeding to the complete
development.”

_Question._—“_Were the symptoms described by Mills those of tetanus?_”

_Witness._—“_No. Not of tetanus of disease._”

_Question._—“Assuming tetanus to be synonymous with convulsive or
spasmodic action of the muscles, was there, in that sense, _tetanus_
on Monday night?”

_Witness._—“No doubt there was spasmodic action of the muscles, but
not _idiopathic_ or _traumatic tetanus_, because the sudden onset of
the spasms, and their rapid subsidence, are consistent with neither of
the two forms of _tetanus_.”

_Question._—“Is there not _hysteric tetanus_?”

_Witness._—“Yes: it is rather _hysteria_ combined with spasms, but
it is sometimes called _hysteric tetanus_. I have known no instance
of its proving fatal, or of it occurring to a man. Some poisons will
produce _tetanus_. Nux vomica, acting through its poisons, strychnia
and brucia, poisons of a cognate character, produce that effect. I
never saw human or animal life destroyed by strychnia.”

In his _cross-examination_, Mr. Curling admitted that irritation of
the spinal cord, or of the nerves proceeding to it, might produce
_tetanus_, and the correctness of Dr. Watson’s statements in his
Lectures, that, in four cases out of five, the disease begins with
lockjaw, and that all the symptoms of tetanic convulsions may arise
from very trivial blows; but he denied that there was any well
authenticated instance of “_traumatic tetanus_” occurring within a
quarter of an hour after the reception of the injury, or that it was
very likely that the irritation of a syphilitic sore by wet, cold,
drink, mercury, or mental excitement, might lead to _tetanic_ symptoms.

“The irritation,” said Mr. Curling, “which is likely to produce
_tetanus_ is the sore being exposed to friction, to which syphilitic
sores in the throat are not exposed. I should class _tetanus_ arising
from the irritation of a sore as _traumatic_. Cases very rarely occur
which it is difficult to class as either _traumatic_ or _idiopathic_.
I should class _tetanus_ arising from irritation of the intestines as
_idiopathic_. The character of the spasms of epilepsy are not tetanic.”

_Serjeant Shee._—“Not of the spasms; but are not the contractions of
epilepsy sometimes continuous, so that the body may be twisted into
various forms, and remain rigidly in them?”

_Answer._—“Not continuously.”

_Question._—“For five or ten minutes together?”

_Answer._—“I think not.”

_Question._—“Does it not frequently happen that general convulsions,
no cause or trace of which in the form of disease or lesion is to be
found in the body after death, occur in the most violent and spastic
way so as to exhibit appearances of tetanic convulsions?”

_Answer._—“No instance of the kind has come under my observation.”[38]

_Question._—“Do you agree with this opinion of Dr. Copland, expressed
in his _Dictionary of Practical Medicine_, under the head of ‘General
Convulsions,’ ‘The abnormal contraction of the muscles is in some
cases of the most violent and spastic nature, and frequently of some
continuance, the relaxations being of brief duration or scarcely
observable, and in others nearly or altogether approaching to
tetanic?’”

_Answer._—“I would rather speak from my own observation. I have not
observed anything of the kind.”

_Question._—“Does it not happen that a patient dies of convulsions,
spasmodic in the sense of their being tumultuous and alternating, and
chronic in the sense of exhibiting continuous rigidity, yet after
death no disease is found?”

_Answer._—“It does not often happen to adults.”

_Question._—“Does it sometimes?”

_Answer._—“I do not know, nor have I read of such a case. I have no
hesitation in saying that people may die from _tetanus_ and other
diseases without the appearance of morbid symptoms after death.”

_Question._—“Are not convulsions, not, strictly speaking, tetanic,
constantly preceded by retching, distention of the stomach, flatulence
of the stomach and bowels, and other dyspeptic symptoms?”

_Answer._—“Such cases do not come under my observation as a hospital
surgeon. I think it is very probable that general convulsions are
accompanied by yelling. I don’t know that they frequently terminate
fatally, and that the proximate cause of death is spasm of the
respiratory muscles, inducing asphyxia.”

_Re-examined by the Attorney-General._—“These convulsions are easily
distinguished from tetanus, because in them there is an entire loss of
consciousness.”

_Question._—“Is it one of the characteristic features of _tetanus_
that the consciousness is not affected?”

_Answer._—“It is.”

_Dr. Todd_, for twenty-one years physician to King’s College Hospital,
well known for his lectures on _Tetanus_ and the diseases of the
Nervous System, and who had seen only two cases of what appeared to him
to be _idiopathic tetanus_, so rare are they in this country, gave the
following evidence:[39]—

“In my opinion the term _tetanus_ ought not to be applied to disease
produced by poisons, but I should call the symptoms tetanic in order
to distinguish the character of the convulsions. I have observed cases
of _traumatic tetanus_. Except that in all such cases there is some
lesion the symptoms are precisely the same as those of _idiopathic
tetanus_. The disease begins with stiffness about the jaw. The
symptoms gradually develope themselves and extend to the muscles of
the trunk.”

_Question._—“When the disease has begun is there any intermission?”

_Answer._—“There are remissions, but they are not complete; only
diminutions of the severity of the symptoms, not a total subsidence.
The patient does not express himself as completely well, quite
comfortable. I speak from my own experience.”

_Question._—“What is the usual period that elapses between the
commencement and the termination of the disease?”

_Answer._—“The cases may be divided into two classes. Acute cases
will terminate in three or four days, chronic cases will go on as
long as from nineteen to twenty-two or twenty-three days, and perhaps
longer. I do not think that I have known a case in which death
occurred within four days. Cases are reported in which it occurred in
a shorter period. In _tetanus_ the extremities are affected, but not
so much as the trunk. Their affection is a late symptom. _The locking
of the jaw is an early one._ Sometimes the convulsions of epilepsy
assume somewhat of a tetanic character, but they are essentially
distinct from tetanus. _In epilepsy the patient always loses
consciousness._ Apoplexy never produces tetanic convulsions. Perhaps
I may be allowed to say that when there is an effusion of blood upon
the brain, and a particular portion of the brain is involved, the
muscles may be thrown into short tetanic convulsions. In such a case
the consciousness would be destroyed. Having heard described the
symptoms attending the death of the deceased, and the _post-mortem_
examination, _I am of opinion that in this case there was neither
apoplexy nor epilepsy_.”

The deposition of Dr. Bamford, before reported, was here read, his
inability to attend from illness having been proved.

The _examination_ of Dr. Todd by the _Attorney-General_ was then
proceeded with as follows:—

“Having heard the deposition of Dr. Bamford read, _I do not believe
that the deceased died from apoplexy or from epilepsy. I never knew
tetanus arise either from syphilitic sores or from sore throat._ There
are poisons which will produce tetanic convulsions. The principal
of these poisons are nux vomica and those which contain as their
active ingredients strychnia and brucia. I have never seen human
life destroyed by strychnia, but I have seen animals destroyed by it
frequently. The poison is usually given in a largish dose in those
cases, so as to put an end to the sufferings and destroy life as soon
as possible. I should not like to give a human subject a quarter of a
grain. I think that it is not unlikely that half a grain might destroy
life; and I believe that a grain certainly would. I think that half
a grain would kill a cat. The symptoms which would ensue upon the
administration of strychnine when given in solution—and I believe
that poisons of that nature act more rapidly in a state of solution
than in any other form—would develope themselves in ten minutes
after it was taken, if the dose was a large one; if not so large,
they might be half an hour or an hour before they appeared. _Those
symptoms would be tetanic convulsions of the muscles—more especially
those of the spine and neck; the head and back would be bent back,
and the trunk would be bowed in a marked manner; the extremities also
would be stiffened and jerked out. The stiffness, once set in, would
never entirely disappear; but fresh paroxysms would set in, and the
jerking would reappear, and death would probably ensue in a quarter of
an hour or so. The difference between tetanus produced by strychnia
and other tetanus is very marked. In the former case the duration
of the symptoms is very short, and instead of being continuous in
their development, they will subside if the dose has not been strong
enough to produce death, and will be renewed in fresh paroxysms:
whereas in other descriptions of tetanus the symptoms commence in
a mild form, and become stronger and more violent as the disease
progresses._ The difficulty experienced in breathing is common alike
to _tetanus_ properly so called, and to tetanic convulsions occasioned
by strychnia, arising from the pressure on the respiratory muscles.
I think it is remarkable that the deceased was able to swallow, and
that there was no fixing of the jaw, which would have been the case
with _tetanus_ proper, resulting either from a wound or from disease.
_From all the evidence that I have heard, I think that the symptoms
which presented themselves in the case of Mr. Cook arose from tetanus
produced by strychnia._”

_Cross-examined by Mr. Grove, Q.C._—“There are cases sloping
into each other, as it were, of every grade and degree, from mild
convulsions to tetanic spasms. I have published some lectures upon
diseases of the brain, and I adhere to the opinion there expressed,
that the state of a person suffering from _tetanus_ is identical with
that which strychnia is capable of producing. _In a pathological
point of view, an examination of the spinal cord shortly after death,
in investigating supposed deaths from strychnia, is important. The
signs of decomposition, however, could be easily distinguished from
the evidence of disease which existed previously to death, but
it would be difficult to distinguish in such a case whether mere
softening resulted from decomposition or from pre-existing disease._
There is nothing in the _post-mortem_ examination that leads me to
think that the deceased died from _tetanus_ proper. _I think that
granules upon the spinal cord, such as I have heard described, would
not be likely to cause tetanus._ In animals to which strychnia has
been administered I cannot say that I have observed what you call
an intolerance of touch, but by touching them spasms are apt to be
excited. That sensibility to touch continues as long as the operation
of the poison continues. I have examined the interior of animals
that have been killed by strychnia, but I have not observed in such
cases that the right side of the heart was usually full of blood.
It is some years since I made such an examination, but I am able,
nevertheless, to speak positively as to the state of the heart. _It is
usually empty on both sides._ I do not agree with Dr. Taylor, or other
authorities, that, in cases of _tetanus_, animals died asphyxiated.
If they did, we should invariably have the right side of the heart
full of blood, which is not the case. I think the term asphyxiated is
sometimes very loosely used. I know, from my reading, _that morphia
sometimes produces convulsions, but believe they would be of an
epileptic character. I think that the symptoms of morphia would be
longer deferred in making their appearance than from strychnia_, but
cannot speak positively on the point. Morphia, like strychnia, is a
vegetable poison. I have not observed in animals the jaw fixed after
the administration of strychnia.”

_Re-examined by the Attorney-General._—“Whatever may be the true
theory as to the emptiness of the heart after strychnia, I should say
that the heart is more ordinarily empty than filled after _tetanus_,
and more contracted after strychnia, than in ordinary _tetanus_. I do
not believe that a medical practitioner would have any difficulty in
distinguishing between ordinary convulsions and tetanic convulsions.
I have heard the evidence of the gentlemen who made the _post-mortem_
examination, and I apprehend that there was nothing to prevent the
discovery of disease in the spinal cord had any existed previously to
death.”

_Sir Benjamin Brodie’s_ evidence, which follows, was given “with great
clearness, slowly, audibly, and distinctly,” and produced a marked
effect.

_Sir Benjamin Brodie, examined by Mr. James, Q.C._—“I have been for
many years senior surgeon to St. George’s Hospital, and have had
considerable experience as a surgeon. In the course of my practice
I have had under my care many cases of death from _tetanus_. Death
from _idiopathic tetanus_ is, according to my experience, very
rare in this country. The ordinary _tetanus_ in this country is
_traumatic tetanus_. I have heard the symptoms which accompanied
the death of Mr. Cook, and I am of opinion that so far as there
was a general contraction of the muscles they resembled those of
_traumatic tetanus_; but, as to the course those symptoms took,
they were entirely different. I have attended to the detailed
description of the attack suffered by Mr. Cook on the Monday night,
its ceasing on Tuesday, and its renewal on the Tuesday night. The
symptoms of _traumatic tetanus_ always begin, so far as I have seen,
very gradually, the stiffness of the lower jaw being, I believe,
invariably, the symptom first complained of—at least, so it has been
in my experience. The contraction of the muscles of the back is always
a later symptom—generally much later. The muscles of the extremities
are affected in a much less degree than those of the neck and trunk,
except in some cases where the injury has been in a limb, and an early
symptom has been spasmodic contraction of the muscles of that limb. I
do not myself recollect a case of ordinary _tetanus_ in which occurred
that contraction in the muscles of the hand which I understand
was stated to have taken place in this instance. Again, ordinary
_tetanus_ rarely runs its course in less than two or three days, and
often is protracted to a much longer period. I knew one case only in
which the disease was said to have terminated in so short a time as
twelve hours; but probably in that case the early symptoms had been
overlooked. Again, I never knew the symptoms of ordinary _tetanus_
to last for a few minutes, then subside, and then come on again
after twenty-four hours. I think that these are the principal points
of difference which I perceived between the symptoms of ordinary
_tetanus_ and those which I have heard described in this case. I have
not witnessed tetanic convulsions from strychnia on animal life. I
do not believe that death in the case of Mr. Cook arose from what we
ordinarily call _tetanus—either idiopathic or traumatic. I never knew
tetanus result from sore throat or from a chancre, or from any other
form of syphilitic disease. The symptoms were not the result either of
apoplexy or of epilepsy. Perhaps I had better say at once that I never
saw a case in which the symptoms that I have heard described here
rose from any disease._ (Sensation.) _When I say that, of course I
refer not to particular symptoms, but to the general course which the
symptoms took._”

_Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant Shee._—“I believe I remember one case
in the physician’s ward of St. George’s Hospital, which was shown to
me as a case of _idiopathic tetanus_, but I doubted whether it was
_tetanus_ at all. It was a slight case, and I do not remember the
particulars.”

_Question._—“Considering how rare cases of _tetanus_ are, do you
think that the description given by a chambermaid and a provincial
medical man, who had never seen but one case, is sufficient to enable
you to form an opinion as to the nature of the case?”

_Answer._—“I must say I thought that the description was very clearly
given.”

_Question._—“Supposing that they differed in their description, which
would you rely upon—the medical man or the chambermaid?”

_Lord Campbell._—“That is hardly a proper question.”

_Baron Alderson._—“It may be a very proper observation for you to
make.”

_Cross-examination continued._—“I never knew syphilitic poison
produce tetanic convulsions, except in cases where there was disease
of the bones of the head.”

Two other surgeons, _Dr. Daniell_, late surgeon to the British
Hospital, and _Mr. Samuel Solly_, of St. Thomas’s Hospital, confirmed
in every respect the views of the previous medical witnesses, that
the circumstances attending Cook’s death were clearly distinguishable
from those attendant on ordinary _tetanus_. They relied on the fact
that ordinary _tetanus_ was always progressive, and that it is never
intermittent to the extent witnessed in Cook’s case, and seldom endured
less than from thirty to forty hours. Mr. Solly alluded to the peculiar
grin—“the _risus Sardonicus_, as the first symptom of _true tetanus_,
which is not common to all convulsions, and which having once seen,”
he said, “you cannot forget.” He distinguished between _tetanus_ with
convulsions and death from epileptic convulsions by the fact that “the
first seldom leaves any trace behind it, whilst the latter does leave
its trace in the shape of a slight effusion of blood on the brain,
and a congestion of the vessels.” The syphilitic theory was finally
overthrown by the testimony of _Mr. Henry Lee_, surgeon to the Lock
Hospital, which is exclusively devoted to syphilitic cases. Though he
saw there nearly 3000 cases a year, he had never known one resulting in
_tetanus_, or read of a case of primary or secondary symptoms having
that result.

In addition to these experts, on the sixth day important evidence was
given by _Dr. Jackson_, who had had twenty-five years’ experience of
_tetanus_ in India, on the difference of the symptoms observed in
the _idiopathic_ and _traumatic_ kinds; the former being much more
frequent in India than in other climates, affording him in his practice
as many as forty cases.

“It is as equally fatal,” said Dr. Jackson, “according to my
experience, as _traumatic_. It is frequently found, in India, in
children, both natives and Europeans, and generally takes place
the third day after birth. It will also be occasioned by cold in
that climate. In infants there is a more marked symptom of lockjaw
in _idiopathic tetanus_. In adults there is no difference in the
symptoms from _traumatic_. I have always seen the _idiopathic_ form
preceded by premonitory symptoms, such as a peculiar expression of the
countenance, stiffness of the muscles of the throat and of the jaw.
The usual period from the attack to death in infants is forty-eight
hours; in adults, when arising from cold, it is of longer duration,
and may continue for many days, going through the same grades as the
_traumatic_ forms.”

_Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant Shee._—“The patient always appears
to be very uncomfortable shortly before an attack of _idiopathic
tetanus_. His appetite would not be affected, but he would chiefly
complain of the muscles of the neck. He might entertain a desire
for food, and take it as usual within twelve hours of the attack.
I never heard a patient complain of want of appetite. Within the
twelve hours I should say that the patient’s attention would be more
directed to the stiffness of his mouth and neck. I have known cases of
_idiopathic tetanus_, where the first paroxysm was in bed. Difficulty
of swallowing is another premonitory symptom.”

_Re-examined by the Attorney-General._—“In the case of a child not
more than six hours would elapse between the premonitory symptoms and
the tetanic convulsions; in an adult the period would not be greater
than twenty-four hours. The duration of the disease generally varies
from three to ten days, but death has occurred as early as two days.
The _traumatic_ and _idiopathic_ cases are alike in these respects.
Both forms of the disorder are much more common in India than they
are in this country. The symptoms are not more severe. _In all my
experience I never saw a case in which the disease ran its course in
twenty minutes._”

LATE EXAMPLES OF DEATH BY STRYCHNIA.

Four cases of undoubted poisoning by strychnia were brought forward
by the prosecution, in each of which the symptoms had been observed
by medical men, as well as by the attendants on the several patients.
In the _first_ case, that of Agnes Sennett, or French, a patient in
the Glasgow Infirmary, in September, 1845, for a sore skin, from
thoughtlessness apparently, she took one of two strychnia pills
prepared for a paralytic patient, and then went and sat by the ward
fire. “In three quarters of an hour,” said _Kelly_, another patient,
“she was taken ill and fell back on the floor. I went for the nurse; we
took her to bed, and sent for the doctor; we were obliged to cut her
clothes off first because she never moved. She was like a poker. She
never spoke till she died.” Each pill, according to the prescription,
contained a quarter of a grain of strychnia. When the medical clerk of
the hospital saw her in bed, the symptoms were—

“_A strong retraction of the mouth; the face much suffused and red;
the pupils of the eyes dilated; the head bent back; the spine curved,
and the muscles rigid and hard as a board; the arms stretched out; the
hands clinched; and there were severe paroxysms occurring in about a
quarter of an hour. She died in about an hour and a quarter._ When I
was called the paroxysms did not last so long; but they increased in
severity.” “_The retraction of the mouth was continuous, but worse
at times._ I do not think I observed it after death. _The hands were
not clinched after death; they were semi-bent._ The symptoms appeared
about thirty minutes after taking the pills. I tried to make her vomit
with a feather. She only vomited partially after I had given her an
emetic. _There was spasmodic action and grinding of the teeth. She
could open her mouth and swallow. There was no lockjaw or ordinary
tetanus._”[40]

_Dr. Watson_, the surgeon to the infirmary, who was called in within
a quarter of an hour of the patient being taken ill, said, “_She was
in violent convulsions, and her arms stretched out and rigid; they
were kept quiet by rigidity. She did not breathe, the muscles being
kept still by tetanic rigidity._ That paroxysm subsided, and fresh
ones came on after a short interval. She died in about half an hour.
She was perfectly conscious. Her body was opened. _The heart was found
distended and stiff. The cavities of it were empty._ The spinal cord
was healthy.”

The _second_ case, also of accidental poisoning, by the error of a
local chemist, who substituted strychnia for salicine (willow bark), of
which there ought to have been nine grains in the bottle of medicine,
was that of a Mrs. Sergeantson Smyth, residing near Romsey. On the 30th
of October, 1848, she took half a wine-glass of the mixture, equal to
a third of the whole, containing three grains of strychnia. The effect
was of course immediate. The symptoms were identical with Cook’s.

“I left the room,” said _Hickson_, the lady’s maid, “when I had given
it her. Five or ten minutes afterwards I was alarmed by the ringing of
her bell. I went into her room and found her out of bed leaning upon a
chair in her night-dress. I thought she had fainted. She appeared to
suffer from what I thought were spasms. I ran and sent the coachman
for Dr. Taylor, and returned to her. Some of the other servants were
there assisting her. _She was lying on the floor. She screamed loudly,
and her teeth were clinched. She asked to have her arms and legs held
straight. I took hold of them; they were very much drawn up. She still
screamed and was in great agony. She requested that water should be
thrown over her, and I threw some. I put a bottle of hot water to her
feet, but it did not relax them. Shortly before she died she said she
felt easier. The last words she uttered were, ‘Turn me over.’ She died
very quietly. She was quite conscious, and knew me during the whole
time. About an hour and a quarter after I gave her the medicine she
died._”

_Cross-examined by Mr. Grove, Q.C._—“She could not sit up from the
time I went to her till she died. It was when she was in a paroxysm
that I tried to straighten her limbs. The effect of the cold water was
to throw her into a paroxysm. It was a continually recurring attack,
lasting about an hour and a quarter. Her teeth were clinched the whole
time.”

_Re-examined._—“She was stiff all the time till within a few minutes
of her death. She was conscious all the time.”

_Mr. Francis Taylor_, of Romsey, found her dead on his arrival. “Her
body was on the floor by the bed; _the hands very much bent; the feet
contracted and turned inwards; the soles of the feet hollowed up and
the toes contracted, apparently from recent spasmodic action; the inner
edge of each foot was turned; there was a remarkable rigidity about
the limbs; the body was warm, and the eyelids almost adherent to the
eyeballs._” Three days afterwards the witness made a _post-mortem_
examination, with the following results:—

“The contraction of the feet continued, but it had gone off somewhat
from the rest of the body. I found no disease in the body. _The heart
was contracted, and perfectly empty_, as were all the large arteries
leading from it. I analysed the medicine she had taken with another
medical man. It contained a large quantity of strychnia. It had
originally contained nine grains; she had taken a third—three grains.
I made a very casual examination of the stomach and bowels, as we had
plenty of proof that poison had been taken, without the use of tests.”

_Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant Shee._—“In cases of death from
ordinary causes the body is much distorted. It does not generally
remain in the same position. If the body is not laid out immediately,
probably it is stiffened by the _rigor mortis_. The ankles were tied
by a bandage to keep them together. I commenced to open the body by
the thorax and abdomen. The head also was opened.”

The _third_ case was that of a Mr. Clutterbuck, a gentleman suffering
from paralysis, on whom, with _Dr. Chambers_, _Mr. E. D. Moore_, who
detailed the case, had attended some fifteen years before.

“We had been giving him,” said the witness, “small doses of strychnia,
when he went to Brighton. On his return he told us he had taken larger
doses of it, and we in consequence gave him a stronger dose. I made
up three draughts of a quarter of a grain each. He took one in my
presence. I remained with him a little time, and he said he felt quite
comfortable. About three quarters of an hour afterwards I was summoned
to him. _I found him stiffened in every limb, and the head drawn back.
He was desirous we should move him, and turn him and rub him._ We
tried to give him ammonia in a spoon, _and he snapped at it_. He was
suffering, I should say, more than three hours. Sedatives were given
to him. He survived the attack. _He was conscious all the time._”

_Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant Shee._—“The spasms ceased in about
three hours, but the rigidity of the muscles remained till the next
day. His hands were at first drawn back, and he was much easier when
we got them round clinched together. His paralysis was better after
the attack.”

_Re-examined by the Attorney-General._—“Strychnia stimulates the
nerves which act upon the voluntary muscles, and therefore acts
beneficially in cases of paralysis.”

The _fourth_ case of poisoning by strychnia, though at this time given
anonymously, as it had not as yet been brought to a public trial, was
that of Mrs. Dove, of Leeds, more fully related in the next report. In
this case, _Mrs. Witham_, who had been in attendance on the deceased,
described how, after taking the medicine given to her, “_She complained
first of her back; her head was thrown back; her body stretched out;
that she twitched, her eyes were drawn aside, staring, and that when
the witness put her hands on the patient’s limbs they did not relax._”
In this case the illness commenced on the 25th of February; attacks
came on the 27th, 28th, and 29th (the last a very slight one), and then
again, about a quarter past eight, on the 1st of March, and the person
died about twenty minutes to eleven on that night. “She principally
complained of prickings in the legs, twitchings in the muscles and in
the hands, which she said she could compare to nothing else than a
galvanic shock. Between the attacks, she was composed. _She wished her
husband to rub her legs and arms._ She was dead when the doctor came.”

On _cross-examination_, the witness said that the sufferer “_could not
bear to have her legs touched when the spasms were strong upon her. Her
limbs were rigidly extended when she asked to be rubbed between the
intervals of the spasms. Touching her then brought on the spasms. Her
body was stiff immediately after death_,” but how long it continued so
the witness could not say, as she did not stay long. _She was sensible
from half an hour to an hour_, from a quarter past eight till after
nine, and the witness _supposed she was insensible the remainder of the
time; she did not speak_. On the Saturday before she died the symptoms
were the same as on the other days—not more violent.”

_Mr. Morley_, the surgeon who had attended this case, and whose opinion
as to the symptoms being identical with those in the present inquiry,
was directly opposed by _Mr. Nunneley_, of Leeds, who had then assisted
him in the _post-mortem_ examination, not only detailed the symptoms he
then saw, but also the method and results of his subsequent examination
of the body.

“I had attended,” said Mr. Morley, “on the lady to whom the last
witness has alluded for about two months before her death. On the
Monday before she died she was in her bed, apparently comfortable,
when I observed (as I stood by her side) _several slight convulsive
twitchings of her arms_. I supposed they arose from hysteria, and
ordered medicine in consequence. _The same symptoms appeared on the
following Wednesday and Thursday._ I saw her on Saturday, the day she
died. She was apparently better and quite composed in the middle of
the day. She complained of an attack she had had at night. She spoke
of pain and spasms in her back and neck, and of shocks. I and another
medical man were sent for hastily on Saturday night. We were met by
an announcement that the lady was dead. On the Monday I accompanied
another medical gentleman (Nunneley) to the _post-mortem_ examination.
We found no disease in any part of the body which would account for
death. There was no emaciation, wound, or sore. _There was a peculiar
expression of anxiety in the countenance. The hands were bent and
the fingers curved. The feet were strongly arched._ We carefully
examined the stomach and its contents for poison. We applied several
tests—nitric acid, followed by protochloride of tin,[41] sulphuric
acid, followed by bichromate of potash in a liquid and also in a solid
state. They are the best tests to detect strychnia. In each case we
found appearances characteristic of strychnia. We administered the
strychnia taken from the stomach to animals by inoculation—to two
mice, two rabbits, and a guinea-pig, having first separated it by
chemical analysis. We observed in each of the animals more or less
of the effects produced by strychnia, namely—_general uneasiness,
difficult breathing, convulsions of a tetanic kind, muscular rigidity,
arching backwards of the head and neck, violent stretching out of the
legs._ These symptoms appeared in some of the animals in four or five
minutes, in others in less than an hour. The guinea-pig suffered but
slightly at first, and was left, and was dead next day. The symptoms
were strongly marked in the rabbits. After death there was an interval
of flaccidity, after which rigidity commenced, more than if it had
been occasioned by the _rigor mortis_. I afterwards made numerous
experiments on animals with exactly similar results, the poison being
administered in a fluid form.”

_Cross-examined by Mr. Grove._—“I did not see the patient during a
severe attack. I have observed in animals that spasms are brought on
by touch. That is a very marked symptom. The spasm is like a galvanic
shock. The patient was not at all insensible during the time I saw
her, and she was able to swallow, but I did not see her during a
severe attack. After death we found the lungs very much congested.
There was a small quantity of bloody serum found in the pericardium.
The muscles of the whole body were dark and soft. There was a decided
quantity of effusion in the brain. There was also a quantity of serum
tinged with blood in the membranes of the spinal cord. The membranes
of the spinal marrow were congested to a considerable extent. We
opened the head first, and there was a good deal of blood flowing
out. _Part of the blood may have flowed from the heart. That might
partially empty the heart, and would make it uncertain whether the
heart was full or empty at the time of death. I have often examined
the hearts of animals poisoned by strychnia. The right side of the
heart is generally full._ In some cases I think that the symptoms
did not appear for an hour after the administration of the poison. I
have made the experiments in conjunction with Mr. Nunneley. We have
made experiments upon frogs, but they are different in many respects
from warm-blooded animals. I have in almost all cases found the
strychnia where it was known to have been administered. In one case
it was doubtful. We were sure the strychnia had been administered
in that case, but we doubted whether it had reached the stomach.
There were appearances which might lead one to infer the presence of
strychnia, but they were not satisfactory. I have detected strychnia
in the stomach nearly two months after death, when decomposition has
proceeded to a considerable extent.”

_Re-examined by the Attorney-General._—“From half a grain to a grain
has been administered to cats, rabbits, and dogs. From one to two
grains is quite sufficient to kill a dog.”

_Question._—“How does the strychnia act? Is it taken up by the
absorbents, and carried into the system?”

_Answer._—“I think it acts upon the nerves, but a part may be taken
into the blood and act through the blood. We generally examined
the stomach of the animals when the poison had been administered
internally. Sometimes we examined the skin. The poison found in the
stomach would be in excess of that absorbed into the system.”

_Question._—“Are you then of opinion that, a portion of the poison
being taken into the system and a portion being left in the stomach,
the portion taken into the system would produce tetanic symptoms and
death?”

_Mr. Serjeant Shee_ objected to a question which suggested a theory.

_The Attorney-General._—“What would be the operation of that portion
of the poison which is taken into the system?”

_Answer._—“It would destroy life.”

_Mr. Baron Alderson._—“And yet leave an excess in the stomach?”

_Answer._—“That is my opinion.”

_The Attorney-General._—“Would the excess remaining in the stomach
produce no effect?”

_Answer._—“I am not sure that strychnia could lie in the stomach
without acting prejudicially.”

_Question._—“Suppose that a minimum quantity is administered, which,
being absorbed into the system, destroys life, should you expect to
find any in the stomach?”

_Answer._—“I should expect sometimes to fail in discovering it.”

_Question._—“If death resulted from a series of minimum doses spread
over several days, would the appearance of the body be different from
that of one whose death had been caused by one dose?”

_Answer._—“I should connect the appearance of the body with the final
struggle of the last day.”

_Question._—“Would you expect a different set of phenomena in cases
where death had taken place after a brief struggle, and in cases where
the struggle had been protracted?”

_Answer._—“Certainly. At the _post-mortem_ examination of which I
have spoken we found fluid blood in the veins.”

_Mr. Serjeant Shee._—“Is it your theory that in the action of
poisoning the poison becomes absorbed and ceases to exist as poison?”

Answer.—“I have thought much upon that question, and have not formed
a decided opinion, but I am inclined to think that it is so. A part
may be absorbed and a part remain in the stomach unchanged.”

_Mr. Serjeant Shee._—“What chymical reason can you give for your
opinion that strychnia, after having effected the operation of
poisoning, ceases to be strychnia in the blood?”

_Answer._—“My opinion rests upon the general principle that, in
acting upon living bodies, organic substances—such as food and
medicine—are generally changed in their composition.”

_Mr. Serjeant Shee._—“What are the component parts of strychnia?”

_Mr. Baron Alderson._—“You will find that in any cyclopædia, brother
Shee.”

_Mr. Serjeant Shee._—“Have you any reason to believe that strychnia
can be decomposed by any sort of putrefying or fermenting process?”

_Witness._—“I doubt whether it can.”[42]

ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE.

On the fifth day, the late _Doctor Alfred Swaine Taylor_, the
well-known Analytical Chemist and Author of “Medical Jurisprudence”
(the text-book of the legal profession in all criminal investigations),
_Doctor Owen Rees_, now one of the physicians extraordinary to her
Majesty, and the late _Professor Brande_, of the Royal Institution,
were called as witnesses. By the two first, the analytical examination
of the various parts of Mr. Cook’s body had been conducted, and they
had made a joint report of the results. By the last, that report had
been carefully examined, and he had also heard all the evidence as to
symptoms previously given in the case. No inconsiderable portion of the
_cross-examination_ of Dr. Taylor was occupied by questions connected
with the publication, in the _Illustrated Times_, by Mr. Augustus
Mayhew, of what professed to be statements as to the details of their
analysis by Dr. Taylor and Dr. Rees, in which, if correctly reported,
the former had committed himself somewhat prematurely to opinions
on the case, and had used expressions towards the prisoner which,
to say the least, were not discreet. Dr. Taylor, however, stoutly
maintained that he had not used many of the expressions objected to;
that the opportunity of interviewing him, after the American fashion,
had been unfairly obtained, and the pretended report published not
only without, but contrary to, his expressed wish. Except, however,
as throwing a shade of partisanship over his conduct, and so far
lessening the value of his evidence, the whole episode was useless to
the defence—perhaps, to a certain extent, injurious. Dr. Taylor had
been hasty and injudicious, and undoubtedly taken at an advantage by
the energetic reporter, who certainly obtained his interview with him
by pretences not strictly true.[43] With these remarks, due to Dr.
Taylor’s reputation and abilities, we proceed to give his evidence.

_Dr. Alfred Swaine Taylor, examined by the Attorney-General._—“I
am a fellow of the College of Physicians, lecturer on medical
jurisprudence at Guy’s Hospital, and the author of the well-known
treatise on poisons and on medical jurisprudence. I have made the
poison called strychnia the subject of my attention. It is the
produce of the nux vomica, which also contains brucia, a poison
of an analogous character. Brucia is variously estimated at from
one-sixth to one-twelfth the strength of strychnia. Most varieties of
impure strychnia that are sold contain more or less brucia. Unless,
therefore, you are certain as to the purity of the article, you may be
misled as to its strength. I have performed a variety of experiments
with strychnia on animal life. I have never witnessed its action on
a human subject. I have tried its effects upon animal life—upon
rabbits—in ten or twelve instances. The symptoms are, on the whole,
very uniform. The quantity I have given has varied from half a grain
to two grains. Half a grain is sufficient to destroy a rabbit. I have
given it both in a solid and liquid state. When given in a fluid state
it produces its effects in a very few minutes; when in a solid state,
as a sort of pill or bolus, in about six to eleven minutes. The time
varies according to the strength of the dose, and also to the strength
of the animal.”

_Question._—“In what way does it operate, in your opinion?”

_Answer._—“It is first absorbed into the blood, then circulated
through the body, and especially acts on the spinal cord, from which
proceed the nerves acting on the voluntary muscles.”

_Question._—“Supposing the poison has been absorbed, what time would
you give for the circulating process?”

_Answer._—“The circulation of the blood through the whole system is
considered to take place about once in four minutes. The circulation
in animals is quicker. The absorption of the poison by rabbits is
therefore quicker. The time would also depend on the state of the
stomach,—whether it contained much food or not, whether the poison
came into immediate contact with the inner surface of the stomach.”

_Question._—“In your opinion, does the poison act immediately on the
nervous system, or must it first be absorbed?”

_Answer._—“It must first be absorbed.”

_Question._—“The symptoms, you say, are uniform. Will you describe
them?”

_Answer._—“The animal for about five or six minutes does not appear
to suffer, but moves about gently; when the poison begins to act it
suddenly falls on its side; there is a trembling, a quivering motion
of the whole of the muscles of the body, arising from the poison
producing violent and involuntary contraction. There is then a sudden
paroxysm or fit, the fore legs and the hind legs are stretched out,
the head and the tail are drawn back in the form of a bow, the jaws
are spasmodically closed, the eyes are prominent; after a short time
there is a slight remission of the symptoms, and the animal appears
to lie quiet, but the slightest noise or touch reproduces another
convulsive paroxysm; sometimes there is a scream, or a sort of shriek,
as if the animal suffered from pain; the heart beats violently
during the fit, and after a succession of these fits the animal dies
quietly. Sometimes, however, the animal dies during a spasm, and I
only know that death has occurred from holding my hand over the heart.
The appearances after death differ. In some instances the rigidity
continues. In one case the muscles were so strongly contracted for a
week afterwards, that it was possible to hold the body by its hind
legs stretched out horizontally. In an animal killed the other day
the body was flaccid at the time of death, but became rigid about
five minutes afterwards. I have opened the bodies of animals thus
destroyed.”

_Question._—“Could you detect any injury in the stomach?”

_Answer._—“No. I have found in some cases congestion of the membranes
of the spinal cord to a greater extent than would be accounted for
by the gravitation of the blood. In other cases I have found no
departure from the ordinary state of the spinal cord and the brain.
I ascribe congestion to the succession of fits before death. In a
majority of instances, three out of five, I found no change in the
abnormal condition of the spine. In all cases the heart has been
congested, especially the right side. I saw a case of ordinary tetanus
in the human subject years ago, but I have not had much experience of
such cases. I saw one case last Thursday week at St. Bartholomew’s
Hospital. The patient recovered.”

_Question._—“You have heard the description given by the witnesses of
the symptoms and appearances which accompanied Cook’s attacks?”

_Answer._—“I have.”

_Question._—“Were those symptoms and appearances the same as those
you have observed in the animals to which you administered strychnia?”

_Answer._—“They were. Death has taken place in the animals more
rapidly when the poison has been administered in a fluid than in a
solid form. They have died at various periods after the administration
of the poison. The experiments I have performed lately have been
entirely in reference to solid strychnia. In the first case the
symptoms began in seven minutes, and the animal died (including those
seven) in thirteen minutes. In the second case the symptoms appeared
in nine minutes, and the animal died in seventeen. In the third case
the symptoms appeared in ten minutes, and the animal died in eighteen.
In the fourth case the symptoms appeared in five minutes, and death
took place in twenty-two. In the fifth case the symptoms appeared in
twelve minutes, and death occurred in twenty-three. If the poison were
taken by the human subject in pills it would take a longer time to
act, because the structure of the pill must be broken up in order to
bring the poison in contact with the mucous membrane of the stomach. I
have administered it to rabbits in pills.”

_Question._—“Would poison given in pills take a longer period to
operate on a human subject than on a rabbit?”

_Answer._—“I do not think we can draw any inference from a comparison
of the rapidity of death in a human subject and in a rabbit. The
circulation and absorption are different in the two cases. There is
also a difference between one human subject and another. The strength
of the dose, too, would make a difference, as a large dose would
produce a more rapid effect than a small one. I have experimented
upon the intestines of animals, in order to reproduce the strychnia.
The process consists in putting the stomach and its contents in
alcohol, with a small quantity of acid which dissolves the strychnia,
and produces sulphate of strychnia in the stomach. The liquid is
then filtered, gently evaporated, and an alkali added—carbonate of
potash, which combines with the sulphuric acid, and precipitates the
strychnia. Tests are applied to the strychnia, or supposed strychnia,
when extracted. Strychnia has a peculiar strongly bitter taste. It is
not soluble in water, but it is in acids and in alcohol. The colour
tests are applied to the dry residue after evaporation. Change of
colour is produced by a mixture of sulphuric acid and bichromate of
potash. It produces a blue colour, changing to violet and purple,
and passing to red; but colouring tests are very fallacious, with
this exception,—when we have strychnia separated in its crystallised
state we can recognise the crystals by their form and their chemical
properties, and, above all, by the tetanic symptoms and death when
administered through a wound in the skin of animals.”[44]

_Question._—“Are there other vegetable substances from which, if
these colouring tests were applied, similar colours could be obtained?”

_Answer._—“There are a variety of mixtures which produce similar
colours;[45] one of them also has a bitter taste like strychnine.[46]
Vegetable poisons are more difficult of detection than mineral: the
tests are far more fallacious. I have endeavoured to discover the
presence of strychnine in animals I have poisoned in four cases,
assisted by Dr. Rees. I have applied the process I first described.
I have applied the tests of colouring and taste. In one case I
discovered some by the colour test. In a second case there was a
bitter taste, but no other indication of strychnine. In the other two
cases there were no indications at all. In the case where it had been
discovered by the colour test, two grains had been administered; and
in the second case, where there was a bitter taste, one grain. In one
of the cases where we failed to detect it, one grain, and, in the
other, half a grain had been given. I account for the absence of any
indication, _because it is absorbed in the blood, and is no longer
in the stomach. It is in a great part changed in the blood._ When
administered in large doses there is a retention of some in excess of
what is required for the destruction of life.”

_Question._—“Supposing a minimum dose, which will destroy life, has
been given, could you find any?”

_Answer._—“No. It is taken up by absorption, and is no longer
discoverable in the stomach. The smallest quantity by which I have
destroyed an animal is half a grain. _There is no process with which I
am acquainted by which it can be discovered in the tissue._[47] As far
as I know, a small quantity cannot be discovered.”

_Question._—“Suppose half a grain to be absorbed into the blood, what
proportion does it bear to the total quantity of blood circulated in
the system?”

_Answer._—“Assuming the system to contain the lowest quantity of
blood—25lb.—it would be one-fiftieth of a grain to a pound of blood.
A physician once died from a dose of half a grain in twenty minutes.
_I believe it undergoes some partial change in the blood which
increases the difficulty of discovering it. I never heard of its being
separated from the tissues in a crystallised state._ The crystals are
peculiar in form, but there are other organic crystallised substances
like them, so that a chemist will not rely on form only. After the
_post-mortem_ examination, a portion of the stomach was delivered to
me by Mr. Boycott, covered with bladder, tied and sealed. The jar
contained the stomach and the intestines. I have experimented upon
them with a view to discover if any poison was present. I sought for
prussic acid, morphia, strychnia, veratria, tobacco poison, hemlock,
arsenic, antimony, mercury, and other mineral poisons, but only
found small traces of antimony. _The parts on which I had to operate
were in the most unfavourable condition that could possibly be. The
stomach had been cut completely from end to end; all the contents were
gone, and the fine mucous surface, on which any poison, if present,
would have been found, was lying in contact with the outside of the
intestines—all thrown together. The inside of the stomach was lying
in a mass of intestinal fœcal matter._ That was, I presume, the fault
or misfortune of the person who dissected, but it seemed to have been
shaken about in every possible way in its journey to London.[48] By
my request the spleen, two kidneys, and a small bottle of blood, were
sent up to me. We had no idea where the blood came from. _Each part of
the liver, one kidney, and the spleen, all yielded antimony._ It was
reproduced, or brought out by boiling the animal matter in a mixture
of hydrochloric acid and water. Copper, in the shape of foil and gauze
in a sort of web of fine copper, was introduced, and the antimony was
found deposited on the copper. _The quantity of antimony was less in
proportion in the spleen than in the other parts. I detected some
antimony in the blood._ We applied the tests of Professor Brande, Dr.
Rees, and others. _It is impossible to say how recently it had been
administered, but I should say shortly before death, that is, within
some days._ The longest period at which antimony can be found in the
blood after death, within my knowledge, is eight days; the earliest
period, within my knowledge, eighteen hours. A boy died within
eighteen hours after taking it, and it was found in his liver. It is
usually given in the form of tartar emetic; it acts as an irritant,
and produces vomiting. If given in repeated doses, a portion would
find its way into the blood and the system, beyond what was ejected.
If it continued to be given after it had produced certain symptoms, it
would destroy life. It may, however, be given with impunity.”

Referring to the symptoms previously proved in Cook’s case, the witness
said—

“Vomitings produced by antimony would cause those symptoms. If given
in small quantities, sufficient to cause vomiting, it would not affect
the colour of the liquid with which it was mixed, whether brandy,
wine, broth, or water. _It is impossible to form an exact judgment
when the antimony was administered, but it must have been two or
three weeks at the outside before death. There was no evidence that
it was administered within some hours before death._ It might leave
a sensation in the throat—a choking sensation—if a large quantity
was given at once. _I found no trace of mercury during the analysis.
If a few grains had been taken recently before death, I should
have expected to find some trace. If a man had taken mercury for a
syphilitic affection within two or three weeks, I should have expected
to find it._ It is very slow in passing out of the body. As small a
quantity as three or four grains might leave some trace. I recollect a
case in which three grains of calomel were given three or four hours
before death, and traces of mercury were found. Half a grain three or
four days before death, if given in divided doses more favourable for
absorption, would, I should expect, leave a trace. One grain would
certainly do so.” The witness agreed with the opinion of the other
witnesses as to the causes of the deaths of Mrs. Smyth, Agnes French,
and the other lady (Mrs. Dove), and of the attack of Clutterbuck,
and that the symptoms in Mr. Cook’s case appeared to be of a similar
character. As a professor of medical science, he did not know any
cause in the range of human disease, except strychnia, to which the
symptoms in Cook’s case could be referred.

The _cross-examination_ of _Dr. Taylor_ was necessarily very diffuse
and lengthy; with the exception, however, of the part in which it was
sought to raise a prejudice against the witness as a partisan, to
which I have previously referred, it was so important that, like the
_examination_ in chief, it must, in justice to all parties, be reported
at length.

_Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant Shee._—“I mean by the word ‘trace’ a
very small quantity, which can hardly be estimated by weight. I do
not apply it in the sense of an imponderable quantity. In chemical
language it is frequently used in that sense. An infinitesimal
quantity would be called ‘a trace.’ _The quantity of antimony that
we discovered in all parts of the body would make up about half a
grain. We did not ascertain that there was that quantity, but I will
undertake to say that we extracted as much as half a grain. That
quantity would not be sufficient to cause death._ Only arsenic or
antimony could have been deposited, under the circumstances, on the
copper, and no sublimate of arsenic was obtained.” [The witness, in
reply to a further question, detailed the elaborate test which he had
applied to the deposit, in order to ascertain that it consisted of
antimony.]

_Question._—“Would a mistake in any one of the processes you have
described, or a defect in any of the materials you have used, defeat
the object of the test?”

_Answer._—“It would, but all the materials I used were pure. Such an
accident could not have happened without my having some intimation of
it in the course of the process. I should think antimony would operate
more quickly upon animals than upon men. I am acquainted with the
works of Orfila. He stood in the highest rank of analytical chemists.”

_Question._—“Did not Orfila find antimony in a dog four months after
injection?”

_Answer._—“Yes; but the animal had taken about forty-five grains.”

_Mr. Serjeant Shee_ called the attention of the witness to a passage
in Orfila’s work in reference to that case, to the effect that the
antimony was found accumulating in the bones, the liver contained a
great deal, and the tissues a very little.

_Witness._—“Yes; when antimony has been long in the body it passes
into the bones; but I think you will find that these are not Orfila’s
experiments. Orfila is quoting the experiments of another person.”[49]

_Question._—“But is not that the case with nearly all the experiments
referred to in your own book?”

_Answer._—“No; I cannot say that.”

_Mr. Serjeant Shee_ again referred to a case in Orfila in which
forty-five grains were given to a dog, and three and a half months
after death a quantity was found in the fat, and some in the liver,
bones, and tissues.

_Witness._—“That shows that antimony gets into the bones and flesh,
but I never knew a case in which forty-five grains had been given to a
human being in ten days, and I have given no opinion upon such a case.”

_Question._—“A pretty good dose is required to poison a person, I
suppose?”

_Answer._—“That depends on the mode in which it is given. A dog has
been poisoned with six grains. The dog died in the case you mentioned.
When antimony is administered as it was in that case the liver becomes
fatty and gristled. Cook’s liver presented no appearance of the sort.
_I should infer that the antimony we found in Cook’s body was given
much more recently than in the experiments you have described. We
cannot say positively how long it takes to get out of the body, but
I have known three grains cleared out in twenty-four hours._ I was
first applied to in this case on Thursday, the 27th of November, by
Mr. Stevens, who was introduced to me by Mr. Warrington, professor of
chemistry. Either then or subsequently he mentioned Mr. Gardner. I had
not known Mr. Gardner before. I had never before been concerned in
cases of this kind at Rugeley.”

_Mr. Serjeant Shee_ read the letter written by Dr. Taylor to Mr.
Gardner:

“CHEMICAL LABORATORY, GUY’S HOSPITAL,
“_Dec. 4, 1855_.

“_Re_ J. P. Cook, Esq., _deceased_.

“DEAR SIR,—Dr. Rees and I have completed the analysis to-day. We have
sketched a report, which will be ready to-morrow or next day.

“As I am going to Durham Assizes on the part of the Crown, in the case
of _Reg._ v. _Wooler_, the report will be in the hands of Dr. Rees,
No. 26, Albemarle-street. It will be most desirable that Mr. Stevens
should call on Dr. Rees, read the report with him, and put such
questions as may occur.

“In reply to your letter received here this morning I beg to say that
we wish a statement of all the medicines prescribed for deceased
(until his death) to be drawn up and sent to Dr. Rees.

“We do not find strychnine, prussic acid, or any trace of opium. From
the contents having been drained away it is now impossible to say
whether any strychnine had or had not been given just before death,
but it is quite possible for tartar emetic to destroy life if given in
repeated doses; and, so far as we can at present form an opinion, in
the absence of any natural cause of death, the deceased may have died
from the effects of antimony in this or some other form.

“We are, dear Sir, yours faithfully,

“ALFRED S. TAYLOR.
“G. OWEN REES.”

_Question._—“Was that your opinion at the time?”

_Answer._—“It was. We could infer nothing else.”

_Question._—“Have you not said that the quantity of antimony you found
was not sufficient to account for death?”

_Answer._—“Certainly. If a man takes antimony he first vomits, and
then a part of the antimony goes out of the body; some may escape from
the bowels. A great deal passes at once into the blood by absorption,
and is carried out by the urine.”

_Question._—“Can you say upon your oath that from the traces in Cook’s
body you were justified in stating your opinion that death was caused
by antimony?”

_Answer._—“Yes; perfectly and distinctly. _That which is found in a
dead body is not the slightest criterion as to what the man took when
alive._”

_Question._—“When you gave your opinion that Cook died from the
effects of antimony, had you any reason to think that an undue quantity
had been administered?”

_Answer._—“I could not tell. People may die from large or small
quantities; the quantity found in the body was no criterion as to how
much he had taken.”

_Question._—“May not the injudicious use of a quack medicine
containing antimony, the injudicious use of James’s powders, account
for the antimony you found in the body?”

_Answer._—“Yes; the injudicious use of any antimonial medicine would
account for it.”

_Question._—“Or even their judicious use?”

_Answer._—“It might.”

_Question._—“With that knowledge, upon being consulted with regard
to Cook, you gave it as your opinion that he died from the poison of
antimony?”

_Answer._—“You pervert my meaning entirely. I said that antimony in
the form of tartar emetic might occasion vomiting and other symptoms of
irritation, and that in large doses it would cause death, preceded by
convulsions.” [The witness was proceeding to read his report upon the
case, but was stopped by the Court.] “I was told that the deceased was
in good health seven or eight days before his death, and that he had
been taken very sick and ill, and had died in convulsions. No further
particulars being given us, we were left to suppose that he had not
died a natural death. There was no natural cause to account for death;
and finding antimony existing throughout the body, we thought it might
have been caused by antimony. An analysis cannot be made effectually
without information.”

_Question._—“You think it necessary before you can rely upon an
analysis to have received a long statement of the symptoms before
death?”

_Answer._—“A short statement will do.”

_Question._—“You allow your judgment to be influenced by the statement
of a person who knows nothing of his own knowledge?”

_Answer._—“I do not allow my judgment to be influenced in any way; I
judge by the result.”

_Question._—“Do you mean to say that what Mr. Stevens told you did not
assist you in arriving at the conclusion you state in writing?”

_Answer._—“I stated it as a possible case—not as a certainty. If we
had found a large quantity of tartar emetic in the stomach we should
have come to the conclusion that the man died from it. As we found
only a small quantity, we said he might have died from it. I attended
the coroner’s inquest, first, I think, on December 14. Some of the
evidence was read over to me. I think that Dr. Harland was the first
witness I heard examined. I heard Mr. Bamford, and also Lavinia Barnes.
I cannot say as to Newton. I heard Jones. I had experimented some
years ago on five of the rabbits I have mentioned. That is the only
knowledge of my own that I had of the effect of strychnia upon animal
life when I wrote my book. I have a great objection to the sacrifice of
life. No toxicologist will sacrifice the lives of one hundred rabbits
to establish facts which he knows to be already well established. I
experimented on the last rabbits since the inquest.”

_Question._—“Do you not think it rather rash to judge of the effects
of strychnia on man by so small an experiment?”

_Answer._—“You must add to the experiment the study of poisons and
cases.”

_Question._—“Do you not think that a rabbit is a very unfair animal to
select?”

_Answer._—“No.”

_Question._—“Would not a dog be better?”

_Answer._—“They are very dangerous to handle.”

_Question._—“Do you mean to give that answer?”

_Answer._—“Dogs and cats bear a greater analogy to man because they
vomit, while rabbits do not; but rabbits are much more manageable.”

_Question._—“Do you admit that as to the action of the respiratory
organs they would be better than rabbits?”

_Answer._—“I do not.”

_Question._—“As to the effect of poison would they not?”

_Answer._—“I think a rabbit quite as good as any animal. The poison is
retained, and its operation is shown. At the inquest I saw Mr. Gardner
(the solicitor of Mr. Stevens). I suggested questions to the coroner.
Some of them he put to the witnesses, and others they answered upon my
suggesting them. Ten days before the inquest Mr. Gardner informed me
in his letter that strychnia, Battley’s solution, and prussic acid,
had been purchased on Tuesday; that was why I used the expressions to
which you have referred. We did not allow that information to have any
influence on our report.” [The witness’s deposition before the coroner
was then read.] “Having given my evidence, I returned to town, and soon
afterwards heard that the prisoner had been committed on a charge of
wilful murder.”

_Question._—“And that his life depended in a great degree on you?”

_Answer._—“No. I simply gave an opinion as to the poison, not as to
the prisoner’s case. I knew I should probably be examined as a witness
on the trial.”

_Question._—“Do you think it your duty to abstain from all public
discussion of the question which might influence the public mind.”

_Answer._—“Yes.”

_Question._—“Did you write a letter to the _Lancet_?”

_Answer._—“Yes, to contradict several mis-statements of my evidence
that had been made.”

_Letter to_ Lancet _of Feb. 2, 1856, read, in which Dr. Taylor
said_:—“During the quarter of a century which I have now specially
devoted to toxicological inquiries, I have never met with any cases
like these suspected cases of poisoning at Rugeley. The mode in which
they will affect the person accused is of minor importance compared
with their probable influence on society. I have no hesitation
in saying that the future security of life in this country will
mainly depend on the judge, the jury, and the counsel who may have
to dispose of the charges of murder which have arisen out of these
investigations.”[50]

_Cross-examination continued._—“That is my opinion now. It had been
stated that if strychnia caused death it could always be found, which
I deny. It had also been circulated in every newspaper that a person
could not be killed by tartar emetic, which I deny, and which might
have led to the destruction of hundreds of lives. I entertained
no prejudice against the prisoner. What I meant was that if these
statements which I had seen in medical and other periodicals were to
have their way there was not a life in the country which was safe.”

_Question._—“Do you adhere to your opinion that ‘the mode in which
they will affect the person accused,’ that is, lead him to the
scaffold, ‘is of minor importance, compared with their probable
influence on society’?”

_Answer._—“I have never suggested that they should lead him to the
scaffold. I hope that, if innocent, he will be acquitted.”

_Question._—“What do you mean by the mode in which they will affect
the person accused being of minor importance?”

_Answer._—“The lives of sixteen millions of people are, in my opinion,
of greater importance than that of one man.”

_Question._—“That is your opinion?”

_Answer._—“Yes. As you appear to put that as an objection to my
evidence, allow me to state that in two dead bodies I find antimony.
In one case death occurred suddenly, and in the other the body was
saturated with antimony, which I never found before in the examination
of three hundred bodies. I say these were circumstances which demanded
explanation.”

_Question._—“You adhere to the opinion that, as a medical man and a
member of an honourable profession, you were right in publishing this
letter before the trial of the person accused?”

_Answer._—“I think I had a right to state that opinion in answer to
the comments which had been made upon my evidence.”

_Question._—“Had any comments been made by the prisoner?”

_Answer._—“No.”

_Question._—“Or by any of his family?”

_Answer._—“Mr. Smith, the solicitor for the defence, circulated in
every paper statements of ‘Dr. Taylor’s inaccuracy.’ I had no wish or
motive to charge the prisoner with this crime. My duty concerns the
lives of all.”

I omit here the numerous questions about Mr. Mayhew’s visit, and
take up the _cross-examination_ with the witness’s opinion of Cook’s
symptoms.

“Cook’s symptoms were quite in accordance with an ordinary case of
poisoning by strychnia.”

_Question._—“Can you tell me any case in which a patient after being
seized with tetanic symptoms sat up in bed and talked?”

_Answer._—“It was after he sat up that Cook was seized with these
symptoms.”

_Question._—“Can you refer to a case in which a patient who had taken
strychnia beat the bed with his or her arms?”

_Answer._—“It is exactly what I should expect to arise from a sense
of suffocation.”

_Question._—“Do you know in your reading of any case in which the
symptoms of poisoning by strychnia commenced with beating of the bed
clothes?”

_Answer._—“There have been only about fifteen cases, and in none of
those was the patient seized in bed. Beating of the bed clothes is a
symptom which may be exhibited by a person suffering from a sense of
suffocation, whether caused by strychnia or other causes. A case has
been communicated to me by a friend, in which the patient shook as
though with an ague.” [Answer objected to, but allowed as witness had
been questioned as to the results of his reading.] “I have known of no
case of poisoning by strychnia in which the patient screamed before
he was seized. That is common in ordinary convulsions. In cases of
poisoning by strychnia the patient screams when the spasms set in; the
pain is very severe. I cannot refer to a case in which the patient
has spoken freely after the paroxysms had commenced.”

_Question._—“Can you refer me to any case in an authentic publication
in which the access of the strychnia paroxysm has been delayed so long
after the injection of the poison as in the case of Cook on Tuesday
night?”

_Answer._—“Yes; longer. In my book on Medical Jurisprudence, p. 185,
5th Edition, it is stated that in a case communicated to the _Lancet_,
Aug. 31, 1850, by Mr. Bennett, a grain and a half of strychnia taken
by mistake destroyed the life of a healthy female in an hour and a
half. None of the symptoms appeared for an hour. There is a case in
which the period which elapsed was two hours and a half. A grain and
a half is a full, but not a very considerable, dose. In my book on
Poisons there is no case in which the paroxysm commenced more than an
hour and a half after the injection of the poison. That book is eight
years old, and since 1848 cases have occurred. There is a mention of
one in which three hours elapsed before the paroxysms occurred.”

_Mr. Serjeant Shee_ then referred to the case, and called attention to
the fact that the only statement as to time was that in three hours the
patient lost his speech, and was seized with violent convulsions.[51]

_Cross-examination continued._—“I know of no other fatal case in
which the interval was so long. In that case there was disease of
the brain. Referring to the _Lancet_, I find that in the case to
which I referred, as communicated by Dr. Bennett, the strychnia was
dissolved in cinnamon water. Being dissolved, one would have expected
it to have a more speedy action. The time in which a patient would
recover would depend entirely upon the dose of strychnia which had
been taken. I do not remember any case in which a patient recovered
in three or four hours, but such cases must have occurred. There is
one mentioned in my book on Medical Jurisprudence. The patient had
taken nux vomica, but its powers depend upon strychnia. In that case
the violence of the paroxysms gradually subsided, and the next day,
although feeble and exhausted, the patient was able to walk home.
The time of the recovery is a point which is not usually stated by
medical men. I cannot mention any case in which there was a repetition
of the paroxysms after so long an interval as that from Monday to
Tuesday night, which occurred in Cook’s case. I do not think that the
attack on Tuesday night was the result of anything which had been
administered to him on the Monday night. In the cases of four out of
five rabbits the rigidity was continued at the time of death and after
death. In the other the animal was flaccid at the time of death.”

_Question._—“Are you acquainted with this opinion of Dr. Christison,
that in these cases rigidity does not come on at the time of death,
but comes on shortly afterwards?”

_Answer._—“Dr. Christison speaks from his experience, and I from
mine.”

_Question._—“Did you hear that Dr. Bamford said that when he arrived
he found the body of Cook quite straight in bed?”

_Answer._—“Yes.”

_Question._—“Can that have been a case of ophisthotonos?”

_Answer._—“It may have been.”

_Question._—“Are not the colour tests of strychnia so uncertain and
fallacious that they cannot be depended upon?”

_Answer._—“Yes, unless you first get the strychnia in a visible and
tangible form.”

_Question._—“Is it not impossible to get it so from the stomach?”

_Answer._—“It is not impossible; it depends upon the quantity which
remains there.”

_Question._—“You do not agree that the fiftieth part of a grain might
be discovered?”

_Answer._—“I think not.”

_Question._—“Nor even half a grain?”

_Answer._—“That might be. It would depend upon the quantity of food
in the stomach with which it was mixed.”

_Re-examined by the Attorney-General._—“In cases of death from
strychnia the heart is sometimes found empty after death. That is
the case of human subjects. There are three such cases on record. I
think that emptiness results from spasmodic affection of the heart.
I know of no reason why that should rather occur in the case of man
than in that of a small animal like a rabbit. The heart is generally
more filled when the paroxysms are frequent. When the paroxysm is
short and violent, and causes death in a few moments, I should expect
to find the heart empty. The rigidity after death always affects
the same muscles; those of the limbs and back. In the case of the
rabbit, in which the rigidity was relaxed at the time of death, it
returned while the body was warm. In ordinary death it only occurs
when the body is cold, or nearly so. I never knew a case of tetanus
in which the rigidity lasted two months after death; but such a fact
would give me the impression that there were very violent spasms. It
would indicate great violence of the spasms from which the person
died. The time which elapses between the taking of strychnia and the
commencement of the paroxysms depends on the constitution and strength
of the individual. A feeling of suffocation is one of the earliest
symptoms of poisoning by strychnia, and that would lead the patient
to beat the bedclothes. I have no doubt that the substances I used
for the purpose of analysis were pure. I had tested them. The fact
that three distinct processes each gave the same result was strong
confirmation of each. I have no doubt that what we found was antimony.
The quantity found does not enable me to say how much was taken. It
might be the residue of either large or small doses. Sickness would
throw off some portion of the antimony which had been administered. We
did not analyse the bones and tissues. I suggested questions to the
coroner because he did not put such as enabled me to form an opinion.
I think that arose rather from want of knowledge than intention. There
was an omission to take down the answers. At the time I wrote to Mr.
Gardiner I had not learnt the symptoms which attended the attack and
death of Cook. I had only the information that he was well seven days
before he died, and had died in convulsions. I had not information to
lead me to suppose that strychnia had been the cause of death, except
that Palmer had purchased strychnia. Failing to find opium, prussic
acid, or strychnia, I referred to antimony as the only substance found
in the body. Before writing to the _Lancet_, I had been made the
subject of a great many attacks. What I had said as to the possibility
or impossibility of discovering strychnia after death had been
misrepresented. In various newspapers it had been represented that I
had said strychnia could never be detected—that it was destroyed by
putrefaction. What I had said was, that when absorbed in the blood
it could not be separated as strychnia. I wrote the letter in my own
vindication.”

_Dr. Rees_ and _Professor Brande_ briefly but decidedly confirmed the
statements, and coincided with the opinions expressed by Dr. Taylor,
the latter witness speaking as to an experiment made by him to test the
accuracy of the previous one, with reference to the supposed presence
of antimony, which enabled him to state positively that that poison was
isolated by it. _Professor Christison_, of the University of Edinburgh,
author of the well-known treatise on poisons, was then called, and gave
the following evidence:—

_Professor Christison_ said:—“I am a fellow of the Royal College
of Physicians and Professor of Materia Medica to the University of
Edinburgh; I am also the author of a work on the subject of poisons,
and I have directed a good deal of attention to strychnia. In my
opinion it acts by absorption into the blood, and through that upon
the nervous system. I have seen its effects upon a human subject,
but not a fatal case. I have seen it tried upon pigs, rabbits,
cats, and one wild boar. (A laugh.) I first directed my attention
to this poison in 1820, in Paris. It had been discovered two years
before in Paris. In most of my experiments upon animals I gave very
small doses—a sixth of a grain; but I once administered a grain. I
cannot say how small a dose would cause the death of an animal by
administration into the stomach. I generally applied it by injection
through an incision in the cavity of the chest. A sixth part of a
grain so administered killed a dog in two minutes. I once administered
to a rabbit, through the stomach, a dose of a grain. I saw Dr. Taylor
administer three-quarters of a grain to a rabbit, and it was all
swallowed except a very small quantity. The symptoms are nearly the
same in rabbits, cats, and dogs. The first is a slight tremor and
unwillingness to move; then frequently the animal jerks its head
back slightly; soon after that all the symptoms of tetanus come on
which have been so often described by the previous witnesses. When
the poison is administered by the stomach death generally takes place
between a period of five minutes and five and twenty minutes after
the symptoms first make their appearance. I have frequently opened
the bodies of animals thus killed, and have never been able to trace
any effect of the poison upon the stomach or intestines, or upon the
spinal cord or brain, that I could attribute satisfactorily to the
poison. The heart of the animal generally contained blood in all the
cases in which I have been concerned. In the case of the wild boar the
poison was injected into the chest. A third of a grain was all that
was used, and in ten minutes the symptoms began to show themselves.
If strychnia was administered in the form of a pill it might be
mixed with other ingredients that would protract the period of its
operation. This would be the case if it were mixed with resinous
materials, or any materials that were difficult of digestion, and
such materials would be within the knowledge of any medical men, and
they are frequently used for the purpose of making ordinary pills.
Absorption in such a case would not commence until the pill was
broken down by the process of digestion. In the present state of our
knowledge of the subject I do not think it is possible to fix the
precise time when the operation of the poison commences on a human
subject. In the case of an animal we take care that it is fasting,
and we mix the poison with ingredients that are readily soluble, and
in every circumstance favourable for the development of the poison.
I have seen many cases of tetanus arising from wounds and other
causes. The general symptoms of the disorder very nearly resemble each
other, and in all the natural forms of tetanus the symptoms begin
and advance much more slowly, and they prove fatal much more slowly,
and there is no intermission in certain forms of natural tetanus. In
tetanus from strychnia there are short intermissions. I have heard
the evidence of what took place at the ‘Talbot Arms’ on the Monday
and Tuesday, and the result of my experience induces me to come to
the conclusion that the symptoms exhibited by the deceased were only
attributable to strychnia, or the four poisons containing it: namely,
nux vomica, St. Ignatius’s bean, snakewood, and a draught poison
called “exhetwick.”[52] There is no natural disease of any description
that I am acquainted with to which I could refer these symptoms. In
cases of tetanus consciousness remains to the very last moment. When
death takes place in a human subject by spasm it tends to empty the
heart of blood. When death is the consequence of the administration of
strychnia, if the quantity is small, I should not expect to find any
trace in the body after death. If there was an excess of quantity more
than was required to cause the death by absorption, I should expect to
find that excess in the stomach. The colour tests for the detection of
the presence of strychnia are uncertain. Vegetable poisons are more
difficult of detection than mineral ones, and there is one poison with
which I am acquainted for which no known test has been discovered.
The stomach of the deceased was sent in a very unsatisfactory state
for examination, and there must have been a considerable quantity
of strychnia in the stomach to have enabled any one to detect its
presence under such circumstances.”

_Cross-examined by Mr. Grove._—“The experiments I refer to were made
many years ago. In one instance I tried one of the colour tests in
the case of a man who was poisoned by strychnia, but I failed to
discover the presence of the poison in the stomach. I tried the test
for the development of the violet colour by means of sulphuric acid
and oxide of lead. From my own observation I should say that animals
destroyed by strychnia die of asphyxia, but in my work, which has been
referred to, it will be seen that I have left the question open.”

Some further questions were put to the witness by the learned counsel
for the prisoner in reference to opinions expressed by him in his work,
and he explained that this work was written twelve years ago, and that
the experience he had since obtained had modified some of the opinions
he then entertained.

_Cross-examination continued._—“I have not noticed that in cases
where a patient is suffering from strychnia the slightest touch
appears to bring on the paroxysm. It is very remarkable in the case
of animals, unless you touch them very gently indeed. Strychnia has a
most intensely bitter taste. It is said on the authority of a French
chemist that a grain will give a taste to more than a gallon of water.
If resinous substances were used in the formation of a pill it does
not follow that they would necessarily be found in the stomach; they
might be passed off.”

_By the Attorney-General._—“One of the cases quoted in the work that
has been referred to was that of a gamekeeper, who was found dead;
his head was thrown back, his hands were clenched, and his limbs were
rigid. A paper containing strychnia was found in his pocket, and upon
a _post-mortem_ examination, there were indications which, under the
circumstances, satisfied me of the existence of strychnia. There was a
substance in the body of an intensely bitter taste, which was tested
by the colour test, and it succeeded in one instance, but failed in
another. It appears that colour tests are not to be relied upon in
the case of strychnia in an impure condition: in the first place, you
may not find indication of strychnia: and, secondly, they are subject
to fallacy even if the strychnia is pure from other substances not
containing strychnia presenting similar appearances.”

With the _examination_ of this witness, the medical and scientific
evidence for the prosecution was closed.

MEDICO-SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE FOR THE DEFENCE.

The conflict in the testimony given by scientific experts in this
case, will be more clearly shown if, instead of deferring it to its
original position, after the speech for the defence, the evidence of
the eminent medical men and analysts is at once contrasted with that
of those called for the prosecution. The two points mainly in contest
were, (1.) Were the symptoms in Cook’s case such as could only be
produced by _strychnia_, or could they have arisen from other diseases,
and especially from one of the forms of ordinary _tetanus_? (2.) If
strychnia had been given, could it not have been discovered by chemical
analysis?[53] Under the _first_ head came the consideration of Cook’s
mode of life and general state of health, and his excitement at the
victory of his horse at such a critical period of his fortunes, as
predisposing causes to one or other of the various diseases to which
the witnesses for the defence were prepared to attribute the symptoms
and the result. Under the _second_, the success that uniformly attended
such analysts as Mr. Herapath in detecting, even twenty times less than
the fiftieth part of a grain of strychnia, and the inference that as
it was not discovered by such eminent analysts as Dr. Taylor and Dr.
Rees, that none had been given. If this inference was fair, it would
follow that, however mysterious the causes of the death of Cook might
have been, and the symptoms of his attacks difficult of being referred
to any known form of disease, yet it was not proved that he died of
strychnia, and that therefore Palmer was entitled to an acquittal.
“According to the witnesses for the Crown,” said Serjeant Shee, “the
poison of strychnia is of that nature, that when it has done its fatal
work, and become absorbed into the system, it ceases to be the thing
it was when it was taken into the system; it becomes decomposed, its
elements separated from each other, and, therefore, no longer capable
of responding to the tests which, according to Taylor, would certainly
detect the presence of undecomposed strychnia. They account for the
fact that it is not detected, and for their still believing that it
destroyed Mr. Cook, by this hypothesis. Now it is only an hypothesis:
there is no foundation for it in experiment: it is not supported by the
evidence of any eminent toxicologists but themselves; it was the theory
of Dr. Taylor, which he propounds in his book—but he propounds it as
a theory of his own; he does not vouch, as I remember, any eminent
toxicologist in support of it.”

Against this theory, among other eminent men, the defence called _Mr.
Nunneley_, of Leeds, who had assisted Mr. Morley (previously called for
the prosecution) in the case of Mrs. Dove, _Dr. Letheby_, the medical
officer of health of the city of London, and _Mr. William Herapath_.
Of these three experts it will be advisable to give the evidence at
some length, contenting oneself with summarising that of the other
scientific witnesses who agreed with them in rejecting, as a scientific
heresy, the hypothesis of Dr. Taylor.

The evidence of _Mr. Nunneley_ covered both points—the character of
Cook’s symptoms and the discovery of strychnia. “He had been, he said,
in large practice for more than twenty-five years, and had seen four
cases of _idiopathic tetanus_, all of which did not commence with
lockjaw; in one of them lockjaw not becoming so marked as to prevent
the person from swallowing once during the disease.”

“I assume,” said the witness, “that Cook was a man of very delicate
constitution; that for a long time he had felt himself ailing, for
which indisposition he had been under medical treatment; that he had
suffered from syphilis; that he had disease of the lungs, and an old
standing disease of the throat; that he led an irregular life; that
he was subject to mental depression and excitement, and that after
death appearances were found in his body to show this to have been
the case. There was an unusual appearance in the stomach. The throat
was in an unnatural condition. The back of the tongue showed similar
indications. The air vessels of the lungs were dilated. In the lining
of the aorta there was an unnatural deposit, and there was an unusual
appearance in the membranes of the spinal marrow. One of the witnesses
also said there was a loss of substance from the penis. That scar on
it could only have resulted from an ulcer. A chancre is an ulcer, but
an ulcer is not necessarily a chancre. The symptoms at the root of the
tongue and throat I should ascribe to syphilitic inflammation of the
throat. _Supposing these symptoms to be correct_” (_which they were
not_), “I should infer that Cook’s health had not for a long time been
good, and that his constitution was delicate. His father and mother
died young. _Supposing that to have been his state of health_, it
would make him liable to nervous irritation. That might be excited by
moral causes. Any excitement or depression might produce that effect.
A person of _such_ health and constitution would be more susceptible
of the injurious influence of wet and cold than one of a stronger
one. Upon _such a constitution_ convulsive disease is more likely to
supervene. I understand he had three attacks on succeeding nights,
occurring about the same hour. As a medical man I should infer from
this that they were of a convulsive character—_in the absence of
other causes to account for_ them. Convulsive attacks are as various
as possible in their forms and degrees of violence: it is not possible
to give a definite name to every convulsive symptom. There are some
forms of convulsion in which the patient retains consciousness. Those
are forms of hysteria, sometimes found in the male sex. It is also
stated that there are forms of epilepsy in which the patient retains
consciousness.”

_To Lord Campbell._—“_I cannot mention a case in which consciousness
has been retained during the fit. No such case has come under my
notice._”

_Examination continued._—“I know from reading that, though rarely,
it does sometimes occur. The degree of consciousness in epilepsy
varies very much. In some attacks it is wholly lost for a long time.
Convulsive attacks are sometimes accompanied by violent spasms and
rigidity of the limbs—they sometimes assume tetanic complexion.
I agree with Dr. Copland that convulsions arise from almost any
cause. Affections of the spinal cord, or eating indigestible food,
will produce them. I know of no case in which they resulted from
retching and vomiting. I agree with Dr. Copland that they sometimes
end immediately in death. The immediate proximate cause of death is
frequently asphyxia. Death from spasm of the heart is often described
as death by asphyxia. I have seen convulsions recurring—in various
cases. The time at which a patient recovers his ease after a violent
attack of convulsions varies very much. It may be a few minutes, it
may be hours. From an interval between one convulsion and another I
should infer that the convulsions arose from slight irritation in the
brain or the spinal cord. When death takes place in such paroxysms
there is sometimes no trace of organic disease to be found by a
_post-mortem_ examination. _Granules between the_ DURA MATER _and
the_ ARACHNOID _are not common at any age. I should not draw any
particular inference from their appearance. They might or might not
lead to a conjecture as to their cause and effect. I do not form any
opinion upon these points._ They might produce an effect upon the
spinal cord. There are three preparations in museums where granules
are exhibited in the spinal cord, in which the patients are said to
have died from tetanus. Those are at St. Thomas’s Hospital.[54] To
ascertain the nature and effect of such granules the spinal cord ought
to be examined immediately after death. Not the most remote opinion
could be formed upon an examination made two months after death, more
especially if the brain had been previously opened. Independently of
the appearance of granules, it would not after that period be possible
to form a satisfactory opinion upon the general condition of the
spinal cord. If there were a large tumour, or some similar change,
it might be exhibited; but neither softening nor induration of the
structure could be perceived. The nervous structure changes within two
days of death. To ascertain minutely its condition it is necessary
to use a lens or microscope. That is required in an examination made
immediately after death. I have attended cases of _traumatic tetanus_.
That disease commonly begins with an attack upon the jaw. One of the
cases of _idiopathic tetanus_ that I have seen was my own child. In
three of those cases the disease began with lockjaw. The fourth case
commenced in the body, the facility of swallowing remaining. I have
within the last twelve months made _post-mortem_ examinations of two
persons who had died from strychnia. I did not see the patients before
death. In both cases I ascertained by chemical analysis that death
had been caused by strychnia. In both I found the strychnia. In one
case—that of a lady aged twenty-eight years—I made my examination
forty-two hours after death, and in the other thirty hours. In the
former case the body had not been opened before I commenced my
examination.” [The witness read a report of this examination, in
which it was stated that the eyelids were partially open, the globes
flaccid, and the pupils dilated. The muscles of the trunk were not in
the least rigid; indeed, they were so soft that the body might be bent
in any direction. The muscles at the hip and shoulder joints were not
quite so flaccid, but they allowed these joints to be easily moved;
while those of the head and neck, forearms, &c., were rigid. The
fingers were curved, and the feet somewhat arched. All the muscles,
when cut into, were found soft and dark in colour. The membranes
of the liver were exceedingly vascular. The membrane of the spinal
cord was much congested. There was bloody serum in the pericardium;
the lungs were distended, and some of the air cells were ruptured.
The lining membrane of the trachea and bronchial tubes was covered
with a layer of dark bloody mucus of a dark chocolate colour. The
thoracic vessels and membranes were much congested, and the blood was
everywhere dark and fluid.] After reading this report the witness
continued:—“In the second case I made my examination thirty hours
after death. I first saw the body about twelve hours after death. It
was a woman somewhere near twenty years of age.” [The witness also
read the report of the examination in this case. The appearances
of the body were substantially similar to those presented in the
previous case.] “In two other cases I have seen a patient suffering
from over doses of strychnia. Neither of those cases was fatal. In
one case I had prescribed the twelfth of a grain, and the patient
took one-sixth. That was for a man of middle age. Strychnia had been
given in solution. In a few minutes the symptoms appeared. They were
a want of power to control the muscles, manifested by twitchings,
rigidity, and cramp, more violent in the legs than in any other part
of the body. The spasms were not very violent. They continued six
hours before they entirely disappeared. During that time they were
intermittent at various intervals. As the attack passed off the
length of the intervals increased. At first their length was but a
few seconds. The spasms were not combated by medical treatment.
The other case was a very similar one. The quantity taken was the
same—double what I had prescribed. I have experimented upon upwards
of sixty animals with strychnia. Those animals were dogs, cats, rats,
mice, guinea pigs, frogs, and toads. The symptoms of the attack in
all animals present great resemblances. Some animals are, however,
much more susceptible of its influence than others are. The period
elapsing between the injection of the poison and the commencement of
the symptoms has been from two minutes to thirty,—more generally five
or six. I administered the poison occasionally in solution, but more
generally in its solid state. It was sometimes placed dry upon the
back of the tongue, and some fluid poured down the throat; sometimes
it was enclosed between two portions of meat; sometimes mixed up with
butter or suet, and sometimes rolled up in a small piece of gut. To
frogs and toads it was administered by putting them into a solution of
strychnia. I have also applied it direct to the spinal cord, and in
other cases to the brain. The first symptom has been a desire to be
quite still; then hurried breathing; then slavering at the mouth (when
the poison had been given through that organ); then twitching of the
ears, trembling of the muscles, inability to walk, convulsions of all
the muscles of the body, the jaws being generally firmly closed; the
convulsions attended by a total want of power in the muscles, which on
the least touch were thrown into violent spasms with a galvanic-like
shock. Spasms also come on if the animal voluntarily attempts to move;
that is usually the case, but occasionally the animal is able to move
without inducing a recurrence of the spasms. These spasms recur at
various periods, but do not always increase in violence. The animals
die after periods varying from three hours to three hours and a half.
In the cases where the animals live longest, the paroxysms occur at
the longest intervals. In all cases in the interval before death
the rigidity ceases (I know no exception to this) and the muscles
become quite soft, powerless, and flaccid. The limbs may be put in
any position whatever. There is but little difference from ordinary
cases of convulsive death in the time at which the _rigor mortis_
comes on. I have destroyed animals with other poisons, and there is
very little difference between the rigidity in their cases and that in
the cases of death from strychnia. In the two women I have mentioned
the _rigor mortis_ was much less than is usual in cases of death
from natural disease. I have known fatal cases of poisoning animals
by strychnia in which there has between the first and the second
paroxysm been an interval of about half-an-hour, but that is not
common. I have examined the bodies of upwards of forty animals killed
by strychnia. I have invariably found the heart full on the right
side; very generally the left ventricle firmly contracted, and the
blood usually dark, and often fluid. There is no particular appearance
about the spine. I have experimented with other poisons upon upwards
of 3000 animals, and have written upon this subject. It very often
happens that in the case of animals dying suddenly from poisoning the
blood is fluid after death. That also happens in cases of sudden death
from other causes. I have attended to the evidence as to the symptoms
exhibited by Cook on the Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights. The
symptoms on Sunday night I assume to have been from great excitement.
Cook described himself as having been very ill, and in such a state
that he considered himself mad for a few minutes. He stated that
the cause of this was a noise in the street. These symptoms in the
three nights I have mentioned, do not resemble those which I have
seen follow the administration of strychnia. Cook had more power of
voluntary motion than I have observed in animals under the influence
of this poison. He sat up in bed, and moved his hands about freely,
swallowed, talked, and asked to be rubbed and moved, none of which,
if poisoned by strychnia, could he have done. The sudden accession
of the convulsions is another reason for believing that they were
not produced by strychnia. Other reasons for believing that the
convulsions were not produced by strychnia are their sudden accession
without the usual premonitory symptoms, the length of time which had
elapsed between their commencement and the taking of the pills which
are supposed to have contained poison, and the screaming and vomiting.
I never knew an animal which had been poisoned with strychnia to vomit
or scream voluntarily. I apprehend that where there is so much spasm
of the heart there must be inability to vomit. In the cases related
in which attempts were made to produce vomiting they did not succeed.
There is such a case in the 10th volume of the _Journal de Pharmacie_,
in which an emetic was given without success. The symptoms exhibited
after death by animals poisoned by strychnia differ materially from
those presented by the body of Cook. In his case the heart is stated
to have been empty and uncontracted.”

_Lord Campbell._—“I do not remember that. I think it was said that it
was contracted.”

_Mr. Baron Alderson._-”According to my note, Dr. Harland said that the
heart was contracted, and contained no blood.”

_Examination continued._—“The lungs were not congested, nor was the
brain. In the case of animals which have recovered the paroxysms have
subsided gradually. I never knew a severe paroxysm followed by a
long interval of repose. I have experimented upon the discovery of
strychnia in the bodies of animals in various stages of decomposition,
from a few hours after death up to the forty-third day, in which
latter case the body was quite putrid. It has never happened to me
to fail to discover the poison. I have experimented in about fifteen
cases.”

_Question._—“Supposing a person to have died under the influence
of strychnia poison in the first paroxysm, and his stomach to have
been taken out and put into a jar on the sixth day after death, must
strychnia have, by a proper analysis, been found in the body?”

_Answer._—“Yes. If the strychnia be pure, such as is almost
invariably found among medical men and druggists, the test is nitric
acid, which gives a red colour, which in a great measure disappears on
the addition of protochloride of tin.[55] If the strychnia be pure, it
does not undergo any change on the addition of sulphuric acid, but on
the addition of a mixture of bichromate of potash, with several other
substances it produces a beautiful purple, which changes to varying
shades until it gets to be a dirty red. There are several other tests.
In this case the stomach was not, in my opinion, in an unfavourable
condition for examination. The circumstances attending its position in
the jar and its removal to London would give a little more trouble,
but would not otherwise affect the result. If the deceased had died
from strychnia poison it ought to have been found in the liver,
spleen, and kidneys. I have seen this poison found in similar portions
of animals which had been killed by it. I have also seen it found in
the blood; that was by Mr. Herapath, of Bristol.”

_Question._—“Could the analyses be defeated or confused by the
existence in the stomach of any other substance which would produce
the same colours?”

_Answer._—“No. Supposing that pyroxanthine and salicine were in
the parts examined, their existence would not defeat the analysis.
Pyroxanthine is very unlikely to be found in the stomach. It is one
of the rarest and most difficult to be obtained. The distinction
between pyroxanthine and strychnia is quite evident. Pyroxanthine
changes to a deep purple on the addition of sulphuric acid alone, and
the bichromate of potash spoils the colour. In strychnia no change is
produced by sulphuric acid. It requires the addition of the bichromate
to produce the colour.”

_Question._—“Supposing the death to have been caused by a dose of
strychnia, not more than sufficient to destroy the animal, would it
be so diffused by the process of absorption that you would not be able
by these tests to detect it in any portion of the system?”

_Answer._—“No; I believe it would not. That question had occupied my
attention before I was called upon to give evidence in this trial. My
reason for stating that strychnia when it has done its work continues
as strychnia in the system is, that those who say some change takes
place, argue, that as food undergoes a change, so does poison; it
becomes decomposed. But the change in food takes place in digestion;
consequently its traces are not found in the blood. Substances
like strychnia are absorbed without digestion, and may be obtained
unchanged from the blood. They may be administered in various ways.”

_Question._—“In your judgment, will any amount of putrefaction
prevent the discovery of strychnia?”

_Answer._—“To say that it is absolutely indestructible would be
absurd, but within ordinary limits, no. I have found it at the end
of forty days. The emptier the stomach, the quicker the action of
strychnia.”

On _cross-examination_ by the _Attorney-General_, the witness, who,
to judge from the expressions that passed between them, assumed an
antagonistic position to the prosecution, after admitting that perhaps
half of his sixty experiments had been made in conjunction with Mr.
Morley, and spread over thirty years; that some had been made after the
Leeds case, and some in reference to the present, and that he had been
in consultation with the prisoner’s attorney since the case at Leeds,
to whom he had transmitted its details, he thus continued:—

“The general dose in these experiments was from half a grain to
two grains; half a grain is sufficient to destroy life in larger
animals. I have seen both a dog and a cat die of this dose, but not
always. Some animals as a species are more susceptible than those of
a different species, and among animals of the same species some are
more susceptible than others. The symptoms in the experiments I have
mentioned did not occur after so long a period as an hour. We have had
to repeat the dose in some instances when half a grain was given. In
the case of a cat, symptoms of spasm were produced, but the cat did
not die; she had not swallowed the whole dose. I think I have known
animals of the cat species killed with half a grain.”

_Question._—“Have you any doubt of it?”

_Answer._—“Yes. I think it would be the minimum dose in an old
strong cat. If given in a fluid state I think a smaller dose
would suffice. Hurried breathing is one of the first symptoms,
afterwards there are twitchings and trembling of the muscles and then
convulsions.”

_Question._—“Is there any diversity in the intervals and order of the
symptoms in animals of the same species?”

_Answer._—“They certainly do not occur after the same intervals
of time, but I should say they generally occur in the order I have
described. There is some difference in the periods at which the
convulsions take place. Some will die after less convulsions than
others, but generally after four or five. In one or two instances an
animal has died after one convulsion. In those instances a dose has
been given equal in amount to another which has not produced the same
effect. The order in which the muscles are convulsed varies to some
extent. The muscles of the limbs are generally affected first. The
convulsions generally occur simultaneously.”

_Question._—“Do you know of any case of strychnia in which rigidity
after death was greater than the usual _rigor mortis_?”

_Answer._—“I think not. I don’t think there is any peculiar rigidity
produced by strychnia.”

_Question._—“Have you never found undue rigidity in a human subject
after death by strychnia?”

_Answer._—“Considerably less.”

_Question._-”In the anonymous case (the Leeds), were not the hands
curved and the feet arched by muscular contraction?”

_Answer._—“Not more than is usual in cases of death from ordinary
causes. The limbs were rigid, but not more than usual.”

_Question._—“In the face of the medical profession I ask you whether
you signed a report stating that ‘the hands were curved and the feet
decidedly arched by muscular contraction,’ and whether you meant by
those words that there was no more than the ordinary rigidity of
death?”

_Answer._—“Certainly; I stated so at the time.”

_Question._—“Where? In the report?”

_Answer._—“No; in conversation. Allow me to explain that a
distinction was drawn between the muscles of the different parts of
the body. I heard Mr. Morley’s evidence with regard to experiments on
animals, and his statement that ‘after death there was an interval of
flaccidity, after which rigidity commenced more than if it had been
occasioned by the usual _rigor mortis_.’”

_Question._—“You don’t agree with that statement?”

_Answer._—“I do not. I generally found the right side of the heart
full.”

_Question._—“Does the fact of the heart in Cook’s case having been
found empty lead you to the conclusion that death was not caused by
strychnia?”

_Answer._—“Among other things, it does. I heard the evidence of Dr.
Watson as to the case of Agnes Sennett, in which the heart was found
distended and empty: also of Dr. Taylor, as to the _post-mortem_ of
Mrs. Smyth. No doubt he stated that the heart in that case was also
empty.”

_Question._—“And do those facts exercise no influence on your
judgment?”

_Answer._—“They would not unless I knew how the _post-mortem_
examination had been made. If it was commenced at the head, the blood
being fluid, the large drains would be opened, and the blood, from
natural causes, would drain away.”

_Question._—“Do you know how the _post-mortem_ examination was made
in this case?”

_Answer._—“No. Excuse me, I do. The chest and the abdomen, not the
head, were first opened.”

_Question._—“The heart, then, was not emptied in the first instance?”

_Answer._—“No.”

_Question._—“Then what occasioned the contraction of the heart?”

_Answer._—“When the heart is emptied it is usually contracted.”

_Question._—“But how do you account for its contraction and
emptiness?”

_Answer._—“I cannot account for it.”

_Lord Campbell._—“ Would the heart contract if there was blood in it?”

_Answer._—“No.”

_Lord Campbell._—“When you find the heart contracted, you know, then,
that it was contracted at the moment of death?”

_Answer._—“It is necessary to draw a distinction between the two
cavities. It is very common to find the left ventricle contracted and
hard, while the right is uncontracted.”

_Lord Campbell._—“That is death by asphyxia?”

_Answer._—“Precisely.”[56]

_By the Attorney-General._—“In Cook’s case the lungs were described
as not congested. Entosthema is of two kinds; one of them consists
of dilation of the cells, the other of a rupture of the cells. When
animals die from strychnine, entosthema occurs. I do not know the
character of the entosthema in Cook’s case. It did not occur to me to
have the question put to the witnesses who described the _post-mortem_
examination.”

_Question._—“To what constitutional symptoms about Cook do you
ascribe the convulsions from which he died?”

_Answer._—“Not to any.”

_Question._—“Was not the fact of his having syphilis an important
ingredient in your judgment upon his case?”

_Answer._—“It was. I judge that he died from convulsions, by the
combination of symptoms.”

_Question._—“What evidence have you to suppose that he was liable to
excitement and depression of spirits?”

_Answer._—“The fact that after winning the race he could not speak
for three minutes.”

_Question._—“Anything else?”

_Answer._—“Mr. Jones stated that he was subject to mental depression.
Excitement will produce a state of brain which will be followed, at
some distance, by convulsions. I think Dr. Bamford made a mistake when
he said the brain was perfectly healthy.”

_Question._—“Do you mean to set up that opinion against that of Dr.
Devonshire and Dr. Harland, who were present at the _post-mortem_?”

_Answer._—“My opinion is founded in part on the evidence taken at the
inquest, in part on the depositions. With the brain and the system in
the condition in which Cook’s were, I believe it is quite possible
for convulsions to come on and destroy a person. I do not believe
that he died from apoplexy. He was under the influence of morphia. I
don’t ascribe his death to morphia, except that it might assist in
producing a convulsive attack. I should think morphia was not very
good treatment, considering the state of excitement he was in.”

_Question._—“Do you mean to say, on your oath, that you think he was
in a state of excitement at Rugeley?”

_Answer._—“I wish to give my evidence honestly. Morphia, when given
in an injured state of the brain, often disagrees with the patient.”

_Question._—“But what evidence have you as to the injured state of
the brain?”

_Answer._—“Sickness often indicates it. I can’t say whether the
attack of Sunday night was an attack of convulsions. I think that
the Sunday attack was one of a similar character, but not so intense,
as the attack of Tuesday, in which he died. I don’t think he had
convulsions on the Sunday, but he was in that condition which often
precedes convulsions. I think he was mistaken when he stated that
he was awoke by a noise. I believe he was delirious. That is one of
the symptoms on which I found my opinion. Any intestinal irritation
will produce convulsions in a tetanic form. I have known instances in
children. I have not seen an instance in an animal. Medical writers
state that such cases do occur. I know no name for convulsions of that
kind.”

_Question._—“Have you ever known a case of convulsions of that kind,
terminating in death, in which the patient remained conscious to the
last?”

_Answer._—“I have not. Where epilepsy terminates in death
consciousness is gone. I have known four cases of _traumatic_, and
five or six of _idiopathic tetanus_.”

_Question._—“You heard Mr. Jones make this statement of the symptoms
of Cook after the commencement of the paroxysms:—‘After he swallowed
the pills he uttered loud screams, threw himself back in the bed,
and was dreadfully convulsed. He said, “Raise me up! I shall be
suffocated.” The convulsions affected every muscle of the body, and
were accompanied by stiffening of the limbs. I endeavoured to raise
Cook with the assistance of Palmer, but found it quite impossible
owing to the rigidity of the limbs. When Cook found we could not raise
him up, he asked me to turn him over. He was then quite sensible. I
turned him on to his side. I listened to the action of his heart.
I found that it gradually weakened, and asked Palmer to fetch some
spirits of ammonia, to be used as a stimulant. When he returned, the
pulsations of the heart were gradually ceasing, and life was almost
extinct. Cook died very quietly a very short time afterwards. When he
threw himself back in bed he clinched his hands, and they remained
clinched after death. When I was rubbing his neck, his head and neck
were unnaturally bent back by the spasmodic action of the muscles.
After death his body was so twisted or bowed that if I had placed it
upon the back it would have rested upon the head and feet!’ Now, I ask
you to distinguish in any one particular between those symptoms and
the symptoms of tetanic convulsions.”

_Answer._—“_It is not tetanus at all; not idiopathic tetanus._”

_Question._—“I quite agree with you that it was not _idiopathic
tetanus_. But point out any distinction that you can see between these
symptoms and real _tetanus_?”

_Answer._—“I do not know that there is any distinction, except that
in a case of _tetanus_ I never saw rigidity continue till death and
afterwards.”

_Question._—“Can you tell me of any case of death from convulsions in
which the patient was conscious to the last?”

_Answer._—“I do not know any. Convulsions occurring after poison has
been taken are properly called tetanic.”

_Question._—“Sir B. Brodie tells us that while paroxysms of tetanic
convulsion last there is no difference between those that arise from
strychnia and those from _tetanus_ properly so called, but only in the
course the symptoms take. What do you say is the difference?”

_Answer._—“The hands are less violently contracted; the effect of
the spasm is less in ordinary _tetanus_; the convulsion, too, never
entirely passes away. I have stated that _tetanus_ is a disease of
days, strychnia of hours and minutes; that convulsive twitchings are
in _strychnia_ the first symptoms, the last in _tetanus_; that in
_tetanus_ the hands, feet, and legs are usually the last affected,
while in _strychnia_ they are the first. I gave that opinion after the
symptoms in the case of the lady at Leeds which were described by the
witness Witham, and I still adhere to it. I never said that Cook’s was
a case of _idiopathic tetanus_ in any sense of the word. It differed
from the course of _tetanus_ from strychnine in the particulars I have
already mentioned.”

_The Attorney-General._—“Repeat them.”

_Answer._—“There was a sudden accession of the convulsions.”

_Question._—“Sudden—after what?”

_Answer._—“After the rousing by Jones. There was also the power of
talking.”

_Question._—“Don’t you know that Mrs. Smyth talked and retained her
consciousness to the end: that her last words were, ‘Turn me over’?”

_Answer._—“She did say something of that kind. No doubt those were
the words she used. I believe that in poison _tetanus_ the symptoms
are first observed in the legs and feet. In the animals upon which I
have experimented twitchings in the ears and difficulty of breathing
have been premonitory symptoms.”

_Question._—“When Cook felt a stiffness and difficulty of breathing,
and said that he should be suffocated on the first night, what were
they but premonitory symptoms?” (_question evaded_).

_Answer._—“Well, he asked to be rubbed; but as far as my experience
goes with regard to animals—--.”

_The Attorney-General._—“They can’t ask to have their ears rubbed, of
course.”

_Mr. Serjeant Shee._—“The witness was about to explain the effect of
being rubbed upon animals.”

_Witness._—“In no single instance could the animals bear to be
touched.”

_Question._—“Did not Mrs. Smyth ask to have her arms and legs rubbed?”

_Answer._—“In the Leeds case the lady asked to be rubbed before the
convulsions came on, but afterwards she could not bear it, and begged
not to be touched.”

_Question._—“Can you point out any one point, after the premonitory
symptoms, in which the symptoms in this case differ from those of
strychnia _tetanus_?”

_Answer._—“There is the power of swallowing, which is taken away by
inability to move the jaw.”

_Question._—“But have you not stated that lockjaw is the last symptom
in strychnia _tetanus_?”

_Answer._—“I have. I don’t deny that it may be. I am speaking of
the general rule. In the Leeds case it came on very early, more
than two hours before death, the paroxysms having continued for two
and a half hours. In that case we believed the dose was four times
repeated. Poison might probably be extracted by chemical process from
the tissues, but I never tried it except in the case of one animal. I
am not sure whether poison was in that case given through the mouth.
We killed four animals in reference to the Leeds case, and in every
instance we found strychnia in the contents of the stomach. In one
case we administered it by two processes—one failed, and the other
succeeded.”

_Re-examined._—“In making reports on cases such as that referred to
(Leeds) we state ordinary appearances as well as extraordinary—facts
without anything more.”

_Mr. William Herapath, examined by Mr. Grove, Q. C._—“I am a
professor of chemistry and toxicology at the Bristol Medical
School—have studied chemistry for more than forty years—toxicology
for thirty. Have experimented on strychnia; have seen no case of
a human subject during life, but have examined a human body after
death. In one case I examined the contents of the stomach, and found
strychnia three days after death. I obtained evidence of strychnia
by the colour tests in that case. I have experimented on animals for
strychnia in eight or nine cases, and analysed the bodies in two cases
where I destroyed the animals myself—both cats. I gave the first one
grain of strychnia in a solid form. The animal took the poison at
night, and I found it dead in the morning. It was dreadfully contorted
and rigid, the limbs extended, the head turned round—not to the
back, to the side—the eyes protruding and staring, the iris expanded
so as to be almost invisible. I found strychnia in the urine which
had been ejected, and also in the stomach, by the test I mentioned.
I administered the same quantity of strychnia in a solid form to
another cat. It remained very quiet for fifteen or twenty minutes, but
seemed a little restless in the eyes and its breathing. In thirty-five
minutes it had a terrible spasm, the extremities and the head being
drawn together and the feet extended. I watched it for three hours.
The first spasm lasted a minute or two. The saliva dropped from its
mouth, and it forcibly ejected its urine. It had a second spasm a few
minutes afterwards. It soon recovered and remained still, with the
exception of a trembling all over. It continued in that state three
hours. During two hours and a half it was in a very peculiar state. It
appeared to be electrified all through; blowing upon it or touching
the basket in which it was placed produced a kind of electric jump
like a galvanic shock. I left it in three hours, thinking it would
recover, but in the morning I found it dead, in the same indurated
and contorted condition as the former animal. I examined the body
thirty-six hours after death and found strychnia in the urine, in the
stomach and in the upper intestine, in the liver, and in the blood of
the heart. I have discovered strychnia in all other cases by the same
tests, but I took extraordinary means to get rid of organic matter.
_In all cases in which strychnia has been given I have been able to
find it, but not only strychnia, but the nux vomica from which it
is taken._ I have found nux vomica in a fox and other animals. The
detection of nux vomica is more complicated than that of strychnia. In
one case the animal had been buried two months. _I have experimented
with strychnia mixed purposely with organic putrefying matter. I have
found it in all cases, whatever was the state of decomposition of the
matter._”

_Question._—“_Are you of opinion that where strychnia has been taken
in a sufficient dose to poison it can and ought to be discovered?_”

_Answer._—“_Yes; unless the body has been completely decomposed—that
is, unless decomposition had reduced it to a dry powder. I am
of opinion, from the accounts given by Dr. Taylor and the other
witnesses, that if it had existed in the body of Cook it ought to have
been discovered. I am aware of no cause of error in the analysis, if
the organic matter had been properly got rid of._ The experiments I
made were in Bristol. I have made experiments in London, and found
strychnia in the stomach, liver, and blood of an animal.”

_Cross-examined by the Attorney-General._—“I don’t profess to be a
toxicologist. I have principally experimented on the stomach till
lately. I tried my chemical process on the 8th of this month with
a view to the present case. The experiment here was on a dog. I
experimented on the tissues of a cat at Bristol, and a dog in London.
I found strychnia in the blood, the heart, and the urine of the cat,
besides the stomach. One grain was given to the dog. It was a large
dog. I have seen a cat killed with a quarter of a grain.”

_Question._—“_Have you not said, that you had no doubt strychnia had
been taken, but that Dr. Taylor had not gone the right way to find
it?_”

_Answer._—“No; certainly not.”

_Question._—“Have you not said it to the present Mayor of Bristol?”

_Answer._—“I have said, if it was there Dr. Taylor ought to have
found it.”

_Question._—“Have you not said several times in his presence that you
had no doubt strychnia had been given, but that Dr. Taylor had not
found it?”

_Answer._—“I had a strong opinion from the reports in the newspapers;
it is very likely I might. I don’t deny it.”

_To Lord Campbell._—“From the statements I saw in the newspapers: I
was not engaged in the case, and I conceived I had a right to express
an opinion, the same as others. I dare say I have frequently said so
in conversation. Hundreds of persons spoke to me, knowing I had made
toxicology a study, and it is possible I may have said something like
what you ask me about.”[57]

_Re-examined by Mr. Grove._—“What is the smallest quantity of
strychnia that your process is capable of detecting?”

_Answer._—“_I am perfectly sure I could detect the 50,000th part of
a grain if it was unmixed with organic matter. If I put ten grains in
a gallon, or 70,000 grains of water, I could discover its presence
in the tenth part of a grain of that water._ It is more difficult to
detect when mixed with organic matter. If a person had taken a grain,
a very small quantity would be found in the heart, but no doubt it
could be found. I made four experiments with a large dog to which I
had given the one-eighth part of a grain. _I have discovered it by
change of colour in the thirty-second part of the liver of a dog._”

In reply to a request by Mr. Grove, Lord Campbell intimated that in the
opinion of the Court experiments could not now be shown. This defect of
evidence has been cured by the Vivisection Act, before referred to.

_Dr. Henry Letheby, examined by Mr. Kenealy._—“I am a bachelor of
medicine, professor of chemistry and toxicology in the London Hospital
of Medicine, and Medical Officer of Health to the City of London. I
have been engaged for a considerable time in the study of poisons and
their action on the living animal economy. I have also been frequently
engaged on behalf of the Crown in prosecutions in cases of this
nature during the last fourteen years. I have been present during
the examination of the medical witnesses, and have attended to the
evidence as to the symptoms which have been described as attending
the death of Cook. I have witnessed many cases of animals poisoned
by strychnia, and many cases of poisoning by nux vomica in the human
body, one of which was fatal. The symptoms described in this case do
not accord with the symptoms I have witnessed in the case of those
animals. They differ in this respect:—In the first place I never
witnessed the long interval between the administration of the poison
and the commencement of the symptoms which is said to have elapsed in
this case. The longest interval I have known has been three-quarters
of an hour, and then the poison was administered under most
disadvantageous circumstances. It was given on a very full stomach
and in a form uneasy of solution. I have seen the symptoms begin in
five minutes. The average time in which they begin is a quarter of an
hour. In all cases I have seen the system has been in that irritable
state that the very lightest excitement, such as an effort to move,
a touch, a noise, a breath of air, would send the patient off in
convulsions. It is not at all probable that a person, after taking
strychnia, could pull a bell violently. Any movement would excite
the nervous system, and bring on spasms. It is not likely that a
person in that state could bear to have his neck rubbed. When a case
of strychnia does not end fatally, the first paroxysm is succeeded
by others, gradually shaded off, the paroxysms becoming less violent
every time, and I agree with Dr. Christison that they would subside
in twelve or sixteen hours. I have no hesitation in saying that
strychnia is, of all poisons, either mineral or vegetable, the most
easy of detection. I have detected it in the stomach of animals in
numerous instances, also in the blood and in the tissues. The longest
period after death in which I have detected it is about a month. The
animal was then in a state of decomposition. I have detected very
minute portions of strychnia. When it is pure, the 20,000th part
of a grain can be detected. I can detect the tenth part of a grain
most easily in a pint of any liquid, whether pure or putrid. I gave
one animal half a grain, and I have the strychnia here now within a
very small trifle. I never failed to detect strychnia where it had
been administered. I have made _post-mortem_ examinations on various
animals killed by it. I have always found the right side of the heart
full. The reason is that the death takes place from the fixing of the
muscles of the chest by spasms, so that the blood is unable to pass
through the lungs, and the heart cannot relieve itself from the blood
flowing to it, and therefore becomes gorged. The lungs are congested
and filled with blood. I have administered strychnia in a liquid and a
solid form; I agree with Dr. Taylor that it may kill in six or eleven
minutes when taken in a solid state in the form of a pill or bolus. I
also agree with him that the first symptom is that the animal falls
on its side, the jaws are spasmodically closed, and the slightest
touch produces another paroxysm. But I do not agree with him that the
colour tests are fallacious. I do not agree that it is changed when it
is absorbed into the blood, but I agree with its absorption. I think
it is not changed when the body is decomposed. The shaking about of
the contents of the stomach with the intestines in a jar, would not
prevent the discovery of strychnia, if it had been administered. Even
if the contents of the stomach were lost, the mucous membrane would,
in the ordinary course of things, exhibit traces of strychnia. I have
studied the poison of antimony. If a quantity had been introduced into
brandy-and-water, and swallowed at a gulp, the effect would not be to
burn the throat. Antimony does not possess any such quality as that of
immediate burning. I have turned my attention to the subject of poison
for seventeen or eighteen years.”

_Cross-examined by the Attorney-General._—“I am not a member of the
College of Physicians or of Surgeons. I do not now practise. I have
been in general practice for two or three years. _I gave evidence in
the last case of this sort, tried in this court in 1850_” (the case
of Ann Merritt). “_I gave evidence of the presence of arsenic. The
woman was convicted. I stated that it had been administered within
four hours of death. I was the cause of her being respited, and the
sentence was not carried into effect, in consequence of a letter I
wrote to the Home Office. Other scientific gentlemen interfered, and
challenged the soundness of my conclusions before I wrote that letter.
I have not since been employed by the Crown. There has not been a case
that I know of. I have been employed in prosecutions._”

_By Mr. Justice Cresswell._—“I was present at the trial. I perfectly
remember it.” (See the report of this case, _post_.)

_Cross-examination continued._—“I detected the poison. I said in my
letter that I could not speak as to possibilities, but merely as to
probabilities. I have experimented on animals for a great number of
years. On five recently. I have never given more than a grain, and it
has always been in a solid form—in pills or bread. In the case where
poison was administered under disadvantageous circumstances it was
kneaded up into a hard mass of bread.”

_Mr. Baron Alderson._—“Did the animal bolt it or bite it?”

_Witness._—“I opened the mouth and put it into the throat. About half
an hour elapsed before the symptoms appeared in one case in which
half a grain had been given. In another case death took place within
thirteen minutes. I have noticed twitching of the ears, difficulty
of breathing, and other premonitory symptoms. There are little
variations in the order in which the symptoms occur. I have known
frequent instances in which an animal has died in the first paroxysm.
I heard the evidence of Mrs. Smyth’s death, and I was surprised at her
having got out of bed when the servant answered the bell. It is not
consistent with the cases I have seen. That fact does not shake my
opinion. I have no doubt that Mrs. Smyth died from strychnia. Cook’s
sitting up in bed and asking Jones to ring the bell is inconsistent
with what I have observed in strychnia cases.”

_Question._—“If a man’s breath is hurried, is it not natural for him
to sit up?”

_Answer._—“It is. I have seen cases of recovery of human subjects
after taking strychnia. There is a great uniformity in its effects;
that is, in their main features, but there is a small variation as to
the time in which they are produced.”

_Question._—“What do you attribute Cook’s death to?”

_Answer._—“It is irreconcileable with everything with which I am
acquainted.”

_Question._—“Is it reconcileable with any known disease you have ever
seen or heard of?”

_Answer._—“No.”[58]

_Re-examined by Mr. Serjeant Shee._—“We are learning new facts every
day, and I do not at present conceive it to be impossible that some
peculiarity of the spinal cord, unrecognisable at the examination
after death, may have produced symptoms like those which have been
described. I, of course, include strychnia in my answer, but it is
irreconcileable with everything I have seen or heard of. It is as
irreconcileable with everything else; it is irreconcileable with
every disease that I am acquainted with, natural or artificial.
Touching an animal during the premonitory symptoms will bring on a
paroxysm. Vomiting is inconsistent with strychnia. The Romsey case
was an exceptional one, from the quantity of the dose. The ringing of
the bell would have produced a paroxysm. I am still of opinion that
the evidence I gave on the trial in 1851 is correct. I am not aware
that there is any ground for an imputation upon me in respect of
that evidence. I have no reason to think Government was dissatisfied
with me. _I have been since employed in prosecutions, where I very
much think the Crown was the prosecutor. After that case Dr. Pereira
came to my laboratory, and asked me, as an act of mercy, to write a
letter to him to show to the Home Office, admitting the possibility
of the poison which I found in the stomach having been administered
longer than four hours before death. I wrote the letter, drawing a
distinction between what was possible and probable, and the woman was
transported for life._”

In addition to these analytical chemists, Professor Rogers, of the St.
George’s Medical School, London, described an experiment he had lately
made on a dog to which he had given two grains of strychnia. He had
not taken out its stomach and its contents, together with some of the
blood, until three days after death, and had put off the analysis of
the latter for _ten_ days, when it had become putrid, and that of the
stomach and its contents for a month or five weeks, yet found in both
portions strychnia in large quantities. This witness maintained that
unless the contents of the stomach in Cook’s case had been lost, their
being shaken would only make the process of detection more difficult,
but admitted that if strychnia had been in his stomach it would be
found smeared over its mucous membrane, which, it may be remembered,
was not sent to Dr. Taylor.

_Dr. Francis Wrightson_, a pupil of Liebig, of Giessen, a teacher of
chemistry at a school in Birmingham, described two similar experiments
on animals, with the same results as Professor Rogers. He expressed his
decided opinion that strychnia could be detected in a mixture of bile,
bilious matter, and putrifying blood and in the tissues in extremely
minute quantities indeed, and that five or six days after death he
should expect to find it, if it had been given—unless the dose had
been entirely absorbed. The clearness and decision with which this
witness gave his evidence elicited the well-deserved commendation of
Lord Campbell. On _cross-examination_ by the _Attorney-General_, he was
asked—

_Question._—“Supposing that the whole dose was absorbed into the
system, where would you expect to find it?”

_Answer._—“In the blood.”

_Question._—“Does it pass from the blood into the solids of the body?”

_Answer._—“It does, or I should rather say it is left in the solids
of the body. In its progress towards its final destination, the
destruction of life, it passes from the blood, or is left by the blood
in the solid tissues of the body.”

_Question._—“If it be present in the stomach, you find it in the
stomach; if it be present in the blood, you find it there; if left by
the blood in the tissues, you find it there?”

_Answer._—“Precisely so.”

_Question._—“Suppose the whole had been absorbed.”

_Answer._—“Then I would not undertake to find it.”

_Question._—“Suppose the whole had been eliminated from the blood,
and had passed into the urine, should you expect to find it in the
blood?”

_Answer._—“Certainly not.”

_Question._—“Suppose the minimum dose which will destroy life had
been taken, and absorbed into the circulation, then deposited in the
tissues, and then a part eliminated by the action of the kidneys;
where would you search for it?”

_Answer._—“In the blood, in the tissues, and in the ejections; and I
would undertake to discover it in each of them.”

_Mr. Partridge_, the professor of Anatomy at King’s College, gave the
following evidence, attributing the death of Cook to the granules found
on his spine at the _post-mortem_ examination:—

“These granules,” said the witness, “would be likely to cause
inflammation, and no doubt that inflammation would have been
discovered if the spinal cord or its membranes had been examined
shortly after death. It would not be likely to be discovered if the
spinal cord was not examined until nine weeks after death. I have
not seen cases in which this inflammation has produced tetanic form
of convulsions, but such cases are on record. It sometimes does, and
sometimes does not produce convulsions and death.”

_Question._—“Can you form any judgment as to the cause of death in
Cook’s case?”

_Answer._—“I cannot. No conclusion or inference can be drawn from the
degree or kind of the contractions of the body after death.”

_Lord Campbell._—“Can you not say from the symptoms you heard whether
death was produced by _tetanus_, without saying what was the cause of
_tetanus_?”

_Answer._—“Hypothetically I should infer that he died of the form of
_tetanus_ which convulses the muscles. Great varieties of rigidity
arise after death from natural causes. The half-bent hands and fingers
are not uncommon after natural death. The arching of the feet in this
case seemed to me rather greater than usual.”

_Cross-examined by the Attorney-General._—“Granules are sometimes,
but not commonly, found about the spine of a healthy subject,—not
on the cord itself; they may exist consistently with health. No
satisfactory cases of the inflammation I have described have come
under my notice without producing convulsions. It is a very rare
disease. I cannot state from the recorded cases the course of the
symptoms of that disease. It varies in duration, sometimes lasting
only for days, sometimes much longer. If the patient lives it is
accompanied with paralysis. It produces no effect on the brain which
is recognisable after death. It would not affect the brain prior to
death. I do not know whether it is attended with loss of sensibility
before death. The size of the granules which will produce it varies.
This disease is not a matter of months, unless it terminates in palsy.
I never heard of a case in which the patient died after a single
convulsion. Between the intervals of the convulsions I don’t believe
a man could have twenty-four hours’ repose. Pain and spasms would
accompany the convulsions. I cannot form a judgment as to whether the
general health would be affected in the intervals between them.”

_Question._—“You have heard it stated that from the midnight of
Monday till Tuesday Cook had complete repose. Now, I ask you, in the
face of the medical profession, whether you think the symptoms which
have been described proceeded from that disease?”

_Answer._—“I should think not.”

_Question._—“Did you ever know the hands completely clinched after
death except in case of tetanus?”

_Answer._—“No.”

_Question._—“Have you ever known it even in _idiopathic_ or
_traumatic tetanus_?”

_Answer._—“I have never seen _idiopathic tetanus_. I have seen the
hands completely clinched in _traumatic tetanus_. A great deal of
force is often required to separate them.”

_Question._—“Have you ever known the feet so distorted as to assume
the form of a club foot?”

_Answer._—“No.”

_Question._—“You heard Mr. Jones state that if he had turned the body
upon the back it would have rested on the head and the heels. Have you
any doubt that that is an indication of death from tetanus?”

_Answer._—“No; it is a form of tetanic spasm. I am only acquainted
with _tetanus_ resulting from strychnia by reading. Some of the
symptoms in Cook’s case are consistent, some are inconsistent with
strychnia _tetanus_. The first inconsistent symptom is the intervals
that occurred between the taking of the supposed poison and the
attacks.”

_Question._—“Are not symptoms of bending of the body, difficulty of
respiration, convulsions in the throat, legs, and arms, perfectly
consistent with what you know of the symptoms of death from strychnia?”

_Answer._—“Perfectly consistent. I have known cases of _traumatic
tetanus_. The symptoms in those cases had been occasionally remitted,
never wholly terminated. I never knew _traumatic tetanus_ run its
course to death in less than three or four days. I never knew a
complete case of the operation of strychnia upon a human subject.”

_Question._—“Bearing in mind the distinction between _traumatic_ and
_idiopathic tetanus_, did you ever know of such a death as that of
Cook according to the symptoms you have heard described?”

_Answer._—“No.”

_Re-examined by Mr. Grove._—“Besides the symptom which I have
mentioned as being inconsistent with the theory of death by strychnia,
there are others—namely, sickness, beating the bed clothes, want
of sensitiveness to external impressions, and sudden cessation of
the convulsions and apparent complete recovery. There was apparently
an absence of the usual muscular agitation. Symptoms of convulsive
character arising from an injury to the spine vary considerably in
their degrees of violence, in their periods of intermission, and in
the muscles which are attacked. Intermission of the disease occurs,
but is not frequent in _traumatic tetanus_. I don’t remember that
death has ever taken place in fifteen hours; it may take place in
forty-eight hours during convulsions. Granules about the spine are
more unusual in young people than in old. I don’t know of any case
in which the spine can preserve its integrity, so as to be properly
examined, for a period of nine weeks. I should not feel justified in
inferring that there was no disease from not finding any at the end
of that time. The period of decomposition varies from a few hours to
a few days. It is not in the least probable that it could be delayed
for nine weeks.”

_By the Attorney-General._—“Supposing the stomach were acted on by
other causes, I do not think sickness would be inconsistent with
_tetanus_.”

With reference to the existence of these granules, _Mr. Oliver
Pemberton_, anatomical lecturer at Queen’s College, Birmingham, who was
present with Professor Bolton when Cook’s body was exhumed, in January,
for the special purpose of arriving at a more satisfactory decision
on this point than had been effected at the first _post-mortem_
examination, was called for the defence. He gave it as his opinion, in
which Professor Bolton agreed, that the spinal cord was not then in a
condition to enable him to judge as to what was its state immediately
after death; the upper part, where it separated from the brain, being
green from decomposition, and the other part, though better preserved,
not soft enough for that purpose. This point was, therefore, left in a
far from satisfactory position.

A _Dr. G. Robinson_, of the Newcastle-on-Tyne Dispensary, also
supported the spinal granules theory, and considered that from his
habits of life Cook was predisposed to epilepsy. He admitted, however,
on _cross-examination_, that “he had never seen symptoms of epilepsy
proceed to anything like the extent as in Cook’s case; never saw a
body so stiff in epilepsy as to rest on its head and heels; nor such
symptoms, except in tetanus, and that the extreme form of epilepsy was
always accompanied by unconsciousness.” “The granules,” he thought,
“were likely to have irritated the spinal cord, and yet no indications
remain after death; they might have produced Cook’s death.”

_Attorney-General._—“But do you think so?”

_Witness._—“Putting aside the assumption of strychnia, I should say
so.”

_Attorney-General._—“_Are not all the symptoms reported by Mr. Jones
indicative of death by strychnia?_”

_Witness._—“_They certainly are._”

_Attorney-General._—“Then it comes to this, that if there were no
other cause of death suggested, you should say it arose from epilepsy?”

_Witness._—“Yes. Epilepsy is a well-known disease which includes many
others, and the convulsions of that disease sometimes assume tetanic
appearances.”

The last important medical witness called for the defence, _Dr.
Benjamin Ward Richardson_, physician, of London, took the prosecution
somewhat by surprise by attributing Cook’s death to _Angina
pectoris_, a cause not as yet hinted at. As the counsel for the
Crown were not prepared with information requisite for an effective
_cross-examination_ on this point, at the close of the prisoner’s case
the Attorney-General asked leave to recall this witness, as he was then
prepared with the books required for that purpose. The Court, however,
refused the application, and the evidence therefore must be accepted
with caution.

_Dr. Richardson_ said:—“I am a physician, practising in London. I
have never seen a case of _tetanus_, properly so called, but I have
seen many cases of death by convulsions. In many instances they have
presented tetanic appearances without being strictly tetanus. I have
seen the muscles fixed, especially those of the upper part of the
body. I have observed the arms stiffened out, and the hands closely
and firmly clinched until death. I have also observed a sense of
suffocation in the patient. In some forms of convulsions I have seen
contortions both of the legs and the feet, and the patient generally
expresses a wish to sit up. I have known persons die of a disease
called angina pectoris. The symptoms of that disease, I consider,
resemble closely those of Mr. Cook. Angina pectoris comes under the
denomination of spasmodic diseases. In some cases the disease is
detectable upon _post-mortem_ examination; in others it is not. I
attended one case. A girl ten years old was under my care in 1850. I
supposed she had suffered from scarlet fever. She recovered so far
that my visits ceased. I left her amused and merry in the morning; at
half-past ten in the evening I was called in to see her, and I found
her dying. She was supported upright at her own request, her face
was pale, the muscles of the face rigid, the arms rigid, the fingers
clinched, the respiratory muscles completely fixed and rigid, and
with all this there was combined intense agony and restlessness, such
as I have never witnessed. There was perfect consciousness. The child
knew me, described her agony, and eagerly took some brandy and water
from a spoon. I left for the purpose of obtaining some chloroform from
my own house, which was thirty yards distant. When I returned her head
was drawn back, and I could detect no respiration; the eyes were then
fixed open, and the body just resembled a statue; she was dead. On
the following day I made a _post-mortem_ examination. The brain was
slightly congested; the upper part of the spinal cord seemed healthy;
the lungs were collapsed; the heart was in such a state of firm spasm
and solidity, and so emptied of blood, that I remarked that it might
have been rinsed out. I could not discover any appearance of disease
that would account for the death, except a slight effusion of serum in
one pleural cavity. I never could ascertain any cause for the death.
The child went to bed well and merry, and immediately afterwards
jumped up, screamed, and exclaimed, ‘I am going to die.’”

_By the Attorney-General._—“I consider that the symptoms I have
described were those of angina pectoris. It is the opinion of Dr.
Jenner that this disease is occasioned by the ossification of some of
the small vessels of the heart. I did not find that to be the case
in this instance. There have been many cases where no cause whatever
was discovered. It is called angina pectoris, from its causing such
extreme anguish to the chest. I do not think the symptoms I have
described were such as would result from taking strychnia. There is
this difference,—that rubbing the hands gives ease to the patient in
cases of angina pectoris. I must say there would be great difficulty
in detecting the difference in cases of angina pectoris and strychnia.
As regards symptoms I know of no difference between the two. I am
bound to say that if I had known so much of these subjects as I do
now, in the case I have referred to I should have gone on to analysis
to endeavour to detect strychnia. In the second case I discovered
organic disease of the heart, which was quite sufficient to account
for the symptoms. The disease of angina pectoris comes on quite
suddenly, and does not give any notice of its approach. I did not send
any note of this case to any medical publication. It is not at all an
uncommon occurrence to find the hands firmly clinched after death in
cases of natural disease.”

_By Mr. Serjeant Shee._—“There are cases of angina pectoris in which
the patient has recovered and appeared perfectly well for a period of
twenty-four hours, and then the attack has returned. I am of opinion
that the fact of the recurrence of the second fit in Cook’s case is
more the symptom of angina pectoris than of strychnia poison.”[59]

_Dr. Wrightson_ was recalled, and in answer to a question put by Mr.
Serjeant Shee he said it was his opinion that when the strychnia
poison was absorbed in the system it was diffused throughout the
entire system.

_By the Attorney-General._—“The longer time that elapsed before the
death would render the absorption more complete. If a minimum dose to
destroy life were given, and a long interval elapsed to the death,
the more complete would be the absorption and the less the chance of
finding it in the stomach.”

_By Mr. Serjeant Shee._—“I should expect still to find it in the
spleen and liver and blood.”

CASES OF _TETANUS_ BROUGHT FORWARD FOR THE DEFENCE.

In answer to the cases of undoubted poisoning by strychnia proved on
the part of the prosecution, four cases of _tetanus_ were brought
forward on behalf of the prisoner, with the object of showing that
the symptoms then exhibited were identical with those in Cook’s case,
and, therefore, raising the presumption that he might have died from
ordinary tetanic convulsions, and not from those produced by strychnia.

The first of these cases was described by _Mr. Robert Edward Gay_,
a member of the College of Surgeons, who had attended a patient of
the name of _Forster_ for _tetanus_ in October, 1855. Apparently,
at first the patient was suffering only from sore throat and its
usual attendant pains in the neck and upper portion of the spine,
for which he was duly treated. On the fourth day of his illness the
muscular pains extended to the face, and particularly to the lower
jaw, and by evening lockjaw had come on, with pains of the muscles of
the bowels, legs, and arms. “He became very convulsed throughout the
entire muscular system, had frequent involuntary contractions of the
arms, hands, and legs; his difficulty of swallowing increased, and
not a particle of food, solid or liquid, could be introduced into the
mouth, the attempt to do so bringing on violent convulsions; so strong
were they, that I could compare him to nothing but a piece of warped
board.” The head was thrown back, the abdomen thrust forward, the
legs frequently drawn up and contracted; the attempt to feed him with
a spoon, the opening a window, or placing the fingers on the pulse,
brought on violent convulsions. While the patient was suffering in
this manner, he complained of great hunger, repeatedly exclaimed that
he was hungry, and could not eat. He was kept alive _to the fourteenth
day_ entirely by injections of a milky and farinaceous character. He
was insensible on the 12th, and continued so till he died. There was
no sore or hurt about his body, and Mr. Gay attributed his death to
an inflammatory sore throat, from cold and exposure to the weather,
assuming a tetanic form, from the patient being a very nervous,
excited, and anxious person. Mr. Gay, whilst satisfied that this was
a case of _idiopathic tetanus_, admitted that he never met with such
another case; that it was altogether progressive from the first onset;
that although for a short time there was a remission of symptoms, they
invariably recurred, and that the locking of the jaw was the very first
symptom that made its appearance.

In another case, at the Royal Free Hospital, in 1843, on the 28th of
July, a boy was brought in with the middle toe of his left foot smashed
by a stone, which Mr. John Gay amputated. The accident had happened
a week before, and the wound became very unhealthy. When the surgeon
first saw him, his mouth was almost closed, and continued so until the
1st of August, but a small quantity of medicine could be introduced.

“During the first three days,” said _Mr. J. Gay_, “his paroxysms
were of unusual severity; he complained of a stiff neck, and during
the first night started up and was convulsed. On the following night
he was again convulsed. At times the abdominal muscles, as well as
those of the legs and back, were rigid, and the muscles of the face
in a state of great contraction. He was in the same state the next
day, but at two o’clock there was much less rigidity of the muscles,
especially those of the abdomen and back. On the following morning
the rigidity had gone, he opened his mouth and could talk; he was
thoroughly relieved. He had no return of spasms till half-past five on
the following day. He then asked the nurse to change his linen, and
as she lifted him up in bed to do so, violent convulsions of the arms
and face came on, and he died in a few minutes. About thirty hours
elapsed between the preceding convulsion and the one which ended his
life. Before the paroxysm came on the rigidity had been completely
relaxed. Tartar emetic (containing antimony), which I gave on the
second and third day, did not produce vomiting; the rigidity of the
muscles of the chest would go far to prevent it. The wound might
have rubbed against the bed when he was raised, but I don’t think it
possible. Some peculiar irritation of the nerves would give rise to
the affection of the spinal cord. There may be various causes for this
irritation of the spinal cord, which ends in _tetanus_, but it would
be very difficult merely from seeing symptoms of _tetanus_, and in the
absence of knowledge of how it had been occasioned, to ascribe it to
any particular cause. No doubt the death took place in consequence of
something produced by the injury of the toe.”

The seriousness of the wound in this case, in comparison with any
signs of wounds found on Cook’s body, and the severity of the shock
occasioned by such a painful accident, renders this example almost
valueless.

In a third case, at the London Hospital, on the 22nd of March of 1856,
a patient, aged thirty-seven, was brought in about half-past seven
in the evening. When in the receiving room, he had one paroxysm, and
another soon after when in the ward. After the first, his pulse was
feeble and rapid, his jaws closed and fixed, an expression of anxiety
on his countenance, and his features sunken; he was unable to swallow,
and the muscles of the abdomen and the back were somewhat tense. After
the second paroxysm, his body became arched for about a minute. He was
quieter for a few minutes, had a third attack, and died. He had some
old neglected sores of a chronic character, particularly at the right
elbow, a peculiarly sensitive spot, and Mr. Ross, the house-surgeon,
who attended the case, admitted that the disease had been coming on
since the morning, that he had felt symptoms of lockjaw at breakfast,
and had had successive attacks all the afternoon before coming to the
hospital. Here again the case had been progressive until death, and
commenced with lockjaw, the admitted signs of ordinary tetanus as
distinguished from that due to poison.

The last case proved was that of _Catherine Wilson_, of Garnkirk, near
Glasgow, who “was attacked with a fit,” as she deposed, “in October
last year at night, felt heavy all the day from the morning, but had
no pain till night. My first pain,” she said, “was in the stomach,
and then I had cramp in the arm, and became quite insensible.” By
the administration of chloroform the spasms were relieved, and she
recovered.

_Dr. William Macdonald_, of Edinburgh, who saw the case about an hour
after the attack, admitted that lockjaw came on in about an hour or two
after he was called in.

This witness was also put forward as a medical expert in cases of
strychnia, and attributed Cook’s death to “epileptic convulsions
with tetanic complications,” and was subjected to the following
_cross-examination_ by the _Attorney-General_:—

“I believe,” said _Dr. Macdonald_, “that all convulsive diseases,
including the epileptic forms and the various tetanic complications,
arise from the decomposition of the blood acting upon the nerves. Any
mental excitement might have caused Cook’s death. Cook was excited at
Shrewsbury, and whenever there is excitement there is a consequent
depression. I think Cook was afterwards depressed. When a man is lying
in bed and vomiting he must be depressed.”

_Attorney-General._—“This gentleman was much overjoyed at his horse
winning, and you think he vomited in consequence?”

_Witness._—“It might predispose him to vomit.”

_Attorney-General._—“I am not speaking of ‘mights.’ Do you think that
the excitement of three minutes on the course on Tuesday accounts for
the vomiting on Wednesday night.?”

_Witness._—“I do not. I find no symptoms of excitement or depression
reported between that time and his death. The white spots found in the
stomach of the deceased might, by producing an inflammatory condition
of the stomach, have brought on the convulsions that caused death.”

_Attorney-General._—“But the gentlemen who made the _post-mortem_
examination say that the stomach was not inflamed.”

_Witness._—“There were white spots, which cannot exist without
inflammation. There must have been inflammation.”

_Attorney-General._—“But these gentlemen say there was not.”

_Witness._—“I do not believe them. Sexual excitement might cause
epileptic convulsions with tetanic complications. The chancre
and syphilitic sores were evidence that Cook had undergone such
excitement. That might have occurred before he was at Shrewsbury.”

_Attorney-General._—“Might sexual excitement produce epilepsy a
fortnight after it occurred?”

_Witness._—“There is an instance on record in which epilepsy
supervened upon the very act of intercourse.”

_Attorney-General._—“Have you any instance in which epilepsy came on
a fortnight afterwards?”

_Witness._—“It is within the range of possibility.”

_Attorney-General._—“Do you mean as a serious man of science to say
so?”

_Witness._—“The results might.”

_Attorney-General._—“What results were there in this case?”

_Witness._—“The chancre and the syphilitic sores.”

_Attorney-General._—“Did you ever hear of a chancre causing epilepsy?”

_Witness._—“No.”

_Attorney-General._—“Did you ever dream of such a thing.”

_Witness._—“I never heard of it.”

_Attorney-General._—“Did you ever hear of any other form of
syphilitic disease producing epilepsy?”

_Witness._—“No; but _tetanus_.”

_Attorney-General._—“But you say that this was epilepsy. We are not
talking of _tetanus_.”

_Witness._—“You forget the tetanic complication.”

_Attorney-General._—“If I understand it right then, the sexual
excitement produces epilepsy, and the chancre superadds tetanic
complications.”

_Witness._—“I say the results of sexual excitement produce epilepsy.”

_Attorney-General._—“What would be the effect of morphia given a day
or two previously; would it not retard the action of the poison?”

_Witness._—“No. I have seen opium bring on convulsions very nearly
similar.”

_Attorney-General._—“What quantity?”

_Witness._—“A grain and a half. From my experience, I think if
morphia had been given a day or two before, it would have accelerated
the action of the strychnia. If this were a case of poisoning by
strychnia, I should suppose that as both opium and strychnia produce
congestion of the brain, they would act together and have a more
speedy effect. If congestion of the brain was coming on when morphia
was given to Cook on the Sunday and Monday nights it might have
increased rather than allayed it.”

_Attorney-General._—“But the gentlemen who examined the body say
there was no congestion after death.”

_Witness._—“But Dr. Bamford says there was.”

_Attorney-General._—“You stick to Dr. Bamford.”

_Witness._—“Yes; because he was a man of experience and could judge
much better than younger men, and was not so likely to be mistaken.”

_Attorney-General._—“But Dr. Bamford says that Cook died of apoplexy.
Do you think it was apoplexy?”

_Witness._—“No; it was not.”

_Attorney-General._—“What then do you think of Dr. Bamford, who
certified that it was?”

_Witness._—“That was a matter of opinion, but the existence of
congestion on the brain he saw.”

_Attorney-General._—“The other medical men said there was none.”

_Lord Campbell._—“That is rather a matter of reasoning than of
evidence.”

Having thus reported the medico-scientific evidence _pro_ and _con_, we
pass on to the moral evidence—the purchase of poison by the prisoner,
and his acts during Cook’s illness and subsequent to his death.

PURCHASE OF POISON BY PALMER.

The proof that Palmer purchased strychnia on two separate occasions
immediately before the convulsive attacks of which Cook died rested on
the evidence of two druggists’ assistants at Rugeley. One of these,
_Charles Newton_, assistant to _Mr. Salt_, swore that about nine
o’clock on the Monday evening, the 19th of November, Palmer came to his
master’s shop, asked for three grains of strychnia, which he gave him,
without charge, as he knew him as a medical practitioner of the town.
Next morning, between eleven and twelve, _Roberts_, the assistant of
_Hawkins_, another druggist in Rugeley, was asked by Palmer for two
drachms of prussic acid, for which he brought a bottle with him. Whilst
_Roberts_ was preparing this, _Newton_, the former witness, came into
the shop, and Palmer, putting his hand on _Newton’s_ shoulder, said
he wished to speak with him, and together they stepped out into the
street, when Palmer asked some questions about Mr. Edwin Salt going to
a farm about fourteen miles from Rugeley. Whilst they were talking, a
_Mr. Brassington_ joined them, and began to speak to _Newton_ about
some accounts for Mr. Salt, on which Palmer went back into Hawkins’s
shop and asked for six grains of strychnia and two drachms of Batley’s
solution of opium.

“Whilst I was preparing them,” said _Roberts_, “Palmer stood at the
shop door with his back to me, looking into the street. I was about
five minutes preparing them. He stood at the door till they were
ready, when I delivered them to him—the prussic acid in the bottle he
had brought, the strychnia in a paper, and the opium in a bottle. He
paid, and took them away. No one else was in the shop.”

As soon as Palmer had left, Newton came in, and spoke to Roberts
about Palmer’s visit, and no doubt was struck with the information
he received. At that time he did not mention to his master Palmer’s
purchase of the strychnia because, he said, Palmer and Salt were not
friends, and he was afraid that the latter might blame him for having
given Palmer the strychnia. “I first mentioned it,” said _Newton_,
“to Boycott, the clerk to Mr. Gardner, the solicitor, at the Rugeley
station, when I and a number of witnesses were assembled for the
purpose of going to London. He took me to Mr. Gardner’s. I told him
what I had to say, and he took me to the solicitor of the Treasury.”
Counsel for the defence tried to elicit from him that he had given as
his reason for not mentioning it before that he was afraid of being
prosecuted for perjury. “No,” he replied; “I did not give that as a
reason, but I stated to a gentleman that a young man at Wolverhampton
had been threatened by George Palmer because he had said at the inquest
on Walter Palmer that he had sold the prisoner prussic acid, and he had
not entered it in the book, and could not prove it. I stated at the
same time that George Palmer said he could be transported for it. The
inquest on Walter Palmer did not take place until five or six weeks
after that on Cook.”

Not only, however, did Newton[60] not mention this purchase of
strychnia when before the coroner, but he did not state that on the
25th of November he was sent for about seven in the evening to Palmer’s
house, where he found the prisoner in his kitchen, sitting by the fire
reading.

“He asked me,” he now said, “how I was, and to have some brandy
and water. No one else was there. He asked me what was the dose
of strychnia to kill a dog. I told him a grain. He asked me what
would be the appearance after death. I told him that there would be
no inflammation, and that I did not think it could be found. Upon
that he snapped his finger and thumb in a quiet way and exclaimed,
as if communing with himself, ‘That’s all right.’ He made some
other commonplace remark, which I do not recollect. I was with him
altogether about five minutes.”

Though he appears to have related the story of the dog at an earlier
date, it was not until the Tuesday before the trial that he said a word
to anyone about the purchase of the strychnia.

To contradict the evidence of Newton, the inspector of police at the
Euston station was called to prove that the last train for Rugeley
left at 2P.M., and that if Palmer went by the five o’clock express
he would not get to Stafford until 8.45, and would then have nine
miles to travel to reach Rugeley. It was, however, remarked by the
Attorney-General that Newton’s words were “about nine o’clock,” and
“that everyone knows how easy it is to make a mistake of half an hour
or three quarters of an hour, or even an hour, if your attention is
not called to the circumstances within a week or a fortnight, or
three weeks afterwards.” Not content with this evidence, counsel for
the defence called one Jeremiah Smith, an attorney, of Rugeley, and
intimate friend of the prisoner’s mother, who swore that on the night
in question he saw Palmer get out of a car coming in the direction
from Stafford at ten minutes past ten, and went with him to Cook’s
room. The exhibition made by this fellow in the box was disgusting. For
some time he declared that he had never had anything to do with the
applications for the enormous insurances on Walter Palmer’s life; would
not acknowledge his signature to them as a witness, and only after a
most vigorous _cross-examination_ admitted that he witnessed them on
the application of the prisoner. He it was who made the application to
the Midland Insurance Company for the policy of £10,000 on the life of
Bate, the person whom Palmer represented as a gentleman of property
with a fine cellar of wine, but whom the insurance agent found hoeing
turnips in a field of Palmer’s, and with six months’ rent in arrear for
the room in the farm-house which he occupied. The credit of Newton was
set up by the desperate attempt of Mr. Jeremiah Smith.[61]

ACTS OF THE PRISONER DURING COOK’S ILLNESS AND AFTER HIS DEATH.

On Thursday, the 15th of November, Cook returned from Shrewsbury with
Palmer to the “Talbot,” at Rugeley, complaining of being poorly. It
will be remembered that he had been sick at Shrewsbury after partaking
of the brandy and water in Palmer’s company. Next day he dined with
Palmer, and came back to the inn between nine and ten at night, as the
witness Barnes said, sober. Early the next morning (Saturday) Palmer
was in his bedroom, and sent for a cup of coffee for him. Mills, who
brought it up, did not see him drink it; but when soon after she went
into his room she found he had vomited it in the chamber. Palmer was
in and out frequently, and promised to send Cook some soup; for this
he sent _Ann Rowley_, a charwoman to the “Albion Inn,” who brought it
to Palmer in his kitchen, left it there about five minutes with him,
whilst she went about her other work, and then, by Palmer’s orders,
took it to the “Talbot,” with a message that Jerry Smith, a mutual
friend who had dined with them on the Friday, had sent it.[62] Cook,
seeming unwilling to take this, Palmer said he must have it. It was
taken up again; Cook drank it, and shortly after vomited. Again, on the
Sunday, Palmer sent a jobbing gardener in his employ with a covered
cup of broth to the “Talbot,” of which Mills, who took it up to Cook’s
room, tasted about two tablespoonsful, and was so sick that she had to
go to bed. Whether Cook drank this or not was not distinctly proved,
but the cup was afterwards seen empty in the kitchen of the hotel. What
followed as to the pills sent by Dr. Bamford, and the others produced
by Palmer, is already fully given in Mills’s evidence. Immediately
after Cook’s death, Palmer was found by Barnes searching the pockets of
Cook’s coat and under his pillow, and the bank-notes which Cook had had
only a few days before, his betting-book, which had been seen on his
dressing-table, and the letters that had been on his chimney-piece, had
disappeared.[63] Previously to this time Palmer had been very short of
money, being pressed for small debts, but immediately afterwards was
in funds, paying small bills, and depositing £50 in a local bank. On
Tuesday evening (20th), when Cook was in such a serious state, Palmer
sent for Cheshire, the Rugeley postmaster, and asked him to fill up
the body of a cheque on Weatherby for £350 in Palmer’s favour, which
he said that he would take over to Cook to sign. That cheque was
sent to Weatherby’s that night, and returned by them to Palmer, as
Weatherby, not having yet received the stakes Cook had won, was not in
funds to meet it. That cheque was called for by the prosecution, but
not produced by the prisoner. Again, on the Thursday or Friday after,
between six and seven in the evening, Palmer sent for Cheshire. “When
I arrived,” said the witness, “I found him in the kitchen, and he
immediately went out, and shortly after returned with a quarto sheet of
paper in his hand. He gave me a pen, and asked me to sign something. I
asked what it was, and he replied, ‘You know that Cook and I have had
dealings together, and this is a document he gave me some days ago,
and I want you to witness it.’ I said, ‘What is it about?’ He said,
‘Some business that I have joined in with him, and which is all for his
benefit, and this is the document stating so.’” Cheshire refused, and
Palmer, saying perhaps they would not dispute Cook’s signature, took it
away. This document was also called for, and not produced.[64]

On Friday, 23rd, _Mr. Stevens_, who had married the widow of Cook’s
father some years before, and was executor to his grandfather’s will,
arrived in Rugeley, saw Palmer, and asked him about his stepson’s
affairs. “There are £4000 of his bills out,” said Palmer, “and I am
sorry to say my name is to them, but I have got a paper drawn up and
signed by him to show that I never had any money from them.” Mr.
Stevens expressed great surprise, and said, “I fear there will not
be 4000 shillings to pay you.” Then, after discussing his stepson’s
affairs, Mr. Stevens said, “Well, whether he has left anything or not,
poor fellow, he must be buried,” on which Palmer immediately said,
“Oh, I will bury him myself, if that is all.” Mr. Stevens at once
refused, and expressed his intention of removing the body to London
for interment, so as not to inconvenience the inn people. “Oh,” said
Palmer, “that is of no consequence, but the body ought to be fastened
up; as long as the body is fastened up, it is of no consequence.”
Whilst Mr. Stevens was talking with the persons in the room, Palmer
went out, and on his return, when asked by Stevens to recommend an
undertaker, said, “I have been and done this. I have ordered a shell
and a strong oak coffin.” Mr. Stevens expressed his surprise, and
insisted on giving instructions himself to the undertaker.

Later in the day, after dinner, on Mr. Jones reporting to Stevens,
who had asked him to go up to Cook’s room for that purpose, that he
could not find any betting-book or papers, Palmer said, “Oh, it’s no
manner of use if you do find it.” “No use,” replied Stevens, “I am the
best judge of that.” Again said Palmer, “It’s of no manner of use.”
“I am told it is,” was the reply; “my son won a great deal of money
at Shrewsbury, and I ought to know something about it.” “It is of no
use, I assure you,” replied Palmer; “when a man dies, his bets are done
with; and besides, Cook received the greater part of the money on the
course.” “Very well,” replied Stevens, “the book ought to be found, and
must be found,” when Palmer said, in a quieter tone, “It will be found,
no doubt.” The room was then locked by Mr. Stevens’s order, but the
book was never found.

Mr. Stevens returned to London to see his solicitor, and on his way
back met Palmer (who had been to London to pay Pratt £100, and caution
him against giving any information about Cook’s affairs), and told
him his intention of having a _post-mortem_ examination. Apparently
agreeing with that, Palmer offered to introduce him to a local
solicitor to conduct it, which was declined; but, added Mr. Stevens, “I
said, ‘Mr. Palmer, if I should call in a solicitor to give me advice,
I suppose you will have no objection to answer any question he may put
to you.’ I altered my tone purposely; I looked him steadily in the
face, but although the moon was shining, I could not see his features
distinctly. He said, with a spasmodic convulsion of the throat, which
was perfectly apparent, ‘Oh no, certainly not.’” Later in the evening
Palmer came to Mr. Stevens and renewed his conversation about the
bills, hoping that affairs would be settled pleasantly, and was told by
the stepfather that “they could be only settled in Chancery.” Palmer,
at that time, denied that he had attended Cook in a medical capacity.

On the 17th of November, _Ishmael Fisher_, who was Cook’s usual racing
agent, received a letter from Cook requesting him to pay Pratt £200,
which he would repay him on the following Monday, when the Shrewsbury
bets would be settled at Tattersall’s. Much to his surprise, he was not
employed as usual, and in consequence lost the money he had advanced,
for on the 19th _Mr. George Herring_, another betting man, got a letter
from Palmer to call on him at the latter’s lodgings, in London, at
half-past two that day. He did so.

“I found Palmer there,” said _Herring_. “He asked me what I would
take. I declined to take anything. I then asked him how Mr. Cook was.
He said, ‘He’s all right; his physician gave him a dose of calomel,
and advised him not to come out, it being a damp day.’ I don’t know
which term he used, ‘damp’ or ‘wet.’ He then went on to say, in the
same sentence, ‘What I want to see you about is settling his account.’
While he was speaking he took out half a sheet of note paper from his
pocket, and it was open when he had finished the sentence. He held it
up and said, ‘This is it.’ I rose to take it. He said, ‘You had better
take its contents down; this will be a check against you.’ At the same
time he pointed to some paper lying on the table. I wrote on that
paper from his dictation. I have here the paper which I so wrote. [The
witness read the document in question, which contained instructions
as to certain payments he should make out of moneys to be received by
him at Tattersall’s on account of the Shrewsbury races.] Palmer then
said that I had better write out a cheque for Pratt and Padwick—for
the former £450, and for the latter £350, and send them at once. I
told him I had only one form of cheque in my pocket. He said I could
easily fill up a draught on half a sheet of paper. I refused to comply
with his request, as I had not as yet received the money. He replied
that it would be all right, for that Cook would not deceive me. He
wished me particularly to pay Mr. Pratt the £450. His words, as nearly
as I can remember them, were, ‘You must pay Pratt, as it is for a bill
of sale on the mare.’ I don’t know whether he said ‘a bill of sale,’
or ‘a joint bill of sale.’ He told me he was going to see both Pratt
and Padwick, to tell them that I would send on the money. Previous to
his saying this, I told him that if he would give me the address of
Pratt and Padwick I would call on them, after I had got the money from
Tattersall’s, and give it to them. He then asked me what was between
us. There were only a few pounds between us, and after we had had
some conversation on the point, he took out of his pocket a £50 Bank
of England note. He required £29 out of the note, and I was not able
to give it; but he said that if I gave him a cheque it would answer
as well. I gave him a cheque for £20 and nine sovereigns. When I was
going away I do not remember that he said anything about my paying the
money to Pratt and Padwick. He said on parting, ‘When you have settled
this account write down word to either me or Cook.’ I turned round
and said, ‘I shall certainly write to Mr. Cook.’ I said so because I
thought I was settling Mr. Cook’s account. He said, ‘It don’t much
matter which you write to.’ I said, ‘If I address Mr. Cook, Rugeley,
Stafford, it will be correct, will it not?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ After
leaving Beaufort Buildings I went to Tattersall’s. I then received all
the money I expected, except £110 from Mr. Morris, who paid me £90
instead of £200. I sent from Tattersall’s a cheque for £450 to Mr.
Pratt. I posted a letter to Cook from Tattersall’s, and directed it
to Rugeley. On Tuesday the 20th, next day, I received a telegraphic
message. I have not got it here. I gave it to Captain Hatton at the
coroner’s inquest at Rugeley. In consequence of receiving that message
I wrote again to Cook that day. I addressed my letter as before, but
I believe the letter was not posted till the Wednesday. I have three
bills of exchange with me. I know Palmer’s handwriting, but never saw
him write. I cannot prove his writing; but I knew Cook’s writing, and
I believe the drawing of two and the accepting of the three bills to
be in his writing. I got them from Fisher and gave him cash for them.”
[The witness Boycott was recalled, and identified the signatures on
the bills as those of Palmer and Cook.]

_Examination continued._—“The bills are each for £200. One of them
was payable in a month, and when it fell due on October 18, Cook paid
the £100 on account. He paid me the remaining £100 at Shrewsbury, but
I cannot tell with certainty on what day. I did not pay the £350 to
Padwick. I hold another bill for £500.” [Thomas Strawbridge, manager
of the bank at Rugeley, identified the drawing and endorsing as in the
handwriting of Palmer. The acceptance, purporting to be in the writing
of Mrs. Sarah Palmer, he did not believe to have been written by her.]

_Examination continued._—“I am sure that the endorsement on the £500
bill is in Cook’s writing. I got the bill from Mr. Fisher. I paid
£200 on account of it to Palmer, and £275 to Mr. Fisher. The balance
was discount. It was not paid at maturity. I have taken proceedings
against Palmer to recover the amount.”

On the 26th of November, the _post-mortem_ examination was held, at
which Palmer was present, and the incidents of the pushing of the jar
containing the contents of the stomach and the cutting of its coverings
occurred; and if the evidence of _Myatt_, the postboy, is to be taken
as true, Palmer tried to bribe him to upset the fly in which Mr.
Stevens and his solicitor’s clerk were to take the jar to the Stafford
station, _en route_ to London,

_James Myatt, examined by Mr. James._—“In November last I was
postboy at the ‘Talbot Arms,’ Rugeley. I know Palmer, the prisoner,
and I remember Monday, the 26th of November last. I was ordered on
that night, a little after five o’clock, to take Mr. Stevens to the
Stafford station in a fly. Before I started I went home to get my tea,
and on returning from my tea to the ‘Talbot Arms’ I met the prisoner.
He asked me if I was going to drive Mr. Stevens to Stafford. I told
him I was.”

_Question._—“What did he say to you then?”

_Answer._—“He asked me if I would upset them.”

_Question._—“Them? Had anything been said about a jar?”

_Answer._—“He said he supposed I was going to take the jar.”

_Question._—“What did you say then?”

_Answer._—“I said I believed I was.”

_Question._—“What did he say after that?”

_Answer._—“He said—‘Do you think you could upset them?’”

_Question._—“What answer did you make?”

_Answer._—“I told him ‘No.’”

_Question._—“Did he say anything more?”

_Answer._—“He said—‘If you could, there’s a £10 note for you.’”

_Question._—“What did you say to that?”

_Answer._—“I told him I could not. I then said, ‘I must go, the
horses are in the fly ready for us to start.’ I do not recollect
that he said anything more about the jar. I said, that if I didn’t
go somebody else would go. He told me not to be in a hurry, for if
anybody else went he would pay me. I saw him again next morning, when
I was going to breakfast. He asked me then who went with the fly. I
told him Mr. Stevens, and, I believed, one of Mr. Gardner’s clerks.”

_Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant Shee._—“Were not the words that
Palmer used—‘I wouldn’t mind giving £10 to break Stevens’s neck?’”

_Answer._—“I don’t recollect the words ‘break his neck.’”

_Question._—“Well, ‘upset him.’ Did he say, ‘I wouldn’t mind giving
£10 to upset him?’”

_Answer._—“Yes; I believe those were the words. I do not know that
Palmer appeared to have been drinking. I don’t recollect that he had.
I can’t say that he used any epithet, applied to Stevens—he said it
was a humbugging concern altogether, or something of that. I don’t
recollect that he said Stevens was a troublesome fellow, and very
inquisitive. I don’t remember anything more than I have said. I do not
know whether there was more than one jar.”

Whilst the analysis of the contents of the jar was being conducted
in London, the coroner opened an inquest at Rugeley. Palmer, now
fully aware of his danger, determined to use his influence over the
postmaster to get the earliest information of the results of the
analysis, and to make a friend of Ward, the coroner. With the latter
object, he sent a hamper of fish and game to the coroner from London on
the 1st of December, writing the direction himself, but not otherwise
letting Ward know from whom they came, which he professed to wish to be
kept secret. To Cheshire, the postmaster, with whom he had long been
on very friendly terms, receiving from him his mother’s and Cook’s
letters, on the 2nd of December he hinted the importance of his knowing
anything that might pass through the post between Dr. Taylor and the
local solicitor. In consequence, on the Wednesday following, he is told
by Cheshire the substance of the letter, already quoted, written by
the analyst to Mr. Gardner on the previous day. On this Palmer, on the
8th, writes to a poulterer at Stafford to have some game ready for his
messenger, and sends Bate over for it, to take it, with the following
note, to the coroner:—

“MY DEAR SIR,—I am sorry to tell you that I am still confined to my
bed. I don’t think it was mentioned at the inquest yesterday that Cook
was taken ill on Sunday and Monday night, in the same way as he was
on the Tuesday, when he died. The chambermaid at the ‘Crown’ Hotel
(Masters’s) can prove this. I also believe that a man by the name of
Fisher is coming down to prove he received some money at Shrewsbury.
Now, here he could only pay Smith £10 out of £41 he owed him. Had you
not better call Smith to prove this? And, again, whatever Professor
Taylor may say to-morrow, he wrote from London last Tuesday night
to Gardner to say, ‘We (and Dr. Rees) have this day finished our
analysis, and find no traces of either strychnia, prussic acid, or
opium.’ What can beat this from a man like Taylor, if he says what
he has already said, and Dr. Harlands’s evidence? Mind you, I know
and saw it in black and white what Taylor said to Gardner; but this
is strictly private and confidential, but it is true. As regards his
betting-book, I know nothing of it, and it is of no good to anyone. I
hope the verdict to-morrow will be that he died of natural causes, and
thus end it.

“Ever yours, “W. P.”

Bate goes to the poulterer, re-directs, and sends the game by a lad,
and then finds his way to the inn, where the coroner is smoking, calls
him out of the billiard-room, and privately gives him the letter.

On the 14th of December the adjourned inquest is to be held, and Dr.
Taylor’s evidence taken. On the previous day, therefore, Bate is again
summoned by Palmer, and sent to borrow a £5 note of Thirlby, and on
his return, Palmer being still ill in bed, is told by him to look in a
drawer for another, but can only find one for £50. At this juncture the
sheriff’s officer arrives to arrest him on one of the overdue bills,
Bate is sent out of the room, and on his return commissioned to take
a note to the coroner, and to be sure that no one sees him deliver
it. This he succeeds in doing between the “station” and the “Junction
Hotel,” where he slips it slily into Ward’s hand. Not liking all this
secrecy, Bate had hesitated at accepting the mission, and asked that
some one else should be sent, when Palmer replied, “Why, George, as to
this poor fellow Cook, he was the best pal I ever had in my life; and
why should I have poisoned him?” and then added, “I am as innocent as
you, George.” The inquest proceeded, and in addition to the evidence
of the symptoms attendant on Cook’s death, Dr. Taylor gave his, and
Roberts proved the purchase of strychnia only a day before Cook’s
death. Palmer was summoned, but professed to be too ill to come, and
on the next day a verdict of wilful murder against him was returned,
and a warrant issued for his transfer to Stafford jail. After a few
days’ detention in his own house, Palmer was conveyed to jail, in
such a state of despondency that he appears to have determined to
starve himself to death, and would probably have done so, but for the
threat of compulsory measures by the Governor. Soon afterwards all his
property was seized under a bill of sale and sold, his racehorses alone
realising four thousand guineas.[65]

THE DEFENCE.

Of Mr. Serjeant Shee’s address to the jury in the defence of the
prisoner, which occupied, without wearying, the attention of the
Court during eight hours on the seventh day, only a brief analysis
can be given. The main points on which he insisted were—_First_, the
erroneous nature of the medico-scientific evidence in referring the
symptoms exhibited in Cook’s case to _tetanus_ from _strychnia_, on
which he was prepared to contradict it by witnesses of equal character
and credit in the profession. _Secondly_, the probability, amounting as
near as possible to a certainty, that if the death had been occasioned
by strychnia, the presence of that poison should have been detected
by the analysts. _Thirdly_, the similarity of the symptoms in the
case to those of cases of _traumatic_ or _idiopathic tetanus_ of late
occurrence, to be described by the doctors who had attended them. As
the mass of evidence by which he sought to support these propositions
has been already reported, it is needless to recur to it. We may
therefore pass on to the moral evidence, only pausing to extract the
noble passage descriptive of the mechanism of the human frame, with
which he introduced the former subject, and his picture of Cook’s state
of mind from before his victory at Shrewsbury until his death.

“‘A little learning is a dangerous thing.’

“It appears to me there never was a case in which the adage was so
applicable as it is in this. Of all the works of God, the one best
calculated to fill us with wonder and admiration, and convince us of
our dependence on our Maker, and the utter nothingness of ourselves,
is the mortal coil in which we live, and breathe, and think, and
have our being. Every minute of our lives, functions are performed
at our will, the unerring accuracy of which nothing but omniscience
and omnipotence could have secured. We feel and see exactly what
takes place, and yet the moment we attempt to explain what takes
place, the instant we endeavour to get a reason for what we know, and
see, and do, the mystery of creation—‘God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created he them’—arrests our course, and
we are flung back on conjecture and doubt. We know in a sense—we
suppose—that the soft medullary substance which is within the cavity
of the head is the seat of thought, of sensation, and of will. We
know that that soft medullary substance is continued down the middle
of the back, protected by a bony duct or canal, within which it lies
embedded, and we know that from the sides of that bony duct and
from this medullary substance proceed an infinite variety of nerves
(the conduits of sensation from all parts of the body to the soul)
and of muscles connected and dependent on them, the instruments of
voluntary motion. This we know; and we know that by that process all
the ordinary actions of ourselves, at our will, are effected with the
most wonderful precision. Sometimes, however, these nerves and muscles
depart from their normal character, and instead of being the mere
instruments of the soul, become irregular, convulsive, tumultuary,
vindicating to themselves a sort of independent vitality, totally
regardless of the authority to which they are ordinarily subject. When
thrown into this state of excitement, their effects are known by the
general name of convulsions. It is remarkable, unlike most other fine
names, they are not of modern adaptation. The ancients had them to
express the very same thing. The spasmodic and tetanic affections were
known then, and as much about them hundreds and thousands of years ago
as is known now. Tetanic convulsions have been divided in later times
into two specific branches of tetanus—idiopathic and traumatic.”

In opening the portion of his case that Cook’s death was attributable
to causes other than strychnia, Serjeant Shee adroitly concealed the
names of the diseases to which his witnesses were prepared to attribute
it. Until, therefore, his cloud of witnesses had been passed through,
the prosecution did not know, except from the _cross-examination_ of
their own medico-scientific witnesses, to what technical points they
had to shape their reply.

In support of his contention that Cook’s death could be fairly
attributed to ordinary convulsions, the learned Serjeant gave the
following graphic sketch of the state of his mind at the period of
Shrewsbury races, and from then to his death:—

“He went there in the imminent peril of returning from them a ruined
man. His stepfather assured Palmer that there would not be 4000
shillings for those who had claims on his estate. From the necessity
he was under of raising money at an enormous discount we may easily
infer that he was in desperate difficulties, and that unless some
sudden success on the turf should retrieve his fortunes, they were
hopeless. His health was shattered, his mind distracted; he had long
been cherishing hopes that Polestar would win, and so put him in
possession of something like a thousand guineas. The mare, it was
true, was hardly his own, for she had been mortgaged; and if she
should lose, she would become the property of another person. Picture
to yourselves what must have been the condition, mental and bodily,
of that young man when he rose from his bed on the morning of the
races. It is scarcely possible, as he went down to breakfast, that
this thought must not have crossed his mind, ‘My fate is trembling
in the balance; this is the crisis of my destiny. Unless my horse
shall win, to-night I am a beggar.’ With these feelings he repairs to
the course. Another race is run before Polestar is brought out. His
impatience is extreme. He looks on in a state of agonising excitement.
Will the minutes never fly? At last arrives the decisive moment; the
time has come for his race. The flag is dropped; the horses start;
his mare wins easily, and he, her master, has won a thousand guineas!
For three minutes he is not able to speak, so intense is his emotion.
Slowly he recovers his utterance, and then how rapturous is his joy!
He is saved, he is saved! Another chance to retrieve his position—one
chance more to recover his character! As yet, at all events, he will
not be a disgrace to his family and his friends. Conceive him to be,
with all his faults, an honourable young man, and you may easily
imagine what his ecstasy must have been. He loves the memory of his
dead mother—he still reverences the name of his father—he is jealous
of his sister’s honour, and it may be that he cherishes silently in
his heart the thought of some other being dearer still than all to
whom the story of his ruin would bring bitter anguish. But he is not
ruined; he will meet his engagements like an honourable man. There is
now no danger of his being an outcast, an adventurer, a black-leg.
He will live to redeem his position, and to give joy to those who
love him. With such thoughts in his heart, he returns to his inn in a
state of indescribable elation, and with a revulsion from despair that
must have convulsed—though not in the sense of illness—every fibre
of his frame. His first idea is to entertain his friends, and he does
so. The evidence does not prove that he drank to excess, but he gave a
champagne dinner; and we all know that is a luxurious entertainment,
at which there is no stint and not much self-respect. That evening he
did not spend in the society of Palmer; indeed, it is not clear in
whose company he spent it. But we find him on the evening of Wednesday
at the ‘Unicorn’ with Saunders, his trainer, and a lady. On Thursday
he walks upon the course, and Herring remonstrates with him for doing
so, as the day is damp and misty, and the ground wet. That night he
is seized with illness, and he continues ailing until his death at
Rugeley. Arrived at Rugeley, it is but natural to suppose that a
reaction of feeling may have set in. Then the dark side of the picture
may have presented itself to his imagination. The chilling thought
may have come upon him that his winnings were already forestalled
and would scarcely suffice to save him from destruction. It is
when suffering from a weakened body, and an irritated and excited
mind, that he is attacked by a sickness which clings to his system,
leaves him without any rest, incapacitates him from taking food,
distracts his nerves, and places him in imminent danger of falling
a victim to any sudden attack of convulsions to which he may have a
predisposition. He relished no society so much as that of Palmer,
whose residence was immediately opposite the ‘Talbot Arms’ Inn, where
he was lying on his sick bed. For two days he had been taking opiate
pills prescribed by Dr. Bamford. On Sunday night, at twelve o’clock,
he started as from a dream in a state of the utmost excitement and
alarm. He admitted afterwards that for two minutes he was mad, but he
could not ascribe it to anything unless to his having been awakened
by a squabble in the street. But do no such things happen to people
of sound constitutions and regular habits? Do no such people awaken
in agony and delirium because there is a noise under their windows?
No; these are the afflictions of the dissipated and anxious, whose
bodies are shattered and whose minds are distracted. Next day,
Monday, he was pretty well, but not so well as to mount his horse or
to take a walk in the fields. He could converse with his trainer and
jockey, but he could take no substantial food, and drank not a drop
of brandy-and-water. You will bear in mind that Palmer was not with
him that day. In the middle of the night he was seized with an attack
similar in character to that of the night preceding, but manifestly
much milder, for he retained his consciousness throughout it, and was
not mad for a moment. The evidence of Elizabeth Mills is conclusive
on the point. At three o’clock on the following day (Tuesday) Mr.
Jones, the surgeon of Lutterworth, arrived, and spent a considerable
time—probably from three to seven o’clock—in his company. They had
abundant opportunity for conversing confidentially, and they were
likely to have done so, for they were very intimate, and Jones appears
to have been on more familiar terms with Cook than was any other
person, not even excepting Mr. Stevens. Nothing occurred in the entire
and unbounded confidence which must have existed between Mr. Cook and
Mr. Jones, to raise any suspicions in the mind of Mr. Jones; and at
the consultation, which took place between seven and eight o’clock on
Tuesday evening between Jones, Palmer, and Bamford, as to what the
medicine for that evening should be, the fit of the Monday night was
not mentioned. That is a remarkable fact. The Crown may say that it
is remarkable, inasmuch as Palmer knew it, and said not a word about
it; but I think that it shows that the fit was so little serious in
the opinion of Cook that he did not think it worth mentioning to his
intimate friend.”

In dealing with the “moral evidence,” counsel _first_ attacked the
motive imputed by the prosecution, and sought to show from the
correspondence, as well as from the conduct of the parties, that at
the moment when Palmer was charged with killing Cook, he was his best
and indeed the only friend whom he could look to to assist him in his
severe financial troubles.

“Was it,” he said, “to his interest that in the second week in
November Cook should be killed, say by a railway accident? For some
time they had been mixed up together in racing transactions, had made
heavy losses during the late sporting season, and Cook at least—and
most probably Palmer, as associated with him—was looking forward to
the success of Polestar to save them from ruin. At that time Pratt,
the bill discounter, was pressing for an extra £200 to stave off legal
proceedings on the £2000 bill, to which his mother’s name had been
forged. To whom does Palmer apply? To Cook, who at once writes to his
betting agent Fisher to advance and pay that to Pratt on the Saturday
before the Monday’s settlement at Tattersall’s of the Shrewsbury
winnings. Fisher having done this, was it not probable that Cook
arranged with Palmer, that in order to get the use of this £200 for
a few days, Herring, and not Fisher, should be authorised to collect
the winnings and secure a sufficient payment to Pratt to stave off
the action?” [Cook’s letter of the 19th of November was accordingly
cited as a proof of his anxiety to assist Palmer.] “Again, there was
in Herring’s hands a bill of Palmer’s for £500, bearing his mother’s
forged acceptance. Was it likely that with this danger staring him
in the face, Palmer would kill the only man from whom he could look
for money? The transaction as to the bill for £500, secured on Cook’s
racehorses, discounted by Pratt, for which, as Pratt wrote him at
once, Palmer would have to provide, was another reason for not killing
his only friend.”

In September Palmer had negotiated this bill with Pratt professedly for
Cook’s benefit, and had received from Pratt a crossed cheque to Cook’s
order for £385, and a wine warrant for £65, and at the same time, on
his own account, £315 in cash, and the imputation by the Crown was that
he forged Cook’s endorsement and took the money. The improbability of
his doing this, as Cook was certain, had he done so, to have complained
of it during the months that elapsed between the giving of the bill of
sale on his horses and his death, was urged by Mr. Shee, who ventured
to offer as an explanation the suggestion that as Cook wanted cash
on that day, Palmer gave him his £315, and with his consent endorsed
Cook’s name on the cheque and paid that to his own account. Again he
dealt with the circumstance of Cook’s cheque for £350, the body of
which was drawn by Cheshire, and, as Palmer said, taken by him on the
20th November to Cook for him to sign in his sick room. That cheque, it
will be remembered, was not produced, but

“Weatherby, on whom it was drawn,” said Serjeant Shee, “was under the
impression that the signature was Cook’s.[66] As it was not certain
that Frail would have sent up to Weatherby the stakes against which
it was drawn by the Monday, was it likely that, had Palmer meditated
Cook’s death at the time, he would have risked its being returned—as
it was—and passing into the hands of Cook’s executors, who would be
certain to enquire into the matter, on Cook’s sudden death? From the
enquiries that had been instituted as to his brother’s life policy,
he knew himself to be an object of suspicion, and, if any foul play
happened to Cook, all hope of recovering that would be gone. ‘Their
refusal,’ wrote Pratt to him, ‘altered the whole state of affairs, and
Palmer must be prepared to pay his mother’s acceptances for £4,000
due at the end of the month.’ There was the pinch; the office would
not pay; the £4,000 was becoming due; the holder of the bills saw
that he was without security, and, if anything occurred to increase
the suspicions of the insurance office, which was very reluctant to
pay, the £13,000 was lost for ever, lost beyond hope. Gentlemen, that
£13,000 is sure to be paid, unless this man is convicted of murder;
and that has a great deal to do with the clamour and alarm which
have been excited. So sure as that man is saved, and saved I believe
he will be, that £13,000 is paid. There is no defence, no pretence
for a defence—the letters of the office make that plain. They took
an enormous premium; knowing that the man was only 30, they took a
premium for a man of 50—at least, the letters show that the premium
was enormous—and I say that, as sure as this man is saved, that
£13,000 is good for him, and will pay his creditors. Do not these
facts show that in this October suspicions were hanging in menacing
meteors about Palmer’s head, which would come down with irresistible
momentum and crush him upon suspicion of a sudden death by murder? Do
you believe that a man who wrote what the effects of strychnia were
in his manual would risk such a scene as a death-bed by it, in the
presence of the dearest and best friend of Cook—a man whom he could
not influence; a medical man, who liked him and loved him well enough
when he knew he was ill to sleep in the same room with him, that he
might be able to attend to him in case he wanted assistance during the
night? Is that common sense? Are you going to endorse such a theory as
that upon the suggestion of Dr. Taylor about the effects of strychnia
produced upon his five rabbits? Impossible! perfectly impossible! as
I submit to you. So sure as anything happened by foul play to Cook,
he had no more chance of getting the £13,000 than the £180,000 from
the Prince of Wales Insurance Office—none whatever. That was the
only means he had at that time of extricating himself from these
encumbrances.”

Again, he tried to depreciate the evidence of Mills as to the symptoms
of Cook’s attacks, on the ground—not, indeed, that she had been
tampered with by the prosecution—because then, he said, he was certain
that she would not have been called—but “that she had been instructed
in the various symptoms by the repeated private examinations to which
she had been subjected,” dwelling on the omission from her evidence
before the coroner that she had been so violently sick after tasting
the broth, and on the other discrepancies in, and omissions from, her
description of the symptoms when there, and when in court.

“Upon all occasions,” said the learned counsel, “I am most
reluctant to attack a witness who is examined on his or her oath,
and particularly if he be in a humble position of life. I am very
reluctant to impute perjury to such a person; and I think that a man
who has been as long in the profession as I have been must be put a
little to his wits’ end when he rushes upon the assumption that a
person whose statements have, after a considerable lapse of time,
materially varied, is, therefore, necessarily, deliberately perjured.
The truth is, we know perfectly well, that if a considerable interval
of time occurs between the first story and the second, and if the
intelligent and respectable persons who are anxious to investigate the
truth, but who have still a strong moral conviction—upon imperfect
information—of the guilt of the accused person, will talk to
witnesses and say, ‘Was there anything of this kind?’ or, ‘Anything
of that kind?’ the witnesses at last catch hold of the phrase or term
which has so often been used to them, and having in that way adopted
it, they fancy they may tell it in court.”

He also attacked the conduct of Mr. Stevens, the stepfather, for, as
he said, “goading and irritating Palmer into incautious expressions,
by insinuating that he had stolen a trumpery betting-book that could
not be of use to anyone;” and attributed Palmer’s anxiety to nominate
a local solicitor to manage affairs to the nature of the pecuniary
transactions, so much relying on honour, making them far more easy of
adjustment by a friendly than by a hostile agent. As for Myatt, the
postboy’s, story of the bribe for upsetting the fly, he attributed
that to a personal feeling against the “meddlesome old gentleman,”
as he called Stevens, and not to any idea of destroying the probable
proofs of his delinquency. His marked attention to Cook during his
illness he attributed to the interest he necessarily felt in his life,
and the sending of broth and other things from his own house to the
wish to save expense at a time when neither of them were too well off.
“Would he,” said Serjeant Shee, “dream of sending poisoned broth to an
inn, where it was sure to be tasted by the cook?”

In addition to the scientific witnesses which he would call to rebut
those of the prosecution’s, he would prove that Cook, previously to
the Shrewsbury meeting, was suffering severely from a syphilitic
state of throat, and applying to Palmer for remedies for it—that
Palmer could not have been in Rugeley at the time at which Newton
swore that he sold the strychnia to him, and that the incident at
the “Raven,” at Shrewsbury, of the brandy-and-water was a fiction.
To what this evidence of previous illness amounted, and how the two
witnesses who were to negative Newton and disprove the scene at the
“Raven” fared when put in the box, will be seen in the report of
their examination.[67] Great stress was of course laid on Palmer’s
not only calling in Dr. Bamford, but sending for Mr. Jones, Cook’s
firmest friend, to witness what proved his last day of life, and on
the improbability of Palmer tampering with the medicines under such
professional supervision.

“Is it conceivable that if Palmer meant to slay Cook with poison in
the dead of night, he would previously have insured the presence
in his victim’s chamber of a medical witness, who would know from
his frightful symptoms that the man was not dying a natural death?
He brings a medical man into his room, and makes him lie within a
few inches of the sick man’s bed, that he may be startled with his
terriffic shrieks, and gaze on those agonizing convulsions which
indicate the fatal potency of the poison. Can you believe it? He might
have dispatched him by means that defy detection, for Cook was taking
morphia medicinally, and a grain or two more would have silently
thrown him into an eternal sleep;[68] but instead of this he sends to
Lutterworth for Jones. You have been told that this was done to cover
appearances. Done to cover appearances! No, no, no! You cannot believe
it. It is not in human nature. It cannot be true. _You cannot find him
guilty. You dare not find him guilty on the supposition of its truth.
The country will not stand by you if you believe it to be true. You
will be impeached before the whole world if you say that it is true. I
believe in my conscience it is false, because, consistently with the
laws that govern human nature, it cannot be true._”

“The incident of his being found searching the clothes and under the
pillow,” said counsel, “ought not to be looked upon as suspicious, as
Mills, who came into the room at the time, thought no suspicion of
it, and there was nothing but the evidence of a kind and considerate
character in his having ordered the shell and the coffin; nor was
it possible to torture into a presumption of guilt the few words
of irritation which may have fallen from him in the course of a
conversation in which Mr. Stevens treated him with scorn, not to say
with insolence.” And then, alluding to the entry as to the effects of
strychnia in one of his medical books, the learned Serjeant turned
it most adroitly to his own purpose, as the basis of a peroration so
telling in its language and perfect in its construction that it must be
preserved intact.

“The Crown had, no doubt, originally intended to rely upon the
prisoner’s medical books as affording damning proof of his guilt; but
I will refer to those volumes for evidences that will speak eloquently
in his favour. In youth and early manhood there is no such protection
for a man as the society of an innocent and virtuous woman to whom
he is sincerely attached. If you find a young man devoted to such a
woman, loving her dearly, and marrying her for the love he bears her,
you may depend upon it that he is a man of humane and gentle nature,
little prone to deeds of violence. To such a woman was Palmer attached
in his youth, and I will bring you proof positive to show that the
volumes cited against him were the books he used when a student, and
that the manuscript passages are in the handwriting of his wife. His
was a marriage of the heart. He loved that young and virtuous woman
with a pure and generous affection; he loved her as he now loves
her first-born, who awaits with trembling anxiety the verdict that
will restore him to the arms of his father, or drive that father to
an ignominious death upon the scaffold.” [The prisoner here covered
his face with his hands and shed tears.] “Here in this book I have
conclusive evidence of the kind of man that Palmer was seven years
ago. I find in its pages the copy of a letter addressed by him while
still a student to the woman whom he afterwards made his wife. It is
as follows:—

“‘MY DEAREST ANNIE,—I snatch a moment from my studies to your dear,
dear little self. I need scarcely say that the principal inducement I
have to work is the desire of getting my studies finished, so as to be
able to press your dear little form in my arms. With best, best love,
believe me, dearest Annie,

‘Your own WILLIAM.’

“Now this is not the sort of letter that is generally read in courts
of justice. It was no part of my instructions to read that letter, but
the book was put in to prove that this man is a wicked, heartless,
savage desperado; and I show you what he was seven years ago—that he
was a man who loved a young woman for her own sake—loved her with a
pure and virtuous affection—such an affection as would, in almost all
natures, be a certain antidote against guilt. Such is the man whom it
has been my duty to defend upon this occasion, and upon the evidence
that is before you I cannot believe him to be guilty. Don’t suppose,
gentlemen, that he is unsupported in this dreadful trial by his family
and his friends. An aged mother, who may have disapproved of some
part of his conduct, awaits with trembling anxiety your verdict; a
dear sister can scarcely support herself under the suspense which now
presses upon her; a brave and gallant brother stands by him to defend
him, and spares neither time nor trouble to save him from an awful
doom. I call upon you, gentlemen, to raise your minds to a capacity to
estimate the high duty which you have to perform. You have to stem the
torrent of prejudice; you have to vindicate the honour and character
of your country; you have, with firmness and courage, to do your
duty, and to find a verdict for the Crown if you believe that guilt
is proved; but, if you have a doubt upon that point, depend upon it
that the time will come when the innocence of that man will be made
apparent, and when you will deeply regret any want of due and calm
consideration of the case which it has been my duty to lay before you.”

THE REPLY.

The greater part of the tenth day was occupied with the reply
of the Attorney-General, dealing in the _first_ part with the
medico-scientific evidence brought forward for the defence, and
contrasting it with that on the part of the prosecution, and in the
_latter_ part pressing home with all his force of criticism and power
of language the suspicious acts of the prisoner before and after the
death of Cook. Between _idiopathic_ and _traumatic tetanus_ he drew
the distinction, “supported,” as he said, “by the evidence of men who
had seen, not here and there a stray case, but numerous instances of
that disease, that the former was a disease of days, and even weeks,
and not of hours or minutes.” He pointed out that such were really the
symptoms in the cases adduced for the defence, and ridiculed the notion
that the old ulcers of the spring of the year, with which Dr. Savage
had dealt successfully, could be assigned as the causes of this form of
disease in Cook’s case, and then criticised _seriatim_ the other forms
of convulsive disease to which the witnesses for the defence attributed
it. After referring to the statements of Dr. Savage and Mr. Stevens as
to the state of Cook’s health prior to his departure for Shrewsbury
races, he thus dealt with the evidences of his state of health offered
by the prisoner’s witnesses:—

“It is said that at some former time he had exhibited his throat to
some of the witnesses that were called, and had applied to Palmer for
mercurial wash to apply to it, or to some of the ulcers. The precise
period is not fixed, but it is perfectly clear that, though at one
time he had adopted that course, under the recommendation of Dr.
Savage he had got rid of it, and there is not the slightest pretence
for saying that this man was suffering under a syphilitic affection
of any kind; that fact was negatived distinctly and unequivocally by
a man of the highest authority, a medical gentleman of eminence,
under whose treatment the man got so rapidly well. It is a pretence,
gentlemen, which has not the shadow of a foundation, and which I
should be shrinking from my duty if I did not denounce as altogether
unworthy of your consideration. There was nothing about the man,
according to the statement of those who were competent to give you an
opinion, which would warrant, for a single moment, the supposition
that there was anything in any part of his body which could justify
the notion of _traumatic tetanus_. Even if there were, the character
which his symptoms assumed when the _tetanus_ set in, is utterly
incompatible, according to the evidence of all the witnesses, with a
case of _traumatic tetanus_.”

Then, after pointing out how the two cases of this disease put forward
by the defence were cases of days and hours, and, not like Cook’s,
of minutes, he proceeded to deal with the suggestion of _idiopathic
tetanus_.

“_Idiopathic tetanus?_ Proceeding from what? They say that Mr. Cook
was a man of a delicate constitution, subject to excitement; that
he had something the matter with his chest; that, in addition, he
had this diseased condition of his throat, and, putting all these
things together, they say, that if he took cold, he might get
‘_idiopathic tetanus_.’ We are launched into a sea of speculation and
impossibilities. Mr. Nunneley, who came forward for the purpose of
inducing you to believe this, goes through a bead-roll of the supposed
infirmities of Mr. Cook; talks about his exciteability, about his
delicacy of chest, about the affection of his throat, goes through
these various heads, and says that these things may have predisposed
him to ‘_idiopathic tetanus_,’ if he took cold. What evidence is
there that he ever did take cold? Not the slightest in the world.
From beginning to end he was never treated for cold by anybody, and
never complained of it to anyone. _I cannot help saying that to me it
seems a scandal upon a learned, distinguished, and liberal profession,
that men should put forward such speculations as these, perverting
facts, and drawing from them sophistical and unwarrantable conclusions
with the view of deceiving a jury. I have the greatest respect for
science, no man can have more; but I cannot repress my indignation
and abhorrence when I see it thus perverted and prostituted to the
purposes of a particular cause in a court of justice._ Do not talk
to me about excitement, as Mr. Nunneley did the other day, being the
cause of _idiopathic tetanus_. You remember the sort of excitement
he spoke of, they are unworthy of your notice, and they were topics
discreditable to be put forward by a witness as worthy of the
attention of sensible men constituting such a tribunal as you are.”

Again, on Mr. Nunneley’s suggestion that it might be a case of
general convulsions accompanied by tetanic symptoms, said the
Attorney-General.—

“Well, but pause a moment, Mr. Nunneley; have you ever seen one single
case in which death arising from general convulsions, accompanied by
tetanic symptoms, has not ended in the unconsciousness of the patient
before death? ‘No, I never knew such a case—not one. But in some book
or other I am told that there is such a case reported;’ and he cites
one, not for that purpose, I think, but with reference, to general
convulsions being sometimes accompanied by tetanic symptoms and ending
in death, from a very eminent author of the present day, Dr. Copland.
Dr. Copland is living and Dr. Copland might have been called—was not
called, notwithstanding the challenge which I threw out. Why? Because
it is infinitely better in such a case to call together from the east
and west practitioners of more or less obscurity, instead of bringing
to bear upon the subject the light of science which is treasured in
the breasts of the eminent practitioners with which this city abounds.”

Again, on Mr. Partridge’s evidence of the probable effect of the
granules on the spinal marrow,

“I called his attention,” he said, “to what had evidently not been
done before, namely, the symptoms of Mr. Cook’s case, and asked him
in simple, straightforward terms whether, looking at these, he would
pledge his opinion, in the face of the medical world and the Court,
that this was a case of arachnitis, and he candidly admitted that he
would not assert it.”

Against Dr. Macdonald’s epileptic convulsions with tetanic
complications, he cited the following from that gentleman’s
cross-examination:—

“Did you ever know a case of epilepsy, with or without tetanic
complications, in which consciousness was not destroyed before the
patient died? He said ‘No, I cannot say I ever did, but I have read in
some book that such a case occurred.’ Is there anything to make you
think this was epilepsy? ‘Well, it may have been epilepsy, because I
do not know what else to ascribe it to, but I must admit that epilepsy
is characterised generally by unconsciousness.’ Well, then, what
difference would tetanic complications make? That he is unable to
explain.”

With the final suggestion of _Angina pectoris_, he could not deal so
minutely as with the four preceding ones.

“The gentleman,” he said, “who was called at the last moment would
not have escaped quite so easily if I had had the books to which he
referred under my hand, and been able to expose, as I would have done,
the ignorance or presumption of the assertion he dared to make. _I say
ignorance or presumption; or, what is worse, an intention to deceive.
I assert it in the face of the whole medical profession, and I am
satisfied I shall have a verdict in my favour._”

He then concluded this part of his speech by calling attention to the
fact, that three of the witnesses for the prisoner, Mr. Partridge,
Dr. Robinson, and even Dr. Letheby, strongly as he was biased for the
defence, agreed with Sir B. Brodie and the other medical witnesses
for the Crown, that, “in the whole of their experience, learning, and
information, they knew of no known disease to which the symptoms of Mr.
Cook could possibly be referred—a fact the importance of which it was
impossible to exaggerate.”

Assuming, then, that all were agreed, that from the time that the final
paroxysm set in, the symptoms were similar to those of _strychnia
tetanus_, he dealt with the point which the defence had raised—which
he admitted deserved their most attentive consideration—that there
were points of difference, which had led some of the witnesses to the
conclusion that they could not have resulted from that cause.

“Let us see,” he said, “what they are. In the first place, they showed
that the period which elapsed between the supposed administration of
the poison, and the first symptoms, was longer than they have ever
observed in animals upon which they have experimented. The first
observation which arises is this: that there is a known difference
between animal and human life, in the power with which certain
specific things act upon their organization. It may well be that
poison administered to a rabbit will produce its effect in a given
time. It by no means follows that it will produce the same effect in
the same time on an animal of a different description. Still less does
it follow that it will exercise its baneful influence in the same time
on a human subject. The whole of the evidence on both sides leads
to establish this fact, that not only in individuals of different
species, but in individuals of the same species, the same poison and
the same influence will produce effects different in degree, different
in duration, different in power. But again, it is perfectly notorious
that the rapidity with which the poison begins to work depends mainly
upon the mode of its administration. If it is administered in a fluid
state it acts with great rapidity. If it is given in a solid state its
effects come on more slowly. If it is given in an indurated substance
it will act with still greater tardiness. Then what was the period at
which this poison began to act after its administration, assuming it
to have been poison? It seems, from Mr. Jones’s statement, that Palmer
came to administer the pills somewhere about 11 o’clock, but they were
not administered on his first arrival, for the patient, as if with an
intuitive sense of the death that awaited him, strongly resisted the
attempts to make him take them; and no doubt these remonstrances, and
the endeavours to overcome them, occupied some period of time. The
pills were at last given. Assuming—which I only do for the sake of
argument—that the pills contained strychnia, how soon did they begin
to operate? Mr. Jones says he went down to his supper, and came back
again about 12 o’clock. Upon his return to the room, after a word
or two of conversation with Cook, he proceeded to undress and go to
bed, and had not been in bed ten minutes before a warning came that
another of the paroxysms was about to take place. The maidservant
puts it still earlier, and it appears that as early as ten minutes
before twelve the first alarm was given, which would make the interval
little more than three-quarters of an hour. When these witnesses tell
us that it would take an hour and a half, or two hours, we see here
another of those exaggerated determinations to see the facts only in
the way that will be most favourable to the prisoner. I find in some
of the experiments that have been made that the duration of time,
before the poison begins to work, has been little, if anything, less
than an hour. In the case of a girl at Glasgow it was stated that it
was three-quarters of an hour before the pills began to work. There
may have been some reason for the pills not taking effect within
a certain period after their administration. It would be easy to
mix them up with substances difficult of solution, or which might
retard their action. I cannot bring myself to believe that if in all
other respects you are perfectly satisfied that the symptoms, the
consequences, the effects, were analogous, and similar in all respects
to those produced by strychnia, you will conclude that in this case
strychnia was not administered, and found your conclusion on the
simple fact that a quarter of an hour more than usual may have elapsed
before the pills operated. But they say the premonitory symptoms were
wanting. They assert that in the case of animals the animal at first
manifests some uneasiness, shrinks, and draws itself into itself, as
it were, and avoids moving; that certain involuntary twitchings about
the head come on, and that there were no such premonitory symptoms
in Cook’s case. I utterly deny the proposition. I say there were
premonitory symptoms of the most marked character. He is lying in
his bed; he suddenly starts up in an agony of alarm. What made him
do that? Was there nothing premonitory there—nothing that warned
him the paroxysm was coming on? He jumps up, says, ‘Go and fetch
Palmer—fetch me help! I am going to be ill as I was last night!’ What
was that but a knowledge that the symptoms of the previous night were
returning, and a warning of what he might expect unless some relief
were obtained? He sits up and prays to have his neck rubbed. What was
the feeling about his neck but a premonitory symptom, which was to
precede the paroxysms that were to supervene? He begs to have his neck
rubbed, and that gives him some comfort. But here they say this could
not have been tetanus from strychnia, because animals cannot bear to
be touched, for a touch brings on a paroxysm—not only a touch, but
a breath of air, a sound, a word, a movement of any one near will
bring on a return of the paroxysm. Now, in three cases of death from
strychnia we have shown that the patient has endured rubbing of the
limbs, and received satisfaction from that rubbing. In Mrs. Smyth’s
case, when her legs were distorted, she prayed and entreated that she
might have them straightened. The lady at Leeds, in the case which Dr.
Nunneley himself attended, implored her husband between the spasms to
rub her legs and arms in order to overcome the rigidity. That case
was within his own knowledge, and yet in spite of it, although he
detected strychnia in the body of the unhappy woman, he dares to say
that Cook’s having tolerated the rubbing between the paroxysms is
a proof that he had not taken strychnia. Then there is the case of
Clutterbuck. He had taken an overdose of strychnia, and suffered from
the reappearance of tetanus, and his only comfort was to have his legs
rubbed. Therefore, I say that the continued endeavour to persuade a
jury that the fact of Cook’s having had his neck rubbed proves that
this is not tetanus by strychnia, shows nothing but the dishonesty and
insincerity of the witnesses who have so dared to pervert the facts.
But they go further, and contend that Cook was able to swallow. So he
was before the paroxysms came on. But nobody has ever pretended that
he could swallow afterwards. He swallowed the pills, and what is very
curious, and illustrates part of the theory, is this, that it was the
act of swallowing the pills, a sort of movement in raising his head,
which brought on the paroxysm of which he died.”

Having thus called attention to the fact, that against the three cases
of undoubted poisoning by strychnia (those of Mrs. Smyth, Mrs. Dove,
and Mr. Clutterbuck), the sufferers in which begged to be rubbed, all
that could be set up was, that animals when thus poisoned could not
bear to be touched, the Attorney-General dealt with the fact of the
rigidity of Cook’s body after death, on which Mr. Nunneley relied as
a proof that it could not be a case of strychnia poisoning. He cited
the evidence of Mr. Herapath, the very next analyst called by the
defence, that in two of his experiments on animals “the bodies had been
indurated and contorted,” as well that of Dr. Taylor that one of the
animals in his experiments was so rigid after death that it could be
held out in an horizontal position in the air as though it were on its
four legs on a plane surface. “What,” he said, “are you to think of
the honesty of this sort of evidence? “Again, on the question of the
fulness or emptiness of the heart, he thus accounted for the variation
of the symptoms:—

“It is obvious to any one who reflects for a single moment that the
question whether the heart shall be found compressed, or the lungs
congested must depend upon the immediate cause of death, and we know
that in cases of tetanus death may result from more than one cause.
All the muscles of the body are subject to the exciting action of
this powerful poison, but no one can tell in what order those muscles
will be affected, or where the poisonous influence will put forth
the fulness of its power. If it acts on the respiratory muscles,
and arrests the play of the lungs, and with it the breathing of the
atmospheric air, the result will be that the heart will be left full.
But if some spasm seizes on the heart, contracting it and expelling
from it the blood that it contains, and so produces death, the result
will be that the heart will be found empty. So that you never have
perfect certainty as to how these symptoms will manifest themselves
after death; but that is again put forward as if the fact of the heart
being empty is a conclusive fact of the death not having taken place
from strychnia. Yet those men who come here as witnesses under the
sanction of scientific authority, must have heard both these cases
spoken to by medical gentlemen who had examined those two unfortunate
patients after death, and who told us that in both cases they found
the heart empty. That gets rid of that matter. As death takes place
from one or other of these causes, so will be the appearance of the
heart, the brain, and the body after death. There is nothing in
this for a single moment to negative the conclusion which you would
otherwise arrive at from the other symptoms.”

For the difficulty which he admitted arose from the non-discovery
of strychnia by the analyst, he assigned another reason besides
that of the condition of the stomach and other parts from the
negligence imputed to those who had conducted the _post mortem_
examination—namely, the probable smallness of the fatal dose. In
all the cases of experiments on animals in which the poison had been
detected, the doses had been one or even two grains, yet half a grain
would prove fatal; and where so little as that had been given in
experiments, Dr. Taylor and Dr. Rees had failed to detect it. On the
partisanship of Mr. Herapath, sitting by the side of the prisoner’s
counsel, prompting questions, and on his assertion that he believed
that Cook had been killed by strychnia and that Taylor could and ought
to have detected it, his remarks were those rather of a French Public
Prosecutor than an Attorney-General.

“I do not say that alters the fact; but I do say that it induces one
to look at the credit of those witnesses with a very great amount
of suspicion. I reverence a man who, from a sense of justice and a
love of truth—from those high considerations which form the noblest
character of man—comes forward in favour of a man against whom the
world may turn in a torrent of prejudice and aversion, and who stands
and states what he believes to be the truth. But I abhor the traffic
in testimony to which, I regret to say, men of science sometimes
permit themselves to condescend.”

Whether Newton was believed or not—and he showed how his statement was
confirmed by Roberts’s account of Palmer’s conduct at the time of the
second purchase of poison, he urged that of the latter fact there could
be no doubt, and asked what was done with that strychnia. That Palmer
obtained this strychnia was not controverted, and what he did with it
was not attempted to be satisfactorily accounted for.

“Purchased for whom? for what? If for a patient why is he not
produced? If for any other purpose, let us at least have it explained.
Has there been a shadow of an explanation? Alas, I grieve to say, none
at all. Something was said, in the outset of the case, about dogs that
had been troublesome in the paddocks, but that was in September. If
there was any recurrence of this, why are not the grooms here to prove
this? Some one must have assisted Palmer to destroy these dogs. Where
are those persons? Why are they not called? Not only are they not
called, they are not even named. My learned friend does not venture to
breathe even a suggestion.”[69]

As for the witness called to disprove the incident of the brandy
and water at Shrewsbury, his solitary evidence, that of one of the
prisoner’s associates, he urged, would not stand for a moment against
those of the witnesses who had spoken for the prosecution. As for the
attempt to prove that Palmer could not have been in Rugeley at the time
when Newton swore that he purchased the strychnia, Mr. Jeremiah Smith’s
antecedents, the disgraceful part he had played in the insurance
transactions, let alone his exhibition in the witness-box, he added,
deprived his evidence of credit.

Again, antimony was undoubtedly discovered in the body, and yet no one
is known to have given it to Cook, unless Palmer did so in the broth,
the toast and water, and the coffee that he pressed him to take, and
provided for him. On the question of motive so anxiously laboured by
the defence, it was enough simply to repeat, the amounts of the debts
pressing on Palmer, and to bear in mind how drowning men will catch at
a straw. Cook’s bets, which Palmer had collected, staved off immediate
pressure; and had not Mr. Stevens, whose conduct as Cook’s relative the
Attorney-General earnestly defended, insisted on the _post-mortem_, and
thus brought about the inquest and this inquiry, it was possible that
the insurance office might have paid the policy on Walter’s life, and
the forged bills been thus redeemed in time to save exposure. Cook also
was valueless to help Palmer to keep these bills alive; even Pratt, the
60 per cent. money-lender, would not discount his acceptance for £500
without the security of a bill of sale on his horses.

Better acquainted with turf doings than his opponent, the
Attorney-General smiled at the idea, that because a man was another’s
confederate on the turf therefore he made himself responsible for his
debts, or that Cook, with all his friendship for Palmer, would beggar
himself for his sake.

“Joint engagement they had but one, the £500 bill secured on Sirius
and Polestar, and it was to meet this, and free his horses, that Cook
gave £300 out of his receipts at Shrewsbury to Palmer to send up to
Pratt, and wrote to Fisher to advance the other £200. No £300 was
sent up, and the £200, with the bets collected by Herring, went not
to free this bill, but to stop Pratt’s action on the forged bill of
£2000 of Palmer’s. It was no doubt true that after a man’s death, his
bets were irrecoverable and his betting-book useless. It was, however,
useful to enable Palmer to give a list of bets to Herring to collect,
the proceeds of which were turned to his own use, and the previous
collection of which Palmer withheld from Stevens. In the same way
would have gone the cheque for £350 for the stakes—whether a forgery
or not—but for the accident of their not having paid over in time.
Had Cook lived, the closely approaching claim on his £500 acceptance,
which he believed to have been settled, would have revealed the whole
transaction.” [Again, the Attorney-General pressed for the production
of the £350 cheque filled up by Cheshire.] “Why should Cheshire be
asked to fill it up? Just about this time Palmer was to meet Dr.
Bamford and Jones in consultation—why not ask Mr. Jones, the trusted
friend of Cook, tell him the same story as he did Cheshire, and not
send for the latter? From the day that this cheque was drawn till he
was arrested on the bill, Palmer had undisturbed possession of his own
papers—from the day of his arrest till his trial the papers had been
in safe custody. Why, then, is it not produced? Can you help drawing
the inference that the transaction will not bear the light? Look,
again, at the claim of £3000 or £4000 of bills on Cook’s estate, the
document Cheshire refused to witness, which is also not produced—the
letter to Pratt that he must have Polestar, and the instructions not
to give any information on Cook’s affairs. Can you doubt that they
were all part of one fraudulent and flagitious design, for the full
completion of which the death of Cook was a necessary thing?”

Palmer’s conduct at the _post-mortem_, the tampering with the cover of
the jar—by whom?—his anxiety to upset Mr. Stevens when in charge of
it, because, it had been urged, of “his prying meddlesome curiosity;”
his presents and letters to the coroner; his prompting Cheshire to
tamper with the letter from Dr. Taylor; his anxiety to know, and to let
the coroner know, that strychnia had not been found; his suggestion to
call Smith (what a witness Jeremiah would have made!); his assertions
of previous epileptic fits, and his hope “that the verdict to-morrow
would be that he died of natural causes, and thus end it,” were all
dwelt upon: “little things, if taken individually, but taken as a
whole,” said the Attorney-General, “as I submit to you, leading
irresistibly to the conclusion of the guilt of this man.”

In concluding this masterly speech, though in some parts too like
fighting for a verdict, the Attorney-General criticised the assertion
by Serjeant Shee of his belief of the prisoner’s innocence:—

“You have, indeed, had introduced into this case one other element,
which I own, I think, had better have been omitted. You have had from
my learned friend the unusual, I think I may say the unprecedented,
assurance of his conviction of the innocence of his client. I can
only say upon that point that I think it would have been better if
my learned friend had abstained from giving such an assurance. What
would he think of me if, imitating his example, I should at this
moment declare to you, on my honour, as he did, what is the intimate
conviction which has followed from my own conscientious consideration
of this case? My learned friend also, in his address, of which all
admired the power and ability, adopting a course which is sometimes
resorted to by advocates, but which, in my mind, involves more or
less a species of insult to the good sense or good feeling of the
jury—endeavoured to intimidate you, by an appeal to your consciences,
from discharging firmly and honestly the great and solemn duty which
you are called upon to perform. My learned friend told you that, if
your verdict in this case should be ‘guilty,’ the innocence of the
prisoner would one day be made manifest, and that you would never
cease to regret the verdict which you had given. If my learned friend
were sincere in that—and I know that he was, for there is no man
in whom the spirit of truth and honour is more keenly alive—if he
said what he believed, I can only answer that it shows how, when a
man enters upon the consideration of a case with a strong bias on
his mind, he is liable to err. I think then that my learned friend
had better have abstained from making any assurance which involved
his conviction of the prisoner’s innocence. I think, further—in
justice and consideration to you—that he should have abstained from
representing to you that the voice of the country would not sanction
the verdict which you might give. I say nothing of the inconsistency
which is involved in such a statement, coming from one who but a
short hour before had complained in eloquent terms of the universal
torrent of passion and of prejudice by which he said that his client
would be borne down; but in answer to my learned friend I say this
to you:—Pay no regard to the voice of the country, whether it be
for condemnation or for acquittal; pay no regard to anything but to
the internal voice of your own consciences, and to that sense of
duty which you owe to God and man upon this occasion, seeking no
reward except the comforting assurance that when you look back to the
proceedings of this day you will feel that you have discharged to the
utmost of your ability and to the best of your power the duty which
it was yours to perform. If on a review of this whole case, comparing
the evidence on one side and on the other, and weighing it in the even
scales of justice, you can come to the conclusion of innocence, or can
even entertain that fair and reasonable amount of doubt of which the
accused is entitled to the benefit, in God’s name acquit him; but if,
on the other hand, all the facts and all the evidence lead your minds,
with satisfaction to yourselves, to the conclusion of his guilt,
then—but then only—I ask for a verdict of ‘guilty’ at your hands.
For the protection of the good, for the repression of the wicked, I
ask for that verdict by which alone—as it seems to me—the safety
of society can be secured, and the demands, the imperious demands of
public justice, can be satisfied.”

THE JUDGE’S CHARGE.

As the learned Judge’s charge occupied the whole of the eleventh and
until half-past four on the twelfth day, and was necessarily protracted
by his reading in detail nearly all the voluminous evidence to the
jury, it would be impossible to give it in full. I shall, therefore,
limit this report to such of his observations, as have not already been
given in the notes to the evidence of the various witnesses to whom
they applied.

Contrasting the practice in foreign countries of raising the
probability of guilt, from the fact of the previous commission by a
prisoner of other crimes against other persons, and even of a totally
different character to that with which he then stands charged, Lord
Campbell warned the jury that they must deal with him now as if he
were an entirely innocent man, and confine their attention solely
to the evidence bearing on the crime itself. He warned them also
that the expression of his counsel’s opinion, that the prisoner was
innocent, meant no more than the plea of “Not Guilty,” and that the
most inconvenient consequences would follow from regarding it in any
other light. Neither was it necessary, as a point of law, that the
poison by which it was charged that the murder was effected, should
be found in the body, or seen to be administered. They must look to
the medical evidence to see whether the death was from that poison, or
from natural causes, and to the moral evidence, whether that showed
that the prisoner not only had the opportunity, but that he actually
availed himself of that opportunity, and administered the poison. He
then proceeded to read over the evidence, commencing with that showing
the indebtedness of Palmer to Pratt, in which Cook had no liability,
and then taking up the joint liability of Palmer and Cook to the same
person in connection with the loan secured on Cook’s horses. With
reference to the former transactions he called attention to Palmer’s
letter to Pratt, “not to let Cook’s friends know what money Cook had
ever had from him,” remarking, “that it was written at a time when the
stepfather was making inquiries of a nature certainly very disagreeable
to Palmer.” On the latter correspondence he called attention to the
cheque for £375, sent by Pratt for Cook, on which Palmer wrote the
endorsement, and admitted “that it was very properly argued for the
defence, that it was possible that Cook had authorised some one else
to write it;” but coupled with it the circumstance that on the 13th of
November Palmer was in a state of embarrassment, and that on the 20th
he could pay Armshaw two £50 notes, and that on the 22nd he could pay a
further £50.

After next reading the evidence of Wright, the attorney of Birmingham,
to show how heavily Palmer was indebted to his brother, besides to
Pratt, and alluding to the bill of sale of all his property, he laid
great stress on the non-production of the cheque on Weatherby for £350,
the production of which would have settled the question whether or not
it was forged with the intention of appropriating it to his own use.
Mr. Serjeant Shee here interposing with the remark that Weatherby
thought the signature genuine, Lord Campbell replied:—

“Mr. Weatherby said the body of the cheque was not in Cook’s
handwriting, and he had paid no attention to the signature. You,
gentlemen, must consider the evidence with regard to this part of the
case. The cheque is not produced, though it was sent back by Weatherby
to Palmer. It is not produced” [here the judge read the evidence of
the search for papers at Palmer’s]. “It might have been expected that
the cheque so returned to Palmer, who professed to set store upon it,
and to have given value for it, would have been found, but it is not
forthcoming. It is for you to draw whatever inference may suggest
itself to you from this circumstance.”

The judge then alluded to the fact of Palmer remaining in the
neighbourhood after suspicion had been excited against him, as of
importance, and worthy of being taken into consideration, though, as he
added, “he might have done so, perhaps, thinking that from the care he
had taken nothing would be discovered against him,” and that neither
the bills nor the document by which Cook was said to have admitted
his liability on them were produced, and closed this portion of the
evidence.

On the incident of the brandy-and-water at Shrewsbury, the learned
judge remarked, “What a mysterious circumstance it was, that Cook,
after he had stated his suspicions, still retained his confidence in
Palmer—was still constantly in his company—during the few remaining
days of his life, still sent for him whenever in distress; and, in
fact, seemed to a great extent to be under his influence.” In a
subsequent part of his charge, when dealing with the evidence for the
defence, he contrasted the evidence of Myatt in contradiction to that
of Brooks and Fisher, and left the jury to draw their own conclusion
which they would believe. Cook’s letter to Fisher to pay Pratt the £200
was also here read and commented on, and the jury left to infer why he
did not go to London as he proposed, and why he put the collection of
his bets in Herring’s hands instead of Fisher’s—“if he did so.”

Coming now to the illness at Rugeley, he said, “he was bound to declare
that not one fact had been adduced to prove that Mills had been bribed,
or that Mr. Stevens had read over the newspaper to her, to influence
her evidence in a particular direction: it was a gratuitous assertion,
unsupported by evidence, and distinctly denied.” Whether the difference
of Palmer’s dress when he ran over, as described by Mills or Barnes,
was of sufficient importance, was a question for the jury, and also
whether Mills’s deposition before the coroner, and her evidence in
Court (the deposition was read) was not substantially the same. On the
letter from Palmer calling in Jones, cited by the defence as a proof of
innocence, he said:—

“It is important, however, to consider at what period of Cook’s
illness Jones was sent for, and in what condition he was when Jones
arrived. Palmer’s assertion in the letter was, that Cook had been
suffering from diarrhœa, and of this statement we have not the
slightest confirmation in the evidence. When Jones, looking at Cook’s
tongue, observed it was not the tongue of a bilious attack, Palmer’s
reply was, ‘You should have seen it before.’ What reason could Palmer
have for using these words, when there is not the slightest evidence
of Cook having suffered from such an illness?” Then, having had
Jones’s deposition before the coroner read, he added, “It is for you
to say whether in your opinion this deposition at all varies from his
evidence given here: I confess that I see no variation, and no reason
to suppose that his evidence is not the evidence of sincerity and
truth.”

After observing that the evidence of Dr. Savage showed that previous to
his departure for Shrewsbury Cook was in better health than he had been
for a long time, the learned judge read the evidence of Newton, and his
deposition before the coroner. Remarking on his omitting to mention the
first purchase of strychnia until the Tuesday morning, when coming to
London, he said:—

“You will observe that though there has been an omission, there is
no contradiction. You are then to consider what is the probability
of his inventing this wicked lie—a most important lie, if lie it
be. He had no ill will towards the prisoner at the bar, he had never
quarrelled with him, and had nothing to get by injuring him. I cannot
see any motive for his inventing a lie to take away the life of the
prisoner. No inducement was held out to him by the Crown. He says
himself that no inducement was held out to him, and that at last he
disclosed this circumstance from a sense of duty. If you believe his
evidence, it is very strong against the prisoner.” And then, reading
the evidence of Roberts and remarking that he was not cross-examined
or in any way contradicted, he added—“If you couple that with the
statement of Newton—believing that statement—you have evidence of
strychnia having been procured by the prisoner on the Monday night
before the symptoms of strychnia were exhibited by Cook; and by the
evidence of Roberts, undenied and unquestioned, that on Tuesday six
grains of strychnia were supplied to him. Supposing you should come
to the conclusion that the symptoms of Cook were consistent with
strychnia, then a case is made out for the Crown. The learned counsel
did not favour us with the theory he had formed in his own mind
with respect to that strychnia. There is no evidence—there is no
suggestion—how it was applied; what became of it.[70] That must not
influence your verdict, unless you come to the conclusion that Cook’s
symptoms were consistent with death by strychnia. _But if you come to
that conclusion, I should shrink from my duty—I should be unworthy
to sit here—if I did not call your attention to the inference, that
if he purchased that strychnia, he purchased it for the purpose of
administering it to Cook._”

Then, after vindicating the conduct of Mr. Stevens in relation to the
loss of the betting-book, Lord Campbell alluded to the pushing of the
jar, at the _post-mortem_, as probably an accident, and its removal
as “nothing more than the pushing, were it not coupled with evidence
afterwards given, which might lead to the inference that there was a
plan to destroy it and prevent the analysis of its contents.” He saw no
reason to doubt the evidence of the postboy, and did not believe that
Stevens had given Palmer such provocation as to induce him to offer
Myatt a bribe to upset him. “That is not indeed a decisive proof of
guilt, but it is for you to say whether the prisoner did not enter on
that contrivance to prevent an opportunity of examining the jar, which
might contain evidence against him.”

Cheshire’s evidence as to filling up the cheque, and being asked
to witness Cook’s signature, as if he was present, to the document
professing to admit his liability on Palmer’s bills; his subsequent
dealing with Dr. Taylor’s letter to Mr. Gardner; Palmer’s letter to
the coroner stating the result of the analysis; his presents to the
coroner; and his instructions to Bate not to let anyone see him deliver
his letter to Mr. Ward, together with the instructions to Herring
about Cook’s bets, were then carefully reviewed before entering on the
medico-scientific evidence offered on the part of the prosecution.

The evidence of this class of witnesses has been so fully reported,
that it is needless to repeat the Judge’s passing comments on their
descriptions of the symptoms of tetanus as consistent with those
in Cook’s case, and with those exhibited in the cases of undoubted
poisoning by strychnia, detailed by the medical men who had attended
the several patients. With reference to the results of the analysis by
Drs. Taylor and Rees, and of the effect of their evidence, the learned
Judge made the following comment on their experiments on animals:—

“There is here a most important question for your consideration. Great
reliance is placed by the prisoner’s counsel, and very naturally
so, upon the fact that no trace of strychnia was detected in the
stomach of Cook by Dr. Taylor and Dr. Rees, who alone analysed it and
experimented upon it. But, on the other hand, you must bear in mind
that we have their own evidence to show that there may be and have
been cases of death by strychnia in which the united skill of these
two individuals has failed to detect the presence of the strychnia
after death. Both Dr. Taylor and Dr. Rees have stated upon their oaths
that in two cases where they knew death to have been occasioned by
strychnia—the poison having, in fact, been administered with their
own hands—they failed to discover the slightest trace of the poison
in the dead bodies of the animals on which they had experimented. It
is possible that other chemists might have succeeded in detecting
strychnia in those animals and strychnia also in the jar containing
the stomach and intestines of Cook; but, however this may be, it is
beyond all question that Dr. Taylor and Dr. Rees failed to discover
the faintest indications of strychnia in the bodies of two animals
which they had themselves poisoned with that deadly drug. Whatever
may be the nature of the different theories propounded for the
explanation of this fact, the fact itself is deposed to on oath; and,
if we believe the witnesses, does not admit of doubt.” With regard
to the letter from Dr. Taylor to Mr. Gardner, stating that neither
strychnia, prussic acid, nor opium had been found in the body, his
lordship said, “this letter was written before Cook’s symptoms had
been communicated to them; but they had been informed that prussic
acid, strychnia, and opium had been bought by Palmer on the Tuesday.
They searched for all these poisons, and found none. The only poison
they found was antimony, and they did not, therefore, in the absence
of symptoms, attribute death to strychnia, as they could not at that
time; but they say it might have been produced by antimony, as they
say that the quantity found in the body was no test of the quantity
taken into the system.”—“For the discovery of strychnia Dr. Taylor
experimented upon the bodies of animals which he had himself killed by
this poison, but in them no strychnia could be found. I do not know
what interest Dr. Taylor could be supposed to have to give evidence
against the prisoner. He was regularly employed by the Crown, and knew
nothing of Palmer until he was called upon by Mr. Stevens, and the
jar was given to him. He could have no enmity against the prisoner
and no interest whatever to misrepresent facts.” [On being reminded
that Dr. Taylor’s experiments on the two rabbits were not made until
after the inquest,] “that,” said Lord Campbell, “makes no difference.
If that experiment was made this morning the fact would be the same.
Against Dr. Rees there is not even the imputation of having written
an indiscreet letter to a newspaper. Yet Dr. Rees concurs with Dr.
Taylor, that these rabbits were killed by strychnia; that they did
whatever was in their power, according to their skill and knowledge,
to discover strychnia, as they did with the contents of the jar, and
that no strychnia could be discovered. As to antimony, he corroborates
the testimony of Dr. Taylor. Antimony is a component of tartar emetic;
tartar emetic produces vomiting, and you will judge from the vomiting
at Shrewsbury and Rugeley whether antimony may have been administered
to Cook at those places. Antimony may not have produced death, but the
question of its administration is a part of the case which you must
most seriously consider.”

Having then read the evidence of Professor Brande, Dr. Christison,
and Dr. John Jackson, Lord Campbell, at eight o’clock, reserved the
evidence for the defence to the next day.

On resuming his charge the next morning, Lord Campbell commenced by a
brief summary of his previous remarks.

“The evidence for the prosecution certainly did present a serious case
against the prisoner. It appeared that in November last he was most
seriously embarrassed, and that he had to make payments for which he
was entirely unprepared. There were actions against himself and his
mother, and he had no credit left in any quarter. Cook by the races at
Shrewsbury became master of £1000, and the inference had been drawn
that Palmer formed a design of appropriating it to his own purposes,
in order to relieve himself from his embarrassments. Again, it was
proved that the prisoner drew a cheque in the name of Cook which was a
forgery, for the purpose of appropriating to himself Cook’s property.
What would have been the effect of the survival of Cook under those
circumstances it would be for the jury to consider. No doubt, if Cook
had lived, that cheque would have been brought forward, and would
have led to an exposure of all Palmer’s delinquencies. With respect
to the joint liability of Cook and Palmer, it was said that it was
disadvantageous to Palmer that Cook should die; but there seemed to
be some doubt whether it was not the intention of Palmer to possess
himself of the whole of Cook’s property, and in that case he had a
direct interest in his death. Then as to the medical evidence which
had been adduced for the prosecution. The jury had heard the evidence
of able and honourable men, who said that the deceased did not die a
natural death, and that the symptoms were consistent with death by
strychnia, and not consistent with death by ordinary _tetanus_. There
was no point of law which required that the strychnia should be found
in the body of the deceased, and it would therefore be for the jury
on this point to consider whether the evidence of the prosecution was
sufficient, or whether they could rely upon the answer which had been
put in by the defence. There was direct evidence that the prisoner
procured the poison of strychnia on Monday and Tuesday. What he did
with it was not for him in that place to affirm. It was impossible for
the jury not to pay attention to the conduct of the prisoner before
and after the death of Cook, and they would not fail to consider,
as part of those circumstances, his very remarkable proceedings in
reference to the betting-book, which had never been discovered.”

He then proceeded to consider the evidence tendered by medical and
scientific experts for the defence.

“Then as to the evidence which had been put in for the defence, the
jury had had before them gentlemen of great ability and high honour,
who had given in detail the results of their experience. With that
evidence he would now proceed to deal.” [The learned judge read in
extenso the voluminous evidence of Mr. Nunneley, the surgeon, of
Leeds.] “The jury had heard the manner in which Mr. Nunneley had given
his evidence, and they must form their own opinion of it. Certainly he
seemed to display an interest in the case not altogether consistent
with the character of a witness. He differed very much from several
witnesses who were examined for the prosecution, and particularly
in reference to rigidity being produced by strychnia after death.
These and similar questions were for the jury. The next witness who
was examined was Mr. Herapath, of Bristol, a very eminent analytical
chemist, who had paid great attention to the subject of poisons.
That gentleman said that where there had been death by strychnia it
ought to be discovered. But it appeared, on cross-examination, that
he had expressed an opinion, on another occasion, that Cook died from
strychnia, but that Dr. Taylor had not taken the proper means to find
it. After adverting to the evidence of Mr. Rogers, his lordship read
that of Dr. Letheby, of the London Hospital, the medical officer of
the City of London, of whom he said that he seemed to prove that cases
of this sort were very variable, and that he admitted that the Romsey
case was an exception. Now, while these exceptional cases existed,
it could hardly be said that the principles laid down by Dr. Letheby
were sufficient to rebut the evidence in chief. His lordship next
referred to Mr. Gay’s case of the omnibus conductor. This, he said,
was a case of idiopathic tetanus. The jury would say, on comparing
it with the symptoms in Cook’s case, whether his was also a case of
idiopathic tetanus. The great weight of evidence seemed to show that
Cook’s was not a case of idiopathic any more than it was a case of
traumatic tetanus. Mr. Gay’s case differed altogether from that of
Cook, and as far as he could see there was no analogy between them.
Passing next to the evidence of Mr. Ross, and to his case of a man,
who died from ulcers, his lordship remarked that he did not see why
this case was brought before the Court unless to prove that Cook’s was
of the same sort. This was a case, whether of idiopathic or traumatic
tetanus, in which it was sought to prove that death was caused by
bruises on the body. But there were no bruises of any sort about
Cook, and therefore the analogy failed. In reference to the important
evidence of Dr. Wrightson, who said he had detected strychnia in
putrifying blood and decomposed matter, and that strychnia did not
under such circumstances decompose, he must say that this witness was
a scientific and honourable man, and had spoken throughout with proper
caution. According to Dr. Wrightson, the discovery of the poison
should have been proved, but at the same time his evidence did not
overthrow the case for the prosecution; and it would be for the jury
to say whether, in the event of poison actually being in the body, the
tests employed to detect it were sufficient. Referring to the evidence
of Mr. Partridge, his lordship said that the witness had stated that
the symptoms in Cook’s case did not correspond with what he should
have expected to have found from strychnia, but he spoke from his own
experience, and he admitted that the symptoms were very variable; and
he did not seem, therefore, to speak with any degree of certainty upon
the subject. Mr. Gay’s case of a boy who suffered from tetanus from
an injury to his toe was, his lordship thought, not at all analogous
to that of Cook; nor was that of the young woman who had an attack of
tetanus without any apparent cause, and recovered, as deposed to by
Dr. McDonald. The last witness had given his opinion that Cook died
from epileptic convulsions, accompanied with tetanic complications,
and this he thought might have been produced by mental or sensual
excitement. The jury would see to what length this witness went, and
it would be for the jury to say what weight they attached to his
evidence. Having adverted to several cases adduced by the defence, and
which his lordship considered bore no analogy to Cook’s, he read the
evidence of Dr. Robinson, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, who ascribed the death
to epilepsy. He then passed on to Dr. Richardson, who narrated the
particulars of a remarkable case of angina pectoris, to the symptoms
of which disease he said Cook’s bore a remarkable resemblance. The
witness, his lordship said, seemed a most respectable man, and he said
that the symptoms in this case were consistent with those arising from
strychnia, and that if he had known as much of strychnia at that time
as he did now, he should have searched for it in that case. It would
be for the jury to consider whether Cook’s symptoms were consistent
with strychnia, and if so, that ought to lead them as to the opinion
they should form on the case. His lordship having adverted to the
evidence of Catharine Watson, the girl who was attacked with tetanus
in Scotland, and to other witnesses who were recalled, said this was
all the medical evidence that had been adduced by the counsel for
the defence of the prisoner. But then, gentlemen, said Lord Campbell,
comes that most important question, whether the symptoms of the
deceased were consistent with death by poisoning with strychnia. You
will say whether your opinion upon that subject is altered by the
evidence given on the part of the prisoner. Several of the witnesses
called by the prisoner seem to admit (although, of course, you will
form your own judgment upon it) that those symptoms were consistent
with strychnia, although, in the absence of evidence to show that
strychnia was administered, they could not come to such a conclusion.”

Lord Campbell’s subsequent remarks on the witnesses who were called to
contradict those for the prosecution as to the state of Cook’s health,
the incident of the brandy and water at Shrewsbury, and the possibility
of Palmer arriving in Rugeley from London at the time spoken to by
Newton, have already been given in previous notes. In conclusion, he
said,

“The conduct of the prisoner in requesting to have the body fastened
up, with respect to the betting book, and the tampering with the
coroner, remained unanswered, as did also the bribe offered to the
postboy. No explanation was offered as to the strychnia purchased
by the prisoner on the Tuesday morning, the proof of which stands
uncontradicted; no evidence has been given of any purpose to which it
was to be applied, and no explanation of what became of that poison.
The case was now before the jury. They must not act upon suspicion,
or even strong suspicion, and they must only pronounce a verdict of
guilty if their minds were made up. If, however, they could come to
the conclusion that he was guilty, they would return such a verdict
unfettered and undeterred by any intimidation.”

_Mr. Serjeant Shee_ objected to the question put to the jury by the
judge. He submitted that the question, whether the symptoms of Cook’s
death were consistent with death by strychnia was a wrong one, unless
coupled with the words “and inconsistent with death from natural
causes,” and that the question should then be “whether the medical
evidence established beyond all reasonable doubt that the death of
Cook was attributable to strychnia.”

_Baron Alderson._—“That is the question that has been put.”

_Mr. Serjeant Shee_ submitted that the question whether the symptoms
were consistent with strychnia ought not to have been put.

_Lord Campbell._—“ I have told the jury that, unless they think the
symptoms described agree with the supposition that the deceased died
from strychnia, they must acquit the prisoner.”

_Baron Alderson._—“That has been stated in the speech.”

After some further remarks from Mr. Serjeant Shee, Lord Campbell
told the jury that not only must they be satisfied that the symptoms
described agreed with the supposition that the deceased died from
strychnia, but that it was administered by the prisoner.

The jury retired at 2.20, and at 3.45 returned a verdict of guilty, and
Lord Campbell passed sentence of death, to be carried out at Stafford
jail.

The prisoner heard the sentence perfectly unmoved. At one time he drew
himself up, as if about to make some remark, but did not attempt to
speak. He stood quite calm, and when his Lordship had concluded, turned
round and walked from the dock with the same coolness as he had shown
during the whole of his protracted trial.

Contrasting the procedure in this memorable trial with what it might
and no doubt would have been in a criminal court in France, Mr.
Justice Stephen makes the following remarks:—“Not less remarkable
than the careful way in which all topics of prejudice were avoided
was the extreme fulness and completeness of the evidence as to facts
really relevant to the case. Nothing was omitted which the jury could
properly want to know, nor anything which the prisoner could possibly
wish to say. No case could set in a clearer light the characteristic
features of English Criminal Law—namely, its essentially litigious
character, and the way in which it deals with scientific evidence. A
study of the case will show, first, that evidence could not be more
condensed, more complete, more clearly directed to the point at issue;
secondly, that the subjection of all the witnesses, and especially
the scientific witnesses, to the most rigorous cross-examination is
absolutely essential to the trustworthiness of their evidence. The
clearness and skill with which the various witnesses, especially
those for the defence, were cross-examined, and forced to admit that
they could not really distinguish the symptoms of Cook from those of
poisoning by strychnia, was such an illustration of the efficiency of
cross-examination as is rarely indeed afforded.”

“The defence was by far the least impressive part of the trial, but
that was mainly because there was nothing to say. It was impossible to
suggest any innocent explanation of Palmer’s conduct. It was proved
to demonstration that he was in dire need of money in order to avoid
a prosecution for forgery; that he robbed his friend of all he had
by a series of devices which he must instantly have discovered if he
had lived; that he provided himself with the means of committing the
murder just before Cook’s death; and that he could neither produce the
poison he had bought, nor suggest any innocent reason for buying it.
There must have been some mystery in the case which has never been
discovered. Palmer, at and before his death, was repeatedly pressed to
say whether he was guilty or not, and told that everyone would believe
him guilty if he did not emphatically deny it. He could only say Cook
was not poisoned by strychnia, and I have reason to know that he was
anxious that Mr. Herapath should examine the body for strychnia, though
aware that he could detect the 1-50,000th part of a grain. He may have
discovered some way of administering it which would render detection
impossible, but it is difficult to doubt that he used it; for if not,
why buy it?”[71]

THE LEEDS POISONING CASE.

_Before_ BARON BRAMWELL, NORTHERN CIRCUIT, YORK, _July 16, 17, and 18,
1856_.

_For the Prosecution_: Mr. Overend, Q.C., Mr. G. Hardy, and Mr. L. H.
Bayly.

_For the Defence_: Mr. Bliss, Q.C., Mr. Serjeant Wilkins, and Mr.
Middleton.[72]

_William Dove_, aged 30, was indicted for the murder of his wife, on
the 1st of March, 1856, at Leeds.

EARLY LIFE OF THE PRISONER.

The prisoner, the son of a respectable leather manufacturer at Leeds,
had been, from his childhood to his seventh year, more than usually
fractious, mischievous, ill-natured, and irrational in his tricks:
putting lighted candles more than once in a basket and locking them
in a cupboard: pouring some kind of spirits on his bedroom curtains
and setting them on fire: chasing his sisters with a red-hot poker and
threatening to burn them: hanging a cat by its tail out of window:
cutting himself with knives and writing his name with his blood: an
irregular and inapt scholar, especially in his religion.[73] The usher
at his first school, where he was from the age of ten to thirteen
years, regarded him “as a boy of very low intellect, great inability
of mind, great want of moral power, evil and vicious propensities.
Once, when he had got a pistol, he told his schoolfellows he was
going to shoot his father—a dull boy, and a had boy. I then thought
him insane, but did not feel myself in a position to object to his
being flogged.”[74] Mr. Highley, the master of this school, spoke
strongly of Dove’s bad conduct, which he attributed to his reasoning
powers being very limited. “He appeared,” said the witness, “to have
no idea of any consequences; to be deprived of reason. I am satisfied
he was labouring under an aberration of intellect.”[75] Having been
expelled from his school, his father took the opinion of a Mr. Lord,
a schoolmaster, as to what was best to be done with the boy. “I could
make no impression on his heart or his head,” said Mr. Lord. “He
could not appreciate what I said. He listened, but I could make no
impression—get no rational answers. When I heard of his engagement I
told his future wife’s brother-in-law that inquiry ought to be made
about Dove on account of his unaccountable irrational conduct.” By Mr.
Lord’s advice, he was sent to learn farming, for more than five years,
with a Mr. Frankish. Here again his mischievous and cruel propensities
were exhibited—putting vitriol on the tails of some cows, burning
half-grown kittens with it, putting it into the horse-trough, and
setting fire to the gorse. He was as unapt a scholar at farming as at
religion and grammar. Again, when he went to another farmer for a year,
he was the same dull unpractical pupil. He was now sent to America for
a short visit, returning with travellers’ stories of his adventures of
unusual wildness and incredibility. Still, however, he was deemed by
his father capable of being trusted with a farm, where his mischievous
and extravagant conduct astonished his servants, and made them regard
him as “not of a sound mind.”[76] At this time, 1852, he married,
quarrelling or playing with his wife like a child, and changed his
farm more than once, without apparent reason. Other witnesses spoke to
the incoherence of his conversation: of his lying on the ground and
crying without a cause; complaining of noises in his house; trying
to reap his own corn in a green state; exhibiting conjuring tricks,
and talking of having put a spell on the steward of the proprietor
of one of his farms. Eventually, in consequence of his intemperate
habits, he had to give up farming and remove into the outskirts of
Leeds, where he lived on an annuity of £90 a year, left to him by his
father, who died in 1854. With nothing to do, he became an habitual
drunkard, aggravating his eccentricities, stimulating his mischievous
propensities, and stupefying himself as to the consequences of his
actions to himself.[77] With such propensities, it may be conceived
that his wife led a wretched life; that quarrels were frequent; that at
one time he threatened her with a pistol; and that eventually, after a
very few years, they occupied separate beds, and rarely met, except at
meals. Unfortunately for both of them, an arrangement for a separation
was broken off by the interposition of injudicious friends, and until
the beginning of 1856 they endured their miserable life together.

HISTORY OF THE CASE.

It was at this time that the enquiries into the death of Cook at
Rugeley were filling the newspapers, and the evidence on the inquest
became matter of popular discussion. Among Dove’s friends was one
Harrison, known as the Witchman of Leeds, who, according to his own
account, was “a dentist, a water caster, a caster of nativities, and a
believer in the stars.” On hearing this man read, in a public-house,
the results of the analytical examination of Cook’s body by Dr. Taylor,
as related at the inquest, and that gentleman’s statement of the
difficulty, if not impossibility, of discovering strychnia by chemical
analysis, Dove appears to have been forcibly struck by the revelation.
He asked Harrison either to make or get him some strychnia, and, when
he refused, said he could get it elsewhere. Probably at that time the
idea of poisoning his wife was first entertained by him. Unfortunately
he had no difficulty in obtaining the necessary poison, as he was
intimately acquainted with Mr. Morley, the surgeon of Leeds, who had
attended the Dove family for many years, and was a constant visitor
to his surgery. Subsequently, therefore, to his acquiring knowledge
of what had happened in Palmer’s case, he had repeated conversations
with one of Mr. Morley’s pupils about strychnia; and on the 10th of
February, on the plea that his house was infested by rats, and that he
was worried by his neighbour’s cats, he obtained from him ten grains of
this deadly poison. This he placed about the house in a careless way,
and destroyed a cat, the body of which he buried in the midden. Again
on the 17th he got four or five grains more of strychnia, promising the
pupil who gave it to him the skin of a grey cat which he professed to
be about to poison with it. At this time, the pupil was of opinion that
Dove noted whereabouts on the shelf the bottle of strychnia was placed.
A few days after he was seen by Mr. Morley’s coachman in the surgery
alone, with the gas turned up, which, as the coachman came near, he
turned down, and in an apparent flurry, meeting him at the door, gave
as his excuse that he had come to light his pipe.[78] The suggestion
of the prosecution was that at this time, knowing where the bottle of
strychnia was kept, he took the opportunity of helping himself to
some more of the poison. During all this time it was evident, from his
conversations on strychnia and the impossibility of its detection, that
he had studied Palmer’s case.

Previously to Sunday, the 24th of February, Mrs. Dove had not been
well, but on that day appeared quite recovered. On the Monday, however,
when she went upstairs with her servant to make the beds, she was
suddenly taken ill, staggered, became paralysed, twitched and jumped,
and when put on the bed, on the slightest touch either of her body or
the bedclothes, had renewed convulsions. Dove, who was downstairs,
was sent for, and went for the doctor, to whom he said that his wife
had been ill all night, and asked if his wife died would there be a
coroner’s inquest?[79] After two or three hours the convulsions passed
away, and the patient remained free from pain. Dove’s attention to his
wife was suspiciously marked. He gave her medicine with his own hands;
called in a neighbour to attend to her, and seemed greatly distressed
at her condition. Three days after, a second attack of the same nature
occurred, and again he told the doctor he was sure his wife would die.
She was seen to cry bitterly, and heard to say that she was sure the
medicine, of the bitter taste of which she complained, was killing her.
Next evening a third attack came on, with the same symptoms. And on the
28th Dove predicted that she would have another attack about ten that
evening; at that hour he gave her the medicine, and in half an hour
afterwards another and more severe attack came on, so severe that she
said, “Oh dear, I thought it was all over.” In all these attacks after
a time the spasms and convulsions passed away, and she was apparently
only suffering from exhaustion after them, and otherwise quite well.
On Saturday Dove, who had gone out, returned much in liquor, and at 8
P.M. gave her her medicine. “It is very disagreeable,” she said, “hot
and bitter.” He washed out the glass and wiped it as usual, saying, “I
always wash it out; medicine is always such nasty stuff.” Within half
an hour of taking this dose an attack more than usually violent came
on, and after a series of spasms and convulsions the poor creature died
about twenty minutes to eleven that night.

Struck with the resemblance of the symptoms of Mrs. Dove’s attacks to
those due to poisoning by strychnia, and hearing from his pupil of the
purchase of that drug by the prisoner, Mr. Morley, who had attended
her, decided on having a _post-mortem_ examination. This Dove, who
had on her first attack asked Morley’s pupil whether Mr. Morley would
have a _post-mortem_ examination if his wife died, tried to prevent,
on the plea of his having promised his wife that it should not be
allowed, and his horror at the desecration of her body. Mr. Morley,
however, obtained the consent of Dove’s mother, and persevered. On
the examination of the body by himself and Mr. Nunneley, the surgeon,
and the subsequent chemical analysis of its different parts, every
test proved the presence of strychnia in large quantities. During the
examination of the body, blood to the extent of a crown piece fell on
the floor of the room, and a week after the spaniel of a woman who was
cleaning the room was supposed to have licked it, and as she left on
the completion of her work, was attacked with violent spasms, fell on
its back, and died at once. On the examination of its body strychnia
was also detected. The prisoner, who after his wife’s funeral had
wandered about, asking Harrison and other persons whether it was safe
to go back, and talking about the possibility of the wife having taken
the strychnia by accident, as he had carelessly placed it in his
razor case, and put it about in the house, was subsequently arrested
and put upon his trial. It is needless to give in detail the evidence
of the persons by whom the above facts were proved, which were hardly
traversed by counsel for the defence. The testimony with reference to
the symptoms and the results of the _post-mortem_ examination cannot,
however, with safety be abridged, seeing the importance attached to
this case in Palmer’s trial.

THE SYMPTOMS.

_Ann Fisher_, who took her daughter’s place in the house in consequence
of the latter’s illness, said—

“On Saturday and Sunday Mrs. Dove appeared pretty well, and on the
latter day went to church. On Monday, February 25, after breakfast,
she complained of her legs, and said she felt curious, and fell in
the bedroom whilst helping witness to make the beds. Witness caught
her in her arms, and called up Dove, who went for Mrs. Witham (next
door neighbour), and witness put Mrs. Dove to bed. _She started, and
twitched, and jumped, and, even if witness touched the bedclothes,
or walked across the room, complained that it made her worse._ Mr.
Scarth (Morley’s assistant) came and gave some medicine, and she felt
better. The jerkings continued from two to two and a half hours. She
lay on her right side, and her breathing was rather difficult: she was
quite sensible the whole time. She seemed better in the afternoon, and
pretty well the next morning. On Wednesday, the 27th, _she had another
attack, beating, jumping, and starting; complained about her legs and
back being very bad: said there was a stiffness in them; they seemed
paralysed, and she could not move them about_. _She lay on her side,
and her breathing was_ very bad when she had these attacks on her. She
was better after the medicines on the two occasions on which I gave
them to her myself. I cannot recollect Thursday, but on Friday night,
about 10 P.M., I was called up into the bedroom. Dove was dressed,
standing by the bedside holding her hand. _Her back was quite arched,
and she was making a great noise in her inside. She said, ‘Oh dear, I
thought it had been my last.’ Her breathing was very difficult. She
complained about her jaws being stiff._ I stayed with her till about 2
A.M., and she was better, and I went to bed. Next morning she said she
was very poorly, and could not take any coffee. She had had no rest
all night. She took some coffee afterwards, and had a little rest. In
the afternoon Mrs. Witham was with her. She appeared much better then,
washed herself _and rubbed her legs, which seemed to ease her_. She
became worse at 8.30 P.M. The bell was rung: Mrs. Wood and Mrs. Witham
were with her. Dove was out—had gone out about a quarter to half an
hour. _She then moaned and screamed; her body was quite arched and her
feet projected right from her body, and she was in that state till
twenty minutes to eleven, when she died._ Before she died she grasped
the hands of Mrs. Wood and Mrs. Witham, who were holding hers, so hard
that it hurt them. Dove came back at about ten: she was then in great
agony. As soon as he saw me, he told me he was going to Mr. Morley’s
for medicine, and that if Mrs. Wood wanted to go home, I was to go up
and take her place. When he returned with the doctors, she was dead.”

_Mrs. Witham_,[80] the next door neighbour who attended the deceased
almost daily, confirmed Mrs. Fisher’s account of the earlier symptoms,
and gave the following details of the night of her death:—

“On Saturday, March the 1st, I saw her again about 2.30 P.M. She
seemed better, and I remained with her till about six. At 3.30 P.M. I
gave her her medicine. Mr. Morley came at four, when she seemed well.
I got the food he ordered for her, and she seemed better than I had
seen her before. Dove was there, and when I told him I had given her
the medicine, he said she ought not to have it until about five. I was
sent for again later to sit with her until Mrs. Fisher came, as Dove
was going for medicine. _He was rubbing her legs_, and asked her to
kiss him, which she did. Shortly after, he gave her her medicine. He
went to the washstand, and came back with a glass in one hand, with
the medicine and water in the other. He was at the washstand time
enough to pour out the medicine. Mrs. Wood was present. After she had
taken it, Mrs. Dove complained that it was very hot, and asked for a
lozenge. _Dove took the glass to the washstand, and said he always
washed it out after giving the medicine._ He then left, as he said, to
get more medicine. In about a quarter of an hour _she complained of
her back: her head was thrown back. I took hold of her hand, and she
grasped it so tightly I could not get it away. Her eyes looked fixed.
I put my hand to them: they did not move. Her features were very much
distorted, and her teeth clinched. We both took hold of her hands,
which she grasped so tightly that I could not bear it. Mrs. Wood was
going to rub her back. She said, ‘Oh, don’t; lift me up,’ and I and
Mrs. Wood tried to do so. Her back was arched, her body quite stiff,
her legs stretched out. I did not notice her feet. We lifted her up,
and put a pillow under her back. She rested on her shoulders, and the
bottom part of her back, until the pillow was placed under her. The
symptoms grew more violent, but she could speak. Her breathing was
loud and difficult. She shrieked several times—a sort of scream. In
about half an hour she could speak no longer. We could not be positive
if she was sensible, and at twenty minutes to eleven she died._ Dove
came in after she had ceased to speak, threw off his coat, and was
going to rub her legs, when I said she could not bear it. Mrs. Wood
said something to him, and he left the house immediately. When the
doctors came she had been dead some minutes.”

On _cross-examination_ the witness said—

“That when she gave her the medicine about three o’clock, deceased
complained that it was bitter, as witness found it was on tasting it:
(it contained aloes). That when the attack came on she appeared to
lose her senses very soon, her eyes being fixed, and not speaking:
this was in about an hour. She spoke until half an hour after her
attack, but not until forty minutes. She was in better health and
spirits on the Saturday than she had been all the week. _She was
rubbed after each fit, and it seemed to relieve her. The jumpings
and twitchings went on, on the Saturday, and she was then some hours
still, and then they began again._”

_Mrs. Wood_ added the following particulars of the last attack:—

“I went at twenty minutes to eight on the Saturday evening and found
her sitting up; her husband and Mrs. Witham were with her. About
eight she asked her husband for her medicine; he went out of the
room to get it, and returned in about a minute with it, and gave it
to her. She said it was very bitter, very hot, and very nasty, and
that she thought she would get better if the attack did not return. I
recommended her to try and put it off. _In about a quarter of an hour
after taking the medicine she began to be ill. I asked Mrs. Witham to
go round and take her hand, saying, ‘this Gird is coming on.’ She was
propped up with pillows. In a short time she said, ‘Off the bed’ and
repeated it three times. I thought at that time she wished to get off
the bed. Mrs. Witham said, ‘Oh no, we cannot.’ I do not think she was
sensible after she said ‘Off the bed’ the first time._ She died at
twenty minutes to eleven. Dove went for the doctors; when he returned
she was dead.”

_Mr. Scarth_, Morley’s pupil, who attended on the 25th of February, at
the request of the prisoner, in Mr. Morley’s absence, said—

“I found Mrs. Dove in bed _with very minute twitchings of the muscles
of the face and arms, and her teeth closed—hands clinched—head
thrown slightly back, and the shoulders likewise, and her feet
stretched straight out with the legs_. Again I saw her at seven on
the Thursday night, _the symptoms were the same, but her principal
complaint was of pain in the shoulders and back_. _Her shoulders
were thrown back._ The attack passed off whilst I was there in about
five minutes. I gave her the draught prescribed by Mr. Morley, and
the convulsions ceased and did not return, and I ordered her the
repetition of the draught.”

This witness had the cat dug out of the midden, in which the prisoner
said he had buried it, and was present when Mr. Morley and Mr. Nunneley
experimented on it.

MEDICAL AND ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE.

_Mr. George Morley_, a surgeon at Leeds, who had always attended the
Dove family, was called in to the deceased in December, 1855, when he
found her suffering from disordered digestion and nervous excitement.
She improved, and he subsequently only saw her at long intervals till
the 25th of February; on that day, he said—

“I found her in bed, and only observed _twitchings of the arms twice_.
She told me she had had an attack in the morning with pains in the
back and limbs, and had been often before so, and that she suffered
from an excitable temperament. I thought it an hysterical attack, as
she was at the age for them. Saw her every day during the week, and on
the Wednesday and Thursday again _saw slight jerking of the arms_. On
the Friday and Saturday she was decidedly better, and I did not alter
my opinion of her case until the Saturday night, as I had often seen
such symptoms arise from hysteria. I made the medicines antispasmodic
and sedative: they would check the symptoms, and for a time seemed to
do so. On Wednesday I proposed seeing another doctor, when Dove said
she would not recover, and I warned him not to say so in her hearing,
and that he had better call in a physician. Next day I received a note
from him declining the proposed consultation, as his wife had perfect
confidence in me. On Saturday I received a message that she was worse,
and that I was to bring Dr. Hobson with me. Dove came afterwards to my
house, and said he thought she would not recover, and that he should
object to a _post mortem_ examination. I said I thought there would be
no need of one, and that she would recover. He said his wife objected
to it strongly. He seemed excited, as with drink, but quite rational.
We were too late to see Mrs. Dove alive. From what Mr. Scarth told me
I took measures for a _post mortem_ examination.

“I now attribute the symptoms I have heard described to the poison of
strychnia—from the symptoms and what I found in the body—finding in
the body no organic disease to account for death. _The symptoms do not
correspond with those of any other disease, but do with those produced
by strychnia._ In hysteria the symptoms are more irregular; they do
not assume a tetanic character; there is more disturbance of the mind;
and such attacks are never fatal. Tetanic affections are stiffening
of the limbs, rigidity, and stretching out of the limbs, arching
back of the trunk, stiffening of the neck and jaw. The symptoms of
hysteria might be some of those symptoms. No one but might be found
in hysteria, but not all together. The symptoms are separately and
conjointly in accordance with poisoning by strychnia. On Monday, March
3rd, _forty-two_ hours after death, by authority of the prisoner’s
mother, I made a _post mortem_ examination in conjunction with Mr.
Nunneley, and drew up the following joint report.”

It is unnecessary to give in detail the first portion of this report,
in which, from a most careful examination of all parts of the body, it
was evident that the death could not be attributed to any known organic
disease. With the exception of a slight appearance of congestion in
the intestines, every part of the body was in a healthy state, and the
stomach contained only usual food. The report then continued:—

“No appearance of irritation from any mineral or other irritant
poison, nor any odour of any poison recognizable by smell. Hence we
searched for strychnia. We divided the stomach and its contents into
three parts:—(1.) The brown pulpy mass in the stomach; (2.) The
mucous and all other matters that could be removed from the stomach;
(3.) The stomach itself. By the usual tests we obtained strychnia from
each of these. The spirituous extracts were also unusually bitter. In
the contents of the intestines we found only faint traces. We obtained
the body of the cat, that had been poisoned some time before, and
proved that it is possible to discover strychnia in a dead body some
time after death. The result was decidedly the same evidence as we had
from the human body.”

The report then gave the details of the processes by which the
strychnia had been detected. (1.) Taste; (2.) Nitric acid, producing a
red colour (_the test for brucia_); (3.) Acetic acid and solution of
chloride of gold, producing a yellowish-white precipitate (_of doubtful
value_); (4.) Concentrated sulphuric acid and solution of bichromate of
potash, both in powder and in solution, producing the purple colour;
(5.) The application of the same tests to strychnia itself with the
same results, by each of them separately, and repeated with such
variations as could detect any error that might have crept in, and
the conclusion to which the analysts came that the stomach contained
strychnia enough to cause death.

The report then described the effects of administering portions of
the spirituous extracts proved to have contained strychnia to several
animals, five in number. In the cases of four of these, two rabbits,
one mouse, and a guinea-pig, the liquid was given by inoculation
through small openings either in the cellular tissues beneath the
skin, or into one of the mucous cavities of the body; and in the case
of one of the mice, by the mouth. In three cases death followed at
the respective intervals of two, twelve, and fifty minutes after the
introduction of the poison; and in one case—that of a rabbit—although
for a time it remained nearly dead, it afterwards revived, and
eventually recovered. In the case of the pig, the effects were much
more slight; the spasms were not so violent as to throw it down and
entirely disable it, but on the following day it was found dead, with
the muscles rigid, and the hind legs extended, as if from poison.
“_The symptoms preceding death, in all the cases, were, disturbed
respiration, general distress, convulsive twitchings and jerkings,
tetanic spasms, a peculiar out-stretching of the legs, and general
rigidity, exactly those commonly produced by strychnia._” The same
effects, for the sake of comparison, were produced in a parallel series
of experiments on animals with ordinary strychnia, which, as a series,
were not more severe, or more rapidly fatal. “These experiments,” said
the analysts, “which add the test of physiological effect to that of
the chemical reagent, directly confirm our analysis, and taking them
in connection with the analyses and with the symptoms observed during
life, and with the appearances noted after death, they afford, in our
opinion, the most complete proof that the death of Mrs. Dove was from
the poisonous effects of strychnia, and from no other cause.”

The witness then spoke from his own personal knowledge of cases of
poisoning by strychnia, and continued:—

“I cannot refer the death to any other cause, nor the symptoms
during life, as described by the witnesses Witham, Fisher, and Wood.
_There is no other substance that will produce such symptoms and
appearances._ I tried similar experiments on a little dog, with the
same results. _Strychnia is not a cumulative poison. The effect of of
it passes off entirely by a gradual subsidence of the spasms. In part
the strychnia is absorbed in the blood, in part it passes off by the
secretions, part remains in the stomach, its carbon, hydrogen, and
other constituents broken up. If not decomposed, it would act on other
animals._ The series of symptoms produced by strychnia were complete.
I have no doubt that each of the several attacks were produced by
strychnia. Several of the medicines I sent to Mrs. Dove were bitter,
containing aloes and gentian, and hot, containing ammonia and
ether. _The effects of strychnia would follow from in a few seconds
to an hour and a half, depending on the constitution of the person,
and state of the stomach, and how the strychnia was administered._
Assuming that Mrs. Dove took no food or tea, I should refer the time
at which she took the strychnia to the time at which she took the
medicine. That would be the natural time for the attack; she would be
attacked in a quarter to half an hour after taking it. The strychnia
I had in my surgery was a soft white powder, fine, but not so fine as
salt. There is a form of pure crystallised strychnia more like salt.
I should judge that she had taken two to three grains to produce the
results of Saturday night. You might take two or three grains between
your finger and thumb: a quarter of a grain would kill a dog. I have
examined one of the bottles of medicine which I sent to Mrs. Dove; it
is the same as I sent.”

The witness also related the following conversations with the
prisoner:—

“During the _post-mortem_ examination, I had a conversation with
the prisoner at his mother’s. He asked me what we had found in the
analysis—had we found poison? I said the analysis was not complete,
and could not give any answer till it was. I said we had not found
any natural causes of death. He asked me, ‘If poison was found, what
would the jury say? ‘ I replied, that ‘They could only say it was
taken by accident, or intentionally, or given to her by some one.’ He
wished me to let him know before the inquest if we had found poison.
I had inquired about his getting poison, and asked him how often.
He replied, ‘Only once, and that he had it to kill mice, as well as
cats; had placed it in his razor-case, and told his wife that it was
the poison Palmer used; that it was a deadly poison, and she must not
touch it.’ I never told him there should be no examination.”

On _cross-examination_ by Mr. Bliss, after speaking to his having
attended the Dove family for many years, but seen but little of the
prisoner before he came to Leeds, the witness said—

“When the conversation about strychnia took place, the prisoner
asked me if I suspected him, and said, ‘Should I have done it openly
if I had intended to do it? Should I have come to your surgery for
it or have talked openly about it to other people? Could I have
been so cruel?’ That was the first time that I named strychnia to
any relative. I examined the little dog and have no doubt it died
of strychnia. They brought me a piece of carpet and the board on
which was blood, but I discovered no strychnia. I could not; the
quantity was too small. I think the stains in the carpet and on the
board could not have contained strychnia enough to have poisoned the
dog. I discovered very little blood in the intestines. Strychnia is
exceedingly bitter. One part in 40,000 would be bitter, less would be
perceptibly bitter. There was a considerable quantity of fæces in the
intestines, and three or four ounces of digested food. Mrs. Dove’s
medicines were alkaline. I saw Mrs. Dove every day from Monday to
Saturday, and she told me her ailments. I found nothing in the body
to account for death but the strychnia taken on Saturday. Strychnia
is not soluble in alkali. The symptoms I have heard to-day, prior
to those on Saturday, are additional to what I saw. Hysteria would
have left no symptoms. There was nothing inconsistent with strychnia
having been administered before in the appearances of the body. The
engorged state of the lungs and the condition of the brain favoured
that view. _I say this guardedly._ She might with this condition of
body have been better on Saturday, as congestion would pass away
quickly. I found no symptoms on Saturday of the brain or lungs being
engorged. She was better in health, in spirits, and in appetite. Mrs.
Witham’s and Mrs. Fisher’s statements have changed my opinion. The
symptoms they describe are all to be found separately in hysteria. Mr.
Scarth’s account also influenced me, which I did not hear until after
her death. It was my opinion at the time that she was affected with
hysteria. _In a paroxysm from strychnia it is possible that a patient
might wish to be rubbed, but it is not what I should ‘à priori,’ look
for. Touch sometimes renews the spasms, but it depends upon the stage.
The desire not to be touched is a symptom of strychnia._ After hearing
of her symptoms I prescribed a liniment to be rubbed. _It consisted
with the dose of strychnia said to have been administered that she
should be better on Saturday._ The effect of hysteria would be to
gorge the vessels of the brain and lungs. _Not shrinking from touch
was consistent with strychnia, but a desire not to be touched was an
indication of it._”

On _re-examination_, the witness said—

“_There are several cases in which persons labouring under strychnia
had desired to be rubbed._ Parts of the body might fall on the floor
as well as the blood.

“_By a Juror._—If strychnia were put in the medicine it would not
alter the colour of it, it might have left a powdery deposit. I never
knew a case of hysteria cause death with such external appearances as
in Mrs. Dove’s case.”

_Mr. Thomas Nunneley_, professor of surgery in the Leeds College of
Medicine, who was examined in Palmer’s case on behalf of that prisoner,
and then maintained that if Cook had been poisoned by strychnia it
would have been found in his body by the chemical and other tests as
late as the sixth day after his death, confirmed the statements in the
joint report, and the opinion of Mr. Morley, that Mrs. Dove had died
from the effects of strychnia. His experiments on strychnia in the
cases of animals had been carried on for over thirty years, and he was
of opinion that, “though he should not have anticipated the improvement
spoken of on the Saturday, yet that it was not inconsistent with her
having taken strychnia on the Friday.” On _cross-examination_ by Mr.
Bliss, he gave the following evidence:—

“I found nothing on dissection that could not be referred to the
strychnia taken on the Saturday night—the intensity of that attack
might have produced the appearances in the brain and lungs. Hysteria
will simulate the appearances of other diseases, and among them of
tetanus. I did not examine the fæces and tissues of the body, but
I should expect to find strychnia in the tissues if taken six days
before. My attention was not called to its having been taken before
Saturday, but even if it had I think I should have found it. This case
and the one in London (Palmer’s) have advanced our knowledge in the
discovery of this poison far beyond what it was before. _It accords
with my experience that a person suffering from strychnia would not
bear to be rubbed._”

_Re-examined._—“I attribute the symptoms exhibited before Saturday
to strychnia. They are not so in accordance with any disease as with
strychnia.”

_Dr. Christison_, the eminent writer on poisons, also agreed with Mr.
Morley and Mr. Nunneley as to the cause of the symptoms. He admitted
that “it was just possible to attribute them to hysteria, but had never
seen such a combination of symptoms in an hysteric case. He thought it
was unusual for a person to be insensible before death in a case of
strychnia, but he had seen it lately in the case of an animal killed by
that poison—the symptoms were exactly those which would be produced by
an overdose of strychnia in the prior attacks.”

_Dr. Hobson_, who had seen the deceased with Mr. Morley a few minutes
after her death, “saw nothing either in her countenance or position
that he thought particular, and admitted that all the symptoms
described before those of Saturday might be accounted for in an
aggravated form of hysteria, but would not expect a person who suffered
under such a form of hysteria to be conscious, nor did he attribute
these symptoms to that disease.”

_Mr. Teal_, who had been in practice in Leeds for thirty-four years,
agreed “in the symptoms being entirely in accord with strychnia, and
though he had seen hysteria simulate strychnism, he had never seen it
entirely resemble the entire group of symptoms represented in this
case; had he heard only of the symptoms before Saturday, he should
have considered them in strict accordance with the effects of that
poison; and even if he had heard of hysteric symptoms before, he
should have suspected strychnia, but would not deny the possibility of
their being consistent with hysteria.” In reply to a juryman, he added
the following evidence on the probable reason for the state of the
prisoner’s mind:—

“Excessive drinking without producing _delirium tremens_ might cause
the conduct of the prisoner, described by Harrison,[81] as to spirits
and noises. He might have any delusions when under the influence of
drink, but when sober such a man might be sound in mind and without
delusions, and when partially drunk might have delusions without
suffering under _delirium tremens_.”

_Mr. Richard Hey_, who had been in practice in York for
twenty-seven years, and concurred with the other medical men, on
_cross-examination_, said—

“I have had experience in hysteria, and have seen cases in which many
of the symptoms would be the same as those described. The freedom from
affection of the brain would lead me to suspect it to be strychnia.
I think the violent twitchings and spasms, and the extreme pain they
produced, would make a very marked distinction from the effects of
hysteria. I have never seen instances of screaming out from pain in
hysteria. I have heard of screaming out. They complain of pain, but
not violent pain. _The spasm consequent on strychnia would, I imagine,
induce a patient to be rubbed as in ordinary spasms and cramp, but
I never saw spasms so intense as in those spoken of in strychnia.
One of the most marked symptoms in strychnia, in aggravated cases,
is not being able to bear to be touched, but it is not so in slight
attacks._” _Re-examined._—“I never knew touching or walking across
a room not bearable in hysteria, or pain in the jaws, or all these
things combined in hysteria.”

The last witness called by the prosecution, _Mr. William Hey_, who
had been in practice in Leeds for thirty-seven years, was equally of
opinion that the symptoms were inconsistent with any known disease, but
consistent with the effects of strychnia, and with nothing else. “Had
he heard only the evidence of the symptoms down to Friday night, her
hysterical temperament, and her recovery on the Saturday, he should not
have attributed them to hysteria, but he should have thought it a most
extraordinary case.”

THE PRISONER’S ACTIONS AND STATEMENTS.

In addition to the acts and statements of the prisoner reported in
the “Early Life of the Prisoner” and the evidence already given,
_Miss Fisher_ deposed to his very violent threats against his wife,
especially when in liquor; his telling her on one occasion “to mind
her own business, or he would do her job for her”; his threatening her
with a knife and striking her, and telling her “he would give her a
pill”; and to his wife saying, in his presence, “If I should die, it
is my wish, Elizabeth, that you should tell my friends to have my body
examined”; to his writing a letter to the witchman Harrison, asking him
“to torment his wife when at Manchester, as she was not a right woman”;
and telling the witness that Harrison had told him that his wife’s
days would end in February. He also told another witness (_Elizabeth
Thornhill_, a charwoman) that Harrison had told him that his wife would
not live long, and that he would marry the lady next door (Mrs. Witham).

Whilst the inquest was proceeding he asked Mrs. Witham how it was
going on, and when she said to him, “It is a very suspicious thing
that you gave her the medicine at eight o’clock and that she became
ill a quarter of an hour after,” he replied, “If they ask me if I gave
the medicine, I shall say I did not; and if they ask if she took it
herself, I shall say I do not know.”

To _Margaret Gray_, another witness, he stated on the Friday that
his wife was ill of spasms, and he did not think she would live over
Saturday night.

To _Mary Hicks_ he more than once stated that he was sure his wife
would die, and that Mr. Morley would want a _post mortem_ examination,
as he did in his father’s case, but that he would object to it, as
he had promised his wife to do; that he should probably soon marry
again; and when Mrs. Hicks told him to go back, as his wife might have
another attack, he said she would not until half-past ten or eleven,
and made no reply when again asked if the attacks were periodical. On
the Sunday morning after his wife’s death, he told this witness that
there was to be an inquest, and when she asked why, said, “Oh, we live
in a bad neighbourhood, and have not lived happily together. It is all
nonsense.” To the Rev. H. T. Sturgeon, the clergyman of Burley, whom he
asked to visit his wife, and to whom he professed to be very anxious
about her spiritual welfare, he assigned as his reason for not calling
in further advice (as recommended by Mr. Morley) his fear of offending
that gentleman. To a man of the name of _Rose_, a baker, whose name
even he did not know, and whom he met by accident in a dram shop on
the Thursday before his wife’s death, he said that he thought his wife
would die, and told him “not to come to him till he saw her death in
the paper, and then, if he lighted on a woman that would suit him, to
bring her down to his house, as he could not do without one if his wife
died.”

To _Harrison_, the watchman, on the Thursday after his wife’s death,
when giving him a card for her funeral, he said there was an inquest
on her. When Harrison asked why, the prisoner said, “Can they detect
a grain or a grain and a half of strychnia?” “Why,” replied Harrison,
“have you given her any?” “No,” replied Dove; “but I got some of
Morley’s man to kill cats, and some might have been spilt and she have
got it.” Again Harrison saw him the next day, when he said, “Mr. Morley
has told me they have found poison in my wife. Could they take me if I
go back?” “I should,” replied Harrison. “If you are innocent, go back;
what occasion have you to be frightened? They will not take you if you
are innocent,” and Dove then went away.

To his wife’s mother, _Mrs. Jenkins_, who came to his house after her
daughter’s death, he said at breakfast on the Friday, the day of the
adjourned inquest, “Do you know that a sprinkle of oil of almonds
will kill a person? Arsenic you can detect in a body after 20 years.
Belladonna you cannot; one is a mineral, the other a vegetable. There
is a poison like this”—taking up a piece of salt—“in a man you can
detect it, in a woman you cannot.” He told her also that he could not
think but that he should marry again. When he talked about the poisons
another person, a _Mrs. Risdon_, was present.

To _Mr. Scarth_, a pupil of Mr. Morley’s, who, in consequence of the
latter’s engagement, was the first to see her on the 25th of February,
he put the question whether Mr. Morley would require a _post mortem_
examination if his wife died. Scarth replied that Mr. Morley generally
did on all his patients who died suddenly, when the prisoner said, “I
will not consent.” “Probably,” said Scarth, “as you did when your
father died.” “His wife,” replied Dove, “would not consent.”

On the close of the case for the prosecution, Mr. Bliss called on the
counsel to put into the box the remainder of the witnesses whose names
were on the back of the bill, and Mr. Hardy, in the absence of his
leader, declining to take this responsibility, Baron Bramwell, on the
authority of the case of _R._ v. _Woodhead_, ruled that the prosecutor
need not do so, but was bound to have the witnesses in Court so that
they might, if required, be called by the defence.[82]

THE DEFENCE.

Though the defence of the prisoner was mainly rested on the question
of his sanity, Mr. Bliss urged on the jury that the circumstantial
evidence against him was inconclusive, turning the openness of the
prisoner’s acts and conversations, and his attention to his wife during
her attacks, to the best advantage. On the question of his sanity, in
addition to the mischievous and cruel acts that had been elicited in
cross-examination, he cited as further proof his belief in witchcraft
and his frequent consultations with the witchman Harrison, and his
request to that person to torment his wife, professedly to force her
to return to his bed. The witchman, said counsel, not contemplating
the murderous result, encouraged him, and held out such promises of
future happiness that the desire ripened into practice, and the wife
was murdered. Even after detection was inevitable, the confidence of
the dupe remained unimpaired, and he firmly believed that the witchman
could rescue him from his doom. As a proof of this insane belief the
following letter written in his own blood, which had been found in his
pocket when in jail, was read:—

“Dear Devil,—If you will get me clear at the assizes, and let me
have the enjoyment of life, wealth, tobacco, more food and better, and
my wishes granted till I am sixty, come to me to-night. I remain, your
faithful subject,

“WILLIAM DOVE.”

MEDICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE DEFENCE.

In support of the plea of insanity, in addition to the witnesses
already referred to in the introduction to this case, three medical
witnesses of tried experience in lunacy, _Dr. Caleb Williams_ (for 30
years the medical attendant at the York Asylum), _Dr. Pyeman Smith_ (of
the Leeds Lunatic Asylum), and _Mr. John Kitchen_ (of The Retreat, at
York), were called for the defence, whose evidence, it is only fair,
should be given in some detail.

_Dr. Williams_, who had been in Court during the whole trial, and had
also examined the prisoner with _Mr. Kitchen_ a few days before the
trial, was decidedly of opinion, from the evidence he had heard, that
the prisoner was of unsound mind, and that his violent emotions and his
belief in supernatural agency were indications of it.

“Taking into account,” said the witness, “that he had written and
said similar things before about selling his soul to the devil, I
think that his letter to the devil was not simulated. It appears to
be written with blood. I had conversation with him about that letter
when I saw him, and he told me it was written under satanic influence.
The result of that conversation was that, in my opinion, it was not
simulated. I have no doubt that his illusion, that he had sold himself
to the devil, was a real one. I believe his incantations spoken of
were connected with his belief in supernatural agency; and I think
his saying that he had put a spell on the steward arose from the same
belief.[83] The letter to his schoolmaster, in which he declared his
sanity, is very like what is done by insane persons—they declare they
are sane. His talking to various persons about strychnia showed the
weakness of his mind. The effect of drink on a lunatic are to make
him violent and dangerous. Persons liable to insanity would exhibit
a tendency and inclination to drink. _I think from what I have heard
he has not the power of controlling his emotions and passions. None
of them at all times.[84] There would be periods when he would have
control over some._ The circumstance of his shooting the cat showed an
uncontrollable impulse to injure or take life; and seeing it was not
expended in injuring the man, he shot the cat. The effect of confining
a person for several weeks on strictly sober diet, who has before been
subject to get drunk, would be to reduce him to a calm condition.
The Castle diet is sober (Dove’s prison). _From all I have heard
and seen, I consider his powers of mind, during the fatal week were
probably influenced by his notions regarding supernatural agency, and
that consequently he was the subject of a delusion. During that week,
labouring under such delusions, he might retain his power of adapting
means to an end, and of judging of the consequences. He could not
under those delusions have the power of resisting any impulse._”

_On cross-examination_ by Mr. Overend, after repudiating the notion
that his evidence was tinged by religious objections to capital
punishment, the witness said:—

“I should not call administering poison five or six times an
_impulse_, but a _propensity_—an uncontrollable _propensity_ to
destroy life, and give pain. For the time it would be a permanent
condition of the mind, and might select the special object, and
constantly seek opportunities of carrying out the _propensity_.
_I think a person with such a propensity would not know that he
was doing wrong. I think he might fear the consequences, and know
that punishment would follow. He would know, probably, that he was
breaking the law. I say that, because he would have a very incorrect
appreciation of right and wrong. He would not know at the time that he
would be hanged. I found that opinion on the occupation of the mind
by the insane propensity. It is uncertain whether he would know it
before he did it. He might after he had done it._ He might do a murder
secretly, because he could not otherwise do it. A _propensity_ of that
kind generally acts without a motive. One of the peculiarities is that
a person seeks no escape: in certain cases acknowledges his crime.
The _propensity may come on suddenly: an impulse comes on suddenly—a
propensity more frequently comes on slowly, and starts from a
considerable time_. If a man gives way to his passions, and commits
a rape, I call that a _vice_, and not a _propensity_. Supposing a
cruel man, who wishes to get rid of his wife, quarrels with her, in
the abstract that is a _vice_. Supposing a man to have taken every
precaution against discovery, and pains to procure poison for his
wife, and to prepare for her death, I should think that a _vice_, and
not a _delusion_. Supposing a man of cruel disposition had formed a
dislike to his wife, and wanted to get rid of her, and had nursed that
dislike into a _propensity_ to kill. I should call that _an insane
propensity_. I don’t say that every man who dislikes his wife, and
wishes to get rid of her, is insane. When he acquires the propensity
to kill, and cannot control it, he is insane.”

_Question._—“If a person lived with his wife, hated her, and
determined to, and did kill her, what is the difference between
that determination which is _vice_, and that _propensity_ which is
_insanity_?”

_Answer._—“The prisoner’s history would be required to determine
whether it was _vice_ or _insanity_.”

_Question._—“Supposing a man was determined to kill his wife,
and he nurses the thought for six months, till the desire becomes
uncontrollable, when does the desire become insanity?”

_Answer._—“When by nourishing such an idea, the mind becomes
diseased, and he cannot control his acts—that applies to other
things.”

_Question._—“If a man dwells on the possession of a woman till he
cannot control his desire, would that be _vice_ or _insanity_?”

_Answer._—“It might be insanity, and might apply to rape.[85]
In insanity there is a tendency to thieve. Theft is one of the
indications of moral insanity; and a man may desire to possess
another man’s goods, till he cannot control his acts. He is then
insane. If a man permits himself to indulge a passion till he becomes
uncontrollable, that is _moral insanity_, and he is not responsible.
Consulting a sorcerer, and all superstitious beliefs, are indications
of a weak mind. Belief in clairvoyance and dreams is not necessarily
an indication of insanity. A belief in spiritual rappings, I should
infer, was an indication of a weak mind. Talking to persons about
strychnia, and his wife’s death, I think indicated a feeble state of
mind.”

On _re-examination_, _Dr. Williams_ said—

“Imitativeness is one of the characteristics of insanity, and
hearing strychnia and Palmer’s trial very much talked about would be
very likely, in a weak mind, to produce imitation. You must know
a man’s history before you can say whether his acts proceed from
vice or insanity. Madness very frequently developes itself in great
cunning and foresightedness when reasoning on false premises. I have
frequently known insane persons to attempt to escape from the asylum,
and to have shown great cleverness in their preparations for it
extending over several days.”

_Question._—“Suppose you had heard the case of a man put to you who
wished to get rid of his wife, and had from his childhood displayed
cruelty of disposition—had threatened to shoot his father; said he
heard supernatural noises, sometimes treated his wife kindly, and
sometimes cried like no other man, would you have any doubt that he
was insane?”

_Answer._—“No! and not fit to be at large. I should have no
difficulty, as a medical man, in certifying that he was a lunatic.
Lunatics have often displayed great ingenuity in committing theft and
concealing it. The passion of lust frequently becomes a disease of
the mind. When the prisoner gave his cows linseed to take one night,
to fatten them for market the next morning, that I should deem an
indication of an unsound mind.”

_In reply to questions by the Judge_, the witness said:—

_”It would require a longer period than a month to establish disease
and an uncontrollable propensity to commit a crime. If a man committed
a crime, having thought of it for a month, I should not say he was
of unsound mind. The difference would depend on length of time.
Some men’s minds, previously weak, would take a shorter time, and
very exciting causes would shorten the time; but there must be an
appreciable period, and an interval for the mind to pass into a morbid
condition from the continual contemplation of one object._ The period
is necessarily very uncertain, from the variable effect of emotions
and circumstances on the mind.”

_The Judge._—“Suppose, at the time when he shot the cat, a policeman
had come in, would he have shot it?”[86]

_Answer._—“No. The presence of the policeman would probably have
controlled him; he would probably have expended the impulse on some
person or something else. Unless the person is exceedingly violent,
the presence of a policeman would have some influence to control him.”

_Question._—“_Whenever a man commits a crime, is it because he is
uncontrolled by existing circumstances?_”

_Answer._—“_It is._”

_The Judge._—“_Then what is the difference between such a man and the
case you put?_”

_Answer._—“_In the case I put the impulse is uncontrollable, because
his mind would be so occupied with his purpose._”

_The Judge._—“Is it true of everybody, whether sane or insane, that
when intent on an act they forget the consequences?”

_Answer._—“An insane man would be more likely to forget consequences.
Sane and insane persons would talk about occurrences. How and what
they talked about would depend on their judgment.”

The witness wished to say with regard to the question as to shooting
the cat, that he thought the impulse of destruction was so strong
at the time, that he could not control it, and must have shot
something.[87]

_Dr. Pyeman Smith_, the proprietor of a private lunatic asylum at
Leeds for the past 15 years, though, from what he had heard and seen,
he was prepared to declare that Dove was of unsound mind during the
fatal week, and had been so for the last 20 years, admitted, on
_cross-examination_, that he did know right from wrong during that
period. He, however, _on re-examination_, qualified this admission.

“A decided lunatic,” said the witness, “very often knows right from
wrong, and yet may be regardless of any consequences from his acts.
_He may be utterly unable to refrain from doing an act, though he knew
it was wrong. I cannot say the prisoner was utterly unable to refrain
from wrong during the fatal week. Circumstances might enable him to
refrain—other circumstances._”

_To the Judge._—“Not a greater degree of punishment. I have already
said he was entirely regardless of circumstances.”

_Mr. Bliss_ objected to this line of examination by the judge.

_The Judge._—“I am entitled to, and in my opinion bound to, and I
will put the questions.”

_Witness_ then continued—

“_Not possessing the poison would be a circumstance which would have
prevented him._ I believe, during the week, it was from unsoundness of
mind that he was regardless of consequences.”

_Mr. John Kitchen_, superintendent of The Retreat at York, where the
patients averaged a hundred, also agreed with the previous medical
witnesses, that Dove was of unsound mind during the fatal week. He,
however, admitted that “_during that period he knew right from wrong,
had some knowledge of the difference—some knowledge that he was
committing murder—and that if found out he would be punished_.” This
admission he sought to explain away, _on re-examination_, protesting
that what he meant was “that Dove knew he was killing his wife, but did
not know he was doing a wrong act—that he would know in proportion as
he knew the difference between right and wrong.”

_Question by a juryman._—“Do you adopt the theory of Dr. Smith as to
irresistible propensity in mania?”

_Answer._—“In general terms I do.”

_Question._—“Do you adopt it in this case?”

_Answer._—“I do not. I account for the murder, if he committed it,
on different principles. We have a man of deficient mental powers;
besides that he is insane; he is liable to do any absurd, cruel, or
vicious or irrational action that presented itself to his mind, as
his life shows. Supposing him to be insane, I should apply the term
_vicious_ or _malignant_ to him. We have heard, in evidence, that
he was brought up by pious parents, put to the best schools, and
was unable to receive the smallest amount of education. We see him
carried away to do the most foolish things. Where he loves, he loves
with a foolish intensity; and where he hates, he hates with a foolish
malignity: and if a woman puts herself into the power of such a man as
his wife, what has happened is just what might have been expected.”

_To Mr. Overend._—“_I think he knew right from wrong—that it was
wrong to steal or murder._ If he murdered, I should expect him to
deny it in that form of insanity. In one form of insanity, impulsive
madness, they own their crime. This case was only partly impulsive,
and I should not expect him to divulge it. If he thought of this crime
before he committed it, he would know it was wrong. He probably would
learn it was wrong in his childhood. It is impossible to say when he
committed the act he knew it was wrong. I don’t know when he would
know it was wrong. I can give no opinion about it.”

_On re-examination_, he said:—

“There are dangerous wards in some asylums, but I should not expect to
find the greatest number of impulsive cases in that ward. Sometimes
impulsive lunatics are dangerous. The keepers have an influence over
them—a mental influence. They formerly worked on their fears, and
thus kept patients under control. There is a madness which consists in
a _propensity_ to kill. If a stranger was left with such a one in a
room alone, I should expect him to exercise his _propensity_ and kill
him; and yet, probably, that patient would yield his keeper obedience.
Probably the fear of some chastisement would induce fear of his
keeper.”

THE JUDGE’S CHARGE.

The greater portion of Baron Bramwell’s charge was necessarily
occupied by reading over and commenting on the evidence produced
by the prosecution—that the death of the wife had been due to the
administration of strychnia, and that the prisoner had opportunities
of administering it. The evidence on these points has been already
so fully reported that it is needless to give this portion of his
exhaustive summing-up. His remarks on the rule of law on the plea of
insanity, and on the nature of the insanity suggested by the medical
witnesses, are too valuable to be omitted.

“The rules of law,” said the learned Baron, “are that it must be
clearly proved that, at the time of committing the act, the party
accused was labouring under such a defect of reason, from disease of
the mind, as not to know the nature and quality of the act he was
doing; or, if he did know it, that he did not know he was doing wrong.
If the accused was conscious of the act he did, he is punishable;
and what you have to consider is, had he sufficient degree of sanity
to know he was doing wrong? With respect to delusions the law is the
same. According to the law, as I lay it down to you on the highest
authority, to exempt a man from the penal consequence of his act, the
act being contrary to the law, you must be of opinion that at the
time he did the act he was not conscious that it was one he ought not
to do; for if he was conscious that it was contrary to law, he is
punishable. You must be satisfied that he had not a sufficient degree
of reason to know that he was doing an act that was wrong—of course
that means an act prohibited by law: because a man might imagine that
the thing was a right thing to do, and it might not be contrary to
law. He might think it right to take from the rich and give to the
poor. But if he did it, not knowing it was wrong, he must not know
that the thing which he did was what the law would punish him for. It
is not necessary for me to justify the law, or for you to approve it.
We have only to administer it. Don’t, however, suppose for a moment
that I doubt the reasonableness of it.

“Let me put a case to you. A man labours under a delusion. He thinks
I have done him wrong—have traduced his character. He waylays and
murders me. Why should he be acquitted? Suppose he was wronged, that
would not justify his taking away my life. Suppose, again, a person
imagined some part of his person to be made of glass, or had swallowed
something, or got something wrong in his inside. Imagine that man
deliberately waylaying a person, knowing that he possessed property,
to take it from him, and afterwards to conceal what he had done, and
to act in every other respect as a rational man. Why should he be held
irresponsible for this because he was irrational in other respects?

“Why should punishment be administered at all? It was not inflicted
on a man who had committed a crime because he had inflicted that upon
others, but in order to hold out an example to deter other people.
If you punish an insane man, you hold out no example, because you are
punishing a man who thinks he is doing right. But take the case of a
man who is labouring under a delusion—under an evil propensity. If
you punish him when he does wrong, or any other person with a similar
propensity to commit that offence, and he knows, that when he indulged
in it, or that when somebody else did, he was punished for it, that
will deter him from repeating or from doing that act. Take the case
of a man who has a strong propensity to thieve—a strong desire on
him to do it; his intellect not very strong, and he knows that he is
punished if he does such an act: do not you think, if he is punished,
it will deter him from doing it again? There cannot be a doubt that it
is so; and if you were to announce to all the world, that a man who
has a strong propensity to an evil, that a person in his condition,
shall not be punished, you take away from such persons the only thing
that would deter them from committing the evil. Take a man of a weak
mind and strong animal propensities, and it will not deter him from
committing such an act.”

Again, after going carefully through the evidence in the case, and
pointing out the application of the different classes of proofs, the
learned Baron said that “he thought none of the instances of strange
conduct adduced when the prisoner was a boy evidence of insanity more
than might be found in the conduct of a perverse, ill-conducted boy;”
and contrasted the opinions of the witnesses as to his being almost an
idiot with the letters written by him, which exhibited no traces of
mental incapacity.[88] In commenting on the opinions of the medical men
of experience in insanity, he adopted the judgment of Dr. Lushington
in the Dyce Sombre case, “that the facts to which they depose, and not
their opinions alone, were of weight;” and added “that he sincerely
believed that the jury were as capable of judging as these mad
doctors.”

“Two of them,” continued the learned judge, “were of opinion that
the contemplation of a crime constituted insanity, if it were only
contemplated enough. Then it was said that a man who had a propensity
to vice, to cruelty, to crime, was insane. Take the case of a man
found guilty at these assizes of a crime. It is found that he has
twice been convicted before and in prison half a dozen times, and
that he has a general propensity to commit crime. In such a case,
why should not Dr. Williams come forward and say, “You are wrong.
He is insane; you ought not to punish him.” If they believed these
experts you would take away protection from the community, because
they would have a check less to prevent the commission of crime. It
would be affectation in him to say that he did not set a value on this
scientific evidence. But he would rather take his own independent
opinion, than that of others, on the facts. But it was not for him to
do more than comment, and for the jury to judge of its value—of the
conduct of the prisoner, of his letters, and of the arguments before
them.”

After a brief consideration the jury returned a verdict of “guilty, but
recommended him to mercy on the ground of his defective intellect.”
Sentence of death was passed on him, and he was executed at York.

THE PRISONER’S CONFESSIONS.

A day or two before his execution Dove dictated two long and
extraordinary statements of his connection with the “Witchman,” and
the part played in the tragedy by this dangerous man, which contrast
strongly with the evidence given by Harrison himself, and probably
disclose facts which that person was glad to conceal at the time of his
examination.

In the first of these statements he details his earlier interviews with
the “Witchman” on the subjects of recovering lost cattle, removing
strange noises from his house, and the bewitching of his live stock,
in which Harrison appears to have played off on him the common tricks
of his trade. His confidence in this fellow was unfortunately largely
increased by his prophecying that Dove’s father would die before a
certain Christmas Day—he died on Christmas Eve—and led him to
consult the “Witchman” about his wife when he first conceived his
violent hatred towards her.

“About August, 1855,” he says, “I had some unpleasantness with my
wife, and went over to Harrison at Leeds, told him of it, and he
promised to make it all right. He told me I must let him know by
letter how things went on. In two days after this I wrote him that my
wife was no better, and that he must do something to make peace. I
sent this by Fisher, a porter at the railway station, to post. Mrs.
Dove knew I had written, but not what about. She therefore sent the
servant to Fisher, got back the letter, took out what I had written,
and put in a blank sheet.[89] I did not know this at the time, but,
hearing some whispering, wrote another letter, and posted it myself
about two o’clock. At three I went myself to Harrison, who told me
he had received a blank sheet, and asked why, and I told him. I then
informed him of the unpleasantness and unhappiness with my wife, and
he said ‘You will never have happiness till she is out of the way.’
I said ‘How do you know that.’ He said ‘Come upstairs and I’ll tell
you, for I’ve got your nativity marked out.’ [Upstairs he showed him
a paper with the signs of the Zodiac, and hieroglyphical forms and
numbers, which he describes at length.] Harrison then read out of a
book my destiny. Between twenty-seven and thirty-two all would go
against me. I should have nothing but misfortunes; that at thirty-two
the sun and moon would come into conjunction, and then everything
would be in my favour; that at thirty-two I should lose my wife, marry
again, and have a child, and an addition to my fortune; and that for
my sake he did not care how soon it was here, for until then I should
never be a happy man; that after ‘thirty-two’ everything would go well
for a few years. He made other remarks as to different periods of my
life.”

Then follow the usual enquiries about the kind of person that was to be
his second wife.

“I saw Harrison again in November about my wife’s temper. He said
never mind, ‘she will die before the end of February or March, I am
not certain which.’ When he told me my wife would die soon I said
‘You have told me before she would die at thirty-two.’ He replied
‘Before thirty-two, but I did not say how much before.’ In a few days
afterwards (after December 21) I went to the ‘New Cross Inn,’ and
Harrison came in with a newspaper and read about Palmer’s case. I then
asked him whether strychnia could be detected, and he said ‘No, nor
any other vegetable poison.’ I then said ‘What other vegetable poisons
are there that cannot be detected? and he said ‘Digitalis, belladonna,
particularly if crystallised; he could not remember more then.’ I then
asked him to get or make me some strychnia, as we were much annoyed in
our new house with cats, but he refused. I told him I would get some
elsewhere.

“I went to him again in January last about my wife. I told him about
my wife’s temper and her being poorly then, and he again said, ‘She
won’t live long; she will never get better. As I told you before, she
will die in February.’

“I had no further communication with Harrison until the 6th of March,
when I sent for him to the ‘New Cross Inn,’ and told him my wife had
died, and that an inquest was to be held. He asked, ‘Why?’ I said,
‘My wife died very suddenly, and Mr. Morley cannot account for it,
and it is known that I had strychnia in the house. Mr. Morley thinks
some may have been spilt, and my wife got at it accidentally.’ I then
said, ‘You told me strychnia could not be detected, but I have seen
in the _Materia Medica_ that it can;[90] what is your opinion now?
Can a grain to a grain and a half be detected, for there is a great
difference on the subject? Professor Taylor says it cannot be detected
twenty-four hours after death in the human body.’ Harrison said,
‘What, have you poisoned your wife?’ I replied, ‘No, I should be very
sorry to.’ Nothing more passed then.

“On Friday, the 7th, whilst the inquest was going on, I went to the
back door of Harrison’s house, about 3 P.M., and said to him ‘that
several witnesses had been called, and I was suspected of poisoning my
wife,’ and added, ‘How will the case go?’ He said, ‘It will be a very
difficult case, but I can get you out.’ I said, ‘You only say you can;
but tell me, will you?’ and he replied, ‘Set yourself altogether at
rest; I will.’”

In the _second_ statement he gives details of his administration of the
strychnia, declaring that even when he got the second portion of that
poison from Mr. Morley’s pupil he had no intention of poisoning his
wife, but only intended it for the cats. His first attempt was with the
jelly his sister Jane had sent, of which, it may be remembered, the
wife, on the score of its bitterness, took only a spoonful. He then
goes on:—

“On the Saturday, after Fisher left,[91] I took the paper containing
the strychnia out of my razor-case and put it in my waistcoat-pocket,
and then went to my mother’s house. In the afternoon I had previously
called at Mr. Morley’s for my wife’s medicine. It was an effervescing
draught, in two bottles. At my mother’s that evening I took the cork
out of one of the bottles and touched the wet end of it with the
strychnia. On that Saturday evening my wife took some of the draught
in Mrs. Witham’s presence. Mrs. Witham tasted it, and said it tasted
bitter. The draught was not shaken that night before taken. My wife
did not suffer from the effects at all. On my way from my mother’s
that night I threw away the remainder of the strychnia. I cannot tell
you the feelings of my mind when I put the strychnia into the jelly
and the mixture. I did not think at the moment as to its effects and
consequences. On the Sunday following, which was the 24th of February,
I went to the surgery; and there being no person there at the time,
I took perhaps ten grains of strychnia and folded them in paper, and
when I got home placed it in the stable. On the Monday morning I
gave my wife her medicine—the effervescent mixture—about half-past
nine, and at ten she had the attack mentioned by Mrs. Fisher and
Mrs. Witham. At the time she took it she complained very much of the
bitterness, and said she would tell Mr. Morley about it. There were
three or four doses left in the bottle after that draught was taken,
and I broke the bottle in my wife’s presence, fearing Mr. Morley might
taste it. The mixture was changed on the Monday; the mixture then
given was very bitter. On Tuesday night or Wednesday morning I applied
the wet end of the cork of the medicine-bottle to the strychnia, as
before. I think there might be from half to a grain of strychnia on
the cork when I put it into the bottle. I shook the mixture up. There
were only two or three doses in the bottle. I don’t remember my wife
having an attack on the Wednesday. She took her medicine that day.
On Thursday I got another bottle of medicine from Mr. Morley, and I
again applied the wet end of the cork to the strychnia as before.
About the same quantity adhered. The last dose of that medicine was
taken on Friday night about ten, and my wife was taken seriously ill
in half an hour, but she had no arching of the back, as far as I can
remember. Mrs. Fisher is mistaken in that point, but her statement
in other respects is true, I believe. On that Friday night I got
another bottle of medicine from Mr. Morley’s, directed to be taken
four times a day. I did not put any strychnia into that bottle, or
upon its cork. Mrs. Witham gave a dose out of that bottle in the
afternoon of Saturday.[92] The strychnia was in the stable, where I
had first placed it, and there was none in the razor-case on that
day, nor during any part of that week. I was drinking at Sadlefee’s
public-house on that Saturday, and was more or less affected with
drink all that afternoon and evening. About three in the afternoon
I went to the stable and took a grain and a half of strychnia out
of the stable and put it in another paper, which I placed in my
waistcoat-pocket. I put that strychnia into the wine-glass which
contained a little water—I believe the water left in the glass by
Mrs. Witham after giving my wife the third dose in the afternoon, but
I have no recollection as to the time I put the strychnia into the
glass. I gave the mixture in the evening, as stated by Mrs. Witham
and Mrs. Wood in their evidence. I poured the mixture into the glass
which contained the water and strychnia. I did not put the strychnia
into the wine-glass in the presence of Mrs. Witham and Mrs. Wood. I
know that I put it in before, but cannot tell how long before giving
the medicine. I did not, when I gave the medicine on the occasions
mentioned, think of the consequences; but when I saw my wife suffering
on the Saturday night, it flashed across my mind that I had given
her medicine, and that she would die from the effects. I was muddled
before this, and did not know what I was doing. When the thoughts of
her death crossed my mind, I regretted what I had done, and believe
that if Mr. Morley had come in at that moment I should have told him
what I had given her, so that he might have used means to restore her.
I cannot disguise the anguish I felt when I returned from Mr. Morley’s
and found her dead. Palmer’s case first called my attention to
strychnia, but I never should have thought of using that or any other
poison for the purpose of taking my wife’s life but for Harrison, who
was always telling me that I should never have any happiness till my
wife was out of the way.”[93]

TRIAL OF SILAS BARLOW FOR THE WILFUL MURDER OF ELIZA SOPER.

_Before_ THE HONORABLE MR. JUSTICE DENMAN, _at the_ CENTRAL CRIMINAL
COURT, _November 27, 1876_.

_For the Prosecution_: Mr. Poland and Mr. Beasley.

_For the Defence_: Mr. Fulton and Mr. Grubbe.

HISTORY OF THE CASE.

THE prisoner, an engine driver on the South-Western Railway, about a
year before the trial, on being left a widower, had formed a connection
with the deceased, who, with their infant, came to lodge at the house
of a Mrs. Wilson, in Leopold Street, Vauxhall, in August, 1876, under
the name of Smith, where she was occasionally visited by the prisoner,
who passed as her husband. Apparently they lived together on kindly
terms, and were in fairly comfortable circumstances. On the 3rd of
September the prisoner visited her about half-past eight in the
evening, and stayed an hour. Up to that day the deceased had been in
good health. As soon, however, as the prisoner had left, she came down
from her room, knocked at the landlady’s door, and complained to her
that she was very sick from the sarsaparilla which he had given her.
“Her lips were white, she was very nervous, and appeared hardly able
to stand,” said Mrs. Wilson. “I had never seen her so before. She went
upstairs, and when I went to bed I went to her. She was retching very
much, and sitting in a chair. I then went away. Next morning I saw
her; she came downstairs and said she was very bad—worse. She could
not stand, and had to lean against the wall. During the day she became
better.”

THE SYMPTOMS.

The prisoner came again on the Sunday following, the 10th, at the same
time as before.

“The deceased,” said Mrs. Wilson, “was at the street door, talking
to me, with her baby, and in perfect health. They went up into their
room, and in about an hour the prisoner knocked at my room door and
said his wife had had two fits. I ran upstairs and found her lying
across the bed; the prisoner was in the room. She was in a kind of
fit or convulsion. I sent the prisoner for some brandy and water. She
became a little conscious, and taking me by the hand said ‘_Don’t
touch me_.’ She had been unconscious, _but the moment she was touched
she went into convulsions_. _Her feet and hands were clenched, and
she was drawn quite backwards, her back forming an entire arch._ She
was _not conscious_ then. The prisoner was holding her all the time.
About half past ten I sent him for Dr. Miller, who came at once, and
applied mustard plasters, remaining with her about five minutes,
and the prisoner going back with him for medicine. She was slightly
conscious when Dr. Miller came, and more so afterwards. Her feet were
quite _white(?)[94] the toes being drawn backwards to the soles of
the feet_. I did what the doctor told me, but it did not do her any
good. I tried to give her the medicine, but she could not take it,
_and went off in a swoon_. She had licked the spoon. She then had
dreadful convulsions, one in particular, when it took the prisoner
and me to hold her. Her neck was drawn backwards and quite arched.
After that she became quite conscious, and said it was the nasty
sarsaparilla that made her ill. The prisoner said ‘Oh no. I have taken
more of it than you.’ He also said ‘I have given her two pills and
taken two myself.’ She complained of a dreadful pain in her heart,
_and continued unconscious, coming to herself a little at times, but
very slightly_. The convulsions were dreadful, and she died about two
o’clock on the eleventh. She seemed to drop instantly after a dreadful
convulsion. I gave her two doses of the medicine the doctor sent. I
had not seen any sarsaparilla in the room.”

_On cross-examination_ by Mr. Fulton, after stating that she had never
heard any quarrels between the prisoner and the deceased, she gave the
following further particulars as to the symptoms:—

“In the evening, when I was called in, her eyes were partly closed
during the convulsions; her breathing very hot (hard?) and at most
suspended; her teeth entirely clenched and also her hands during the
convulsions. She wanted to be sick shortly before her death; her lips
were pale, and remained so until her death. The prisoner tried to move
her, when she became sick, and she went into convulsions. He helped to
hold her, and said he could not imagine what was the matter with her;
seemed distressed, and sat on the bed holding her. To all appearance
he was kind to her but not affectionate. _She was more unconscious
than conscious during the whole time._ About twelve o’clock she
_appeared quite conscious_. She had to move herself so that she
could be sick, and caught hold of the bed head, and then went again
into convulsions. _Virtually she was unconscious the whole time._
Dr. Miller came a second time, and she told him she had had some
fearful fits, but I cannot recollect whether I said anything about the
‘arching.’ There was none when he saw her, but _her feet were curved_,
and I told him about the ‘shakings,’ I mean the ‘convulsions.’ I
first heard from the coroners officer that she had died of strychnia.
I had previously told him the symptoms attending her death, but
don’t remember telling him of the ‘arching.’ He said there was every
appearance of her having died from strychnia.”

MEDICAL EVIDENCE.

_James Miller_, medical assistant at the Vauxhall dispensary, before
that with Mr. Scott, a general practitioner, and previously an
insurance agent, gave the following account of the case:—

“About twenty minutes to eleven on the 10th of September I was called
by the prisoner to his wife, who he said had had two fainting fits.
I found her lying on the bed, dressed, and quite conscious. She lay
very quietly. She said she had severe pain in the legs, and that
she had fainted twice. I asked her if she had complained during the
week. She said only of pains in the head. I found the calves of her
legs very rigid, her feet turned slightly inwards, the toes of each
foot inclined towards the other as she lay, cramp in the lower limbs,
her arms quiet. She beat her breast at times. Her hands were partly
closed, her heart very excited, and her breathing slightly laboured.
Her heart continued excited all the time I was there, about five
minutes. I asked her what she had taken. She said a cup of tea in
the morning and a herring at tea. She said she had pain in her head
all the last week. _I believed she was suffering from epilepsy._
On leaving, the prisoner returned with me; I made up a bottle of
medicine, antispasmodic, which he took away with him. I never saw her
again alive.”

_On cross-examination_ he said—

“He did not notice any such ‘arching’ as the witness Wilson spoke
of, nor did she mention it to him as one of the symptoms. Nor should
he call what he saw of the feet ‘arching.’ He had only seen one case
of epilepsy before—that was twelve months ago—and the symptoms in
it were very similar to what he saw in the deceased. He saw the body
immediately after death; there was no ‘arching’ of it then. If there
had been he should have seen it. She was lying, with her clothes on,
on the bed. If there had been any marked rigidity of the body he
should have observed it; that was a quarter of an hour after death.”

_Re-examined_ by Mr. Poland.—“She had her clothes on when he saw her,
and part of her body might have been covered with the bedclothes. In
the case of epilepsy he referred to, the person died in six hours. _He
prescribed no pills, only the mixture._”

Proof was then given of the finding in the prisoner’s room of six
bottles of medicine, a box with two pills,[95] and a packet of powder
in dirty paper, and of their delivery to Dr. Lees, and subsequently to
Dr. Bernays for analysis. It was not, however, until suspicions were
aroused by other circumstances (the finding of the body of the infant
in the river) that a _post-mortem_ examination was held by Dr. Lees,
and the contents of the stomach and other interior parts of the body
analysed by him, and subsequently handed to Dr. Bernays for the same
purpose. In one of the bottles Dr. Bernays found a distinct sediment
of Prussian blue, pointing clearly to the use of some vermin killer.
Subsequently two kinds of these dangerous preparations were submitted
to and analysed by him.

ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE.

Dr. Lees, M.D., of the Brixton Road, on the 18th of September made a
_post-mortem_ examination of the body in conjunction with a Dr. Lewis.
They found _no morbid appearances to indicate the cause of death_—the
limbs were somewhat rigid, the body fairly nourished, and the stomach
showed no sign of irritant poison.

“It contained,” said the witness, “six ounces of a thin reddish
fluid. I put the stomach and contents into a jar, and the viscera
into another. I received the bottles from the constable and the paper
of powder, and saw some pills at the inquest. Among the bottles
was one of the larger ones, which appeared to have contained a few
ounces of good sarsaparilla—it was empty and rinsed out. One bottle
contained about two grains of dried powder, adhering to the bottle.
I added to the bottle a few drachms of water, two drachms of spirits
of wine, thirty drops of hydrochloric acid, and two grains of dried
powder. My purpose up to that time was to test for strychnia, but it
was frustrated. What I had done was not sufficient to enable me to
form an opinion. I had previously analysed a portion of a two-ounce
phial, containing half a drachm or thirty drops of a reddish brown
fluid—half a spoonful. I first tested five drops, and obtained clear
evidence of strychnia. I was enabled to separate from the rest a
substance that yielded strychnia. I used three separate tests; the
second time with ten drops, and obtained needle-shaped crystals.
I showed the colour to Dr. Bernays. I did not test the bottle for
any other purpose. I left the rest (five drops) in the bottle and
corked it up. Half a grain of strychnia is a fatal dose. I have
been in practice fourteen years, and am of opinion that if Mrs.
Wilson’s description of the symptoms is correct, they were consistent
with death from strychnia. They only resemble the disease known as
_idiopathic tetanus_. If Mrs. Wilson’s description is correct, the
symptoms were not consistent with anything I know except death by
strychnia—it came on so rapidly. If strychnia were administered in
solution, the symptoms would come on in a very few minutes. _Strychnia
occasionally produces irritation of the stomach._ The symptoms of
poisoning by it are the rapid occurrence of twitchings in the limbs
and rigidity of the muscles of the limbs, _usually commencing in the
lower extremities_; the sense of weight on the chest, the extension of
the spasms to the muscles of the trunk, the arching back of the head,
the intervals of consciousness, the absence of any great difficulty
in swallowing, and death in six hours. Mr. Miller’s evidence is
consistent with death from strychnia.”

_The cross-examination_ was, as in Mrs. Wilson’s case, directed to the
eliciting admissions in favour of the opinion, at first adopted by Mr.
Miller, that the death was due to epilepsy.

“Leaving out the ‘arching’” (opisthotonos), said the witness, “I
should hesitate to say she died of strychnia; it is a leading symptom,
and also that the intellect was clear at intervals. _Vomiting is not
usual in epilepsy._ It was _eight days_ after death that I examined
the body. There was then _no rigidity beyond what I might expect in
death_. The lungs were congested, the heart flabby and decomposed,
spongy from putrefaction, and containing a little coagulated blood.
Taking the appearances of the whole _post-mortem_ examination, _there
were no marked ones to account for death_.”

Dr. A. J. Bernays, professor of chemistry at St. Thomas’s Hospital,
to whom the bottles and powder found in the room, the jars with the
stomach, intestines, and viscera, and a bottle supposed to contain
vomit,[96] had been handed on the 28th of October, reported the
results of his analysis of their contents.[97]

“In the organs (the lungs, heart, liver, kidneys, intestines, spleen,
and blood) he found no poison of any kind. The stomach was inflamed,
and there was a _trace of strychnia_, but of no other poison. In one
bottle of medicine, opium, myrrh, but no strychnia, were found, and
in another only peppermint and asafœtida. The powder was innocuous,
consisting of old mustard and fenugreek. In one nearly empty bottle
was found a distinct sediment of Prussian blue, one of the usual
ingredients in ‘vermin powder.’ He was satisfied that what Dr. Lees
showed him on a watch glass was strychnia; on testing, it was found
to contain the 1000th part of a grain. On the 31st of October the
inspector brought two packets labelled _Battle’s Vermin Killer_.
_Poison. Lincoln_—a light blue powder, a threepenny and a sixpenny
packet. The first consisted of fifteen grains, containing wheat flour,
Prussian blue, and crystallised strychnia. The second packet, of the
same composition as the first, weighed thirty grains. The amount
of strychnia was—in the threepenny packet 10·69 per cent., in the
sixpenny packet 10·06 per cent., corresponding to 1·6 grains in the
smaller packet. On the 9th November a threepenny and sixpenny packet
of _Butler’s Gloucestershire Vermin and Insect Killer for killing rats
and mice, &c._, was received, marked poison. The weight of the two
was fifty-six grains. It was a grey powder, containing flour, soot,
and barium carbonate, but no strychnia; but another packet of the
same contained flour, soot, strychnia, but no barium carbonate. These
‘vermin killers,’ if used at all, should never be made or sold except
by the legitimate pharmaceutists of the country, and under proper
precautions.”

_Mr. Justice Denman._—“A very proper suggestion for the consideration
of the legislature.”

_Mr. Thomas Stephenson, M.D._, lecturer in chemistry at Guy’s Hospital,
agreed with Dr. Lees and Dr. Bernays, and had no doubt of the
correctness of their experiments.

It was also proved by the prisoner’s brother-in-law that the prisoner
was in the habit of taking sarsaparilla, and that whilst the prisoner
lodged with him, the witness had been using _Battle’s Vermin Killer_,
as he was troubled with mice in his room. This he had bought at a shop
in the Vauxhall Road, but he did not recollect having any of it left,
or of the prisoner using it in his room. The prisoner had left Mrs.
Wilson a few hours after the woman’s death, saying he was going to
telegraph down the line and would be absent till the evening. He did
not return until about nine on the morning of the 11th, when he said
his cousin would take the child, which Mrs. Wilson dressed and gave to
him, and never saw it again until the 15th, when it was lying dead in a
public-house at Battersea, having been found drowned in the river. He
also promised Mrs. Wilson that he would attend the woman’s funeral, but
did not, and told her on one occasion that he always had strychnia by
him.

_For the defence_ Mr. Fulton urged that the evidence of the “arching”
of the body was very vague, and rested only on the word of Mrs. Wilson,
who had not mentioned this important symptom either to the doctor or
the coroner’s constable, and that without that symptom the death might
be accounted for by epilepsy, and the first opinion of Dr. Miller
justified. He endeavoured to minimise the evidence of the analysts, and
argued that the conduct of the prisoner in his attendance on his wife
was a strong proof of his innocence. “Motive,” he said, “there appeared
to be none, as from his wages the prisoner was quite able to bear the
expense of the mother and child.”

The jury, however, returned a verdict of “guilty,” and the prisoner was
executed on the 2nd of December, admitting the justice of his sentence,
and that he was a party to the death of the child, but saying others
were in it.

CHAPTER V.

STRYCHNIA AND BRUCIA.

Contained in St. Ignatius’s bean—False Angostura bark—_Nux
Vomica_, &c.—Properties of strychnia—Facility of detection.
_Tests_: (1) Microscope—(2) Taste—(3) Color test; ditto
in other alkaloids, in bile, and in resinous and saccharine
matters—(4) Physiological test (Marshall Hall)—(5) Bichromate
of potash—(6) Picric acid—(7) Sulphuric acid and sodium
nitrite—(8) Mercuric chloride. Preparations of strychnia: _Vermin
killers_—Battle’s, Gibson’s, Miller’s, Marsden’s, Barber’s,
Hunter’s, Keating’s—_Brucia_—_Igasuria_—_Igasuric acid_. _Doses of
strychnia_: medicinal, fatal, recovery—_Nux vomica_. _Fatal period_
for strychnia—_Symptoms_ in man, commencement of symptoms, if given
in powder, in solution, in pills. _Explanation of symptoms_: by
hysteria, tetanus, epilepsy, gritty granules on spinal cord—Angina
pectoris. _Post-mortem_ appearances—Treatment—Antidotes—Dr.
Taylor’s evidence—Ptomaine—Did Cook die from morphia?—_Granular
preparations_ at St. Thomas’s Hospital.

SEVERAL species of Strychnos, of the natural order Loganiaceæ, contain,
mainly in their seeds, the alkaloids Strychnia and Brucia in the
proportion of one to one and a half per cent. The plants yet proved
to contain these two alkaloids are:—_Strychnos nux-vomica_ (bark and
seeds), _Strychnos Ignatia_ (Faba amara, or St. Ignatius’s bean),
_Strychnos Tieute_ (the Upas tree of Java), _Strychnos toxifera_ (main
source of woorara or curare, the arrow poison of the South American
Indians), and _Strychnos Ligustrina_ and _Colubrina_ —“snakewood”), a
tree of Asia. _S. potatorum_ —“clearing nut”) and _S. pseudokina_ are
not poisonous.

In commerce, “Nux vomica,” “Faba amara, or St. Ignatius’s bean,” “false
Angostura bark” (the bark of Strychnos nux-vomica), and an extract
called “curare,” are met with. The last is made by mixing the juice
of the bark of Strychnos toxifera and another species with pepper
and acrid plants; as its effects depend upon “_curarine_,” another
alkaloid, and not upon strychnia, it will not enter much into our
subject.

“_Faba Amara_,” St. Ignatius’s bean, contains 1·2 per cent. Strychnia
and some Brucia.

“_False Angostura Bark_” contains Strychnia and Brucia, gives a light
yellow powder, intensely bitter, and turned red by nitric acid.

_Nux Vomica_, a flattened circular seed, from half to one inch
diameter, generally concavo-convex, with a slight central prominence.
Colour greyish-brown; silky from radiating hairs. Substance tough
and horny; powder light brown, with an odour like liquorice, and an
intense and persistent bitter taste. Nitric acid gives with the powder
and with the extract an orange-red colour, owing to the presence of
_brucia_. The aqueous infusion gives a precipitate with tannin, and an
olive-green tint with neutral ferric chloride.

STRYCHNIA, C_{21}H_{22}N_{2}O_{2}, occurs in commerce in opaque
white rhombic prisms (the “right square octahedra” of the British
Pharmacopœia are not met with), inodorous, having a sp. gr. of 1·36.
One part of strychnia dissolves in 7000 parts of cold, in 2500 parts of
boiling, water; in 1250 parts of ether; in 1000 of carbon disulphide;
in 200 of _absolute_ alcohol; in 120 parts of cold, and 10 parts of
hot, rectified spirit; in 181 parts of amylic alcohol; in 164 of
benzene; and 7 of chloroform. Creasote and essential and fixed oils
also dissolve strychnia (Blyth).

It sublimes in needle shaped crystals, or sometimes, if too quickly
heated, in drops, at 169° C.; melts at 221° C., finally darkening and
carbonizing.

Its bitter taste is its most prominent physical characteristic. I have
verified the statement that one grain of strychnia in a gallon (70,000
grains) of water is distinctly perceptible. One grain in 30,000 is
markedly bitter.

Its salts are crystallizable, and also bitter, lævo-rotatory in
solution, mostly colourless, neutral to test-paper, generally
soluble with facility in water, hence more rapidly poisonous than
the free alkaloid. _Strychnia sulphates_ occur in large four-sided
prisms, octahedrons, or needles, according to the amount of water of
crystallization. _Strychnia nitrate_ crystallizes in silky needles,
easily soluble in water. The _sulphate_ is officinal in the French,
the _nitrate_ in the German, Austrian, Swiss, Norwegian, and Dutch
Pharmacopœias. The acetate and hydrochloride are met with in commerce,
but are not officinal. _Strychnia_ itself, the free alkaloid, is
prescribed in the British Pharmacopœia. _Liquor strychniæ_ is a
solution of the hydrochloride.

_Separation._—Strychnia is probably the easiest of the alkaloids to
detect, on account of its stability and the delicacy of its reactions.
One half-millionth of a grain in the pure state is discoverable by the
colour tests (Pharm. Journ., July, 1856). Putrefaction does not change
it, for Richter detected it in tissues after _eleven years_ (Sammlung
Klin. Vorträge, 69, 562), and other observers in decomposed or buried
bodies after five to eight weeks. And yet there are few analysts who
have not on some occasion failed to find it (see p. 147.) A very
small quantity, about a grain, may destroy life. Even of this, only
a portion is absorbed; the rest is eliminated by vomiting (when it
occurs), and by the urine and fæces; the absorbed portion is diffused
with great rapidity through a large mass of blood and tissue; the
result is that we are looking for _one part_ of the poison in about a
_million times_ its weight of impurities—almost worse than the needle
in the haystack. Matters are still more difficult if the theory be true
that an alkaloid, in killing, itself suffers change (see pp. 128 and
133)—an idea that Dr. Letheby and Mr. Nunneley strongly repudiated
in the Palmer defence, though the latter witness had to admit that
he himself had once failed to detect strychnia in an animal to which
he had administered it. Dragendorff records several negative results
without apparent cause. Taylor (Med. Jur., 1873, Vol. I., 414) mentions
cases of non-discovery by Dr. Reese of Philadelphia, Mr. Horsley of
Cheltenham, by himself in the organs of an animal hypodermically
poisoned; and also a case in which _five grains_ had been taken, and
only a little over a grain was found. Sonnenschein (Casper’s Handbook)
in one case found a quantity in the stomach, but none in the tissues;
yet it had caused death. All these facts greatly support the theory
that the alkaloid is itself changed in causing death.

However this be, if the stomach has failed to yield strychnia, the
whole of the rest of the organs, the blood, and the muscles—in fact,
as much of the body as can be managed—should be extracted with hot
redistilled methylated spirit acidified with a little acetic acid. It
is easy to fit up an arrangement with a stoneware pan, a wooden cover,
and a coil of tin pipe, through which steam can be passed, and thus
the alcohol can be kept warm for two or three hours without much loss.
Strain the whole through a cloth, distil off most of the alcohol,
evaporate on a water bath at about 70° C., and treat the extract as
described in the general process for alkaloids. To facilitate the
purification, the alcoholic solution may be precipitated by acetate
of lead (_avoiding much excess_), filtered, the lead removed from
the filtrate by adding sufficient sulphate of potash in solution and
allowing it to settle, and the clear liquid evaporated as before. Much
syrupy matter, which occasions trouble, is thus removed.

The ether-chloroform solution (p. 5), by spontaneous evaporation,
leaves the strychnia in “rosettes, veined leaves, stellate dotted
needles, circles with broken radii, and branched and reticulated forms”
(Guy and Ferrier, Forens. Med., 1881, 568). If not yet pure enough to
crystallize, advantage may be taken of the fact that while most of the
impurities are charred by warm concentrated sulphuric acid, strychnia
is very little affected. A few drops of this acid are therefore added
to the residue, then it is warmed for ten or fifteen minutes on the
water-bath, finally diluted to about ten cubic centimetres, filtered,
the filter washed with water, and the filtrate treated again with
ammonia and ether-chloroform. The residue left by the latter, on
spontaneous evaporation, will now be pure enough for the following

TESTS.—1. The microscopic appearances are so various as to be
somewhat indefinite; Guy’s description has been already given. If _no_
crystals are found, strychnia and most other alkaloids are unlikely to
be present. But if crystals _are_ obtained, they frequently, on further
examination, prove to be some inorganic salt or an ammonium compound,
leading to wrong conclusions, if the microscope be trusted too much.

2. Dissolve in water with a trace of acid, and divide on several
watch-glasses, as described in the introduction. If one portion be
cautiously _tasted_, and there be no bitterness, strychnia is very
improbable.

3. Proceed at once to the _colour test_. Transfer a portion of the
residue, dissolved in a drop of acetic acid, to a white porcelain dish
or plate; dry gently on the water-bath; moisten it with about two drops
of pure concentrated sulphuric acid; _strychnia gives no coloration_;
with the point of a knife place a minute quantity of finely-powdered
peroxide of manganese (the precipitated hydrate is often recommended,
but the natural peroxide answers better, being more gradual in its
action) on the side of the dish; slant the dish so as to allow the
liquid to come in contact with the powder. At the moment of contact
a _deep rich blue_ colour is produced if 1/20000th of a grain of
strychnia be present. The blue colour rapidly changes into _purple_,
_crimson_, _rich red-brown_, then fades into _bright orange-red_, which
last tint remains for some hours. By cautiously stirring with a glass
rod, the succession of colours can be brought out again at another
spot. One or two other qualified observers should always be summoned
to witness the experiment, for two reasons; _first_, that they may
testify at the trial, if necessary, to the certainty of the conclusion;
_secondly_, because the sense of colour is differently developed in
different people, and, if the hues are faint, one is apt to imagine
what one expects to find. But if two or three, without prompting, see
the same appearances, the chance of error is removed.

Applied in this way, the succession of colours is _absolutely peculiar
to strychnia_. But, as objections have been made that these can be
produced from other substances, they may as well be discussed and
disposed of.

(_a_) _Curarine_ (from Strychnos toxifera) has a bitter taste, is
almost insoluble in ether and chloroform; hence it is not usually
extracted by the above alkaloidal process, but remains behind in the
aqueous liquid. With sulphuric acid and peroxide of manganese it gives
the same colours as strychnia, but the changes are slower. _With
sulphuric acid alone_, it yields a pale violet colour, changing to
dirty red, and finally to rose. Its physiological effects are opposite
to those of strychnia—so much so that it has been proposed as an
antidote.

(_b_) _Pyroxanthine_ (a rare substance, obtained in very small quantity
from wood spirit), _salicine_ (from the willow), and _piperine_ (from
pepper), give _with sulphuric acid alone_ a deep-red colour, destroyed
or spoilt by peroxide of manganese. (Nunneley, in Palmer’s trial.)

(_c_) If sugar and bile should be present together, sulphuric acid will
develope a purple colour very like the strychnia test. Bile would also
give bitterness. But it must be remembered that bile, without sugar,
will not give the colour, that sugar will not be extracted by the
ether-chloroform, and that the colour will appear immediately on the
addition of the acid alone, whereas strychnia remains then uncoloured.

(_d_) Many resinous and saccharine matters are coloured by sulphuric
acid, but can be got rid of by warming with the acid as described above.

So that none of these can be mistaken for strychnia. This important
test depends upon the action of nascent oxygen; hence any substance
which yields oxygen will give the colours more or less satisfactorily.
Bichromate of potash, potassium ferricyanide, peroxide of lead,
peroxide of cerium (Sonnenschein), have been employed, but most of
them give colours of their own, and none are so good as peroxide of
manganese. It is only necessary that the manganese should be finely
pounded and not too much added. The action is slower and more lasting
than with bichromate.

Letheby’s galvanic test is interesting, and has the advantage of not
introducing any extraneous substance into the matter under examination,
so that another alkaloid can be tested for afterwards. I have found
it better to place the drop of supposed strychnia solution, acidified
with a drop of dilute sulphuric acid (10 per cent. strength) on a
white plate, to place on its opposite sides two small pieces of
platinum foil pressed closely against the plate, touching the drop,
and approaching within a quarter of an inch of one another, and to
touch them simultaneously with the terminals of a battery of _two_
Grove’s or other cells. In the region of the positive terminal the same
colours manifest themselves as with peroxide of manganese. If no colour
is shown at once, the battery should be removed, as further galvanic
action may decompose any other alkaloid that may be present. The test
is not so delicate as sulphuric acid and peroxide of manganese.

It is said that the presence of much _morphia_ will interfere with the
above test. But morphia, again, is not extracted completely by the
ether-chloroform; and I have not found it to hinder the reaction if
performed carefully.

Brucia in ordinary quantities, quinine, cinchonine, veratrine, and
santonine do not interfere. In strychnia poisoning, morphia should
always be sought for, as it is used as an antidote. If found, its
interference may be obviated thus. Dissolve the supposed strychnia
in water with a little acetic acid, add an equal volume of _ether_,
and then ammonia in slight excess, and shake well. The strychnia will
dissolve in the ether, the morphia will remain in the aqueous liquid.
On evaporating the ether, the strychnia will be isolated.

4. Dr. Marshall Hall’s _physiological test_ is very delicate. With
some small animal—preferably a frog—proceed as mentioned in the
introduction (p. 6). Tetanic spasms are caused. But other poisons,
ptomaines, and even the mechanical injury, may produce irritation
and perhaps convulsions, so that the test is dangerous, except as
confirmatory or negative.

5. _Bichromate of potash_ solution gives with strychnia, at once or
on standing, a yellow precipitate, appearing under the microscope
as rectangular plates and prisms. (See Guy and Ferrier’s Forensic
Medicine, p. 567.)

6. A sublimate of strychnia touched with a drop of dilute _picric
acid_ solution, strength 1 in 250, gives microscopic arborescent
crystallizations of peculiar _curved_ forms. (_Ibid._)

7. Treated with concentrated sulphuric acid and then with a crystal
of sodium nitrite, strychnia gives a dirty yellow colour, changed by
an alcoholic solution of potash to a fine orange-red, by an aqueous
solution to brownish green, and finally to dirty red-brown. (Arnold,
Arch. d. Pharm. 3, 20, 561.)

8. Mercuric chloride produces a white precipitate, as also does
potassium sulphocyanide. All the general reagents for alkaloids
precipitate strychnia. If, however, the reaction with sulphuric
acid and manganese have come out properly, all the other tests are
superfluous; if it has _not_ been obtained, none of the other tests
will be of use.

_Preparations._

┌—─—─—─────—──┬—─—─────—─—─—─┬—─—─—───────—─—─—─┬—─—─—──────—─—─—──┐
│ │ │ Approximate │ Approximate │
│ Name. │ Composition. │ Amount of │ Amount of │
│ │ │ Strychnia. │ Brucia. │
├—─—─—─—──────┼—─—───────—─—─┼—─—─—─—─—───────—─v—─—──────—─—─—─—──┤
│ │ │ │ │
│ {│ Aqueous }│ │ │
│ Liquor {│ solution }│ 4 grs. in │ None. │
│ Strychniæ, {│ of strychnia}│ 1 fl. oz. │ │
│ B.P. {│hydrochloride}│ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ Tinct. {│Nut extracted}│ 0·15 per cent. │ 0·15 per cent. │
│ Nucis Vom. {│ with spirit }│ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ Extractum {│ Spirituous }│ │ │
│ Nuc. Vom., {│ extract }│ │ │
│ English {│ evaporated }│ 3 to 4 per cent. │ 3 to 4 per cent. │
│ Pharm., &c.{│ }│ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ Extr. Nuc. {│ Aqueous }│ │ │
│ Vom., Germ.{│ extract }│ ½ to 1 per cent. │ 2½ to │
│ Pharm. {│ evaporated }│ │ 3 per cent. │
│ │ │ │ │
│ Extr. Fab. {│From St. }│ │ │
│ Ignatiæ, {│Ignatius’s }│ 5 per cent. │ Very little. │
│ American. {│bean }│ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
└—─—─—─────—──┴—─—─—─────—─—─┴—─—─—─—───────—─—─┴—─—──────—─—─—─—──┘

_Vermin Killers._

1. _Battle’s_ seems to vary in composition. Tardieu found in a packet
of 19 grains, 1½ grain of strychnia, or 7·7 per cent., the rest being
_Potato_ starch and Prussian blue. Woodman and Tidy (For. Med. p. 329)
found 23 per cent. strychnia, with sugar, flour, and Prussian blue.
Bernays found 10·7 per cent. of strychnia, with flour and Prussian
blue. (Barlow’s case.)

2. _Butler’s_ contains flour, soot, and about 5 per cent. strychnia.
Sometimes it contains Prussian blue, and sometimes carbonate of barium
in place of strychnia.

3. _Gibson’s_ contains half a grain of strychnia in each powder.

4. _Miller’s Rat Powder_ contains oatmeal, and about 6 per cent. of nux
vomica (equal to 0·023 strychnia and 0·067 brucia). (Blyth, Man. of
Prac. Chem. p. 317.)

5. _Marsden’s Vermin and Insect Killer_: one packet contains ¾ grain
strychnia. (Lancet, April 19, 1856.)

6. _Barber’s_ “_Magic Vermin Killer Powders_” weigh 28 grains and
contain 10 per cent. of strychnia. “Hunter’s Infallible” also contains
it.

In _Keating’s Insect Powder_ I have found no strychnia nor arsenic.

BRUCIA.

C_{23} H_{26} N_{2} O_{4}, 4 H_{2} O, is probably derived from
strychnia by the substitution of two molecules of methoxyl (CH_{3} O)
for two atoms of hydrogen (Shenstone, Chem. Soc. Journal, Feb., 1883),
hence might be named _dimethoxystrychnia_. But efforts to change it
into strychnia have, as yet, been unsuccessful. All plants containing
strychnia contain also brucia. In _false Angostura bark_ the latter
much predominates. It occurs in needles or 4-sided monoclinic prisms
(rarely in tables), colourless, intensely bitter, lævo-rotatory to a
less extent than strychnia, but more soluble in water, alcohol, &c.,
hence remaining in the mother liquors in the preparation of strychnia.
Insoluble in pure ether. It melts at 151° C. (Blyth), and produces a
scanty amorphous sublimate near its temperature of decomposition. The
salts are neutral, easily soluble in water, and crystallize in needles
(the acetate with difficulty). Its physiological action is the same as
strychnia, but six or seven times weaker.

With the general reagents for alkaloids brucia gives precipitates. With
_concent. nitric acid_ it gives a deep-red colour, changing to orange,
and finally to yellow. A trace of stannous chloride (protochloride of
tin) turns the red solution purple: excess bleaches it.[98] This test
is very delicate. In former times commercial strychnia always contained
brucia, hence the coloration by nitric acid was even looked upon as
a test for strychnia (see p. 125, and p. 156). But, as the strychnia
now sold is generally pure, it gives no colour with nitric acid in the
cold. Therefore, if both strychnia and brucia are found in a product
extracted from the animal tissues, it follows that _Nux Vomica_, or one
of the plants, or their preparations, has been used, and not the pure
alkaloid. The microscope in this case will generally detect some of the
vegetal tissue or hairs in the stomach.

Concent. sulphuric acid, followed by bichromate of potash, gives with
brucia a red-brown colour passing to green and yellow (Guy).

Whenever strychnia is found, brucia should also be looked for.

IGASURIA, a supposed third alkaloid of the Strychnos tribe, has been
shown by Shenstone to be a mixture of strychnia and brucia (Chem. Soc.
Journal, Sept. 1881, p. 457).

_Strychnic or Igasuric Acid_, obtained by Pelletier and Caventun from
Nux Vomica and from St. Ignatius’ Bean, is probably identical with
malic acid.

DOSES.

_Medicinal dose_ of strychnia 1/30 to 1/12 grain. _Fatal dose_:
smallest recorded ½ grain (Dr. Warner, “Poisoning by Strychnia,” p.
138), ¼ grain (Guy; also case of Agnes Sennett, p. 121, _ante_), but
a child of two or three years was killed by 1/16 grain (Christison):
average for adults, ½ to 2 grains (Taylor).

_Recovery_ has taken place after 3 grains (Taylor), 4 grains (Lancet,
1863, i. 54), 3 to 7 grains (Husemann), 7 grains (Med. Gaz., xli.,
305), “20 grains or more” (? Guy and Ferrier’s Forens. Med., 1881,
p. 574), 40 grains (Med. Times and Gaz., 1865, p. 267). If these
statements are correct, they must be accounted for either by vomiting,
early and vigorous treatment, or impurity of the alkaloid.

Poisonous symptoms have sometimes occurred in adults, and frequently in
children, from medicinal doses.

_Fatal close of nux vomica_: of the powder, 30 grains is the smallest
(= ⅓ grain strychnia), (Hoffmann, Med. Rat. System, 2, 175), of the
alcoholic extract, 3 grains (Christison on Poisons, p. 642).

_Brucia_ is not used in medicine. _Fatal dose_ rather uncertain,
probably three to ten grains.

FATAL PERIOD FOR STRYCHNIA:—Shortest, five minutes (Dr. Gray on
Strychnia, 1872, p. 55); longest, six hours after three grains (Taylor,
Guy’s Hosp. Reports, Oct., 1857, p. 483); average, two hours. _For
nux vomica_:—Shortest, fifteen minutes; longest, three hours or more
(Guy); average, two hours (Taylor), one hour (Guy).

_Symptoms commence_ at various intervals after taking, according to
dose, form, and constitution. The beginning may be (1) almost immediate
(Mad. Merghelynk, 1870, Taylor’s Med. Juris., p. 408), (2) in five
minutes (case of Dr. Warner, also Dr. Gray on Strychnia, 1872, p. 55),
(3) in fifteen minutes (trial of Dove, p. 242), (4) about an hour
(Palmer’s trial, p. 102), (5) forty minutes (Lond. Med. Repository,
xix., 448), up to two and a half hours (Wormley, Microchemistry of
Poisons, p. 538). Hence no conclusion can safely be drawn from this
feature (see Dr. Letheby’s evidence in the Palmer trial, p. 166).
Probably Dr. Todd’s statement in the same trial is the most correct
average:—“Symptoms in ten minutes, if in solution and a large dose;
otherwise in a half to one hour.”

The different action of powder and solution is shown in the following
experiments on two full-grown rats:—

1. Half a grain of _powdered_ strychnia—First convulsion in twenty
minutes, death in two and a half hours.

2. Same quantity _dissolved_ in sufficient acid—Effect almost
immediate; death in half an hour. In the stomach, liver, and brain,
strychnia was separately detected.

Pills, especially if hard, would be very slow in action. The most
intense effect is produced by hypodermic injection.

SYMPTOMS IN MAN:—Bitter taste in the mouth, feeling of suffocation,
jerkings and twitchings of head and limbs, then tetanic convulsions
of nearly all the muscles. Body stretched out stiff, finally arched
back so as to rest on the head and the heels (opisthotonos), spasmodic
and difficult breathing, usually a peculiar grin (risus sardonicus).
_After a time the jaw becomes tightly fixed_ (trismus or lockjaw), the
fingers are clenched, the feet arched inwards (incurvated), the eyes
prominent and staring. The spasm lasts from a half to two minutes, then
there is an interval of comparative rest. The pupils are generally
_dilated_ during the fit, _contracted_ in the interval. A touch, a
change of position, or a sudden noise, will usually cause a renewal
of the spasm. In severe cases the convulsions recur at diminishing
intervals, increasing in violence till death occurs from exhaustion or
suffocation. Vomiting is very rare. Taylor says “the jaw is not always
fixed during a paroxysm: the patient can frequently speak and swallow”
(Med. Juris., 1873, p. 404). Woodman and Tidy (Forens. Med., 1877, p.
330) say that this symptom is invariably present. Guy and Ferrier are
cautious, and state that the effort to drink often causes rigid spasms
of the jaw, but that the “jaw is not always fixed, even in the fit”
(Guy and Ferrier’s Forens. Med., 1881, p. 573). On the whole, fixing of
the jaw is usual but not invariable. In the Palmer and Dove trials the
patients spoke or shrieked during the paroxysms.

As to impatience of touch, Mr. Morley’s dictum in the Dove trial
expresses the truth: “_Not_ shrinking from touch is _consistent_ with
strychnia, but a desire not to be touched is an _indication_ of it.
Several cases of strychnia had desired to be rubbed.” See also the
cases of Mrs. Smyth and Mr. Clutterbuck, pp. 122 and 123.

Consciousness, in the immense majority of cases, is preserved to the
last. If, as in Mrs. Dove, insensibility occurs, it is due to the
exhaustion. In this trial Dr. Christison said “it is unusual to be
insensible before death from strychnia.” Farquharson (Therapeutics, p.
264) states that “the cerebral functions remain unimpaired almost up to
the close.” This is agreed to by all authorities.

The symptoms of strychnia poisoning have been explained away by the
defence as “hysteria,” “idiopathic tetanus,” “epileptic convulsions
with tetanic complications” (Dr. Macdonald in Palmer’s trial), “angina
pectoris” (Dr. Richardson), “apoplexy” (Dr. Bamford’s certificate).
Gritty granules on the spinal cord, sexual or other excitement, cold
and damp, drink, &c., were in that trial assigned as causes. As to
“gritty granules,” the expression is not clear; such granules as
occurred in Cook have been found in many _post-mortems_, where they
certainly did not cause the death. Sexual excitement was out of the
question in this case. Drink does not cause tetanus. The cold and damp
were hardly sufficient reasons, as no symptoms of chill were noticed.
Apoplexy is distinct, as in this the _brain_ would show the disease.

_Hysteria_, _epilepsy_, and _idiopathic tetanus_ (tetanus which is
“constitutional,” or not occasioned by external injury) produce
in some cases insensibility; strychnia, as a rule, does not. They
are also _continuous_ in symptoms. _Traumatic tetanus_ is caused
by a wound or injury, rarely by ulcers or syphilitic sores (see p.
113). If there be none of these it cannot, of course, be traumatic
tetanus. _Hysteria_ is exceedingly variable, and simulates many other
diseases: it is generally the result of excitement. But it does not
produce opisthotonos. _Epilepsy_ has never such symptoms as strychnia
occasions: it rarely supervenes without some history of hereditary
tendency, and it is always attended by unconsciousness (p. 151).
_Idiopathic tetanus_ may occur from a cold (see a case of Dr. Todd’s,
Lond. Med. Gaz., Nov., 1850), or from no assignable cause. It is very
close to strychnia in symptoms, but the latter is much more rapid: the
shortest recorded fatal period for natural tetanus being twelve hours
—“even here the early symptoms had been probably overlooked”—Sir B.
Brodie), the usual about eight days. In both kinds of tetanus the jaw
is usually the _first_, in strychnia the _last_ part to be affected.
_Angina pectoris_ Dr. Richardson himself disposed of, as in the case
he mentions he says that had he known more at the time he would have
suspected strychnia (see Palmer’s trial, p. 176). The symptoms of this
disease, as given in the leading works, differ much from strychnia
poisoning.

POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES.—Neither characteristic nor uniform (Guy
and Ferrier). As a rule, the body is relaxed at death, and stiffens
afterwards (Taylor), but occasionally the reverse is the case (_Reg._
v. _Vyse_, Central Criminal Court, 1862).[99] Sometimes the rigidity,
as in Cook’s case, remains for months. Clinching of the hands, arching
of the feet, are nearly always present, but they may likewise be
noticed in cases of natural death (Casper, quoted by Taylor, Med.
Jur., p. 406; also Prof. Partridge’s evidence in the Palmer trial, p.
172—“half-bent hands and fingers, not uncommon after natural death”).
_Brain, spinal cord, and lungs almost invariably congested._ Blood dark
and fluid. In some cases the heart is full of blood, especially on
the right side, but occasionally it is empty and contracted. Stomach
generally healthy, rarely congested. Casper found a dark violet colour
of the muscles of the throat and gullet; this was the only peculiarity
he noticed, and even this has not occurred in other cases. On the
whole, the diagnosis must depend mainly on the symptoms during life,
though the congestion mentioned above is a valuable corroborative from
the post-mortem. Involuntary evacuation of urine and fæces generally
occurs, but is usual in all painful deaths.

TREATMENT AND ANTIDOTES.—The question will often arise in a trial
whether the best means were taken of saving the patient. In Tawell’s
trial it was actually suggested that the water poured down the throat
may have caused the death by choking! If emetics are used, they are
all more or less poisons. If the stomach-pump be employed, it will
cause irritation and exhaustion. Nevertheless, where a violent poison
has been given, the only hope is in strong remedies—to empty the
stomach by emetics or the pump, to give tannin or animal charcoal, and
to generally sustain nature during the operations. As the inquiry is,
“What caused death?” the defence will frequently endeavour to fasten
the responsibility on the remedial measures. _These would not of
themselves be fatal_, unless disease or poison had previously brought
the patient to a nearly dying state; whether it be disease or poison
will be otherwise determined.

The direct antidote to strychnia is _chloroform_. In animals I have
noticed a large percentage of recoveries. Woodman and Tidy (Forens.
Med., p. 332) give the majority of recoveries to this agent.[100]
I believe that most cases could be saved if, on the approach of
the convulsions, they could be put _vigorously under the action of
chloroform_. Chloral hydrate, nicotine, opium, &c., have been also
tried with scanty success. Tannin precipitates strychnia, as well as
most other alkaloids; hence may be useful as an adjunct. When the jaw
is fixed, liquids can only be given through a tube; even teeth have
been taken out to effect this. Enemata may also be used. Artificial
respiration should be cautiously tried. Curara and Calabar Bean are
dangerous and not effective.

Death or recovery is always rapid; if a person lives over five or six
hours, the case is hopeful (Woodman and Tidy).

One or two considerations remain. Dr. Taylor’s evidence in the
Palmer trial, though in most points it has been corroborated by
subsequent authorities, contained the following statements that require
rectifying:—

(1.) “_The colour tests are fallacious_” (pp. 144 and 147). They are
quite decisive if properly performed, and the precautions remembered.

(2.) “_I know of no process which can detect strychnia in the tissues_”
(p. 133). This has been repeatedly done by the same method as is used
for the stomach. Dr. Taylor himself admits it in his later works (see
Med. Juris., 1873, p. 415). No operator now neglects the tissues.
They should always be forwarded for analysis at the same time as the
stomach, but in separate jars.

If indications be obtained, the question will occur—“Could they be
due to Selmi’s ptomaine, resembling strychnia?” If we consider that in
an immense multitude of cases of suspicion, where there is no clue,
strychnia is tested for but _not found_, it is evident that this
natural imitation of the alkaloid must be decidedly rare. So that the
overwhelming probability, if the colour test has been obtained, is that
strychnia itself is present.

In conclusion, Palmer afterwards is said to have more or less admitted
that he poisoned Cook, “_but not with strychnia_.” Though the word
of such a man is of little value, there are others who have been of
this opinion. Mr. Justice Grove is reported to have expressed some
hesitation afterwards on this point. Mr. Nunneley, who, although he
showed too much partizanship in the trial, yet may be said to have
certainly had great experience with animals, asserted that the symptoms
did not quite coincide with strychnia. Others followed in this train.
The assertion is certainly wrong, but Dr. Guy (Forens. Med. 1881, p.
525) has made a suggestion that may be noticed. After quoting Dr.
Shearman’s case of a patient who had taken one and a-half grain of
_morphia_ acetate, and who was seized with “twitching of the limbs and
face, difficulty in swallowing, spasms of the arms, legs, and abdomen,
partial opisthotonos, and great activity of the reflex function”
(Med. Times and Gazette, March 7, 1857); another case from orfila,
when _twenty-two_ grains of morphia hydrochloride had caused lockjaw,
tension of the abdomen, and occasional convulsions; and Castaing’s
case, when twenty-six grains of morphia acetate, and twelve grains
of tartar emetic, had been purchased, and the victim had “vomiting,
purging, convulsions, lockjaw, rigid spasms of the neck and abdomen,
inability to swallow, loss of sensibility in the legs, contracted
pupils, and stertorous breathing,” Dr. Guy goes on to say that as Cook
had probably three grains of morphia acetate within seventy-two hours,
and had previously been reduced by tartar emetic, his death may have
been due to _morphia_ and not to strychnia. But setting aside the
second and third cases where the dose was so large, Cook’s symptoms
did not on the whole agree with those of Dr. Shearman’s patient. The
dose in the time was not larger, but the effects on Cook were immensely
more severe. If these be examples of morphia in its worst and most
anomalous aspect, it certainly cannot dispute with strychnia for the
responsibility of Cook’s death.[101] See also Dr. Todd’s remark, p. 117.

The three preparations of “gritty granules” on the spinal cord in the
museum of St. Thomas’s Hospital, “in which the patients are said to
have died from tetanus” (Mr. Nunneley’s evidence, p. 152, also Dr.
Macdonald’s evidence, p. 180), are in section N, numbers 113, 114, and
115. They are described in the catalogue as—

“113. Several small patches of earthy matter on the arachnoid of the
medulla spinalis.”

“114. A spinal cord. There are numerous large plates of bone on the
arachnoid of the lumbar portion, and of the cauda equina.”

“115. A similar preparation. The plates of bone extend as high as the
upper dorsal vertebræ.”

Mr. Charles Stewart, professor of comparative anatomy and curator of
the museum at St. Thomas’s, tells me that these are calcareous, but
not true bone, that they are not uncommon in post-mortems where they
have had nothing to do with death, and that if the above had died from
tetanus it would probably have been recorded in the catalogue. As there
is no mention of the cause of death, it is certain that it had no
reference to the so-called “granules.”

The assertion of Mr. Morley (Dove’s Case, p. 245), that strychnia is
decomposed into its elements, is obviously incorrect, probably an error
of the reporter.

See also an interesting case lately reported (J. de Pharm. et de
Chimie, November 1882), where strychnia was found, and also arsenic, in
the stomach, liver, and brain.

Dr. John Harley tells me that he finds _hemlock juice_ the best
antidote to the convulsions of all kinds of _tetanus_. He has had many
successful cases. Messrs. Mavor, veterinary surgeons, find this remedy
most efficacious with horses, in which animal _tetanus_ is very common.

CHAPTER VI.

TRIALS FOR POISONING BY ARSENIC.

NOTWITHSTANDING the difficulties thrown in the way of the purchase of
arsenic by the “Sale of Arsenic Regulation Act” of 1852, the cases of
poisoning by the use of this drug have been so numerous, that it has
been difficult to select examples without greatly extending the bulk
of this volume. I have, therefore, limited the full reports in this
chapter to two, namely:—(1). The case of Miss Madeline Smith for
the imputed murder of her lover, Pierre Emile L’Angelier in Glasgow,
tried before the “Lords of the Justiciary,” the chief criminal court
of Scotland, in Edinburgh, on the 30th of June, 1857, a case full
of interest and doubt, the mystery of which will probably never be
disclosed; and (2) that of Ann Merritt for the murder of her husband,
tried at the Old Bailey, March 8th, 1850, on the verdict in which
arose a notable difference of opinion between leading medical and
other experts, and the chief medical witness, as to the possibility
of fixing, with any definiteness, the time at which the arsenic
found in the body had been administered; resulting in the eventual
commutation of the capital sentence by Sir George Grey, the Home
Secretary. This was the case referred to by the Attorney-General in
his cross-examination of Dr. Letheby in Palmer’s trial. For the trial
of Madeline Smith I have relied on the Report reprinted with additions
and corrections from “The Scotsman,” by far the most accurate that I
have read. To my copy is an Appendix of the _whole_ of the letters,
including those suppressed in Court, published in New York at the
Astor Press. Happily it is not necessary to dwell on their disgusting
details.

TRIAL OF MADELINE SMITH.

_Before the_ LORD JUSTICE CLERK (_the_ HON. JOHN HOPE), LORD IVORY,
_and_ LORD HANDYSIDE, _at_ EDINBURGH, _30th June and following days,
1857_.

_For the Prosecution_: The Lord Advocate (Jas. Moncrieffe), The
Solicitor-General (E. F. Maitland), and Mr. Donald Mackenzie.

_For the Defence_: The Dean of Faculty, Mr. John Inglis (now Lord
Justice General), Mr. G. Young (now Lord Young), and Mr. H. Moncrieff.

By the indictment the Prisoner was charged with administering or
causing to be administered to Emile L’Angelier,[102] arsenic or some
other poison, in coffee, cocoa, or some other food or drink, on the
19th or 20th of February, and on the 22nd or 23rd of February last,
with intent to murder, and on the 22nd or 23rd of March, whereby he
died on the day last named, and was thus murdered by the Prisoner. To
which the Prisoner pleaded “Not Guilty.”

THE HISTORY OF THE CASE.

_Pierre Emile L’Angelier_, a Frenchman by birth, had been employed in
Scotland since the year 1843, when he was with a firm of nurserymen at
Dundee. How long he stayed with them was not proved, but according to
his own statement he was one of the National Guard in the Revolution
in Paris in 1848. He was always a poor man, and in 1851, when again
in Scotland, was in such straits that he was living at a tavern in
Edinburgh on the charity of its proprietor. When there he was at times
in very low spirits, crying at night, and speaking of committing
suicide, getting out of bed and walking about the room weeping, and
on one occasion on the point apparently of throwing himself out of
the window of his room had he not been prevented by his companion.
Some love affairs—one with an English lady, another with a lady in
Fife—were the causes he assigned for his melancholy and depression.
In a letter, probably of this date, he wrote, “I never was so unhappy
in my life. I wish I had the courage to blow my brains out.” In 1852
he was in the employ of another nurseryman at Dundee, still harping on
his disappointment in love, complaining bitterly of the last lady’s
intended marriage with another—gloomy, moody, dull, and threatening to
stab himself. Vain of his person, he was always talking of his success
with ladies, and of what he should do if he was again jilted. On one
occasion, when speaking of the use of arsenic for improving the coats
of horses, and asked if he was not afraid of poisoning them, he said,
“Oh, no: so far from doing that, he had taken it himself, without any
bad effects.” From this employment he went to that of Messrs. Huggins
and Co., of Glasgow, where he was looked upon as a steady, industrious
clerk, “a well-behaved, well-principled, religious man.” Whilst with
this firm he pressed a young friend to introduce him to Miss Smith; and
thus sprang up the attachment which led to the catastrophe.

_Miss Madeline Smith_, to whom L’Angelier was introduced towards the
end of 1854, was the daughter of an architect of position in Glasgow,
and had lately returned from an English boarding-school. She was
attractive in person, and just of the age to fall violently in love
with such a plausible, goodlooking man as L’Angelier. As her parents
naturally had little liking for a merchant’s clerk as their daughter’s
husband, the love affair that arose at once after the introduction
was carried on clandestinely by a voluminous correspondence, in which
more than 200 letters passed from her to the deceased in the brief
period of their attachment, and such stolen interviews in or out of her
father’s house as could be arranged with the connivance of one of his
servants. According to the theory of the prosecution, L’Angelier was an
accomplished and deliberate seducer, who at last gained his purpose on
the 6th of May, from which date Miss Smith’s letters to her lover speak
plainly of matters of which even married persons would be reticent,
and are couched in language suitable only to married persons. She was
clearly in L’Angelier’s power, who wished to marry her, and made
more than one arrangement for an elopement. Towards the end of 1856,
however, her affection for him began to cool, and with reason. She had
accepted the attentions of a Mr. Minnoch, with the full consent of her
parents, and shortly after actually fixed the day for her marriage with
him. The danger of her situation pressed upon her. L’Angelier, when he
knew of this, was not the man to sit tamely under such a slight, or to
let another person marry one of whom he knew so much to her discredit.
She wrote him to return her letters, begged and prayed him to do so,
and let the engagement drop, to which she never could get the sanction
of her parents. He refused. He had heard a rumour of the Minnoch
engagement, and he threatened to send the letters to her father. Still
it was not revenge that he wanted; he wanted his wife. Her letters at
this time give the most painful proofs of the state of mind into which
she had fallen. “On her bended knees,” she wrote, begging “him not to
expose her, for her mother’s sake,” and “the dread of her father’s
anger.” “As you hope for mercy at the judgment day, do not inform on
me; do not make me a public shame. There is no one I love. My love was
all given to you. My heart is empty, cold. I am unloved. I am despised.
I told you I had ceased to love. It is true.” Such was her letter,
presumably of the 11th of February, 1857. At this time she was engaged
to Minnoch, and the day of the marriage, if not actually fixed, had
been talked about. She begged for an interview. In the postscript to
this sad letter, she added: “I will take you within the door; the area
gate will be open. I shall see you from my window, twelve o’clock. I
will wait till one o’clock.” The exact date of this letter could not
be proved, as it had been delivered and not posted. It was dated only
Tuesday evening, twelve o’clock; and however ingenious was the argument
of the Lord Advocate, it failed to satisfy the court that it produced
an interview on the 11th which led to another on the 19th—the day on
which, according to the Crown, she first administered the poison to her
lover, from which arose the first of his illnesses, as described by
Mrs. Jenkins, his landlady.

Previously to the trial, the following explanation of the connection
with L’Angelier had been given by the prisoner, in her examination
before the Sheriff Substitute of Lanarkshire on the 31st of March,
“when,” he said, “she answered his questions without hesitation, and
with great appearance of frankness and candour.”

DECLARATION OF THE PRISONER.

“I am a native of Glasgow, 21 years of age, and reside with my father
at No. 7, Blythswood Square, Glasgow. For about two years I have been
acquainted with P. Emile L’Angelier, who was in the employment of
Huggins & Co., in Bothwell Street, and resided at 10, Franklin Place.
He recently paid his addresses to me, and I have met him on a variety
of occasions. I heard of his death on the afternoon of the 23rd of
March from my mother. _I had not seen him for about three weeks before
his death_, and the last time I saw him was on a night about half-past
ten o’clock. On that occasion he tapped at my window, which is on the
ground floor and fronts Main Street. I talked to him from the window,
which is stanchioned outside, and I did not go out to him, nor did he
come into me. This occasion, which, as already said, was the last,
_was about three weeks before his death, and was the last time I saw
him_. He was in the habit of writing notes to me, and I was in the
habit of replying to them. The last note I wrote _was on the Friday
before his death, the 20th of March_. (Identifies note and envelope.)
_In consequence of that note I expected him to visit me on Saturday
the 21st, at my bedroom window, in the same way as before, but he did
not come and sent no notice. There was no tapping at my window on the
Saturday night, nor on the Sunday following._ I went to bed on the
Saturday night about eleven, and remained in bed until the usual time
of getting up next morning, being eight or nine o’clock. In the course
of my meetings with him, he and I had arranged to get married, and at
one time we had proposed September last as the time and subsequently
the present month of March. It was proposed we should reside in
furnished lodgings, but we had not made any definite arrangement as
to time or otherwise. He was very unwell, and had gone to the Bridge
of Allan for his health, and he complained of sickness; but I have
no idea what was the cause of it. _I remember giving him some cocoa
from my window one night, some time ago, but I cannot specify the time
particularly. He took the cup in his hand and barely tasted it, and
I gave him no bread with it._ I was taking some cocoa myself at the
time, and had prepared it myself. (Identifies note No. 2, which she
wrote and sent to post.) _As I had attributed his illness to want of
food, I proposed, as stated in the note, to give him a loaf of bread,
but I said that merely in a joke, and in point of fact I never gave
him any bread._

I have bought arsenic on various occasions. The last I bought was a
sixpenny-worth, in Currie’s, the apothecary’s shop in Sauchiehall
Street. Prior to that I had bought other two quantities of arsenic for
which I paid sixpence each—one of these in Currie’s, and the other
in Murdoch’s, the apothecary’s shop in Sauchiehall Street. I used it
all as a cosmetic, and applied it to my face, neck, and arms, diluted
with water. The arsenic I got at Currie’s on Wednesday, 18th March,
and used it all on one occasion, having put it all in the basin where
I was to wash myself. I had been advised to this use of arsenic by
a young lady of the name of Giubilei, the daughter of an actress,
whom I had met at school at Clapton near London.[103] I had also seen
it recommended in the newspapers. I did not wish any of my father’s
family to know that I was using arsenic, and therefore never mentioned
it to anyone, and I do not suppose that they or any of the servants
noticed it in the basin. When I bought the arsenic at Murdoch’s, I
am not sure whether I was asked or not what it was for; but I think
I said for a gardener, to kill rats or destroy vermin about flowers,
and I only said this because I did not wish them to know that I was
going to use it as a cosmetic. I do not remember whether I was asked
as to the use I was going to make of the arsenic on the other two
occasions. I likely made the same statement about it as I had done
at Murdoch’s; and on all three occasions, as required in the shops,
I signed my name to a book in which the sales are entered. On the
first occasion I was accompanied by Mary, a daughter of Dr. Buchanan,
of Dumbarton. For several years past Mr. Minnoch, of the firm of W.
Houldsworth & Co., has been coming a good deal about my father’s
house; and about a month ago he made a proposal of marriage to me,
and I gave him my hand in token of acceptance, but no time for the
marriage has been fixed;[104] and my object in writing the note, No.
1, before mentioned, was to have a meeting with Mr. L’Angelier to tell
him I was engaged to Mr. Minnoch.[105] (Identifies two notes and an
envelope bearing the Glasgow post-mark of 23rd January, as written and
sent by her to L’Angelier.) On the occasion that I gave L’Angelier the
cocoa, I think that I used it must have been known to the servants and
members of my father’s family, as the package containing the cocoa
was lying on the mantelpiece in my room, but no one of the family
used it, as they did not like it. The water that I used I got hot
from the servants. On the night of the 18th, when I used the arsenic
last, I was going to a dinner party at Mr. Minnoch’s house. I never
administered, or caused to be administered, to Mr. L’Angelier arsenic
or anything injurious. And this I declare to be truth.”

With this brief introduction, let us proceed to the details of his
various illnesses, due, as the prosecution inferred, to arsenical
poisoning.

THE SYMPTOMS.

Mrs. Jenkins, at whose house L’Angelier came to lodge in the July of
1856, and continued there till his death, spoke of her lodger as of
civil habits, but wont to stay out at night, for which purpose he
had the use of a latch-key. His health was usually good; but about
the middle of February, 1857, he had a severe attack of illness, and
another on the 23rd, of which she gave the following account:—

“One night he wished a pass key, as he thought he would be late out.
I went to bed and did not hear him come in. I knocked at his door
about eight the next morning and got no answer. I knocked again, and
he said, ‘Come in, if you please.’ I went in. He said, ‘I have been
very unwell; look what I have vomited.’ I said I thought it was bile.
It was a greenish substance. There was a great deal of it. It was
thick stuff, like gruel. I said, ‘Why did you not call me?’ He said
that while on the road coming home, he was seized with a violent pain
in his bowels and stomach, and when he was taking off his clothes,
thought he should have died on the carpet, and no human eye would have
seen him. ‘I was not able,’ he said, ‘to ring the bell.’ He asked me
to make a little tea, and said he would not go out. I emptied what he
had vomited, and advised him to go to a doctor, and he said he would.
He took a little breakfast and then went to sleep for an hour, when
I went back to him, and he said he was better, and would go out. Mr.
Thuau, who lodges in my house, saw him. He went out between ten and
eleven—his place of business is two streets off. He returned about
three in the afternoon, said he had been to a doctor and brought a
bottle of medicine with him. He took the medicine and complained about
feeling very thirsty.

“His illness made a great change in his appearance. He looked yellow
and dull, and before that his complexion was fresh. He became dark
under the eyes, and the red of his cheeks seemed to be more broken.
He complained of being very cold after he came in. He lay down on the
sofa, and I laid a railway-rug over him. I did nothing for his feet.
He never was the same after his illness. When asked how he felt, he
was accustomed to say, ‘I never feel well.’ On a Monday morning, about
four o’clock, he called me. He was vomiting. It was the same kind of
stuff as before in colour and otherwise. There was not quite so much
of it. He complained on this occasion likewise of pain in the bowels
and stomach, and of thirst and cold. I did not know he was out the
night before. He did not say anything about it. I put more blankets on
him, jars of hot water to his feet, and made him some tea. I gave him
also a great many drinks—toast and water, lemon and water, and such
like—because he was thirsty. I called again about six in the morning.
He did not rise until the forenoon. Dr. Thomson came to attend,
fetched by Thuau, and left a prescription for powders, of which he
took one or two. He said they were not doing him the good he expected;
‘the doctor always said he was getting better, but he did not feel
well;’ ‘he did not feel getting better.’ He was eight days away from
business at that time. Some time after he went to Edinburgh, and
returned to Glasgow on the 17th of March, and stayed till the 19th,
when he went away, as he said, to the Bridge of Allan.

“He went away about 10 A.M., and said he would not be home before
Wednesday night or Thursday morning next week. A letter came for him
on the 19th like those that used to come, and I gave it to Thuau.
I don’t remember any coming on Friday, but one more, like a lady’s
writing, on Saturday, which I also gave to Thuau. (Identifies envelope
as like that of letter received on Saturday, but not another which was
shown her.) L’Angelier was much disappointed at not getting a letter
before he left, and said, ‘If I get a letter, perhaps I shall be home
to-night.’

“I next saw L’Angelier on Sunday night, about eight. He said the
letter sent had brought him home. I told him it had come on Saturday
afternoon. He did not say where he had come from. I understood he
had been at the Bridge of Allan. He looked much better, and said he
was so. He went out about 9 P.M., and asked for a latch-key, as he
might be late. I was to call him early. It was about half-past two
next morning when I next saw him; he did not use the latch-key, but
rang the bell violently. When I opened the door, he was standing with
his arms on his stomach. He said, ‘I am very bad. I am going to have
another vomiting of that bile.’ The first time I saw the vomitings, I
said it was bile. He said he was never troubled with bile. He said he
never thought he should have got home, he was so bad on the road. He
did not say how he had been bad. The first thing he took was a little
water. I filled up the tumbler, and he tried to vomit. He wished a
little tea. I went into the room (with it?), and before he was half
undressed he was vomiting severely. It was the same kind of matter as
I had seen before. There was a light. The vomiting was attended with
great pain. I asked him whether he had taken anything to disagree
with his stomach. He said he had taken nothing since he was at the
Bridge of Allan. He was chill and cold, and wished a jar of hot water
to his feet, and another to his stomach. I got these for him, and
two blankets and mats. He got a little easier. About four o’clock
he was worse, and on my proposing to go for a doctor said he was a
little better, and I need not. About five he was worse again, and
his bowels became bad. He had been vomiting only up to this time. I
went for Dr. Steven, who could not come so early, but told me to give
him twenty-five drops of laudanum, and put a mustard blister on his
stomach, and if he did not get better he would come. At L’Angelier’s
request, I went again, and the doctor came, who immediately ordered
him mustard. I said to him, ‘Look at what he has vomited.’ He said,
‘Take it away, it is making him faint.’ I got the mustard, and the
doctor put it on, and I think gave him a little morphia. I said to
L’Angelier, ‘This is the worst attack you have had.’ The doctor stayed
about a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. I took him into the
dining-room, and asked him what was wrong; he asked me if he was a
person that tippled. I said, ‘No,’ and that this was the second time
this had occurred, and asked what was the reason. The doctor said this
was matter for explanation. The first time I went back, L’Angelier
asked what the doctor had said. I said he thought he would get over
it, and L’Angelier replied, ‘I am far worse than he thinks.’ About
nine, when I drew the curtains, he looked very ill, and I asked if
there was no one he wished sent for. He asked to see Miss Perry, of
Bamfield Street. I sent for her. He said he thought that if he could
get five minutes’ sleep he should be better. These were the last words
I heard him use. I went back into the room in about five minutes; he
was then quite quiet, and I thought he was asleep. The doctor then
returned, and I told him so. He went into the room, felt his pulse,
lifted his head, and said he was dead.”

Nothing of importance with reference to the symptoms of his attacks
was elicited in cross-examination. His first illness, according to the
witness, was a great deal worse than the second. It was in January that
he first complained of ill health. He then first complained of his
tongue; then a boil came out on his neck, and shortly after another.
She did not think that he ate what suited him, and especially too
many vegetables, to which he said he was accustomed in France. On the
morning of his death he complained about his mouth being sore. The
doctor gave him some water, and he said it was choking him, or that
it was going into his chest. When in bed that morning he always had
his arms out on the bed clothes. She did not remember his hands being
clenched. His right hand was clenched when he died. The remainder of
the cross-examination related to the dress he usually wore, and the
search by the officers for his papers.[106]

MEDICAL EVIDENCE.

_Dr. Thomson_, a physician in Glasgow, who had known L’Angelier for two
years, gave the following evidence as to his health up to about the
10th of March:—

“He consulted me professionally, the first time, fully a year ago,
when he had a bowel complaint, of which he got better. Next time was
on the 3rd February this year for a cold and cough, and boil on his
neck, for which I prescribed. The next week after I saw him, when
another boil had appeared. _On the 23rd of February_ he came to me.
He was very feverish, and his tongue was furred, and had a patchy
appearance, from the fur being off in various places. He complained of
nausea, and had been vomiting. He was prostrate, his pulse was quick,
and he had general symptoms of fever. I prescribed for him (taking his
complaint to be bilious derangement) an aperient draught. He had been
ill, I think, for a day or two, but he had been taken worse the night
before he called on me—during the night of the 22nd and the morning
of the 23rd. He was confined to the house for two or three days. I
visited him on the 24th, 25th, and 26th of February, and on the 1st of
March met him. The aperient draught I prescribed contained magnesia
and soda. On the 24th I prescribed powders containing rhubarb, soda,
chalk of camomile, and ipecacuanha. On the 24th he was much in the
same state. He had vomited the draught I had given him on the 23rd,
and I observed that his skin was considerably jaundiced; and from the
whole symptoms I called the disease a bilious fever. On the 25th he
was rather better, and had risen from his bed to the sofa, but was not
dressed. On the 26th he felt considerably better and cooler, and I did
not think it necessary to repeat my visits till I happened to be in
the neighbourhood. _It did not occur to me that these symptoms arose
from the action of any irritant poison. If I had known that he had
taken an irritant poison, these were the symptoms I should expect to
follow._ I don’t think I asked him when he was seriously taken ill. I
had not seen him for some little time before, and certainly he looked
very dejected and ill; _his colour was rather darker and jaundiced,
and round the eye the colour was rather darker than usual_. I saw him
again eight or ten days after the 1st of March. He called on me, but I
have no note of the day; he was much the same as on the 1st of March.
He said he was thinking of going into the country, but did not say
where. I did not prescribe for him then. On the 26th of February, I
think I told him to give up smoking. I thought it was injurious to his
stomach. I never saw him again in life.”

“On the morning of the 23rd of March, Mr. Stevenson and Mr. Thuau
called on me, mentioned his death, and wished me to go and see his
body, and see if I could give an opinion as to the cause of his death.
They did not know that I had not seen him alive in his last illness. I
went to the house. The body was laid out on a stretcher on the table.
_The skin had a slightly jaundiced hue._ I said it was impossible to
give a decided opinion, and requested Dr. Steven to be sent for, who
had been in attendance. I examined the body with my hands externally,
and over the region of the liver the sound was dull; and over the
region of the heart the sound was natural. I saw what he had vomited,
and made inquiry as to the symptoms before death. Dr. Steven, when he
arrived, corroborated the statements of the landlady, as far as he was
concerned. No resolution as to a _post-mortem_ examination was come
to that day, but in the afternoon I stated to Mr. Huggins and another
gentleman, who called on me, that the symptoms were such as might have
been produced by an irritant poison, and that it was such a case that,
had it occurred in England, a coroner’s inquest would be held.”

On _cross-examination_, the witness said—

“_At the time I attended L’Angelier, in February, there were no
symptoms that I could definitely say were not due to a bilious attack,
they were all the symptoms of such an attack. There was no appearance
of jaundice. I have heard of that as a symptom of irritant poison._
It is in Dr. Taylor’s work on poisons. _The jaundice I saw was quite
consistent that he was labouring under a bilious attack, and could
easily be accounted for that way._”

_Dr. Steven_, physician of Glasgow, who was called in by Mrs. Jenkins
on the 23rd of March, at the commencement of the fatal attack, carried
on the case to the death of the deceased:—

“I was applied to,” said the Witness, “early in the morning of the
23rd of March last, by Mrs. Jenkins, to see her lodger, who she told
me was suffering from a severe bilious attack. Being unwell myself I
was unwilling to go, but advised her to give him hot water and drops
of laudanum. She came to me again about seven. I went, thinking,
as he was a Frenchman, he might not be understood. I found him in
bed, very much depressed. His features were pinched, and his hands.
He complained of coldness and pain over the region of the stomach.
By pinched, I mean shrunk and cold, or inclined to become cold. He
complained of general chilliness and his face and hands were cold
to the touch. He was physically and mentally depressed. I spoke to
him and observed nothing peculiar in his voice. I did not expect a
strong voice, and it was not particularly weak. That was when I first
entered the room. But his voice became weaker. He complained that his
breathing was painful, but it did not seem hurried. I dissuaded him
from speaking, had extra clothes put on his bed, gave him a little
morphia (mustard?) to make him vomit, but he seemed to have vomited
all he could. He had a weak pulse. I felt the action of the heart
corresponding to it. That imported that the circulation was weaker at
the extremities. The feet were not cold. Hot bottles were put to them,
and also above his body for his hands. He was not urgently complaining
of thirst. He seemed afraid of drinking large quantities for fear of
making himself vomit. He asked particularly for cold water, and was
unwilling to take whisky, which the landlady talked of giving him. He
said he had been vomiting and purging. I saw a utensil filled with the
matter vomited and purged. I ordered it to be removed and a clean one
put in its place, that I might see what he had vomited. I did not see
it. I believe it was kept for some time, but I said it might be thrown
away: that was after his death. He said, ‘_This is third attack_ I
have had: the landlady says it is bile, but I never was subject to
bile.’ He seemed to get worse while I was there. He several times
said, ‘My poor mother,’ and how dull he felt at being so ill away
from friends. I applied a mustard poultice to his stomach. I stayed I
suppose half-an-hour. I called again about a quarter past eleven. The
landlady met me and said he had been quite as bad as in the morning. I
went into the room and found him dead. He was lying on his right side,
with his back towards the light, his knees drawn a little up, one
arm outside the bedclothes and the other in. They were not much—not
unnaturally drawn up. He seemed in a comfortable position, as if
sleeping. About mid-day I was sent for again; Dr. Thomson was there
when I went in. I asked him if there was anything in his previous
illness, with the symptoms I mentioned, which would account for the
cause of death, but we were entirely at a loss to account for it. I
declined giving a certificate unless I made an examination, and Dr.
Thomson and I made one the next day. We subsequently made a second
examination after the body was exhumed.”

The witness then described how the stomach and its contents were
carefully preserved and sent to Professor Penny for analysis (see
Appendix A., p. 355).

ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE.

_Dr. Penny_, the Professor of Chemistry in the Andersonian University,
Glasgow, then read the following report of his analysis of the parts of
the body handed to him by Dr. Thomson, made at the request of one of
the procurators fiscal of the country.

(1.) _Contents of Stomach._

“The liquid measured 8½ ounces. On being allowed to repose, it
deposited a white powder, which was found on examination to possess
the external characters and all the chemical properties peculiar
to arsenious acid, that is, the common white arsenic of the shops.
It consisted of hard, gritty, transparent, colourless crystalline
particles; it was soluble in boiling water, and readily dissolved in a
solution of caustic potash. It was unchanged by sulphide of ammonium,
and volatised when heated on platina foil. Heated in a tube it gave a
sparkling white sublimate, which, under the microscope, was found to
consist of octahedral crystals. Its aqueous solution afforded, with
ammonio-nitrate of silver, ammonio-sulphate of copper, sulphuretted
hydrogen, and bichromate of potash, the highly characteristic results
produced by arsenious acid. On heating a small portion of it in a
small tube with black flux, a brilliant ring of metallic arsenic was
obtained, with all its distinctive properties. Heated with dilute
hydrochloric acid and a slip of copper foil, a steel-gray coating was
deposited on the copper; and this coating, by further examination, was
proved to be metallic arsenic.

“Another portion of the powder, on being heated with nitric acid,
yielded a substance having the peculiar characters of arsenic acid.
A small portion of the powder was also subjected to what is commonly
known as ‘Marsh’s Proof,’ and metallic arsenic was thus obtained, with
all its peculiar physical and chemical properties. These results show,
unequivocally, that the said white powder was arsenious acid—that
is the preparation of arsenic which is usually sold in commerce, and
administered, or taken as a poison, under the name of arsenic or oxide
of arsenic.

“I then examined _the fluid contents of the stomach_. After the usual
preparatory operations, it was subjected to the following processes:—

“(1.) To a portion of the fluid Reinsch’s process was applied, and an
abundant steel-like coating was obtained on copper foil. On heating
the coated copper in a glass tube, the peculiar odour of arsenic
was distinctly perceptible, and a white crystalline sublimate was
produced, possessing the properties peculiar to arsenious acid.

“(2.) Another portion was distilled, and the distillate subjected to
Marsh’s process. The gas produced by this process had an arsenical
odour, burned with a bluish-white flame, and gave with nitrate
of silver the characteristic reaction of arseniuretted hydrogen.
On holding above the flame a slip of bibulous paper moistened
with a solution of ammonio-nitrate of silver, a yellow colour was
communicated to the paper. A white porcelain capsule depressed upon
the flame was quickly covered with brilliant stains, which on being
tested with the appropriate reagents, were found to be metallic
arsenic. By a modification of Marsh’s apparatus, the gas was conducted
through a heated tube, when a lustrous mirror-like deposit of arsenic
in the metallic state was collected; and this deposit was afterwards
converted into arsenious acid.

“(3.) Through another portion of the fluid a stream of sulphuretted
hydrogen was transmitted, when a bright yellow precipitate separated,
having the chemical properties of trisulphide of arsenic. It dissolved
readily in ammonia; it remained unchanged in hydrochloric acid; and it
gave, on being heated with black flux, a brilliant ring of metallic
arsenic.

“(4.) A fourth portion, being properly acidified with hydrochloric
acid was distilled, and the distillate subjected to ‘Fleitmann’s’
process. For this purpose it was boiled with zinc and a strong
solution of caustic potash. Arseniuretted hydrogen was disengaged and
was recognised by its odour, and its characteristic action on nitrate
of silver.”

(2.) _Stomach._

“I examined, in the next place, the stomach itself. It was cut
into small pieces, and boiled for some time in water containing
hydrochloric acid, and the solution, after being filtered, was
subjected to the same processes as those applied to the contents of
the stomach. The results in every case were precisely similar, and
the presence of a considerable quantity of arsenic was unequivocally
detected.”

(3.) _Quantity of Arsenic._

“I made, in the last place, a careful determination of the quantity
of arsenic contained in the stomach and its contents. A stream of
sulphuretted hydrogen gas was transmitted through a known quantity
of the prepared fluid from the said matters, until the whole of the
arsenic was precipitated in the form of trisulphide of arsenic. This
sulphide, after being carefully purified, was collected, dried, and
weighed, and the weight corresponded to a quantity of arsenious acid
(common white arsenic) in the entire stomach and its contents equal
to 82 grains and seven-tenths of a grain, or nearly one-fifth of
an ounce. The accuracy of this result was confirmed by converting
the sulphide of arsenic into arseniate of ammonia and magnesia, and
weighing the product. _The quantity here stated is exclusive of the
white powder first examined._ The purity of the various materials
and reagents employed in this investigation was most scrupulously
ascertained.”

_Conclusions._

“Having considered the results of this investigation, I am clearly
of opinion that they are conclusive in showing (1), That the matters
subjected to examination and analysis contained arsenic, and (2), That
the quantity of arsenic found was considerably more than sufficient to
destroy life.

“All this is true, on soul and conscience.

“FREDERICK PENNY,
“_Professor of Chemistry_.”

_April 6, 1857._

_Examination resumed._—“It is not easy to give a precise answer to
the question ‘How much arsenic would destroy life?’ Cases are on
record in which life was destroyed by two and four grains; four or
six grains are generally sufficient to destroy life, and the amount
I determined as existing in the stomach was 82 grains. On the 31st
of March I attended the exhumation of M. L’Angelier’s body. I saw
the coffin opened, and the portions of the body removed, which were
carefully preserved, in jars of which I never lost sight, and I
analysed the contents, and prepared the following

_Report._

“On Tuesday, 31st March last, I was present at a _post-mortem_
examination of the body of P. E. L’Angelier, made by Drs. Corbet,
Thomson, and Steven, in a vault in the Ramshorn Church, Glasgow.

“At my request, portions of the following organs were removed from the
body, and properly preserved for chemical analysis and examination:
(1.) Small intestine and contents; (2.) Large intestine; (3.) Liver;
(4.) Heart; (5.) Lung; (6.) Brain. These articles were taken direct
to the Laboratory of the Andersonian Institution, and were there
delivered to me by the parties named. I have since made a careful
analysis and chemical examination of all the said matters, with the
following results:—

(1.) _Small Intestine and Contents._

“The portion of the small intestine contained a turbid and
reddish-coloured fluid, measuring four ounces. On standing for
several hours in a glass vessel, this liquid deposited numerous and
well-defined octahedral crystals, which, being subjected to the usual
chemical processes for the detection of arsenic, were found to be
arsenious acid. Arsenic was also detected in the small intestine.

(2.) _Large Intestine._

“This organ yielded arsenic, but in less proportion than in the small
intestine.

(3.) _Liver, Brain, and Heart._

“Arsenic was separated from the liver, brain, and heart, but in much
less proportion than from the small and large intestines.

(4.) _Lung._

“The lung gave only a slight indication of the presence of arsenic.

_Conclusions._

“(1.) That the body of the deceased contained arsenic.

“(2.) That the arsenic must have been taken by or administered to him
while living.”

The witness then spoke of the examinations he had made into the arsenic
sold by the two chemists, _Murdoch_ and _Currie_, at whose shops
the prisoner had stated she had purchased it, for the purposes of a
cosmetic. In that sold at _Murdoch’s_, 91·1 per cent. was pure white
arsenic, and in that from _Currie’s_, 94·4 per cent., and the remainder
inorganic matter; in _Murdoch’s_ carbonaceous, in _Currie’s_ indigo
and carbonaceous matter. The quantity of indigo in this arsenic was
extremely small, and capable of being removed by peculiar and dexterous
manipulation, so that the arsenic would appear white to the unassisted
eye. If of this an amount sufficient to cause death had been given, and
prior to death great vomiting had taken place, the witness would not
expect to find any portion of the indigo: the quantity was so small,
that it would not colour wine of any sort. In the case of _Murdoch’s_
arsenic, however, as it was mixed with carbonaceous particles, if that
had been given and settled down from the contents of the stomach as
in this case, he should have expected to find such particles—not,
however, if it had been given a month before. Of the twelve bottles
and two packages of medicines, and the cake of chocolate found at
L’Angelier’s lodging, and submitted to him for analysis, none, except
a weak solution of aconite were poisonous, and that was so weak, that
had the whole two ounces in the phial been swallowed, it would not have
destroyed life. Of the use of prussic acid or arsenic as a cosmetic he
had never heard, and believed that both would be dangerous, and the
latter might produce constitutional symptoms of poisoning. He had heard
of its use as a depilatory, but then mixed with other matters, as lime,
and it was not arsenious acid, but usually the yellow sulphide, that
was used for this purpose.

On _cross-examination by the Dean of Faculty_, the witness said:—

“In the entire stomach and its contents there was arsenic equal to 82,
7-10th grains, exclusive of the white powder first examined, which,
after being dried, weighed 5, 2-10th grains, and was arsenious acid.
I did not determine the quantity of arsenic in the liver, heart, or
brain, and can give no notion of the quantity that might be in those
organs. In the small intestine it must have been considerable, because
when its contents were allowed to repose arsenious acid crystallised
out of that liquid and deposited abundantly on the sides of the
vessel,—which indicated that the liquid had as much arsenic as it
could hold in solution at that temperature. I can’t give any idea of
the quantity in the small intestine. It was decidedly appreciable.
It would be a mere matter of guess, and I should not like to guess
in so serious a matter. If the deceased, when attacked by symptoms
of arsenical poisoning, vomited often, and in large quantities, it
would depend on the mode of administration whether a quantity would
be carried off. If given in solid food, and in a solid state, a large
portion of the arsenic would be ejected from the stomach if all
the food were vomited; but if the arsenic were stirred up with the
liquid, and thereby thrown into a state of mechanical suspension, I
should not expect that so considerable a portion would be ejected by
vomiting. By solid food I mean bread and the like. In the case of
the arsenic being taken in a fluid, I could not say what proportion
might be ejected. I should not be surprised to find that as much had
been ejected as retained. Judging from what I found in the body,
the dose must have been of a very unusual size. There are cases on
record in which large quantities of arsenic have been found in the
stomach and intestines—larger than in the present. I think there
is a case where two drachms—120 grains—were found. In the cases I
refer to the arsenic was taken voluntarily, with the intention to
commit suicide. It would be very difficult to give a large dose in a
liquid. By a large dose you exclude many vehicles in which arsenic
might be administered. Nothing which I found indicated the time when
the arsenic must have been taken. The ordinary period between the
administration of the poison and the symptoms being manifested is
eight to ten hours in the cases on record: that is the extreme time.
There are some cases in which they show themselves in half an hour.
We have cases in which death resulted in a few hours, and cases in
which death has been delayed two days. As to the arsenic bought at
_Currie’s_ shop, the greater part of the colouring matter might be
removed. If you were to throw water on the arsenic, and agitate the
two together, and after the arsenic has subsided you throw off the
liquor, a portion of the colouring matter is thrown off, and if you
keep the vessel shaken in a particular way you may coax the greater
part of the colouring matter away. _Murdoch’s_ arsenic was coloured
with carbonaceous matter—it had the colour of coal soot. I cannot
tell from examination whether the arsenic found was given in one dose
or in several. It would be very dangerous to use arsenic externally
in any way. There are cases in which it has been rubbed on the whole
skin, and the symptoms of poisoning produced—vomiting, pain, but
not death. My impression is, from general reading, that it produces
eruption on the sound skin.[107] If cold water were used, I should not
like to wash in it. I cannot give any other answer.”

_To the Lord Justice Clerk._—“There are cases in which inflammation
of the intestines has been produced by the external application of
arsenic.”

_To the Dean._—“Arsenic is an irritant poison; it is absorbed into
the blood, I presume, with great rapidity, and through the blood it
reaches all the organs in which we find it.”

_To the Lord Advocate._—“In administering large doses of arsenic
many vehicles are excluded. Cocoa or chocolate is a vehicle in which
a large dose might be given. There is a great difference between
giving rise to suspicion and actual detection. I have found by actual
experiment, that when 30 to 40 grains of arsenic are put into a cup
of warm chocolate, a large portion of the arsenic settles down in
the bottom of the cup, and I think a person drinking such poisonous
chocolate would suspect something when the gritty particles came into
his mouth; but when the same and even a larger quantity were boiled
with the chocolate, instead of being stirred or mixed, none of it
settles down.[108] I could not separate the soot from _Murdoch’s_
arsenic, but a very large quantity of it might be separated. Supposing
a person subjected to repeated doses of arsenic, I have no evidence on
which to form an opinion whether the last dose would be more rapidly
fatal.”

_To the Dean._—“In the case of chocolate being boiled with arsenic in
it, a larger portion dissolves and does not subside. That is what I
find by actual experiment. Coffee or tea could not be made the vehicle
of so large a dose of arsenic.”

_To the Lord Justice Clerk._—“The period in which the arsenic
produces its effect varies in different individuals, and according to
the mode of administration. Pain in the stomach is one of the first
symptoms, and vomiting usually accompanies the pain, but it may be
very severe before the vomiting actually begins. Ten, fifteen, or
twenty grains might be given in coffee.”

_Professor Penny_, subsequently (on the fourth day), gave the following
account of experiments made by him with arsenic purchased from
_Murdoch’s_ and _Currie’s_ shops:—

“Some of the arsenic I purchased from _Murdoch’s_, which was mixed
with soot, I gave to a dog, and I had no difficulty in detecting the
soot in the stomach of that dog after death. I administered arsenic,
coloured by myself with indigo, to another dog, and had no difficulty
in detecting the indigo in that case by chemical tests. To another
dog I administered arsenic purchased at _Currie’s_, which it will
be remembered was mixed with indigo. After death I detected black
particles in the stomach of that dog, but I could not undertake to
identify the arsenic found with the arsenic given: I mean I found
carbonaceous particles, but that I could not undertake to say that
these particles were of themselves sufficient to identify any of the
particular poison administered. But as I administered it myself, it
must have been the same—at least, I know of no other source. I could
detect no arsenic in the brains of the dogs. I found solid arsenic in
the stomach, as well as in the texture of the stomach.”

_By the Court._—“Is it the fact that there is less arsenic found in
the brains of animals than of human beings?”

_Witness._—“I am not aware. In the one case I detected blue colouring
matter of indigo, in the other carbonaceous particles.”[109]

_By the Dean._—“Did you make yourself acquainted with the nature of
the colouring matter of _Currie’s_ arsenic before administering it to
the dog?”

_Witness._—“I did.”

_The Dean._—“Did the black particles you found correspond to the
constituents of the colouring matter?”

_Witness._—“They have a close resemblance to them, both in physical
appearance and in chemical properties.”

_The Dean._—“Were they not in physical appearance and chemical
properties, identical?”

_Witness._—“They were.”

_Professor Christison_, to whom, on the 11th of May, Dr. Penny had
delivered similar portions of the body to those on which he had
experimented, together with portions of the deposits from the stomach
and intestines, made a chemical analysis of the white powder, and the
fluids obtained from the stomach, and the small intestine, and of a
portion of the liver. As from these he obtained unequivocal proofs of
the presence of arsenic, he did not, at that time, proceed further.
Subsequently, however, on the 28th of May, he analysed a portion of the
great intestine, and was satisfied of the presence of arsenic; and in a
portion of the brain he found “traces of arsenic, but not satisfactory
evidence, which might be owing to the small quantity of material he had
to analyse.”

“The fluid from the stomach,” he said, “appeared to indicate a
considerable quantity in the system—more than sufficient to destroy
life. The symptoms of arsenic poisoning are variable. Sometimes
they pass off quickly, sometimes continue for weeks or months. When
they continue, they are indigestion, loss of strength, emaciation,
sometimes diarrhœa, lassitude of the limbs. If there appeared erosions
with elevated edges in the intestines, I should have been led to
suspect the existence of some affection of the intestines previous
to the final attack. The appearances exhibited by the _post-mortem_
examination were such as the witness would expect from arsenic.”

_By the Lord Advocate._—“If you had been consulted in a case of
this kind,—that on the 18th or 19th of February a person having
gone out in good health returns, is attacked during the night with
great pain in the bowels, severe vomiting of a green viscous fluid,
accompanied by intense thirst and purging, and after the lapse of two
or three days and partial recovery the patient is again seized with
the same symptoms, though in a somewhat modified form, and that after
the second attack he had continued affected with great lassitude,
change of colour, low pulse, and that after going from home for ten
or fourteen days, had again returned and been attacked the same night
with those symptoms in an aggravated form, and had died within eight
or ten hours of his return, and that on a _post-mortem_ examination
the results were found of which you are aware in this case:—I wish
you to give me your opinion, as a man of science and skill, what
conclusion you would draw as to the cause of the previous illness and
death?”

_Witness._—“I could have no doubt that the cause of death was
poisoning by arsenic, and such being the case, I should have
entertained a strong suspicion in regard to his previous illness,
because his death would have prevented me from taking the means of
satisfying my mind on the subject by a careful examination of all the
circumstances.”

_The Lord Advocate._—“Are the symptoms consistent with what you would
expect if continuous poisoning was taking place?”

_Witness._—“They are those which have occurred in parallel cases of
the administration of doses singly insufficient to cause death.”

Of the samples of _Murdoch’s_ and _Currie’s_ arsenic, which Dr.
Penny had delivered to him, “The former,” he said, “contained the
due proportion of soot; the latter was not coloured with the indigo
prescribed by the Act—was not of a bluish, but greyish black colour,
imperfectly mixed, and easily removeable by washing with cold water,
which cannot easily be done with good indigo. The proportion was a
thirty-sixth, and not a thirty-second, as the Act directs.”[110]

The _cross-examination_ of this witness was first directed to the
probability of the colouring matter in the arsenic being detected in
the portions of the body analysed.

“My attention,” said Professor Christison, “was not directed to
colouring matter in arsenic. I got only one article in which it might
have been found—the small intestine. The others had been subjected
to a previous analysis. I was not asked to attend to the colouring
matter. I did not see it, and did not search for it. Supposing soot
or indigo to have been given with the arsenic, I think it might have
been found in the intestines by careful examination. I can’t say it
would have been found: many circumstances go to the possibility of
its being found. Many component parts of soot are insoluble: it might
have been removed by frequent vomiting. It is very difficult to remove
soot from arsenic entirely. Indigo would have been found more easily
from the peculiarity of its colour, and the chemical ingredients are
so precise. _Currie’s_ arsenic is not coloured with true indigo; it
is waste indigo, or what has been used by the dyer. I don’t know how
it is prepared. I did not analyse the colouring matter of _Currie’s_
arsenic. I ascertained it was not the indigo directed by the Act to be
used, and I ascertained the quantity. I separated the colouring matter
from the arsenic, and subjected it to the action of sulphuric acid.
Charcoal (more properly—_carbon_) is one of the constituents of good
indigo, and necessarily of waste. The chief constituent of soot is
charcoal also.”

The remainder of his _cross-examination_ was directed to the amount of
arsenic found in the stomach, and the symptoms of, and the period at
which the effects are exhibited.

“I was informed by Dr. Penny that he had found more than eighty
grains in the stomach. There was also the white powder in addition.
If there was great vomiting and purging, the quantity of arsenic
administered must have been much greater than that found in the
stomach and intestines. Much would depend whether means were taken
to promote vomiting. If hot and cold water were freely given, that
would facilitate the discharge of the poison. It is impossible to say
the proportion ejected. I think it would be reasonable to suppose
that as much would be vomited as remained: it might, without any
extravagant supposition, be taken at four or five times as much.”
_Symptoms._—“There was nothing in the symptoms mentioned in the
last illness in this case inconsistent with death being produced by
a single dose of arsenic. The ordinary symptoms of this kind are
not unlike those of malignant cholera. _I think all the symptoms in
this case might have occurred from malignant cholera. If there was a
sense of choking and soreness of the throat, I think these are more
symptoms of arsenic._ I don’t think they have occurred in cholera. I
think the ulcers in the abdomen might indicate the previous existence
of inflammation in the duodenum, called duodenitis. It might be a
disease that would present the outward symptoms of bowel complaint
or cholera.” _Appearance of effects of arsenic._—“The ordinary time
that elapses between the administration of arsenic and death is from
eighteen hours to two days and a half. The exceptions to this are
numerous. Some of them are very anomalous as to the shortness of the
intervals. The shortest are two and two-and-a-half hours: these have
been ascertained; but it is not always possible to ascertain when it
has been administered. I had a case lately in which it was five hours.
There are also cases in which it was seven and even ten hours. It
does not appear that the size of the dose affects this; it does not
depend upon the amount taken, within certain bounds, of course; but
I speak of the case as arsenic is usually administered. There are a
good many cases of large doses. I think the dose in this case must
have been double, probably more than double, the quantity found in the
stomach. A dose of 220 grains may be considered a large dose. I can’t
say if, in cases of as large a dose as this, they are intentionally
administered: in great proportion of cases of suicide, the dose is
generally found to be large—easily accounted for by the desire to
make certain of death.”

_The Dean._—“In a case of murder no such large quantity would be
used? It is in cases of suicide that double-shotted pistols are used
and large doses given.”

_Witness._—“But murder, even by injuries, and also by poison, is very
often detected by the size of the dose. In all cases of poisoning
by arsenic there is always more used than is necessary. I cannot
recollect how much has been used, but I know very well that what
is found in the stomach in undoubted cases of poisoning by others
has been considerably larger than what is necessary to cause death:
because the very fact of poison being found in the stomach at all, as
in the case of arsenic, shows that more has been administered than is
necessary, as it is not what is found in the stomach causes death, but
what disappears from the stomach.”

_The Dean._—“But do you know any case in which so great a dose as the
present was administered?”

_Witness._—“I cannot recollect at the present moment. In cases
of charges of murder by arsenic it is scarcely possible to get any
information as to the actual quantity used.”

_The Dean._—“You have information here in this charge of murder.”

_The Witness._—“You have information as to what was in the stomach.”

_The Dean._—“And you are enabled to draw an inference.”

_Witness._—“Of course: my inference is drawn by a sort of
probability, but that is not an inference on which I am entitled to
found any positive statement.”

_The Dean._—“Well, let me put this question. Did you ever know any
person murdered by arsenic having 88 grains of it found in his stomach
and intestines?”

_Witness._—“I don’t recollect at the present moment.”

_The Dean._—“Or anything approaching to it?”

_Witness._—“I don’t recollect, but I would not rely on my
recollection as to a negative answer.”

_The Dean._—“You are not, at all events, able to give an example the
other way.”

_Witness._—“Not at present. As far as my own observation goes, I can
say that I never met with 80 grains in the stomach of a person who had
been poisoned by arsenic. I can’t say what is the largest quantity I
have found.”[111]

_The Dean._—“If a person designs to poison another the use of a large
quantity of arsenic, greatly exceeding what is necessary, is to be
avoided?”

_Witness._—“It is a great error. In some articles of food it is
easy to administer a large quantity of arsenic, and in others it is
difficult to do so. It is very rare for persons to take meals after
arsenic has been administered; but there is a case of a girl who took
arsenic at eleven A.M., and at two P.M. made a pretty good dinner. It
was a French case, and the words as translated are, that she made a
very good dinner, though it was observed she was uneasy previously.
The author who notices that case notices it as a very extraordinary
one. She died in thirteen or fourteen hours after the administration.
It was a rapid case.”

_By the Lord Advocate._—“The amount of matter vomited is sometimes
very little; and sometimes very large doses have been thrown off by
vomiting. There is one case in which half an ounce was taken and
no vomiting ensued. I think chocolate and cocoa would be a vehicle
in which a considerable dose might be given. Active exercise would
hasten the effect of arsenic; a long walk would do so. Exercise
accelerates the effects of all poisons except narcotic. That a man
should take poison at the Bridge of Allan, come to Coatbridge, walk
eight miles to Glasgow, and reach that in good health and spirits, I
should think very unlikely. Cases of protraction for five hours have
occurred in persons who had gone to sleep after taking it. From half
an hour to an hour is the usual time between administration and the
symptoms manifesting themselves. The administration of previous doses
predisposes the system to the effects of poison, and makes its action
more rapid and violent. If the individual had recovered entirely, this
would not be so much the case; but if he still laboured under the
derangement of the stomach, I should look for violent effects.”

On the fifth day Professor Christison was recalled, and gave the
following evidence as to the use of arsenic as a cosmetic, its taste,
and its supposed presence naturally in the bodies of human beings.

_By the Lord Advocate._—“With regard to the use of arsenic as a
cosmetic, do you think it possible to use it, by putting it in a basin
of water and washing the face with it?”

_Witness._—“It would be very unsafe indeed. I should expect it to
produce inflammation, probably, of the eyes and nostrils, and perhaps
of the mouth. It might get into the mouth, and it would be very
difficult to keep it out of the eyes and nostrils; and if it once got
in, as it is a rather insoluble solid, it would be difficult to wash
it out. A preparation made from common arsenic is sometimes used as a
depilatory. The old name is ‘Arasma Cacoran,’ because it is used by
the Turks. It is essentially a sulphuret of arsenic and a sulphuret of
lime. It is only used for removing hairs from the skin, and not for
the complexion.”

_By the Dean._—“The common arsenic of the shops, you say, is an
insoluble solid.”

_Witness._—“It is said in general terms to be so. _It is sparingly
soluble in cold water._ It is not absolutely insoluble, however, in
cold water. _About the 500th part might be dissolved in cold water by
violent agitation, and if the arsenic were to be boiled in the first
instance, about a 32nd part would remain in cold water. Cold water is
the worst of all things to hold arsenic in suspension. Only the fine
parts of the powder would be held in suspension. The coarse arsenic
sold in the shops would fall to the bottom._”[112]

_The Dean._—“Suppose water were used to wash the face and hands
without drawing up the arsenic from the bottom, you would not expect
any serious consequences to result?”

_Witness._—“I can only say, that I should not like to do it myself. I
do not know absolutely what would follow; but, on account of the risk,
any person who would do so would do a very imprudent thing.”

_By the Lord Advocate._—“Arsenic, though strictly heavier than water,
would remain in suspension?”

_Witness._—“The finer parts of the powder would, but not long. I
never made any experiment, but should say it would be for a very short
time. I should say, speaking on mere hazard, in the course of three
or four minutes there would be scarcely any of the arsenic remaining
in suspension, and there would only remain what had dissolved. I am
speaking, as I said, without having experimented.”

_By the Court._—“_Has arsenic any taste?_”

_Witness._—“Your lordship is aware that there is a great deal of
dispute about that. After the strong affirmative of its having no
taste which I published, a greater authority than I—_Professor Orfila
of Paris—still adhered to the description that it had a taste._
All I can say about that is, that experiments were made by myself
and two other medical gentlemen, as far as it was possible to make
them with so dangerous a substance, and we found the taste to be
very slight indeed; _if anything it was rather sweetish, but all but
imperceptible_.”

_To the Court._—“Then there can be no doubt that large quantities of
arsenic have been swallowed repeatedly by persons without observing?”

_Witness._—“The experiments were made by myself and two other medical
gentlemen, and so far as we went we all agreed as to the result.
Professor Orfila maintained that it had a taste, though he referred
to my experiments. But I think I may add, that it has struck me as
very strange, that neither Orfila nor any others who have doubted
these observations of mine on the matter, said that they had made any
experiments themselves. Orfila does not say so. He merely expresses
his belief, notwithstanding what I have stated.”

_By the Court._—“If taken in coffee or cream, then, the arsenic,
having, if any, a sweetish taste, would not be perceptible?”

_Witness._—“Not at all. I could put that in a clearer point of view
by a preliminary observation, namely, that several persons who have
taken arsenic largely without knowing at the time what they were
taking observed no taste; some observed a sweetish taste, and others
what they called an acrid taste. With regard to acrimony, however,
there were two fallacies. One was that they confounded the acrimony
with the roughness of taste in the mouth, and secondly with the
burning effects slowly developed by the poison afterwards.”

_By the Dean._—“In these cases you have spoken of, in what medium was
the arsenic given?”

_Witness._—“Sometimes in simple vehicles, such as coffee and water,
and sometimes in thicker substances, such as soup. I think there
are some instances where some roughness was observed in the case of
porridge, but I cannot speak exactly as to the vehicles. I do not
think the vehicle had much effect on the different tastes. I cannot
state the quantity administered.”

_The Dean._—“Are these cases in which you were personally concerned?”

_Witness._—“Strange to say, I have only been personally concerned
in two cases of poisoning by arsenic. I have of course been often
in cases like the present. It only came twice under my personal
observation. It is the opinion of Orfila that the taste of arsenic is
an acrid and not a corrosive taste.”

_The Dean._—“Exciting salivation, is it not?”

_Witness._—“Yes, that is a pretty correct translation of the French
word. The word acrid is a professional word, but Orfila uses the word
_âpre_, which rather means rough.”

_The Dean._—“Yes, in his 1st vol., p. 377, he uses the word, but at
p. 357 you will find he says the taste is _âcre et corrosive_.”

_Witness._—“I was not aware of that. ‘Notwithstanding the experiments
of Dr. Christison,’ I think he says, ‘the taste of arsenic is acrid.’
He did not say he made the experiments himself, or give his authority.
Orfila is a high name in the medical world; none higher of modern date
in the department of medico-legal chemistry.”

_The Dean._—“Will you tell me the nature of the experiments you made
with the two other medical gentlemen?”

_Witness._—“We tasted the arsenic both in a solid and a liquid state,
and allowed both kinds to pass as far back along the tongue as it
was possible to do with safety, so as to spit it out afterwards. We
allowed it to remain on the tongue about two minutes, and washed the
mouth carefully.”

_The Dean._—“Can you give me any idea how much arsenic there was in
your mouth on that occasion?”

_Witness._—“About two grains. One of the gentlemen, the late Dr.
Duncan, kept two grains in his mouth a long time. We allowed it to
remain on the tongue generally two minutes, a time quite sufficient to
ascertain the taste.”

_By the Lord Advocate._—“Is it a common thing in cases of this sort
to ascertain the quantity of arsenic?”

_Witness._—“No. In the great majority of criminal cases it is not
ascertained within presumption.”

_By the Lord Justice Clerk._—“Are you aware that a great chemist
maintained that there was arsenic naturally in the bodies of all human
beings?”

_Witness._—“I have heard that; but he afterwards surrendered his
opinion.”

_By the Dean._—“There has been a great shifting of opinion among
medical men as to the probable effect of arsenic, has there not?”

_Witness._—“Not during the last 35 years. Prior to that our
information as to the effects of arsenic was very vague.”

_By the Dean._—“Was it not generally thought at one time that there
was naturally arsenic in the human stomach?”

_Witness._—“It may be so, but it is quite new to me.”

_Robert Telfer Corbett_, physician in Glasgow, and senior surgeon in
the infirmary, who had assisted at the _post-mortem_ examination
and joined in the report, was called on the fourth day, and gave the
following evidence.

“So far as he could judge without analysis the deceased had died from
the effect of poison. The morbid appearances presented were of two
kinds—one showing the result of recent action, the other of action
at a period antecedent to it. The last of these appearances consisted
of several ulcers, each about the 1/16th of an inch in diameter, with
elevated edge, on the upper part of the duodenum. They might have been
characteristic of the effect of irritant poison at the distance of a
month, but it is impossible to fix any date. I think they were such
as irritant poison, administered a month before, would have produced.
They were of longer standing than immediately antecedent to death. In
the duodenum and intestines the body had in colour and otherwise the
appearances characteristic of arsenical poisoning. Inflammation and
ulceration are the effect of inflammation; jaundice, I mean the yellow
tinge of the skin, is an occasional, but not a necessary symptom of
death by arsenic, but not a common one. Extreme thirst is one of
the symptoms, and shows itself very early. It is not characteristic
of British cholera in its earlier stages. The exact time a dose of
arsenic takes to exhibit its symptoms is from a half to one hour—that
is the average time. Longer periods have been known but are very
unusual. They depend more on the mode in which the poison is given,
and the state of the stomach, than on the quantity administered. If a
person had been the subject of repeated doses, the irritability of the
stomach would make it more likely to operate quickly. I have read of
cases of murder where large quantities of arsenic have been found in
the stomach. I can refer to cases in which details were not given, but
the quantity was said to be large.”

The _cross-examination_ of this witness was mainly directed to his
assertion that the yellowness of the skin seen in jaundice, and, as
he added, of the conjunctiva of the eye also, was a known symptom in
arsenical poison, but he admitted that the statement in Dr. Taylor’s
book was his only authority: he only “knew it to be a secondary symptom
from arsenical poisoning in his routine.” He admitted also that the
ulcers on the duodenum might arise from some enteric fever, and that
any cause of inflammation might produce them.

On _re-examination by the Lord Advocate_, he repeated that from his
reading and study he knew jaundice to be an occasional symptom of
arsenical poisoning. To a question whether “in a person during life
who immediately after taking food had been seized with severe pain and
intense thirst, he should think, because he had a yellow colour, that
might not be the effect of arsenical poisoning?” he replied “that might
or might not be,” and “that the appearance of jaundice would not sway
him materially one way or the other.” This witness, though he had made
many _post-mortem_ examinations, had only once before done so in a case
of arsenical poisoning. With this witness the medical evidence for the
prosecution was closed.

It will be convenient, as in Palmer’s case, to give in this place the
evidence of the medical witnesses, called, at a subsequent period, for
the defence.

MEDICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE DEFENCE.

Two physicians were called for the prisoner, with the object of proving
(1), that arsenic could be used without danger as a cosmetic; (2), that
the symptoms in L’Angelier’s last illness were consistent with the
suggestion that he died of some form of cholera.

_Dr. James A. Lawrie_, a physician of Glasgow, many years in practice,
who was first called, said—

“He had taken a quarter or half-an-ounce of arsenic, bought at
_Currie’s_, and washed his hands freely with it, and on the previous
Saturday had tried the same experiment with a half-an-ounce on his
face, but washed his face afterwards with cold water. The effect
was the same as using a ball of soap with sand—it softened the
skin. He filled the basin with the usual quantity of water, and
mixed the arsenic with it. It was a practice he should have no fear
of repeating, and would not hesitate in using, if he had a case
that required it, such as vermin on the skin. In consequence of the
insolubility of arsenic, he did not think that increasing the quantity
of arsenic would make any difference in the effect.”

On the second point this witness said:—

“I treated one case of poisoning by arsenic. Some years ago during the
prevalence of cholera, I was asked to see a gentleman about seven or
eight in the evening, and the account was that he had been ill since
three or four in the morning. I found him labouring under premonitory
symptoms of cholera, and I prescribed for him. I returned about ten,
and found the symptoms very much aggravated, and the vomiting and
purging still continued. His voice was not affected, and the vomiting
was not the same as in cholera. It was a reddish yellowish matter,
and I requested it to be set aside. I thought it was not a case of
cholera, and asked him what he had taken. He said only his ordinary
food, wine, &c., but nothing else. The symptoms went on still further,
and I called a consultation of other medical men. He still said he had
taken nothing. I was satisfied from the aggravation of the symptoms
that something else was the matter, and at last he died about three in
the morning. I next day learnt that he had purchased half-an-ounce of
arsenic the day of his death. I had the vomit and contents of stomach
analysed, and discovered arsenic in great quantities. Extreme thirst,
as far as I know, is an early symptom in poisoning by arsenic—but not
equally so in cholera, it belongs to a later stage in cholera.”

_Dr. Douglas Maclagan_, of Edinburgh, who had had some experience in
arsenical poisonings, and devoted much of his time to chemistry, had
the same opinion as Dr. Lawrie of the innocuousness of arsenic as a
cosmetic (mainly from its insolubility).

“Unless there was some ulceration or abrasion of the skin, or it was
kept long in contact with it. In warm water it would dissolve to a
greater extent than in cold—in which some such proportion as only one
400th part would dissolve, and if you required to dissolve any great
quantity it must, according to Dr. Taylor, be boiled violently for
half-an-hour, and then it retains about 1-40th of its weight after the
water cools.”

_The Dean._—“Will the presence of organic matter in a fluid interfere
with its solvent power upon arsenic?”

_Witness._—“As a rule, it generally will. There does not appear to
be any difference between tea, coffee, or water when poured upon
arsenic. They dissolve but a very small quantity, I do not know how
you can determine whether cocoa or chocolate is a sufficient solvent
or not. You cannot filter them so as to determine the quantity.
There is a great deal of organic matter in the ordinary chocolate
or cocoa, it ought to be entirely organic matter, except so far as
it is water.” (The Witness then gave an account of a case of a girl
whom he attended, who took arsenic by accident, mistaking it for an
effervescing powder.) “We all know the ordinary symptoms of arsenical
poisoning. Most of them are very similar to, almost identical with,
the symptoms of cholera. In the case of slight quantities of arsenic,
it would appear that the symptoms very closely resemble those of what
are called bilious or British cholera. In fatal cases they are more
like malignant or Asiatic cholera.”

_The Dean._—“Can you diagnose a case of arsenical poisoning by the
symptoms?”

_Witness._—“I believe you may. In the first place the vomiting
would be bloody, from the violent irritation and the pouring out of
a bloody mucus into the stomach—after that has been emptied of all
its contents. I suppose there would be more affections of some of
the mucous membranes, an unaccountable occurrence of an extensive
inflammatory redness about the eyes, and the occurrence of nervous
symptoms, such, for instance, as paralysis of the limbs. But these are
not necessary symptoms. A person may be suffering from the effects of
arsenic without these being produced if the quantity is small.”

_The Dean._—“You never saw jaundice as a symptom of arsenical
poisoning?”

_Witness._—“I am not entitled to speak on my own experience, as I
never saw it. There is a single line in Taylor’s book, which says,
that it has been observed, and which refers to the remarks of Dr.
Marshall on Turner’s case.” (Extract read.)

_The Dean._—“Is that a description of jaundice?”

_Witness._—“It is a description of at least one symptom of jaundice,
yellowness of the skin; but it is rather strange that it does not
mention the most common of all signs of jaundice, yellowness of the
eyes. One looks to the eye first in a case of jaundice, because you
see it best there.”

_The Dean._—“Do you think that a sensation of choking and a feeling
of irritation of the throat are symptoms of arsenical poisoning?”

_Witness._—“Certainly.”

_The Dean._—“Would that occur in a case of British cholera?”

_Witness._—“I have seen persons who are affected with choleraic
symptoms complaining of being sore about the throat, but it is
generally the soreness arising from what they first vomit, and after
that it is the muscular soreness.”

_Cross-examined by the Lord Advocate._—“What is it that causes the
yellow outline of the eyes and skin?”

_Witness._—“The absorption of the choleraic matter into the blood.”

_Lord Advocate._—“I presume there is nothing in a case of arsenical
poisoning that produces that?”

_Witness._—“It is certainly very remarkable that we have so many
cases of arsenical poisoning where the jaundice shows itself: we have
eruption of those same parts of the duodenum according with arsenical
poisoning. I am not so certain that jaundice is a symptom of arsenical
poisoning.”

_The Lord Justice Clerk._—“But if you saw the appearance of the eye
was much darker than usual, would that lead you to think there might
be jaundice?”

_Witness._—“Oh, certainly.”

_The Lord Justice Clerk._—“I knew a case of apparent jaundice arising
from a cake of yellow soap.”

_The Lord Advocate._—“Suppose you were told that in a case the body
after death had a yellow appearance, and it was found to be the effect
of arsenical poisoning, would you not be surprised at that?”

_Witness._—“No, not at the yellowish aspect of the skin, but I would
not expect that there would be marked jaundice.”

_The Lord Advocate._—“And if you found any symptom of that kind,
where repeated doses of poison had been taken during the period from
the time when the patient took ill, what would you say?”

_Witness._—“If such a case did occur, I should say that there would
be some connection between the cause of death and the occurrence of
the jaundice.”

_Lord Advocate._—“In regard to the vomiting, is there not a great
difference in different kinds of arsenical poisoning?”

_Witness._—“Generally the vomiting is severe.”

_Lord Advocate._—“You state that the presence of organic matter
detracts from the power of holding arsenic in solution: would you say
the same as to holding it in suspension?”

_Witness._—“Certainly not.”

_Lord Advocate._—“Is great thirst a symptom of arsenic?”

_Witness._—“Generally it is, and generally an early and persistent
symptom.”

_Lord Advocate._—“Is it so in cholera?”

_Witness._—“I should say that I have seen thirst very early in
cholera. I think it is usually so. I do not know any injurious effect
that would result if the face were washed with water containing
arsenic, if you kept your mouth and eyes shut, but I do not recommend
it.”

_To the Dean._—“I cannot say how much arsenic would be held in
suspension by an ordinary cupful of chocolate and cocoa. It must
depend upon the kind of chocolate. Cocoa in this country is generally
thin, but chocolate in France is generally as thick as porridge. It is
not so in this country.”

EVIDENCE OF THE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF POISON.

On the _first_ charge, that of administering poison on the 19th or
20th of February, it was urged on the jury that there was no reliable
evidence that the lovers had met on either of these days, that
Madeline Smith had at that time poison in her possession, or that the
illness which L’Angelier was supposed to have had at that time showed
arsenical symptoms. On the 17th of February L’Angelier told Miss Perry,
the confidante of their loves, that he expected to meet Madeline on
the 19th, and, from some other circumstances—what they were is not
stated—when on the 2nd of March he told her how ill he had been,
falling on the floor of his room, she said that “she knew that he
referred to the 19th of February.” Mrs. Jenkins, however, could not fix
the date of this attack: it might have been eight or ten days before
the second illness (February 23), and, like his illness in January, she
believed it to be due to bile, the symptoms being something the same
as her own but more violent, on both occasions accompanied by a good
deal of purging and vomiting. From Dr. Thomson’s evidence, however, it
appears that his first illness in that year, which Dr. Thomson places
on the 3rd of February, was due to a cold, with cough and boils, for
which he prescribed. The only attempt that Miss Smith made to purchase
poison before that date was that of sending the page boy to Dr.
Yeaman’s to buy some prussic acid, which the doctor refused to sell
to her. The Lord Advocate admitted that he could not prove that she
had arsenic in her possession before that illness. “It would not do,”
said the Lord Justice Clerk in his charge, “to infer, from her having
arsenic afterwards, that she had it also on the first occasion.”[113]

On the second charge, that of administering poison on the 22nd or
23rd of February, the following evidence was offered. On the 21st of
February Miss Smith openly purchased an ounce and a half of arsenic
of the chemist Murdoch, ostensibly for the purpose—a false one, as
the evidence proved—of killing rats at her father’s country house.
It was mixed with soot, of which she some days afterwards spoke to
the chemist, saying she thought arsenic was white. If, therefore, the
lovers met on the 22nd, or 23rd, she had poison in her possession.
Whether L’Angelier went out on the night of the 22nd, his landlady
could not say:[114] she did not hear him come in, but, when she went
into his room early the next morning, she found him suffering from his
second attack of illness for which Dr. Thomson attended him, and from
which he recovered in about eight days. That the symptoms were those of
arsenical poisoning was hardly to be doubted, and though Dr. Thomson
at the time attributed them to billious derangement, he said, that,
“had he known that L’Angelier had taken an irritant poison, those were
the symptoms he should expect to follow.” The evidence that the lovers
had met on the night of the 22nd, or morning of the 23rd, rested on a
letter, which not only did not bear any date or day of the week, but
the post-mark on which was so obliterated that the post-office official
could not fix any date, though he thought he could see the “M” of
March on the stamp, which counsel on both sides agreed in considering
an error. In that letter Miss Smith wrote: “I am so sorry to hear you
are ill. I hope to God you will soon be better—-- you did look bad on
Sunday night and Monday morning. I think you got sick with walking home
so late, and the long want of food; so, next time we meet, I shall make
you eat a loaf of bread before you go.” This letter the Lord Advocate
assumed to be written on Wednesday, the 25th of February, and to refer
to the meeting on the night of the 22nd and morning of the 23rd. To
Miss Perry, on the 9th of March, L’Angelier spoke of having had a cup
of coffee and chocolate from Miss Smith, which Miss Perry understood to
refer to two occasions, and added, “I can’t think why I was so unwell
after getting that coffee and chocolate from her.” “It ought not to
be forgotten,” said the Lord Justice Clerk, “that the contents of the
stomach on these two illnesses had not been examined, and therefore
it was merely an inference that they were caused by arsenic—an
inference drawn from the fact that on the 22nd of March he died from
that poison.” With reference to the purchase of arsenic, the learned
Judge added: “He attached little importance to the statements of the
druggists as to what was said by the prisoner about rats; without
stating some such objects she would not have got it at all; and it
was not to be supposed, if she had wanted it as a cosmetic, that she
would tell the druggist. Did she see the deceased on the Sunday night,
before the arsenic was administered? Mrs. Jenkins did not see him go
out of the house that night, and he asked the jury to consider whether
there was, on the whole, apart from the correspondence, evidence that
they had met together that night? If there was no proof that the
administration took place on the 22nd of February, then there was
great force in the observation that the foundation of the case for the
prosecution had been shaken.”

On the third charge—that of poisoning on the 22nd or 23rd of March,
the following facts were proved. On his return to work, after his
second illness, L’Angelier was so altered in health, his complexion
wan, with a dark, hectic spot on each cheek, that leave of absence was
given to him, for the first time since he had been in this employ.
Miss Smith had advised him to take rest and change, and L’Angelier
had apparently told her that he should go to the Bridge of Allan. On
the third of March, however, Miss Smith writes that her family are
going to the same place, and the next day suggests that he should go
to the South of England. On the 5th of March he writes her a painfully
earnest letter on the reports about her intended marriage with Mr.
Minnoch, concluding: “Mind, I insist on having an explicit answer to
the question you evaded in my last.” Next day the prisoner purchases
another sixpenny-worth of arsenic, not again of Murdoch, but of Currie,
and this time the excuse is that the house in Blythswood Square is so
overrun with rats, that it is to be shut up and the servants sent away
till the vermin is eradicated. This again was pure invention on her
part. The family went to the Bridge of Allan, whence on Tuesday, the
10th of March, the prisoner wrote to L’Angelier that they would be home
again in Glasgow on the next Monday or Tuesday, when she would write to
arrange an interview, adding, “I long to see you, to kiss and embrace
you, my only sweet love.” Before this the Minnoch marriage had been
arranged, and the day talked about, if not definitively fixed. Again
on the 13th she wrote him: “I think we shall be home on Tuesday, so
I shall let you know, my own beloved sweet pet, when we shall have a
dear, sweet interview; when I may be pressed to your heart, and kissed
by you, my own sweet love. A fond, tender embrace; a kiss, sweet love!
I hope you will enjoy your visit here.” It had been previously arranged
between them that L’Angelier should not come to the Bridge of Allan
until her family had left.

During this visit of the Smiths to the Bridge of Allan, L’Angelier was
taking his leave of absence. On the 6th of March he left for Edinburgh,
and returned to Glasgow on the 17th, and, finding no letter for him,
stayed at home all the next day waiting for it. On the 19th he left
for the Bridge of Allan, where he was to stay for a week, his friend
Thuau undertaking to forward his letters. On the 19th, after he had
left, a letter came, and Thuau forwarded it that night, and it reached
Stirling at nine the next morning. That letter was not to be found. In
his tourist’s bag, however, the envelope of it was discovered, and,
from a letter which he wrote to Miss Perry on the 20th, in which he
said, “I should have come to see some one last night, but the letter
was too late,” it may be fairly assumed that it contained the wished
for appointment for the Thursday night. On the 18th the prisoner bought
her third packet of arsenic at Currie’s. Several dead rats, she said,
had been found, and it was feared some large ones still remained. This
time she had a female companion with her, and, as she had to Murdoch
expressed her surprise at the arsenic she had previously purchased
not being white, she again used the same expression at Currie’s. This
arsenic was coloured with indigo. On the 21st the last of the long
series of letters reached L’Angelier’s lodgings, and was forwarded
at once by Thuau. “Why, my beloved, did you not come to me?” she
wrote. “Oh, my beloved, are you ill? Come to me. Sweet one, I waited
and waited for you, but you came not. I shall wait again to-morrow
night—same hour and arrangement.” That letter, which was found in
his pocket, was received by him after nine on Sunday morning. He left
the Bridge of Allan shortly after evening service began, and was
at his lodgings by eight o’clock that evening. To accomplish this
L’Angelier had walked to Stirling, taken the train from there to
Coatbridge, where a Mr. Ross found him, and, after some refreshment
at the station, walked with him to Glasgow, apparently quite well,
and walking briskly.[115] When he arrived at his lodgings he appeared
greatly improved in health since he left on the previous Thursday, was
in high spirits, and said that the letter had brought him back. He left
his lodgings about nine o’clock, is seen soon after sauntering in the
direction of Blythswood Square, but not near the Smiths’ house, as it
was the hour there for family prayers. To wile away the time he calls
on a Mr. M’Alister, who is not at home, and from that time till he came
back to his lodgings, after midnight, all trace of him is lost. At two
o’clock the next morning the door-bell rang violently; his landlady
went down, and found L’Angelier at the door, standing with his arms
across his stomach. He was suffering from his fatal illness, already
too bad to be able to use his pass key. How that attack progressed, and
what its symptoms were, and what was the result of the _post-mortem_
and analytical examinations, has already been reported.

“Here,” said the learned Judge, “the proof stops. And, supposing you
are quite satisfied that the letter brought him to Glasgow,[116] are
you in a condition to say, with satisfaction to your own consciences,
that, as an inevitable and just result of that, you can find it proved
that they met that night?[117] That is the point in the case. That you
may have the strongest moral suspicion that they met—that you may
believe that he was able, after all their clandestine correspondence,
to obtain the means of an interview, especially as she complained of
his not coming on the Thursday, said she would wait again to-morrow
night, same hour and place, and talked of wishing to clasp him to her
bosom—that you may suppose it likely that, although he failed to keep
his appointment on Saturday, she would be waiting on Sunday, which was
by no means an uncommon evening for their appointment—_all that may
be very true, and probably you will think so; but remember you are
trying this case upon evidence that must be satisfactory, complete, and
distinct._

“A jury may safely infer certain facts from the correspondence. They
may even safely infer that meetings took place, when they find these
meetings either mutually appointed or arranged for by the parties. But
it is for you to say here whether it has been proved that L’Angelier
was in the house that night. If you can hold that that link in the
chain is supplied by just and satisfactory inference—remember, I say
just and satisfactory—and it is for you to say whether the inference
is just and satisfactory in order to complete the proof. If you really
feel that in your own minds, you may have the strongest suspicion that
he saw her; for really no one need hesitate to say that, as a matter
of moral opinion, the whole probabilities of the case are in favour
of it. But if that is all the amount that you can derive from it, the
link still remains awanting—the catastrophe and the alleged cause of
it are not found together. And therefore you must be satisfied that
you can here stand and rely upon the firm foundation, I say, of a just
and sound, and perhaps I may add, inevitable inference. That a jury
is entitled often to draw such an inference there is no doubt; and
it is just because you belong to that class of men to whom the Lord
Advocate referred, namely, men of common sense, capable of exercising
your judgment upon a matter which is laid before you to consider, it is
on that very account that you are to put to yourselves the question,
‘Is this a satisfactory and a just inference?’ If you find it so, I
cannot tell you that you are not at liberty to act upon it, because
most of those matters occurring in life must depend upon circumstantial
evidence, and upon the inference a jury may feel bound to draw. But
it is an inference of a very serious character—it is an inference
upon which the death of this party by the hand of the prisoner must
depend.”[118]

CONDUCT AND STATEMENTS OF THE PRISONER AFTER L’ANGELIER’S DEATH.

In her declaration Miss Smith stated that she heard of L’Angelier’s
death on the afternoon of Monday, the 23rd. On the Wednesday evening
she was out at a party, and at eight o’clock the next morning she
had left the house. In consequence Mr. Minnoch, and a brother of the
prisoner, thinking apparently that she had gone to her father’s country
house, took the rail to Greenock, and the steamer thence to Row, on
board which they found her a little after two in the afternoon. She
said she was going to Rowaleyn, and they went on with her, and from
thence brought her to Glasgow in a carriage. “When we met her on the
steamboat,” said Mr. Minnoch, “I asked her why she had left her house
and her friends in such distress at her absence. She made no reply. I
requested her not to do so among so many people. I renewed my inquiry
afterwards at Rowaleyn. She said she felt distressed that her parents
should be so much annoyed at what she had done.” The suggestion on the
part of the prosecution was, that from conscious guilt she was fleeing
from justice—on the part of the prisoner, that she was fleeing from
the shame of an exposure of her love passages with L’Angelier. “But,”
said the learned judge, “my opinion is, that having made a statement
already about getting arsenic for the gardener to kill rats, and
knowing that if it had been discovered that he got no arsenic for such
a purpose, unpleasant consequences might follow, she wished to see
him, in order to make an arrangement by which that statement might be
borne out. The steamer in which she went only sailed from Helensburgh
to Gairloch and back, and therefore escape by it was nearly impossible;
and, in point of fact, he did not believe she had any intention of
attempting it.”

Previously, however, to this unexplained flight from home, she had been
visited by the French consul, a mutual friend of the lovers, to whose
searching questions in the presence of her mother she gave most decided
answers. As this witness’s evidence was greatly relied on by counsel
for the prisoner, it is reported in full.

_M. Auguste Vauvert de Meau_, the French Consul at Glasgow, who
had known L’Angelier for three years, was acquainted with the
prisoner’s family, and aware from L’Angelier’s own statements of the
correspondence between the lovers, gave the following evidence:—

“I remember L’Angelier coming to my office a few weeks before his
death and speaking about Miss Smith. I said she was to be married to
some gentleman, and when I mentioned the public rumour, he said it
was not true, but, if it was, he had documents in his possession that
would be sufficient to forbid the banns. I did not see her after that
time. I thought that, having been received by Mr. Smith in his house,
I was not at liberty to speak to him; but after L’Angelier’s death
I thought it was my duty to mention the fact of the correspondence
having been carried on between them, in order that he might take steps
to exonerate his daughter in case of anything coming out. In the
evening of the death of L’Angelier, I called on Mr. Smith and told him
that L’Angelier had in his possession a great number of letters from
his daughter, and that it was high time to let him know this, that
they might not fall into the hands of strangers, numbers of people
might go to his lodgings and read them. I went to Mr. Huggins’s office
(L’Angelier’s employer). He was not in, but I saw two gentlemen, and
told them what I had been told to ask (to get back the letters); but
they said that they could not give them up without Mr. Huggins’s
consent, and I then asked them to keep the letters sealed up till they
were disposed of. I think this was on the Tuesday after L’Angelier’s
death. Shortly after I saw Mr. Smith. In consequence of rumours I went
to his house and saw Miss Smith in the presence of her mother. I
apprised her of the death of L’Angelier. She asked me if it was of my
own will that I came to tell her; I told her it was not so, but at the
special request of her father. _I asked her if she had seen L’Angelier
on the Sunday night; she told me that she did not see him._ I asked
her to put me in a position to contradict the statements which were
being made as to her relation with L’Angelier, and asked her again if
she did not see him on Sunday evening or Sunday night, and she told
me she did not. I observed to her that L’Angelier had come from the
Bridge of Allan to Glasgow on a special appointment with her, by a
letter written to him. _She told me she was not aware that he was at
the Bridge of Allan before he came to Glasgow, and that she did not
give him an appointment for Sunday evening, as she wrote him on Friday
evening giving him an appointment for Saturday: she had expected him
on the Saturday, but he did not come, and she had not seen him on
Sunday._ I put the question to her five or six times in different
ways. I told her that my conviction was that she must have seen him on
Sunday, that he had come on purpose to Glasgow on a special invitation
by her to see her; and I did not think it likely, admitting that he
had committed suicide, that he had done so without knowing why she had
asked him to come to Glasgow.”

_The Lord Justice Clerk._—“Did you know of this letter yourself?”

_Witness._—“I heard there was such a letter. I said to her that the
best advice that a friend could give to her under the circumstances
was to tell the truth about it, because the case was a very grave one,
and would lead to an inquiry on the part of the authorities, and that
if she did not say the truth in these circumstances, perhaps it would
be ascertained by a servant, or a policeman, or somebody passing the
house who had seen L’Angelier, that he had been in the house, and this
would cause a strong suspicion as to the motive that had led her to
conceal the truth. _Miss Smith then got up from her chair and said, ‘I
swear to you, Mr. Meau, that I have not seen L’Angelier not on that
Sunday only, but not for three weeks or six weeks,’ I am not sure
which._”

_The Lord Justice Clerk._—“And the mother was present?”

_Witness._—“Yes. I repeated this question five or six times, but her
answer was always the same. I asked her with regard to the letter
inviting L’Angelier to come and see her, how it was that, being
engaged to another gentleman, she could have carried on a clandestine
correspondence with a former sweetheart? she said it was to get back
her letters.”

_The Lord Advocate._—“Did you ask her whether she was in the habit of
meeting L’Angelier?”

_Witness._—“Yes. I asked her if it was true that L’Angelier was in
the habit of having appointments with her in her house; and _she
told me that he had never entered that house, meaning the Blythswood
Square house, as I understood_.[119] I asked her how, then, she had
her appointments to meet him? She told me that he used to come to a
street at the corner of the house (main street), that he had a signal
by knocking with his stick, and that she used to talk to him.”

_The Lord Advocate._—“Did she speak about her former correspondence
with him at all?”

_Witness._—“I asked her if it was true she had signed letters in his
name, and she said she had done so.”

_The Lord Justice Clerk._—“Do you mean that she added his name to
hers?”

_Witness._—“I meant whether she signed her letters with L’Angelier’s
name, and she said ‘Yes.’ I did not ask her why.”

_Cross-examined by Mr. Young._—“I went to live at Helensburgh in
1845. M. L’Angelier visited me, and once he came on a Saturday to my
lodgings there, and on Sunday we went on the Luss Road. I went up to
my room, and L’Angelier not coming in for his dinner, I called for him
out of temper. I then found that he was ill, and was vomiting down
the staircase. He once complained to me of being bilious. This was a
year ago. He complained of once having the cholera. Last year he came
to my office and told me he had had a violent attack of cholera, but
I don’t know whether that was a year or two years ago. I think it was
a journey he was to have made that led him to speak of having had the
cholera. I don’t recollect whether he was unwell at that time. I know
that when he came to my house he always had a bottle of laudanum in
his bag, but I don’t know if he used it. I once heard him speak of
arsenic; it must have been in the winter of 1854. It was on a Sunday.
I don’t recollect how the conversation arose, but it lasted half an
hour. Its purport was how much arsenic a person could take without its
injuring him. He maintained that it was possible to do it, by taking
small quantities. I don’t know what led to the conversation, and
should be afraid to make any statement as to the purpose for which it
was to be taken. L’Angelier stated to me he had once been jilted by
an English lady, a rich person, and that on account of the deception
he was almost mad for a fortnight, and ran about, getting food from a
farmer in the country. He was easily excited: when he had any cause of
grief he was affected very much.”

_By the Lord Justice Clerk._—“After my marriage I had little
intercourse with L’Angelier. I thought that he might be led to take
some harsh steps with Miss Smith, and as I had some young ladies in my
house, I did not think it was proper to have the same intercourse with
him as when I was a bachelor.”

_The Lord Advocate._—“What do you mean by ‘harsh steps?’”

_Witness._—“I was afraid of an elopement. By ‘harsh’ I mean ‘rash.’
This was after L’Angelier had given me his full confidence as to what
he would do if her father did not consent to the marriage.”

_The Lord Justice Clerk._—“ Did you understand that Miss Smith had
engaged herself to him?”

_Witness._—“I understood so from what he said.”

_The Lord Justice Clerk._—“When you used the expression ‘you thought
it right to go to Mr. Smith about the letters, in order that he might
take steps to vindicate his daughter’s honour, or prevent it from
being disparaged,’ did you relate to him her engagement and apparent
breach of it? Had you in view that the letters might contain an
engagement which she was breaking, or that she had made a clandestine
engagement?”

_Witness._—“I thought that these letters were love letters, and that
it would be much better that they should be in Mr. Smith’s hands than
in those of strangers.”

_The Lord Advocate._—“ What were L’Angelier’s usual character and
habits?”

_The Lord Justice Clerk._—“Was he a steady fellow?”

_Witness._—“My opinion of L’Angelier’s character at the moment of
his death was, that he was a most regular young man in his conduct,
religious, and in fact most exemplary in all his conduct. The only
objection which I heard made to him was that he was vain and a
boaster—boasting of grand persons that he knew. For example, when
he spoke of Miss Smith, he would say, I shall forbid Madeline to do
such a thing, or such another thing—to dance with such a one or such
another.”

_The Lord Justice Cleric._—“Did he boast of any success with females?”

_Witness._—“Never.”

_The Lord Justice Clerk._—“Did he seem jealous of Miss Smith paying
attention to others?”

_Witness._—“No; of others paying attention to her.”

_The Lord Justice Clerk._—“It was not on account of any levity in his
character that you discouraged him visiting you after your marriage?”

_Witness._—“No. I thought his society might be fit for a bachelor,
but not for a married man.”

_The Lord Justice Clerk._—“Do you understand the word ‘levity’?”

_Witness._—“Yes; lightness, irregularity. There had been a long
cessation of intercourse between us before his death. The photograph
(_shown him_) is a good likeness; he was between 28 and 30 years of
age. I think I got accidentally acquainted with him in a house in
Glasgow.”

At the close of the case for the prosecution the Lord Advocate proposed
to put in certain entries in a pocket book of L’Angelier’s to support
the first and second counts of the indictment, which, after argument,
was refused by the Court. (See Appendix C., p. 359.)

THE DEFENCE.

In accordance with practice of the Scotch Courts the counsel for the
prisoner had the last word; and good use did the Dean of Faculty
make of his privilege. The Lord Advocate’s policy had been to depict
the character of the prisoner in the vilest colours—as the seducer,
rather than the seduced, or, at any rate, for a long period the willing
accomplice in all his acts. The Dean dealt not less hardly with the
character of L’Angelier.

“We find him,” he said, “according to the confession of all those who
observed him narrowly, vain, conceited, pretentious, with a great
opinion of his own personal attractions, and a very silly expectation
of admiration from the other sex. That he was successful to a certain
extent in conciliating such admiration may be the fact; but, at
all events, his own prevailing ideas seem to have been that he was
calculated to be very successful in paying attention to ladies, and
that he was likely to push his fortune by such means. Accordingly,
once and again we find him engaged in attempts to get married to women
of some station at least in society. We heard of one disappointment
which he met with in England, and another we heard a great deal of
connected with a lady in Fife; and the manner in which he bore his
disappointments on those two occasions is perhaps the best indication
and light we have to the true character of the man. He was not a
person of strong health, and it is extremely probable that this, among
other things, had a depressing effect on his spirits, rendering him
changeable and uncertain—now uplifted, as one of the witnesses said,
and now most deeply depressed—of a mercurial temperament, as another
described it, very variable and never to be depended upon. Such was
the individual with whom the prisoner unfortunately became acquainted.
The progress of their acquaintance is soon told. My learned friend
the Lord Advocate said the correspondence must have been improper,
because it was clandestine: yet the letters of the young lady at
that first period breathe nothing but gentleness and propriety. The
correspondence in the commencement shows that if L’Angelier had in his
mind originally to corrupt and seduce the prisoner, he entered upon
the attempt with considerable ingenuity and skill; for the very first
letter of the series which we have contains a passage in which she
says, ‘I am trying to break myself of all my bad habits: it is you I
have to thank for this, which I do sincerely from my heart.’ He had
been suggesting to her improvement in conduct or something else. He
had thus been insinuating himself into her company. She had yielded,
no doubt, too easily to the pleasures of this new acquaintance, but
pleasures apparently of a most innocent kind at this period. Yet it
seems to have occurred to her mind at a very early period that it was
impossible to maintain this correspondence with propriety or her own
welfare; for so early as April 1855 she wrote him—‘I think you will
agree with me in what I intend proposing, that for the present this
correspondence had better stop. I know your good feeling will not take
this wrong. It was meant quite the reverse. By continuing it, harm
may arise, by discontinuing, nothing can be said.’ And from then to
September it did cease.”

Unfortunately the correspondence was renewed, discovered, and
stopped by her father until April, 1856, when it is re-opened by a
letter, of the 30th of that month, from Helensburgh, in which she
writes:—“P(papa) has not been in town a night for some time; but the
first night he is off I shall see you. We shall spend an hour of bliss.
There shall be no risk: only C. H. (Haggart) shall know.” This letter
was followed by that of the 3rd of May, inviting him on Tuesday, the
6th, to come to the garden gate, and adding, “Beloved of my soul, a
fond embrace, a dear kiss till we meet! We shall have more than one,
love, dearest.” Signed, “From thy ever devoted and loving wife, thine
for ever, MINI.”

“Alas,” said the Dean, “the next scene is the most painful of all.
In the spring of 1856, the corrupting influence of the seducer was
successful, and the prisoner fell. This is recorded in a letter
bearing the post-mark of the 7th of May, which you have heard read.
And how corrupting that influence must have been, how vile the acts
that he resorted to for accomplishing his nefarious purpose, can never
be proved so well as by looking at the altered tone and language of
the unhappy prisoner’s letters. She had lost not her virtue merely,
but, as the Lord Advocate said, her sense of decency. Think you
that without temptation, without evil teachings, a poor girl falls
into such depths of degradation? No. Influence from without—most
corrupting influence—can alone account for such a fact. And yet
through the midst of this frightful correspondence, there breathes
a spirit of devoted affection towards the man that had destroyed
her—that strikes me as most remarkable.”

Then, after alluding to the precautions with which she sought to
surround her interviews with L’Angelier at the Blythswood Square
house; to the evident proofs that an elopement was projected, and to
the strong probability that no interview took place without Haggart’s
connivance, and that, therefore, the interviews at this time must be
limited to the two spoken of by that witness, he urged that up to the
month of February, 1857, he was entitled to say, “without a shadow of
evidence to the contrary, that they were not in the habit of coming
into personal contact.”

“We now,” continued the Dean, “come to a very important stage of
the case. On the 28th of February Mr. Minnoch proposes, and if I
understand the theory of my learned friend’s case aright, from that
day the whole character of the girl’s mind and her feelings changed,
and she set herself to prepare for the perpetration of what he has
called one of the most foul, cool, deliberate murders that ever
was committed. I will not say that such a thing is impossible, but
I will venture to say it is very highly improbable. He will be a
bold man to fathom the depths of human depravity, but this at least
experience teaches us, that perfection even in depravity, is not
rapidly attained, and it is not by such short and easy stages as the
prosecutor has been able to trace in the career of Madeline Smith,
that a gentle loving girl passes all at once into the savage grandeur
of a Medea, or the appalling wickedness of a Borgia. Such a thing is
not possible. There is a certain progress in guilt, and it is quite
out of all human experience that, from the tone of the letters,
there should be a sudden transition—I will not say from affection
for a particular object—but to the strange desire for removing,
by any means, the obstruction to her wishes and purposes that the
prosecutor imputes to the prisoner. Think, in your own minds, how
foul and unnatural a murder it is—the murder of one who, within a
very short space, was the object of her love—an unworthy object—an
unholy object; but yet while it lasted—and its endurance was not
very brief—it was a deep, unselfish, absorbing, devoted passion.
And the object of that passion she now conceived the purpose of
murdering. Such is the theory that you are desired to believe. Now
before you will believe it, will you not ask for demonstration? Will
you be content with conjecture? Will you be content with suspicion,
however pregnant, or will you be so unreasonable as to put it to me
in this form, that the man having died of poison, the theory of the
prosecution is the most probable? Oh, gentlemen, is that the manner in
which a jury should treat such a case? Is that the kind of proof on
which they should convict on a capital offence?”

The Dean, then, took up _seriatim_ the three charges, examining the
evidence on each in detail, making on each the criticisms, already
reported in the previous summary of the evidence, showing how the first
charge had failed even in the opinion of the prosecutor: how doubtful,
to say the least, it was that the interview on which the second charge
was based had taken place, and the weakness of many of the proofs on
which the charge of murder was rested. Passing, then, to the suggestion
of suicide, he continued—

“I might stop here, for nothing could be more fallacious than the
suggestion of the Lord Advocate, that it was necessary to explain
how this man came by his death. His lordship will tell you that a
defendant has no further duty than to repel the charge and stand on
the defensive, and maintain that the case for the prosecution is not
proved. No man probably can tell at the present moment—I believe no
man on earth can tell—how L’Angelier met his death. Nor am I under
the slightest obligation even to suggest to you a possible manner in
which that death may have been compassed without the intervention of
the prisoner. Yet it is but fair, when we are dealing with so many
matters of conjecture and suspicion, that we should, for a moment,
consider whether that supposition on which the charge is founded is
preferable in itself, in respect to its higher probabilities, to other
suppositions which may be fairly made. The character of this man,
his origin, his early history, the nature of his conversation, the
numerous occasions on which he spoke of suicide, naturally suggest
that as one mode by which he may have departed this life. Understand
me, I am not undertaking to prove that he died by his own hand—but
I think there is more to be said for suicide than for the prisoner’s
guilt. But I entreat you to remember that that is no necessary part of
my defence. But of course I should be using you very ill—should be
doing less than my duty to the prisoner—if I had not brought before
you the whole of that evidence which suggests the extreme probability
of that man dying by his own hand at one time or other. From the very
first time at which we see him, even as a lad, in the year 1843,
he talks in a manner to impress people with the notion that he had
no moral principle to guide him. He speaks over and over again of
suicide at Edinburgh, Dundee, and elsewhere—ay, the prisoners letters
shew that he had made the same threat to her[120]—that he would put
himself out of existence. And is it half as violent a supposition
as the supposition of this foul murder, that upon this evening—the
22nd of March—a fit of that kind of madness which he himself
described, came over him, when he met with disappointment—finding,
it may be, that he could not procure access to an interview which he
desired—assuming that he came to Glasgow for that purpose—assuming
even that he mistook the evening of the meeting, and expected to see
her on the Sunday—can anything be more probable than that, in the
excited state in which he then was, he should have committed the rash
act which put an end to his existence.”[121]

Again, in answer to the motive imputed by the prosecution; re-reading
the letter of the 10th of February, in which on her bended knees Miss
Smith besought him, “as he hoped for mercy at the judgment, not to
inform on her—not to expose her;” asked him “to pardon her if he
could; to pray for her as the most wretched, guilty, miserable creature
on the earth;” told him “she could stand anything but her father’s hot
temper;” when she wrote, “Emile, you will not cause my death. If he is
to get your letters, I cannot see him any more; and my poor mother, I
will never kiss her. It would be a shame to them all. Emile, will you
not spare me? Hate me, despise me, but do not expose me.” The Dean
said—

“Is that the language of deceit? Is that the mind of a murderess, or
can any one affect that frame of mind? Can you for one moment listen
to the suggestion that that letter covers a piece of deceit? No, no.
The finest actress could not have written that to him, unless she
had felt it; and is that the condition in which a woman goes about
to compass the death of him whom she has loved? Is that the frame
of mind?—shame for past sins, burning shame, dread of exposure,
grief at the injury she had done her parents? Is that the frame of
mind that would lead a woman—not to advance another step on the
road to destruction, but to plunge at once into the depths of human
wickedness? The thing is preposterous, and yet it is because of her
despair, as my learned friend called it, exhibited in that and similar
letters, that he says she had a motive to destroy this man. What does
that mean? It may mean, in a certain improper sense of the term,
that it would have been of advantage to her that he should cease to
live. That is not a motive in any proper sense of the term. If some
advantage resulting from the death of another be a motive to the
commission of murder, a man’s eldest son must always have a motive
to murder him that he may succeed to his estate; and I suppose the
youngest officer in any regiment of Her Majesty’s army has a motive to
murder all the officers in his regiment—the younger he is, and the
further he has to ascend the scale, the more murders he has a motive
to commit. Away with such nonsense! A motive to commit a crime must be
something a great deal more than the mere fact that the result of that
crime might be advantageous to the person committing it. You must see
the motive in action—you must see it influencing the conduct—before
you can deal with it as a motive; for this, and this only, is it a
motive in the proper sense of the term—that is to say, it is moving
to the perpetration of the deed. But let me ask you what possible
motive there could be, even in the most improper and illegitimate
sense of the term—I mean what possible advantage could she expect
from L’Angelier’s death so long as the letters remained? Without the
return of her letters she gained nothing. Her object, her greatest
desire, that for which she was yearning with her whole soul, was to
prevent the exposure of her shame. But the death of L’Angelier, with
those letters in his possession, instead of insuring that object,
would have been perfectly certain to lead to the immediate exposure of
everything that passed between them. Shall I be told that she did not
foresee that? I think my learned friend had been giving the prisoner
credit for too much talent in the course of his observations on her
conduct. But I should conceive her to be infinitely stupid if she
could not foresee that the death of L’Angelier, with those documents
in his possession, was the true and best means of frustrating the
then great object of her life. Shall I be told that the motive
might be revenge? Listen to the letter, Tell me if it is possible
that in the same breast with these sentiments, there should link
one feeling of revenge! No; the condition of mind in which the poor
girl was throughout the months of February and March, is entirely
inconsistent with any of the hypotheses that have been made on the
other side—utterly incredible and wholly irreconcileable with the
perpetration of such a crime as is here laid to her charge.”[122]

Passing on, then, to the incident of her sudden flight from her home,
when she heard of L’Angelier’s death, the Dean repudiated the notion
that she was absconding from justice. She had left Glasgow early in the
morning, and at half-past three in the afternoon was found on board
a steamer going from Greenock to Helensburgh. Any one going by rail
could easily have overtaken her.

“If her flight means anything,” he said, “it means flying from
what she could not bear—the wrath of her father, and the averted
countenance of her mother. But she came back again without the
slightest hesitation, and upon the Monday morning there occurred
a scene as remarkable in the history of criminal jurisprudence as
anything I ever heard of, by which that broken spirit was altogether
changed. The moment she was met by a charge of being implicated in
causing the death of L’Angelier, she at once assumed the courage of a
heroine. She was bowed down, and she had fled, while the true charge
of her unchastity and shame was all that was brought against her;
but she stood erect and proudly conscious of her innocence when she
was met with this astounding charge of murder. You heard the account
that M. de Meau gave of that interview with her in her father’s
house on the Monday. That was a most striking statement, and given
with a truthfulness obviously that could not be surpassed. What was
the import of that conversation? He advised her, as a friend, if
L’Angelier was with her on that Sunday night, for God’s sake not to
deny it. And why? Because, he said, it is certain to be proved. A
servant, a policeman, a casual passenger, is certain to know the fact,
and if you falsely deny it, what a fact that will be against you. What
was the answer? In answer to five or six suggestions of M. de Meau,
she said at length that she would swear that she had not seen him for
three weeks. If she did not see him on the Sunday that was true.”

On the purchases of arsenic, the Dean called the attention of the
jury to the improbability of her having purchased it at the time when
she was urging L’Angelier not to go to the Bridge of Allan whilst she
was there with her family, and to her throwing it away on the 17th of
March, and then buying more on the 18th;—“throwing it away, it was
said, when just coming within reach of her victim, and then buying
more, with circumstances of openness and publicity inconsistent with
the hypothesis of any legitimate object? Why expose herself to the
necessity of a repeated purchase, when she had got enough to poison
twenty or a hundred men.”

“But,” continued the Dean, “the possession of this arsenic is said
to be unaccounted for, as far as the prisoner is concerned. It might
be so; it may be so; and yet that would not make out the case for
the prosecution. She says she used it as a cosmetic. This might be
startling at first sight to many of us here, but after the evidence
you have heard it will not amaze you. At school her story, which has
so far been borne out by evidence, shows that she read of the Styrian
peasants using it for strengthening their wind, improving their
complexions. No doubt they used it internally, and not externally as
she did, but in the imperfect state of her knowledge that was a fact
of no significance. L’Angelier, too, was well aware of the same fact.
He stated to more than one witness—and if he stated falsely, it is
only one of a multitude of lies proved against him—that he used
it himself. It is not surprising if L’Angelier knew of this custom
that he should have communicated it to the prisoner, and that she
should have used it externally, for an internal use is apparently a
greater danger, which may have suggested to her to try it externally,
and there is no reason to suppose, that if used as she used it, it
would produce any injurious effects. No doubt we have medical men
coming here and shaking their heads and looking wise, and saying
that such a use of arsenic would be a dangerous procedure. That is
not the question. The question is whether the prisoner could use it
without injurious effects, and that she could do so is proved by
the experiments of Dr. Laurie and Dr. Maclagan. The publication in
_Chambers’s_, _Blackwood’s Magazine_, and _Johnston’s_ “_Chemistry of
Common Life_,” of information on the uses of arsenic, had reached not
the prisoner alone, but a multitude of other ladies, and had incited
them to the same kind of experiments. The two druggists—_Robertson_
and _Guthrie_—spoke to the fact of ladies having come to their
shops seeking arsenic for such purposes on the suggestion of these
publications. It cannot, therefore, be surprising to you to learn that
when the prisoner bought this arsenic, she intended to use it, and did
actually, afterwards, use it for this purpose.”[123]

Then, citing the behaviour of Eliza Fenning, in the well-known
disputed, and even now disputed case, as a parallel instance of
such behaviour as the prisoner showed when taxed with the charge of
murder:[124] repudiating the doctrine that juries have nothing to
do with the consequences of their verdict, and that all questions
of evidence must be weighed in the same scale, whether the crime be
capital, or a mere case of pocket picking, and appealing to the jury
not to raise their rash and imprudent hands to tear away the veil
Providence has been pleased to place over this mystery, the Dean closed
his most effective speech.

THE JUDGE’S CHARGE.

The most material comments of the Lord Justice Clerk have been already
so fully quoted as notes to the several portions of the evidence, or
to the points made by the counsel for the defence, that it will now
suffice to give his concluding summary of the case.

“The first charge is that she administered arsenic on the 19th or 20th
of February. Probably you may come to the conclusion, on the evidence
of Miss Perry and others, that he did see her on that occasion; but
she was not proved to have had arsenic or any other poison in her
possession; and what I attach very great importance to is, that there
is no medical testimony, by analysis of the matter vomited, that that
illness did proceed from the administration of arsenic. If the doctor
had examined the vomit and proved that there was arsenic there, I am
afraid the case would have been very strong against her as having
given him coffee or something before his illness on that occasion.
But it is not proved that that illness arose from the administration
of poison. Arsenic she had not, and there is no proof of her having
possessed anything deleterious. Therefore I have no hesitation in
telling you that charge has failed.

“The second charge stands in a somewhat different position in regard
to the evidence, although in one respect it is similar to the first,
for it is not proved that the illness arose from the administration
of arsenic or any other poisonous substance. But then the way in
which you can connect the prisoner with a meeting on that occasion is
much stronger. Still if you should think you can acquit her of the
first charge, and that there is too much doubt to prove the second
proven, then you will observe how much this weakens the case that has
been raised by the prosecution on the motives for revenge, on the
change in the tone of the letters, and the desire to allure him again
to her embraces and fascinations, which could not be accounted for
except on the supposition of some such murderous design. In that view
undoubtedly the foundation of the case is very much shaken, and will
not lead you to suppose that the purpose of murder was cherished on
the 22nd.

“Then as to the charge for murder, the question for you to consider
is a simple one. No matter how the prisoner is surrounded with grave
suspicions, and with many circumstances that seem to militate against
the notion of innocence upon any theory that has been propounded,
still are you prepared to say that the interview of the 22nd March
has been proved against her? She had arsenic before the illness of
22nd February, and I think you will consider the excuse of using
arsenic as a cosmetic of the same stamp as those which she stated to
the druggists. She bought arsenic again on the 6th of March, and it
certainly is a very odd thing that she should buy more arsenic when
she came back on the 18th. Because unless you are to take the account
to be sure, that she used it as a cosmetic, she has it before the
22nd, and that is a dreadful fact if you are quite satisfied that she
did not get it and use it for the purpose of washing her hands and
face. It may create the greatest reluctance in your mind to take any
other view of the matter than that she was guilty of administering it
somehow, though the place where may not be made out, or the precise
time of the interview. But on the other hand you must keep in view,
that arsenic could only be administered by her if an interview took
place with L’Angelier, and that interview, though it may be the result
of an inference that may satisfy you morally that it did take place,
still rests upon an inference alone, and that inference is to be the
ground, and must be the ground, on which a verdict of guilty is to
rest. You will see, therefore, the necessity of great caution and
jealousy in dealing with any inference which you may draw from this.
Probably none of you may think for a moment that he did go out that
night, and that without seeing her, and without knowing what she
wanted to see him about, if they met, he may have swallowed 200 grains
of arsenic on the street, and may have carried it about. On the other
hand, if he did not commit suicide, keep in view that that will not
of itself establish that the prisoner administered the arsenic. The
matter may have remained most mysterious—wholly unexplained. You may
not be able to account for it on any other supposition, but still that
supposition or inference may not be a ground on which you can safely
and satisfactorily rest your verdict against the prisoner.

“Now then I leave you to consider the case with reference to the
views that are raised by this correspondence. I do not think you will
consider it so unlikely as was supposed that this girl, after writing
such letters, may have been capable of cherishing such a purpose.
But still, though you may take such a view of her character, it is
but a supposition that she cherished this murderous purpose—the
last conclusion that you ought to come to merely on supposition
and inference and observation on this wavering correspondence of a
girl in the circumstances in which she was placed. It receives more
importance, no doubt, when you find the purchase of arsenic just
before she expected, or just at the time that she expected L’Angelier.
But still these are but suppositions. Now the great and invaluable
use of a jury after they direct their attention seriously to the case
with the attention you have done, is to separate firmly—firmly and
clearly in your own minds—suspicions from evidence. I don’t say that
inferences may not be completely drawn, but I have already warned
you about inferences in the ordinary matters of civil life, and in
such a case as this.[125] If you cannot say, ‘We satisfactorily find
here evidence of the meeting, and that the poison must have been
administered by her at that meeting,’ whatever may be your suspicion,
however perplexing may be the probability against her, and however
you may have to struggle to get rid of it, you perform your best
and bounden duty as a jury to separate suspicion from truth, and to
proceed upon nothing that you do not feel established in evidence
against her.”

After retiring for half an hour, the jury by a majority in each charge
found the prisoner _Not Guilty_ on the first, and a verdict of _Not
Proven_ on the second and third charges, in which findings the Lord
Justice Clerk expressed his entire concurrence.

* * * * *

APPENDIX A., _p._ 307.

POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS.

EVIDENCE OF DR. HUGH THOMSON, M.D.

“At the request of Messrs. W. B. Huggins & Co., of this city, we, the
undersigned, made a _post-mortem_ examination of the body of the late
M. L’Angelier, when the appearances were as follows:—The body, viewed
externally, presented nothing remarkable, except a tawny hue on the
surface. The incision made on opening the belly and chest revealed a
considerable deposit of subcutaneous fat. The heart appeared large
for the individual, but not so large as, in our opinion, to amount to
disease. Its surface presented, externally, some opaque patches, such
as are frequently seen on the organ without giving rise to symptoms.
Its right cavities were filled with dark fluid blood. The lungs, the
liver, and the spleen appeared quite healthy. The gall-bladder was
moderately full of bile, and contained no calculi. The stomach and the
intestines, externally, presented nothing abnormal. Being tied at both
ends, it was removed from the body. Its contents, consisting of about
half a pint of dark fluid resembling coffee, were poured into a clean
bottle, and the organ itself was laid open along its great curvature.
The mucous membrane, except for a slight extent of the lesser
curvature, was then seen to be deeply injected with blood, presenting
an appearance of dark red mottling, and its substance was remarked to
be salt (soft?), and easily torn by scratching with the finger-nail.
The other organs of the abdomen were not examined. The appearance
of the mucous membrane, taken in connection with the history as
related to us by witnesses, being such as, in our opinion, justified
a suspicion of death having resulted from poison, we considered it
proper to preserve the stomach and its contents in a sealed bottle for
further investigation by chemical analysis, should such be determined
on. We, however, do not imply that, in our opinion, death may not
have resulted from natural causes, as, for example, severe internal
congestion, the effect of exposure to cold after much bodily fatigue,
which we understand the deceased to have undergone. Having no legal
authority for making this _post-mortem_ examination, we restrict it to
the organs where we thought likely to find something to account for
the death.

“_28th March, 1857_, on soul and conscience,

“HUGH THOMSON,
“JAMES STEVEN.”

_SECOND_ POST-MORTEM OF THE EXHUMED BODY,

_April 3, 1857._

“By virtue of a warrant from the sheriff of Lanarkshire, we, the
undersigned, proceeded to the _post-mortem_ examination of the body
of M. L’Angelier within the vault of the Ramshorn church on the 31st
of March ultimo, in the presence of two friends of the deceased. The
body being removed from the coffin, two of our number, Drs. Thomson
and Steven, who examined the body on the 24th ultimo, remarked that
the features had lost their former pinched appearance, and that
the general surface of the skin, instead of the tawny or dingy hue
observed by them on that occasion, had become rather florid. We two
likewise remarked that, with the exception of the upper surface of
the liver, which had assumed a purplish colour, all the internal
parts were little changed in appearance; and we all agreed that the
evidences of putrefaction were much less marked than they usually are
at such a date—the ninth day after death, and the fifth after burial.
The duodenum, along with the upper part of the small intestine, after
both ends of the gut had been secured by ligatures, was removed and
placed in a clean jar. A portion of the large intestine, consisting
of part of the descending colon and the sigmoid flexure, along with
a portion of the rectum, after using the like precaution of placing
ligatures at both ends of the bowel, was removed and placed in the
same jar with the duodenum, and a portion of the small intestine. A
portion of the liver, about a one-sixth part of that organ, was cut
off and placed in a clean jar. We then proceeded to open the head
in the usual manner, and observed nothing calling for remark beyond
a greater degree of vascularity of the membranes of the brain than
ordinary. A portion of the brain was removed and placed in a fourth
clean jar. We then adjourned to Dr. Penny’s rooms, taking with us
the vessels containing the parts of the viscera above mentioned. The
duodenum and portion of small intestine were found together to measure
thirty-six inches in length. Their contents poured into a clean glass
measure were found to amount to four fluid ounces, and consisted of
a turbid, sanguinolent fluid, having suspended in it much flocculent
matter, which settled towards the bottom, whilst a few mucus-like
masses floated on the surface. The mucous membrane of this part of
the bowels was then examined. The colour was decidedly redder than
natural, and this redness was more marked over several patches,
portions of which, when carefully examined, were found to be eroded.
Several small whitish and somewhat gritty particles were removed
from its surface, and being placed on a clean piece of glass, were
delivered to Dr. Penny. A few small ulcers, about the one-sixteenth of
an inch in diameter, and having elevated edges, were observed on it,
at the upper part of the duodenum. On account of the failing light,
it was determined to adjourn till a quarter past eleven next day—all
the jars, &c., being left in the custody of Dr. Penny. Having again
met at the appointed time, we proceeded to complete our examination.
The portion of the largest intestine, along with the portion of the
rectum, measuring twenty-six inches in length, being laid open, was
found empty. Its mucous membrane, coated with an abundant, pale,
slimy mucus, presented nothing abnormal, except on the part lining
the rectum, on which were observed two vascular patches, about the
size of a shilling. On decanting the contents of the glass measure,
we observed a number of crystals adhering to its interior, and at the
bottom a notable quantity of whitish sedimentary matter. Having now
completed our examination of the various parts, we finally handed them
all to Dr. Penny.

“The above we attest on soul and conscience,

“H. THOMSON.
“J. STEVEN.”

APPENDIX B., _p._ 319.

ON THE QUANTITY OF POISON FOUND IN THE STOMACH OF A PERSON MURDERED BY
ARSENIC.

EXTRACT FROM LETTER FROM PROFESSOR CHRISTISON TO THE _Edinburgh Medical
Journal_, DECEMBER, 1857.

“The purpose of the present brief communication is to state a case
which annihilates the defence of the prisoner, so far as the large
quantity of arsenic found in the stomach of the deceased may have been
thought to support it.

“Dr. Mackinlay, of Paisley, very lately reminded me of a case of
poisoning with arsenic, in which we were both concerned in 1842.
A person came under a charge of poisoning with arsenic, and was
indicted. But, on account of some informality, this indictment fell to
the ground, and the trial was necessarily delayed. Meanwhile, during
the delay, the general evidence was thought defective, and the trial
was dropped. There could be no doubt, however, that murder had been
committed. The arsenic was administered in whisky-punch with sugar,
the arsenic being kept in suspension by constant stirring. The person
survived at least five, possibly seven, hours, and frequently vomited
a yellowish or greenish liquid. Nevertheless, I found a little spirit
in the contents of the stomach; and I collected thirty grains of
arsenic in substance from the stomach and its contents.

“Drs. Mackinlay and Wylie, of Paisley, who examined the dead body, and
also discovered arsenic in the stomach, had scraped off a quantity of
the powder of this substance from the inside upon a watch-glass. I was
not made aware at the time how much had been thus obtained; but Dr.
Mackinlay now informs me that the quantity was sixty grains. Here,
then, is a case exactly like that of L’Angelier. Ninety grains of
arsenic, and this in substance, were found within the stomach alone.
If to this be added, as in Dr. Penny’s analysis in L’Angelier’s case,
the probable arsenic dissolved and suspended in the contents of the
stomach, and that imbibed by the textures of the stomach itself, it is
impossible to estimate the total quantity in the stomach at less than
100 grains. But there was also arsenic in the intestines; and, indeed,
it had actually caused purging.

“How large a quantity, then, must have been given in that instance!
How strangely easy is it for a determined designing murderer to
administer secretly those large quantities of a substance, whose
weight should render it difficult to be mixed, and whose roughness
should betray its presence when abundant! How difficult for the
stomach to discharge it by vomiting. I draw no conclusion as to the
question of Madeline Smith’s innocence or guilt. In common with the
public at large, I am well satisfied that she escaped condemnation.
But, as I have been supplied, through the kindness of Dr. Mackinlay,
with the means of completing a fact, closely touching a ground of
defence, which, at the time it was brought forward, I regarded as
hypothetical and baseless, and which may be made much of again, were
it allowed to stand, as it has hitherto done, I have thought it my
duty to make the true state of the question known.”

* * * * *

APPENDIX C., _p._ 342.

L’ANGELIER’S DIARY.

At the close of the fifth day, after putting in the bulk of the
letters, the Lord Advocate proposed to read entries in L’Angelier’s
pocket-book from the 16th of February to the 14th of March, 1857, in
support of the first and second charges. They were undoubtedly in his
own handwriting, and statements of what he did on those days. It was
objected that the book was not regularly kept, that the corroborative
evidence was not sufficient, and that two of the entries were
contradicted by witnesses who had been examined. The Court took time
to consider, and on the next morning delivered the following judgments.

_The Lord Justice Clerk._—“The admission of hearsay evidence was an
established rule in the law of Scotland, but under those restrictions
and conditions, which went in many circumstances to its entire
rejection. What was now proposed to be admitted was this—certain
memoranda or jottings made by the deceased, in which certain things
were said to be contained, which went directly to the vital part of
this charge. The Dean of Faculty felt so strongly that he did not
scruple to state what the purport of one of these was, in order to
show the immense materiality of the point. It was certainly most
important for the Court to take care that the rules of evidence were
not relaxed merely because it appeared that the matter tendered was
of the highest importance to the case. Before evidence could be
received and allowed to go to a jury, it must be shown that such
evidence was legally competent to be tendered against the prisoner.
That was the rule also in civil cases. It was of vital importance in
considering whether this evidence was admissible, to ascertain in
what circumstances, and, if possible, from what motive, and at what
periods these entries were made. Now it was a most remarkable fact
that there was no entry regarding the prisoner, or the circumstances
connected with her, before the 14th of February; and at that very time
the purpose on her part of breaking off the engagement with him and
of demanding her letters back had been communicated to the deceased;
and his purpose and resolution not to give up the letters and to keep
her to her engagement were avowed and made known, as it appeared
from evidence prior to that date. Then he had a purpose in writing
these memoranda—a purpose obviously to strengthen his hold over the
prisoner, not only by refusing to give up the letters at that time
and afterwards, but probably with the view to hold out that he had a
diary as to their interviews and communications, so as to endeavour to
effect his object of preventing the marriage, and of terrifying her
into giving up her engagement with Mr. Minnoch. He (the Lord Justice
Clerk) made this observation not merely with regard to the weight and
credibility of these entries, but with regard to their admissibility;
because in the case of hearsay evidence one could ascertain from the
witnesses the time the statement was made, all the circumstances and
all the apparent motives which could be collected as to the statement
being made by the deceased. But when we could not know with certainty
the motive with which the man made the entry, or, perhaps, as in this
case, could perceive reasons why he made the entry as against her,
intending to prejudice her in one way, not of course with reference to
such a trial as this, but with reference to her engagement, he thought
it could not be said that this came before the Court as a statement
recorded by him as to indifferent matters, or as to matters in which
he might have not had a strong purpose in making the statement.
Further, it might be a record of a past act. He felt the force of what
the Lord Advocate had said, that supposing in this book there had been
an entry that this man purchased arsenic, would not that have been
available in favour of the prisoner. An illustration of this point had
been suggested to him by a person whose authority and experience were
of the very highest. Take an action of divorce against the wife where
the paramour was dead; would an entry in any diary of his that he had
enjoyed the embraces of this woman on such a night in the absence
of her husband be proof against the wife? He thought not. What was
proposed in this case was to tender in evidence a thing altogether
unprecedented, according to the research of the Bar and the Bench, of
which no trace or indication occurred in any book whatever, viz., that
a memorandum made by the deceased should be proof of the fact against
the panel in a charge of murder. He was unable to admit such evidence;
it might relax the sacred rules of evidence to an extent that the mind
could hardly contemplate. One could not tell how many documents might
exist and be found in the repositories of deceased persons; a man
might have threatened another, he might have hatred against him, and
be determined to revenge himself, and what entries might he not make
in a diary for this purpose? He had a faint recollection of a case
in 1808—the trial of a man Patch for murdering Page, or of Page for
murdering Patch—in which some letter of the murdered man, prior to
his death, was used; but he had been unable to find the case, and he
had no notion if it was of the character he had alluded to. However,
in the meantime, as the point was perfectly new, and as it would be
a departure from what he considered to be an important principle in
the administration of justice, he thought this evidence could not be
received.”

_Lord Handyside._—“The special point is, whether the entries of
certain dates—two in number—are to be read and made evidence for
the prosecution, as regards the first and second charges in the
indictment. The whole of these entries have been written with a lead
pencil. I notice this to make the observation that ink and penmanship
afford to a certain degree a means of ascertaining whether entries
are made _de die in diem_, thus having the character of entries
made daily; or, on the contrary, of several entries having the
appearance, by change of ink or of pen, of being made at one time,
and so after recollection. Where all the entries are in pencil, there
can be no security as to the time when the entries are, in point
of fact, inserted, and that they are not _ex post facto_; or that
the original entries have been expunged, and others substituted in
their place—whether this be a correction of memory, or with purpose
and design of another character. The party making such entries in
pencil has entire power over what he has done or chooses to do.”
Then alluding to the fact that no authority for such evidence could
be found, which entitled the objector to the evidence to throw on
the tenderer the burden of showing that it ought to be received,
the learned judge continued—“I think the question one of great
difficulty—at least I have found it so. Had the writer of the
memorandum been living, they could not have been made evidence—of
themselves they were nothing. They might have been used in the
witness-box to refresh the memory, but the evidence would still be
parole. What would be regarded would be the oath of the witness to the
facts, time and person; and if distinct and explicit, though resting
on memory alone, the law of evidence would be satisfied, irrespective
of any aid by memorandums and letters, though made at the same time.
It is the oath of the witness to the verity of his oral statement in
the box which the law requires and regards. But if the writer has
died, is this circumstance to make such memorandums thenceforward
admissible as evidence by their own weight? Are they, the handwriting
being proved, to be treated as written evidence? That would be a bold
proposition. Death cannot change the character originally impressed
on the memorandums, and convert them from inadmissible to admissible
writings. They are private memorandums, seen by no eye but the writers
as such, subject to no check upon the accuracy of their statements,
whether arising from innocent mistakes or from prejudice or passing
feeling. I do not say that they are to be supposed false and
dishonest, for the idea is repugnant, from the consideration that it
would be idle to falsify and invent when memorandums are intended to
be kept secret by the writer. But it is quite conceivable that vanity
might lead to statements being made wholly imaginary, with a view of
the subsequent exhibition of the book, and were its admissibility
as evidence set up by death, it might become a fearful instrument
of calumny and accusation. I speak just now of private memorandums,
diaries, and journals, taken in the abstract. As to other writings of
a deceased person, such as letters, I do not say these may not become
admissible as evidence by reason of death, though during life they
could not be used. They thus become analogous to words spoken—to
representations made and conversations held—by a deceased person, the
proper object of hearsay evidence. It was contended that the principle
on which hearsay evidence is admitted would extend to anything written
by a deceased person. It is assumed to be a declaration in writing
of what if spoken would have been admissible on the testimony of
the person hearing it. And on the first view it would seem that the
written mode is superior to the oral, from the greater certainty that
no mistake is committed as to the words used. But this would be a
fallacious ground to rest on, for words written would require to be
taken without explanation or modification; whereas words spoken to
another are subject to the further inquiry by the party addressed as
to the meaning of the speaker in order to a better and more thorough
understanding of the subject of communication, the object of making
it, and the grounds on which the speaker’s statements rest. And all
these things may be fought out in the examination of the witness who
comes into court to give this hearsay evidence. The value of hearsay
evidence, and the weight to be given to it, come thus to depend much
on the account which the witness gives of the circumstances under
which the communication was made to him, as to the seriousness of
the statement and what followed upon it in the way of inquiry and
reply. Now a mere writing in the way of a memorandum or entry in a
book in the sole custody of the writer till his death can be subject
to no such tests. Its very nature shows that it is not intended for
communication. It may be an idle, purposeless piece of writing, or
it may be a record of unfounded suspicions and malicious charges,
treasured up by hostile and malignant feelings in a moody, spiteful
mind. These views impress me strongly with the danger of admitting a
private journal or diary as evidence to support a criminal charge. I
think the question now before us must be decided as a general point.
As such I take it up. If I were to confine myself to the special and
peculiar circumstances of this case, I should see much perhaps to
vindicate the court in the reception of the evidence tendered. There
is to be found in the letters which have already been made evidence
much to give corroboration or verification to some at least of the
entries in the pocket-book. But I feel compelled to close my mind
against such considerations, and to look above all to a general and,
therefore, safe rule by which to be guided. I have come, therefore, to
be of the opinion that the production tendered as evidence in the case
in support, as I take it, of the first and second charge, ought to be
rejected.”

_Lord Ivory_ said the opinions just delivered had relieved his mind
of a burden of responsibility under which he laboured, and which he
was ill able to bear. He had given the most anxious, serious, and
repeated consideration to this matter. He had found little or nothing
in the way of authority, and no dicta so precisely bearing on the
case as to be of any avail. But judging in the abstract, applying the
rules as applied to other cases, endeavouring to find a principle by
comparison of the different classes and categories in which evidence
had been distributed and in which it had been received, he felt
himself totally unable to come to a conclusion that the evidence of
this document should be excluded from the jury. As his opinion could
not in the least degree influence the judgment, he should be sorry
to add anything that would even seem to be intended to detract from
the authority of the judgment now given; least of all should he be
disposed to follow such a course in a capital case, where the judgment
was in favour of the prisoner. He would content himself, therefore,
with simply expressing his opinion. It appeared to him that this
document should have been admitted _valeat quantum_, and that the jury
should have considered its weight, and credibility, and value.

TRIAL OF ANN MERRITT.

_Before_ THE LORD CHIEF BARON POLLOCK _and_ MR. JUSTICE CRESSWELL, _at
the_ CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT, _March 8, 1850_.

_For the Prosecution_: Mr. Bodkin _and_ Mr. Clark.

_For the Defence_: Mr. Clarkson, _by the intervention of the Sheriffs
of London and Middlesex_.

_Ann Merritt_ was indicted for the murder of her husband, James, by
poison, at Clapton, on the 25th of January.

Merritt, who was a turncock in the employ of the East London
Waterworks, had been at work in his usual health, with the exception
of a slight cold, on Wednesday, the 23rd of January. When, however, a
fellow-workman called upon him about nine the next morning, he was told
by the prisoner that her husband was sick in the yard, and in a minute
or two afterwards Merritt came in and told his comrade that he had been
drinking some broth and a cup of hot tea upon it, and expected that
it had turned his stomach. They started off to work, and on the way
Merritt complained of being very thirsty, and went into a public-house
and had some rum-and-water before they separated for their respective
jobs. He seems, however, to have soon returned home unwell, as between
ten and eleven a neighbour (Mrs. Gillett), who lived next door, who
had been previously called in by eight o’clock in the morning, saw
the deceased in his house very ill, and the prisoner emptying some
thick gruel into a basin from a saucepan, and pouring water on it. The
gruel had been made from oatmeal fetched from a corn-chandler’s by the
witness’s son, at the prisoner’s request, who had given as a reason
for making it that her husband had returned so very thirsty. This
gruel the deceased was seen eating at a quarter past eleven, and very
soon after vomiting. However, at one o’clock, Merritt went out again
to work with his comrade, but soon after felt so sick and ill that he
asked his friend to do his work for him, and returned home. When his
friend returned to Merritt’s house with his tools, between five and six
in the evening, the prisoner told him to go upstairs and see “Jem,” as
he was very ill, and wanted to see him. This witness went up to the
deceased’s bedroom, followed by the prisoner, and found Merritt in bed
complaining of being very sick, feeling cramp in his limbs; at which
the deceased said, “he did not wonder, as what with the weather and the
work they had to do, it was enough to kill a horse.” No more was seen
of the parties until half-past nine at night, when Mrs. Gillett was
again called in by the prisoner, and found the husband in bed retching
violently, and complaining of a burning pain in his chest and stomach.
Between ten and eleven Mr. Toulmin, the doctor, was called in, and at
half-past twelve the husband died.[126]

MEDICAL AND ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE.

_Mr. Toulmin_, a general practitioner at Clapton, was first examined.
He was called in between ten and eleven on the Thursday night, and
found the deceased in bed sick, complaining greatly of pain in his
stomach and cramps in his legs, his pulse very weak, and his skin below
the natural temperature; he prescribed for him, and left. Subsequently
he made a _post-mortem_ examination of the body on the 28th, by the
coroner’s order, with the assistance of Mr. Welch, a neighbouring
surgeon, to which the prisoner at first objected. When the stomach
was opened, it contained a _thickish matter slightly pink_, which was
poured into a stoppered bottle and sent with the stomach to Dr. Letheby
for analysis. On its coats there were red spots, such as are observed
in persons who have died of irritant poison.

_Dr. Henry Letheby_, professor of chemistry at the London Hospital,
to whom the stomach and its contents had been forwarded, gave the
following evidence, which, in consequence of the dispute which
subsequently arose on his statement as to the time at which the fatal
dose was taken, is given in full:—

“I first experimented,” said the witness, “on the contents of the
bottle (the fluid found in the stomach), and detected 8½ grains of
white arsenic. By one course of experiments I reproduced the arsenic
in a metallic form—it is in this tube (produced). The earthen jar
contained part of a human stomach. I noticed a peculiar appearance
in it, which I have noticed in cases of poisoning by arsenic—_there
was a small portion of whitish powder adhering to the lining of the
stomach_, too small a quantity to enable me to ascertain what it
consisted of. I then examined the intestines that were in the jar;
I subjected them to a chemical analysis, and the result was the
detection of a very small quantity of arsenic. There was also in the
jar a part of a human liver. I subjected about a quarter of a pound
of it to experiment, and obtained a quantity of metallic arsenic
(produced); _it was too minute a quantity to weigh_. That in the
stomach was the only quantity I weighed; that would be sufficient
to cause death. I had the opportunity of witnessing a case where 2½
grains killed; the general quantity would be 8 grains; I look upon
that as an average dose. It would generally be fatal. Vomiting is
almost invariably the consequence of arsenic introduced into the
stomach. A person attacked by that would be likely to throw up a
portion of the arsenic. Looking at the quantity I found, and the
parts in which I found it, _in my judgment the arsenic I found had
been taken not more than two or three hours before death_, but that
is a matter of opinion; a dose might have been given before. It would
depend upon many circumstances how soon it would find its way into the
liver.”

_Cross-examined._—_Question._—“About two grains of arsenic you say
would cause death; do you mean taken together?”

_Answer._—“Yes, or less; 2½ grains have done so. I know nothing
of this transaction but from the examination. I found a very small
portion in the liver, perhaps one tenth of a grain in a quarter of a
pound. A liver weighs about 5 pounds, and supposing the arsenic to be
equally diffused, there would be twenty times that quantity—equal to
2 grains. _My observation with reference to the time it had been taken
was in reference both to the stomach and the liver._”

_Question._—“Are the data at all safe?”

_Answer._—“Yes; I will tell you why. I found in the stomach 8½ grains
of arsenic, and there was not much in the intestines. _I conclude,
therefore, that there had not been time for it to have passed into
the intestines, which would have been the case if it had been taken
long before death. But there was only a trace in the intestines, so
I conclude that it was taken a very short time before death._ That
furnishes datum to me to form a judgment on the subject of hours.
Food remains five hours before it passes into the intestines. I am
able to say that the contents of the stomach pass into the intestines
in four, eight, or ten hours, from experiments I have performed on
living subjects. _I have not the least doubt._ I saw the intestines;
they were in the jar. They did not appear to have been influenced by
arsenic; they were slightly red, and there were traces of arsenic.
I have reduced something that was in the intestines into a metallic
state. I experimented on it, and found it was arsenic. It was
destroyed in the experiment to which I was obliged to submit it to
prove it was arsenic. It was not likely that I should find it in
the liver without some being in the intestines. The time would not
depend on the constitution of the person. Digestion depends upon
the constitution, but I am speaking of the average. Digestion is
more or less rapid according to the constitution of the person who
has received the subject matter. I have heard of cases in which
matters which would not digest have remained three or four days, but
those were solid matters. _I think liquids pass into the stomach_
(_intestines_?) _under all circumstances in five hours as_ (_after_?)
_they are imbibed._ There is a valve which prevents solid matters from
passing into the stomach till they are digested. _The arsenic was
in a liquid state, all except a little white powder on the side of
the stomach._ I am obliged to have recourse to an average to form an
opinion as to how long it would take. We have no means of dealing with
an independent case except by an average.”

_By Mr. Bodkin, Q.C._—_Question._—“What did the contents of the
stomach look like?”

_Answer._—“Thick gruel. They were filtered, and I examined the
filtered portion, _and my opinion is that the arsenic had been taken
two or three hours_.”[127]

PURCHASE OF POISON BY THE PRISONER.

This was proved by the son of a chemist of the name of Brown, of whom
the prisoner purchased two pennyworths of arsenic on the 19th of
January, which, at her request, he enclosed in two separate papers,
each marked “poison,” as she said that one of them was for her sister
who lived some distance off. The papers had something of the appearance
of those of effervescing powders.

CONDUCT AND STATEMENTS OF THE PRISONER.

_Mrs. Gillett_ gave some remarkable evidence as to the statements and
conduct of the prisoner during the night of her husband’s fatal illness
and after his death.

“When the prisoner called me in a little after nine in the evening,
I found her husband in bed retching violently, and I gave him water
half-a-dozen times, and then went for Dr. Toulmin. At five o’clock
that day the prisoner said she was going for the doctor, to tell
him to send her husband something for the bile, but that he did not
want her to do so. A second time during the evening she told me she
wanted to do this, and that he would not let her, and that she had
applied to a neighbouring doctor, but that he had refused to come,
and only sent some pills. After her husband died she said, ‘How true
were Dr. Toulmin’s words,’ that, ‘when her husband once took to his
bed, he would go off like the snuff of a candle.’” [Dr. Toulmin had
no recollection of ever having made such a statement.] “Next day the
secretary of the Benefit Society to which her husband belonged called
and had some conversation with her. Before that she had spoken to me
about the Benefit Society, and said if her husband died she should
have the full benefit of it. On the day of the _post-mortem_ she asked
me if I had asked Dr. Toulmin what was the cause of death, and I said,
from what I heard, it was poison; when she said, ‘Do you think I am
guilty?’ I replied, ‘I do not doubt you.’ Then she walked about in an
agitated manner and appeared distressed. On the day of the inquest
she said to me, ‘You know, Mrs. Gillett, that Annie (her little girl)
ate the rest of the gruel.’ I said ‘Don’t say so; I did not see any
of you eat it.’ She said, ‘If I did not _Ashby_ did, and he ought to
be the first witness’ (_Ashby_ said he did not see the deceased or
anyone eat it). On the day of the adjourned inquest she asked me if
poison had been found, and when I said ‘Yes’ she said ‘I am innocent;
he was a good husband, and it is not likely I should do such a thing.
Dear creature; if that is the case he has done it with his own hands.’
I replied ‘It is not likely, as he purchased a new pair of boots the
morning before his death.’ Whilst we were talking _Andrews_, the
summoning officer, came in, and she said to him ‘Mrs. Gillett knows
that I ate the rest of the gruel,’ and I replied ‘I know nothing about
it, or who ate it.’[128] On the 31st of January in her house she said
to me ‘Do you think if I had any hand in his death I should not have
let him live to to-day and then have received the full benefit from
the society.’”[129]

_On cross-examination_ the witness protested that she had repeated
these conversations before, and was almost certain she had done so
before the coroner and the magistrate. When she said ‘I did not doubt
her,’ she meant that she had not the slightest suspicion of her
guilt. The witness had introduced the subject of the burial club.
The prisoner was kind and affectionate to her husband, and attentive
during his illness, and much distressed. The witness had heard the
deceased complain of the difficulties into which his wife had plunged
him, and on the Monday before he was taken ill they had quarrelled.

Other statements of a most unfavourable character were improperly
extracted from her by _Coward_, the inspector of police. As the Lord
Chief Baron said, with well-deserved reproof, he had evidently prepared
a proceeding, and framed certain questions, which would enable him to
observe the demeanour of the prisoner when she was confronted with
a witness ready in attendance, in order to give his own view of her
conduct afterwards to the jury.

“I,” said this witness, “saw the prisoner on the 2nd of February in
her house, and told her I had come to ask a few questions, which she
might answer or not as she pleased, but that it would be my duty to
repeat her answers to the magistrate; that I should like to have some
women present to hear, and accordingly sent for two of her neighbours,
and when they had come I asked her ‘Did she know of any arsenic being
in the house?’ ‘No.’ ‘Did her husband use it in his business?’ ‘No.’
‘Had she purchased any lately?’ ‘No.’ _Brown_ was then brought in, and
she turned pale and agitated. I told her _Brown_ had told me she had,
and she said ‘That was true, and she would tell me what for.’ On the
way to the police court she said ‘she purchased it for herself, but
thought better of it afterwards.’ I asked her what had become of it
afterwards, and she said ‘she had emptied it into one paper.’ She then
changed the conversation, and said that her husband was very fond of
soda and acid powders, and that a woman had told her that he had said
he was very troubled in his mind, and did not know whether he should
not jump into the river or Clapton pond.”

_On cross-examination_ he excused the presence of the women, on the
ground that he wanted to see if _Brown_ could identify the prisoner;
that she wanted to say more but that he stopt her, and told her to
tell the magistrate.

Of this last statement of the inspector, the Lord Chief Baron added in
his charge—

“That it appeared to him to be a piece of hypocrisy, which accorded
with all the rest of his conduct. He wished it to go forth to the
public, and that the police themselves should understand, that
such proceedings savoured of an excess of zeal which was perfectly
unjustifiable, and which ought not to be looked on in any other light
than discreditable.”

To _Clarke_, a police constable, she said, whilst in custody, that “she
supposed she should be hung—they had told so many lies about it—she
bought the arsenic for her husband.” To the female searcher at the
police-station she said that she did not know on what charge she was
brought there; and then, when told it, added, “I know he was poisoned,
but not by whom.” And when told that _Mrs. Gillett_ was the principal
witness against her, declared that she was forsworn. On the second
examination at the police-court, she told the gaoler that “she wished
the magistrate to know something about the case. All she had said was
true, except as to not buying the poison. She had placed it in the same
cupboard with her husband’s powders after taking off the papers marked
‘poison.’ If he had taken it, it must have been by mistake, and she
threw the remainder of the poison and all his powders into the fire.
She intended to have taken it herself if he went on as he had done.”

THE PRISONER’S STATEMENT.

“I have nothing to say except that I never intended my husband to take
the poison. When I bought it I intended to take it myself, if he had
come home as he had done several times before. I could not live with
him had he gone on so. I thought no more of it till the Sunday, when I
thought he might have taken it instead of the soda, and then I burnt
it. What I said about hanging was this—‘If I am to be hanged this
moment I am innocent of anything to my husband.’ I have nothing more
to say.”

_Mr. Clarkson_, for the defence, after alluding to the difficulties
under which he laboured in consequence of the prisoner not having
made any preparations for her defence, and the brief having only been
handed to him as the case was opened, attacked the evidence of Coward
in language which the Lord Chief Baron entirely adopted, and asked the
jury to dismiss it from their consideration. He also characterised the
declarations of the prisoner as told by witnesses clearly unfavourable
to her. “With regard to the testimony of Dr. Letheby, if they relied
on it, it would be necessary,” he said, “to come to the conclusion
that the prisoner had continued administering poison to the deceased
during the whole of the day—as it was proved that he was ill as early
as eight in the morning. But he asked the jury if her conduct would
justify such a conclusion. Her story might be true, and if the deceased
took the poison through her culpable negligence in putting it in the
cupboard with his soda powders, the offence would not be murder, but
manslaughter.”

The strong remarks of the Lord Chief Baron on the conduct and evidence
of Coward have already been given, and as the remainder of his charge
consisted only of an analysis of the evidence, and its application
to the different points of the case, it is needless to report it.
As was characteristic of this kind judge, every point that could be
made in favour of the prisoner was brought clearly out in his able
charge. After a brief deliberation, a verdict of guilty, coupled with
a recommendation to mercy on account of her previously good character,
was returned, and sentence of death was pronounced by the learned judge.

A medical man of large experience, who was present during the trial,
was so astonished at the statement of Dr. Letheby as to the time when
the arsenic had been administered, that he communicated with the
sheriffs, who brought the case before Sir George Grey, by whom it was
referred to Sir Benjamin Brodie, Dr. Billing, Dr. Leeson, and other
medical men of repute. These, it was understood, agreed that the time
of administration could not be fixed. On this, at the urgent request
of Dr. Pereira, Dr. Letheby wrote to the Home Secretary that it was
his duty to admit that it was within the range of possibility—nay,
even probable—that the arsenic might have been taken, as the
woman asserted, early in the morning of her husband’s death, and
in consequence the capital sentence was commuted for one of penal
servitude for life. This case was used by Mr. Bright in his speech in
the House of Commons in favour of the abolition of capital punishments,
as a strong example of their danger.

How much more satisfactory would it have been could a court of appeal
have reheard such a case instead of its being left to the Home
Secretary’s judgment of evidence known only to himself.[130]

CHAPTER VII.

ARSENIC.

The element (arsenicum)—The oxide (white
arsenic)—Arsenicum—Arsenicum trioxide. Forms of: (1)
Crystalline—(2) Amorphous—Solubility. Uses and occurrences: (1)
Steeping wheat—(2) Preservation of skins—(3) Antiseptics—(4)
Glass making—(5) Fur in boilers—(6) Candles—(7) Preservation of
wood—(8) Sheep washes—(9) Scheele’s green and emerald green as
pigments in sweets (case of Franklin and Randall), wall papers, toys,
&c.—(10) Medicinal—(11) For horses—(12) Tooth-stopping—(13)
Aniline dyes—(14) Fireworks—(15) Rat and fly poisons (case of
Maria Gage)—(16) For cleansing metals—(17) Arsenic eaters—(18)
Cosmetics—(19) For bronzing metals—(20) Beer brewed from
glucose—(21) American paper collars—(22) Speculum metal—(23)
Inhalation for asthma and bronchitis—(24) Mineral waters. Sulphides
of Arsenic: (1) Orpiment (case of M. A. Burdock)—(2) Realgar.
Arsenic acid—The arsenates—Arsenic trichloride—Arseniuretted
hydrogen—Methods of extraction—Tests—Modifications of old
processes suggested—Marsh’s test, distinction of results in arsenic
and antimony—Reinsch’s test—Doses—Antidotes—Physiological
effects—Remarks—Did L’Angelier commit suicide?

THE name “arsenic” is applied to two things: in chemistry it means the
element As; in popular usage it signifies the oxide As_{2}O_{3}. In
our report, the element will be called _arsenicum_, the oxide simply
“arsenic” or “white arsenic.”

ARSENICUM,

Symbol As, is an element of steely metallic lustre, tarnishing to dull
dark grey, met with in crystalline (rhombohedral) fragments, so brittle
that they can be easily reduced to a dark grey powder, insoluble
in water, but slowly absorbing oxygen and dissolving, insoluble in
pure hydrochloric and in vegetal acids, and in alcohol, soluble (by
oxidation) in strong sulphuric and in nitric acid, in chlorine, in
solution of bleaching powder. Tasteless, and inodorous until heated,
when it sublimes, without melting, at 110° C. (Guy), and gives a
strong _odour of garlic_. Sp. gr. 5·8. The characters of the metal are
utilized in Marsh’s and other tests, hereafter described. Heated in
air, it oxidizes to white fumes of As_{2}O_{3}. It is employed chiefly
to harden lead in making _shot_, in the proportion of 0·3 per cent. The
use of these in cleaning bottles, &c., may contribute a trace of As:
the presence of a larger amount of _lead_ would in this case indicate
the source. Common Britannia metal, used for teapots, spoons, &c.,
often contains As. It occurs also in many minerals.

When oxidized it is poisonous, but _pure arsenicum_ passes through
the body of animals unaltered (Wagner’s Chem. Technology, trans, by
Crookes, 1872, p. 86). The vapour is very poisonous.

Arsenicum has two oxides, the trioxide and the pentoxide.

ARSENICUM TRIOXIDE.

_Synonyms._—Arsenious oxide, arsenious acid, arsenious anhydride;
popularly, “arsenic,” “flour of arsenic,” or “white arsenic:” in mining
districts it is sometimes called “mercury:” Latin, acidum arseniosum.

_Chemical formula_ As_{2}O_{3}, or two atoms (150 parts by weight) of
arsenicum, to three atoms (48 parts by weight) of oxygen.

_Forms._—(1.) _Crystalline_. By sublimation and slow condensation on
moderately heated surfaces, also by deposition from solution, we obtain
regular _octahedra_, often so modified as to appear like equilateral
triangular or hexagonal plates, or even elongated into triangular
prisms, but never in the form of regular _tetrahedra_ such as tartar
emetic yields. For figures, see Guy and Ferrier’s Forens. Med., 1881,
pp. 440 and 670. The crystals are transparent and highly refracting.
Sp. gr. 3·69. Volatilizes without melting, except under increased
pressure.

(2.) _Amorphous_ or _vitreous_. Suddenly cooled, As_{2}O_{3} condenses
as clear transparent drops, finally cohering into a glassy mass, sp.
gr. 3·74. When kept, this becomes opaque, perhaps owing to a change
into the crystalline variety, constituting the “porcellanous” form
found in commerce. If the lumps be broken, layers of still transparent
As_{2}O_{3} will be seen.

The _solubility_ depends on the variety, temperature, length of time
it is digested, fineness of powder, &c. So that exact figures cannot
be given, as hardly two authorities agree. It is certain, however,
that the amorphous form is less soluble than the crystalline.[131]
The accepted statement is that given by Taylor (Med. Juris. 1, 250):
that digested with cold water, from 1/500 to 1/1000 dissolves, equal
from one half to one grain per fluid ounce; if boiled for an hour and
allowed to cool, an average of twelve grains per fluid ounce remains
in solution; if boiled for a shorter time, less is dissolved. See also
Woodman and Tidy’s Forens. Med., 1877, pp. 133, 134. Organic matter
is said to decrease its solubility; I have not found that it does so
to any notable extent. Dr. Blondlot (Med. Times and Gazette, Feb. 11,
1860) states that fats, such as bacon, diminish the solubility; this
must be by coating the particles and preventing contact with water.
Powdered white arsenic in all cases refuses for a long time to become
moistened by water, floating on the top, and collecting in little lumps
as if greasy: the appearance is so peculiar as to have led sometimes
to its detection. Commercial powdered white arsenic is generally the
opaque form pulverized, but it may be crystalline.

As_{2}O_{3} is very soluble in potash and soda and their carbonates,
forming _arsenites_. It is less soluble in ammonia. In hydrochloric
acid it dissolves easily, forming _chloride of arsenic_. It is less
soluble (1 in 2,000) in alcohol than in water. One part dissolves in
200,000 of chloroform. It is insoluble in pure ether. It is heavy to
feel, _tasteless_, very faintly acid to test paper, and so feeble
in affinity that its soluble salts are strongly alkaline, and are
decomposed by all acids with separation of As_{2}O_{3}. The powder and
its vapour are inodorous, but when heated with charcoal or organic
matter it is reduced to arsenicum, with its odour of garlic.

_Uses and Occurrence._—1. As a preservative against insects and fungi,
for steeping seed-wheat. Many accidents have resulted. Birds poisoned
by it and afterwards eaten by man have occasioned severe symptoms. From
1830 to 1840 in France 235 accusations of arsenic poisoning occurred,
of which 110 were against agricultural persons, proving that the use of
the drug in farming gives dangerous facilities for crime. Sulphate of
copper, or, better, a mixture of sulphate of soda and lime, are more
effectual as preservatives, and the latter mixture is not poisonous.
(Lancet, 1849, Jan. 20.)

2. For preserving skins and furs (arsenical soap). This use has also
caused serious results in the operators. Stuffed birds, &c., kept
in living rooms may prejudicially affect the inmates by giving off
arsenical dust.

3. As an antiseptic it is injected in solution through the vessels of
subjects for dissection. Of course in this case the body would show
signs of the anatomical examination it had undergone. In the trial
of Professor Webster for the murder of Dr. Parkman, at Boston, U.S.,
March, 1850, the _absence_ of arsenic and other preservative substances
in the corpse proved that it had not been a subject for dissection.

4. In glass making and the production of opaque white enamels. Here
most of the vapour passes up the chimney and is diffused.

5. Some of the patent preparations for preventing “fur” in boilers have
contained alkaline arsenites.

6. Formerly wicks of candles were steeped in arsenic solution to
prevent a long “snuff” forming. Moreover, it was incorporated with the
candle itself to improve its appearance. The result was a constant
diffusion of arsenic vapour in the room. Tapers were also coloured with
emerald green (copper aceto-arsenite), which likewise gave rise to
arsenical fumes. These objectionable practices have been fortunately
given up, owing to the strong representations of scientific men.

7. Wood is sometimes preserved by a solution of arsenic, and then
tarred. This use would be practically free from danger, except to the
operatives.

8. An alkaline arsenite is used for washing sheep to destroy vermin.
The workmen sometimes suffer. (Lancet, 1857, p. 281.) Streams have
been poisoned, the solution has been drunk in mistake (Ibid, 1856, p.
447), and lastly, the sheep themselves have been killed (Taylor’s Med.
Juris., i. 272). Carbolic acid would probably answer better.

9. Cupric arsenite (Scheele’s green) and aceto-arsenite (Schweinfurth
or emerald green) are used as pigments. In one case, where a baker’s
shelves had been painted with this colour, emerald green was found
adhering to the bottoms of the loaves (Med. Times and Gaz., 1854,
p. 326). Blancmange (_R._ v. _Franklin & Randall_, Northampton,
1848[132]), ornaments on cakes (Lancet, 1849, Feb. 17th), sweets,
dresses, and artificial flowers (Husemann, Jahresbericht, 1872, p.
480), lamp-shades, insides of pasteboard cigar-holders, toys,[133]
wrappings for chocolate, &c., wafers, water and oil colours, and wall
papers have all been coloured with emerald green. Whenever such things
have been swallowed, _the green colour is seen in the vomit_. Boxes of
paints should never be given to young children. Cakes of emerald green
and of other poisonous colours have often been sucked or eaten with
fatal result; they are the more tempting as they are generally made
up with honey or glycerine. Bright green wall papers have gone out of
fashion, still many of the dull colours have emerald green in their
composition. Such papers certainly give off arsenical dust, even if
they do not evolve arseniuretted hydrogen or other arsenical gas, and
the symptoms they produce have been well authenticated. In a new house
the papers should always be tested. Messrs. Woollams, of Marylebone
Lane, were, I believe, the first to disuse arsenical pigments in
paper-hangings.

These arsenites of copper give, with a little ammonia, a blue solution
(due to the copper), in which a crystal of silver nitrate becomes
covered with a yellow coating of silver arsenite. The As can also be
easily found by the other tests.

Dr. Raseden of Mersberg finds that arsenical papers cause rheumatic
pains, neuralgia, cough, lassitude, and emaciation (Lancet, 1849,
April 7th). They also cause skin eruptions. These effects disappear
when the patients are removed. In Germany the use of these pigments
is prohibited; it should be so in England. Unfortunately no other
permanent green colour is so bright in tint.

The copper arsenites are insoluble in water, but soluble in acids,
hence are dissolved by the gastric juice, and then absorbed.

10. In medicine, arsenic is used for skin diseases, ague, and as a
tonic; externally for cancer and lupus. _Liquor arsenicalis_ B.P.,
Fowler’s solution, or “ague drops,” is composed of arsenic 80 grains,
potass, carbonate 80 grains, water 1 pint, flavoured with lavender. It
is a solution of potassium arsenite. _Liquor arsenici hydrochloricus_
is arsenic dissolved in hydrochloric acid, giving arsenic trichloride,
of the same strength as liquor arsenicalis. Among unofficial
preparations are “_Donovan’s Solution of Arsenic_,” containing
mercuric and arsenious iodides; strength 0·69 grain _arsenicum_ per
fluid ounce: “_Davidson’s Cancer Remedy_” equal parts of arsenic and
hemlock (Dr. Paris): “_Cancer Paste_,” containing 8 per cent. of
arsenic, with cinnabar and dragon’s blood: “_Hydrophobia Pill_,” 1/16
to 1/12 grain arsenic, with 1 grain pepper, an absurd remedy much
used in the East Indies. (Blyth’s Pract. Chem., 1879, p. 376.) The
pharmacopœial preparations of arsenic acid will be described under
_arsenic pentoxide_.

11. It is given by grooms to horses, to render their coats sleek, and
improve their wind, under the name of “condition balls or powders”
(strength 2½ to 5 per cent. of arsenic), also for worms, and as a tonic.

12. For destroying the nerves of decayed teeth, about 1/25 grain
is placed in the cavity. In the Lancet a case is recorded in which
inflammation and caries of the jaw followed this practice, which is a
very dangerous one.

13. In the manufacture of some aniline dyes, and in the reduction of
indigo, arsenic is often used. Dyed stockings, &c., have caused skin
irritation, supposed to be due to arsenic, but more probably owing to
the dye itself.

14. Firework preparations commonly contain some compound of As, and
therefore give poisonous vapours. “Bengal light” consists of 24 of
potass. nitrate, 7 of sulphur, and 2 of realgar (arsenic disulphide).
See also Blyth, Prac. Chem., p. 379.

15. _Rat Poisons_:—No. 1. Arsenic 6 per cent., made into a paste,
with equal parts of flour and suet, variously coloured and scented.
No. 2. Equal parts of arsenic and carbonate of barium (itself
poisonous), coloured with rose pink, and scented with oils of anise and
rhodium.[134]

_Fly Poisons._—“Fly powder,” a grey mixture of As and As_{2} O_{3}.
“Fly water,” a solution of arsenious acid, or arsenite of soda or
potash, of varying strength, sweetened with sugar, treacle, or honey.
(Med. Times and Gazette, Sept. 13th, 1851.) Some also contain orpiment
(arsenic trisulphide).

16. For cleansing metals, arsenite of soda has been used on account
of its strong alkalinity. It is an absurd preparation to use for this
purpose, as washing soda or potash would act better. In December,
1857, 340 children were poisoned by water from a boiler that had been
“cleaned” by this compound (Taylor on Poisons, 2nd ed., p. 378). In
1863, a man died from drinking beer out of a pot which had been thus
cleansed (Taylor, Med. Juris., 1, 273).

17. The well-known “arsenic eating” of Styria has been ridiculed as
impossible, but has yet been authenticated on further examination. A
Styrian wood-cutter was seen by a medical man to eat a piece of arsenic
weighing 4½ grains, and next day another 5½ grains, yet remaining in
his usual health. It is also eaten by the natives of Ceylon (Med. Times
and Gaz. 1862, p. 454, and 1866, p. 375). Workmen in arsenic factories
often become habituated to its influence. See a paper by Roscoe, Mem.
of Lit. and Phil. Soc. of Manchester, 1860. I myself can testify to
this fact. A student in the College of Science, Dublin, was accustomed
to take out of the arsenic bottle little lumps about 3 or 4 grains each
and eat them, without apparent ill effect.

18. As a cosmetic, applied externally, it would probably be useless.
Unless the skin were abraded, or it remained very long in contact,
no absorption, and hence no poisonous effect, would result, but any
scratch or wound would be dangerous. (See Christison’s Evidence, case
of Madeline Smith, p. 320.) And if in protracted contact with the skin,
it will cause symptoms. (Memoirs of Lond. Med. Soc., ii., 397, Amer. J.
of Med. Science, July, 1851.)

19. A solution of chloride of arsenic has been employed for “bronzing”
metals. The fumes would be highly pernicious.

20. Ritter, of Rouen, states that glucose or starch-sugar frequently
contains arsenic, derived from the sulphuric acid employed in its
manufacture being made from arsenical pyrites. He finds that by this
means the arsenic is introduced into _beer_ brewed with glucose, into
confectionery, syrups, liqueurs, &c. (Reimann’s Färber Zeitung, No. 3,
1878.)

21. It is said that certain paper collars and cuffs which are
extensively made in America have proved poisonous from containing a
considerable proportion of arsenic. (Les Mondes, Nov. 11th, 1880.)[135]

22. _Speculum Metal_, for telescope mirrors, is an alloy of copper,
tin, and 3 per cent. of arsenic.

23. In America, a paper soaked in a solution of arsenic and other drugs
is burnt, and the smoke inhaled for asthma and bronchitis. (Year Book
of Pharm., 1873, p. 345.)

24. Traces occur in mineral waters.

SULPHIDES OF ARSENIC.

_Orpiment_, As_{2} S_{3}, Auripigmentum, or King’s Yellow, trisulphide
of arsenic, obtained by precipitating a solution of arsenic with
sulphuretted hydrogen, is a yellow inodorous powder, insoluble in water
and in hydrochloric acid, but slowly oxidizing in air to arsenious
acid, and therefore poisonous. It is found native. By heat it melts
to a reddish liquid: if air be excluded, it volatilizes at about 700°
C., and condenses unchanged: if air be present, it is oxidized to
sulphur dioxide and arsenic trioxide, which condenses in the crystals
before-mentioned. It is soluble in alkalies and their carbonates,
and reprecipitated by hydrochloric acid. Commercial “King’s Yellow,”
formerly used as a pigment, but now replaced by Chromate of lead, is
a very poisonous mixture of As_{2} O_{3} and As_{2} S_{3}. It is
sometimes employed in printing indigo. A mixture of orpiment, water and
lime is used in the East as “Rasma” (see page 320) for a depilatory.
In a corpse, by putrefaction, the arsenic is frequently converted into
sulphide.

_Realgar_, the disulphide, As_{2} S_{2}, is red, exists as a mineral,
and is also made artificially for fireworks. It contains _about_ 75 per
cent. of arsenic, but varies. Formerly it was used as a pigment, and in
tanning to remove hair.

These sulphides have rarely been used for criminal purposes. _Orpiment_
was employed by Mary Ann Burdock, 1833.[136] Being insoluble, they
would only be absorbed after oxidation into As_{2} O_{3}. Ossikovszky
(J. Pract. Chem. 2, xxii., 323) finds that this change happens
rapidly in contact with organic bodies. But the opposite change, by
putrefaction and development of sulphuretted hydrogen, of As_{2} O_{3}
into As_{2} S_{3}, is far more likely and frequent.

ARSENIC ACID

is obtained by oxidizing As_{2} O_{3} by nitric acid. It is a white
deliquescent solid, inodorous, _very soluble in water_ to a syrupy
solution, which is corrosive, strongly acid and metallic in taste. By
heat it first gives the pentoxide, As_{2} O_{5}, then it breaks up into
As_{2} O_{3} and oxygen, finally completely volatilizing. It is said
to be less poisonous than As_{2} O_{3}. (Wöhler and Frehrichs, Ann.
Chem. Pharm., lxv., 335.)

The _arsenates_ are very like the phosphates. Like them they give
with acid molybdate solution a yellow, with magnesium sulphate a
white crystalline, precipitate. But with sulphuretted hydrogen, after
acidifying, they give _slowly_ a yellow precipitate of sulphide
of arsenic and sulphur; and with silver nitrate a _liver brown_
precipitate of silver arsenate.[137] Sulphurous acid reduces arsenic
acid to arsenious.

_Sodium arsenate_ is in the British Pharmacopœia, and is employed in
calico printing. A brominated solution of potassium arsenate (strength
= 1 per cent. As_{2} O_{3}) is used in Russia for epilepsy. “Pearson’s
solution” is 1 grain sodium arsenate to 1 oz. water. “Macquir’s neutral
arsenical salt” is a binarsenate of soda. “Papier Moure” consists of
paper soaked in solution of potassium arsenate (Tidy).

Fischer (Ber. deutsch. Chem. Gesellschaft, xiii., p. 1778) proposes
_ferrous chloride_ as better than sulphurous acid for reducing arsenic
acid to arsenious (see process for separation, post).

_Arsenic Trichloride_, As Cl_{3}, is a volatile, colourless liquid,
very pungent, and fuming in air. It has been discarded from medical
use on account of its dangerous properties. A case of poisoning by it
is mentioned in Taylor (Med. Juris. 1, p. 278). It is obtained in the
process for separation from the organs. Arsenic Triiodide, a dull red
crystalline solid, is used in ointments.

_Arseniuretted hydrogen_, As H_{3}, is a colourless gas of a garlic
odour, almost insoluble in water. It burns with a livid bluish-grey
flame, forming water and a white cloud of As_{2} O_{3}. By heating to
redness it is decomposed into hydrogen and a deposit of arsenicum (the
“mirror”). It is formed whenever hydrogen is evolved in contact with
arsenic compounds, hence has caused accidents in making hydrogen from
impure zinc. It is probably the most deadly compound of As, and proved
fatal to its investigator, Gehlen, and in several other cases.

EXTRACTION AND TESTS.

If arsenic has been given in the solid form, the greater part will
remain insoluble, and will be found either in lumps or powder in the
stomach, or as a white powder adhering to its lining. Any substance so
found should be washed with water and tested for arsenic. It is absurd
to say, as Dr. Letheby did in Ann Merritt’s case (_ante_, p. 366), that
the quantity was too small for examination: if a white powder can be
_seen_, it can be _tested_. In the contents, or in any fluid food, the
heaviness of powdered arsenic will cause it to readily separate as a
sediment. Soot or indigo, the legal admixtures, should also be sought.

Arsenic is not naturally present in the body (Sonnenschein,
Gerichtlich. Chemie, p. 122; and others). As it occurs in soils, in
cases of disinterment a portion of the earth surrounding the coffin
should be tested.[138]

When absorbed, it may pass into every part of the body, but more
especially into the liver and spleen. De Poncy and Livon have
supposed that it was capable of replacing phosphorus in the actual
brain substance (Comptes Rendus, 23, June 9th, 1879), and that it is
mainly localized in the _brain_. Another author finds it concentrated
in the _bones_. Prof. E. Ludwig of Vienna, in the case of a woman
who suffered from making artificial flowers coloured with magenta
containing arsenic, found arsenic in the liver, spleen, kidneys, and
stomach, but not in the bones or urine (Lond. Med. Record, Dec. 15th,
1877, p. 509). He found also that in human beings as well as dogs
poisoned with arsenic, in both acute and chronic cases, the liver
contained the largest amount, the kidneys sometimes a considerable
quantity, and the bones, brain and urine, only small traces (Jahresb.
für Thierchemie, 1879, 85). These results have been discussed by
Johnson and Chittenden (American Chem. Journal, 2, 332), who, in a
woman poisoned by arsenic, found, _a year and a half after burial_,
over 5 grains of As_{2} O_{3}, almost evenly distributed. The
conclusion to be drawn is, that, of the absorbed arsenic, the main
part will be in the liver, and the rest in varying proportions in
other tissues, so that as much as possible of the whole body should be
examined.

As the large quantity of organic matter is in the way of the tests, it
has been proposed to get rid of this by different processes. That of
Fresenius and V. Babo consists in oxidizing the substances by strong
hydrochloric acid and chlorate of potash. There is a great objection
to this, as loss is liable to occur from volatilization of arsenic
trichloride, unless it is done in a retort, which is practically
impossible on account of the bulk and frothing, and the danger of
explosion from the oxides of chlorine formed.

The following modification of an old process has been found by the
author to be satisfactory. It may be used also for antimony and
mercury. Weigh the whole, cut up finely, and grind the matters to
a pulp with water, reserving a weighed portion of about one third;
render strongly alkaline with potash or soda previously tested
for arsenic. Pass in a current of chlorine, _stopping before the
alkalinity is destroyed_. Boil the solution down to a low bulk, _not
to dryness_, till a portion taken out and treated with acetic acid
gives no chlorinous odour, showing that the hypochlorite has been
completely decomposed. Arsenic trichloride does not escape from
alkaline solutions, so there is no loss. Add sufficient _pure_ aqueous
sulphurous acid, to reduce the arsenic acid to arsenious. Now transfer
to a large retort provided with a tube-funnel and condenser, the
end dipping into water in a well-cooled tubulated receiver, itself
connected by a tube with a flask containing dilute potash solution.
Through the tube-funnel pour in pure concent. sulphuric acid in volume
about equal to the liquid, adding it gradually, as there is much heat
and effervescence. Mix well by shaking, and distil slowly from a sand
bath. In distilling a moderately strong solution of mixed arsenious
and antimonious chlorides in concent. hydrochloric acid, I have found
that the arsenic all comes over in the first third of the distillate,
and that after two-thirds have passed over, the antimony also begins
to distil. Hence, in the above process the distillation should not
be carried beyond half the volume of the liquid in the retort, when
all the arsenic, _in whatever form it originally existed_, will be
found as chloride in the receiver, except a little which may have
escaped into the potash. Test a portion of the potash solution by
Marsh’s or Reinsch’s process as hereafter described: if any arsenic
be present, add the remainder to the liquid in the receiver, taking
care that excess of free acid is left. Pass into the distillate washed
sulphuretted hydrogen in excess (or add a solution of the gas in
water), warm, cover, and allow to stand. (The excess of sulphuretted
hydrogen may afterwards be removed by warming and passing in carbonic
acid gas.) If any arsenic be present, a yellow precipitate of arsenious
sulphide, As_{2}S_{3}, will appear; if the precipitate be pale, it will
consist mainly of sulphur, formed by the action of the sulphuretted
hydrogen on the sulphurous acid which is present. Some organic matters
are also generally present. Collect the precipitate on a filter, wash
with sulphuretted hydrogen water, dissolve in a dilute solution of
ammonium carbonate, and again precipitate with hydrochloric acid. The
precipitated arsenious sulphide is now nearly pure: it may be collected
on a small filter, washed rapidly, again dissolved in ammonia, the
solution received in a porcelain dish, evaporated to a low bulk,
transferred to a weighed porcelain boat, and heated cautiously in
a current of carbon dioxide to a temperature not above 400° C.,
sufficient, in fact, just to melt the arsenious sulphide. [Sulphur
boils at 446° C., As_{2}S_{3} at 700° C.] Any remaining sulphur is thus
removed, and the arsenious sulphide may then be weighed. The weight
multiplied by 0·805 gives the amount of arsenic trioxide.

A less preferable way is to collect the arsenious sulphide on a weighed
filter, to dry, and dissolve out any sulphur by carbon disulphide. Yet
another method is to oxidize by nitric acid, evaporate, precipitate
the arsenic acid by a mixture of ammonic chloride, magnesic sulphate,
and strong ammonia —“magnesia mixture”) as ammonio-magnesic arsenate,
and weigh, either as that salt, or, after ignition, as pyroarsenate
of magnesia. The former, dried at 100° C., contains 39·57, the latter
48·29 per cent. of As. Lastly, if the sulphide, oxidized by nitric
acid, be alkalized with ammonia, and warmed to 70° or 80° C. with a
solution of ammonium molybdate in nitric acid, as used for the ordinary
determination of phosphates (see Fresenius, Qual. Anal., p. 54), a
yellow precipitate of _arsenomolybdate of ammonia_ appears, which can
be weighed: it contains 3·3 per cent. of As (Bull. Soc. Chem., Jan.
7th, 1877).

But where such importance may hang on quantities, the use of weighed
filters for such small amounts is simply courting error. When the
As_{2}S_{3} has been weighed in the porcelain boat, calculate it
into As_{2}O_{3}, or into As (it contains 61 per per cent. of As),
then cover it with a mixture of pure potassic cyanide and sodium
carbonate, place it in a piece of combustion tubing drawn out at the
end into a long thin point, pass washed dry carbon dioxide over it,
and heat cautiously till all the water is expelled. Finally raise the
temperature to full redness, and pass a _slow_ continuous current
of the gas, keeping the narrow part of the tube cool with moistened
blotting paper. The sulphide will be reduced to As, which will deposit
in a metallic coating on the narrow portion. Seal this part, and
preserve it as evidence.

It is obvious that the residue in the retort may be tested for other
metals.

The presence of arsenic ascertained, and the quantity known, it would
seem as if nothing more was necessary. Still, it is useful to confirm
results by the other tests. The reserved portion may now be divided and
used as follows:—

MARSH’S TEST.

If hydrogen be evolved in presence of arsenical compounds, it combines
with the element to form “arseniuretted hydrogen,” or _arsine_,
AsH_{3}, a colourless gas of alliaceous odour, extremely poisonous,
giving, when passed into silver nitrate solution, a precipitate of
silver and a solution of As_{2}O_{3}; decomposed at a red heat into
As and hydrogen, and burning with a livid flame into As_{2}O_{3} and
water. The flame yields, when a cold surface, such as a porcelain
crucible-lid or dish, is depressed into it, a steel-grey lustrous stain
or ring of metallic arsenic.

To evolve the hydrogen, Marsh originally used zinc and sulphuric acid.
As it is so difficult to obtain zinc pure, magnesium has been proposed.
But the evolution is then too rapid. Moreover, the reputed “pure”
acids of commerce are scarcely ever free from a trace of arsenic. This
difficulty affects equally the galvanic method. Hence it is better to
employ _sodium amalgam_ (Edmund Davy, Chem. News, xxxiii., 58, and
ditto, 94). One part of sodium, scraped free from oxide, is melted
under solid paraffin, and gradually added to ten parts of mercury
(previously purified by nitric acid) with constant stirring, the
paraffin poured off, and the amalgam cleaned by washing with pure dry
benzine. The result is a solid crystalline alloy.

A few fragments of this alloy are placed with water in a flask provided
with a thistle funnel, and with a delivery tube dipping into a 4 per
cent. solution of silver nitrate. The horizontal part of the delivery
tube is heated to just below redness by a lamp, meanwhile being
supported to prevent its bending. If, after about an hour, no As ring
appears in the tube, and if the silver nitrate, after precipitation
of the silver by hydrochloric acid and filtration, gives no arsenious
sulphide on addition of sulphuretted hydrogen, the amalgam is pure.
Now add to the flask the suspected liquid, put in more amalgam, and
continue the heating of the tube and passing of the hydrogen till
no further evolution of As occurs. The portion of tube containing
the deposit of As may be cut off, weighed, the As dissolved off
by aqua regia, and the tube washed, dried, and weighed again. The
silver nitrate solution contains the remainder of the As dissolved
as As_{2}O_{3}: after removal of the silver by hydrochloric acid and
filtration, the arsenious acid solution may be divided, a portion
titrated by iodine (see Blyth’s Pract. Chem., p. 392), and the rest
tested qualitatively by sulphuretted hydrogen, ammonio-silver nitrate,
and ammonio-cupric sulphate (see these tests, _post_).

If the original liquid be rendered strongly alkaline before adding
the amalgam, no antimony will pass off with the arsenic. But from
_acid_ liquids, arsenic and antimony pass off together. They both give
metallic rings in the tube, and stains on a cold surface. The chief
distinctions between them are as follows:—

1. _Arsenic._—More volatile, hence deposited further from the flame;
bounded by a “hair brown” fringe of suboxide; heated in a current of
sulphuretted hydrogen gives _yellow_ As_{2}S_{3}, unchanged by passing
dry hydrochloric acid gas: heated in air, it gives easily a sublimate
of As_{2}O_{3} in glistening octahedral crystals. It is soluble at once
in chloride of lime solution.

2. _Antimony._—Less volatile, hence forming close to the flame; no
brown fringe; heated in a current of sulphuretted hydrogen, gives
_orange or black_ Sb_{2}S_{3}, volatilized by passing dry hydrochloric
acid; heated in air, it gives a white oxide, volatile with great
difficulty, and not generally crystalline. It is insoluble in chloride
of lime solution.

By the above process, Edmund Davy has detected one-millionth of a grain
of As; 1/1000 grain gives a very decided effect in a few minutes. It
is applicable not only to As_{2}O_{3}, but to all other arsenical
compounds in powder, whether soluble or insoluble. Organic matter
interferes very little.

It must be observed that hydrogen alone may give a slight reduction and
precipitate in solutions of silver nitrate.

To prepare pure sulphuric acid and pure zinc, see Selmi, Chem. Soc.
Journal, May, 1881, p. 311.

REINSCH’S TEST.

If a fragment of pure copper be boiled with _pure_ hydrochloric acid
for ten minutes, no discolouration occurs. If now a solution containing
arsenic be added, the copper turns black or grey, from formation of an
alloy of copper and arsenicum. On drying the copper, and heating it
in a small glass tube closed at one end, the arsenicum is oxidized,
with production of crystals of As_{2} O_{3}. Organic matter does not
interfere. _Antimony_, sulphides, and some metals produce a similar
grey deposit, but do not yield a _crystalline_ sublimate. _Mercury_
also precipitates on the copper, but the sublimate consists of metallic
globules.

Any compound of arsenicum, mixed with dried potassium cyanide and
carbonate of soda, introduced into a piece of hard glass tubing drawn
to a point, and heated in a slow stream of dry carbon dioxide, gives
a deposit, in the narrow portion, of the whole of its arsenic in the
metallic form (Fresenius).

As_{2} O_{3} heated in a tube with dry potassium or sodium acetate
gives _cacodyl-oxide_ (Bunsen) of an exceedingly offensive alliaceous
odour.

In solution, arsenious acid gives:—

1. _With ammonio-silver nitrate_ (prepared by adding silver nitrate to
dilute ammonia till a precipitate just forms) a _yellow_ precipitate of
silver arsenite, soluble in ammonia and in nitric acid.

2. _With ammonio-cupric sulphate_ (prepared by similarly treating
cupric sulphate), a _bright green_ precipitate of cupric arsenite.

3. With _sulphuretted hydrogen_ a yellow colour (the intensity of this
has been proposed as a method of estimating small quantities of arsenic
by comparison _à la_ Nessler), but no precipitate till hydrochloric or
other acid be added, when _yellow arsenious sulphide_ falls. This is a
most delicate test, as arsenious sulphide is only soluble to the extent
of one part in one million of water (Fresenius, Quant. Anal. p. 137),
and not much more soluble in acids. The precipitate may be weighed, or
treated as already mentioned (pp. 386-7). Tin and cadmium solutions
also give yellow sulphides, but they are insoluble in ammonia, and do
not yield the other tests.

4. Stannous chloride (protochloride of tin) gives a brown deposit of
metallic arsenic. With acids containing traces of arsenic it gives a
brown colour.

DOSES.

1. _Medicinal_ (British Pharmacopœia).—Acidum arseniosum (As_{2}
O_{3}), 1/60 to 1/12 grain in solution. Liquor arsenicalis (solution of
potassium arsenite), 2 to 8 minims. Liquor arsenicalis hydrochloricus
(solution of chloride of arsenic), 2 to 8 minims. Sodæ arsenias (sodium
arsenate), 1/16 to ⅛ grain. Liquor sodæ arseniatis (solution of the
preceding), 5 to 10 minims. Ferri arsenias (ferric arsenate), 1/16 to ½
grain.

2. _Poisonous._—Smallest recorded: _one grain_, (Lancet, Dec. 16th,
1837), _two grains_, (Provincial Journal, 1848, p. 347); average
smallest, 2½ grains. Recoveries have been described after enormous
doses, up to 1½ ounce, taken solid and therefore not dissolved,
rejected by vomiting or purging, or prevented from irritant action by
abundance of food (see a case in the Lancet, Jan. 13th, 1849, when 1oz.
was taken with recovery).[139]

Idiosyncrasy may cause smaller doses to be dangerous; on the other
hand, habit may cause tolerance of the poison, as already mentioned
with regard to arsenic eaters. Nitre is said to increase the poisonous
action (Med. Times, 1844, p. 216). Antimony by its prostrating action
would have the same effect.

PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS.

The symptoms usually commence in ½ to 1 hour after administration
(Taylor), but vary with dose, form, &c. They have also been _immediate_
(case of Lofthouse, York, 1835); in ten minutes (Guy and Ferrier); in ¼
hour (Taylor); in 5, 7, 8, and 10 hours (Med. Gaz. xlvii. 722); in 23
hours (Med. Times, Oct. 21, 1848); in _four days_ (Woodman and Tidy,
Forens. Med. p. 134).

As to the character of the symptoms, _irritation of the stomach and
intestines_ is the main feature. Burning pain, vomiting and purging,
cramps and occasionally tetanus (Orfila, i., 449) occur. Rarely there
is insensibility and no pain. Great thirst, constriction of the throat,
headache, and finally exhaustion are common. Sometimes epilepsy
or paralysis has been caused. The truth is, that every variety of
constitutional disturbance may be caused by the violent irritation of
the alimentary canal, except that the intellect is rarely affected.
In many cases the effects closely resemble those of acute diarrhœa or
English Cholera. One anomalous case is on record when death occurred in
four hours after sound sleep, and _no inflammation_ of the stomach was
found (Lancet, xii., 194). For a detailed list of cases, see Guy and
Ferrier’s Forens. Med. p. 457.

_Fatal period._—Shortest, twenty minutes (Taylor); average, about
twenty-four hours. Death in three to eight hours is common. But the end
has been sometimes far more protracted, even to _two years_ (_Ibid._,
Med. Jur. i., 256).

The _vomit_ is usually yellowish (L’Angelier) from bile: occasionally
it is tinged with blood; rarely white. If the arsenic has been mixed
with soot or indigo, these will affect its colour.

_Post Mortem Appearances._—The lining membrane of the stomach and
intestines is almost always inflamed and reddened, rarely darker from
congestion. White patches, covered with mucus, should be examined
for solid arsenic. Perforation, ulceration, and gangrene are rare.
In bodies long buried, the arsenic is often converted into sulphide
by putrefaction, and then appears as a yellow coating. Occasionally
inflammatory appearances are found in the mouth, throat and other
organs. Congestion of the brain is uncommon.

Among the effects of _chronic_ poisoning by arsenic may be noted
inflammation of the eyelids (conjunctivitis), skin eruptions,
irritability of the stomach, jaundice, and local paralysis (for cases
see Taylor’s Med. Jur., i. 252).

TREATMENT AND ANTIDOTES.

Vomiting should be encouraged by emetics or tickling the throat; the
stomach pump being used if judicious. To obviate the irritation,
demulcents such as arrowroot, mucilage, &c., are useful. Albumen
(white of egg) has proved serviceable (Lancet, Jan. 13th, 1849). To
render the arsenic insoluble, magnesia or chalk may be given. But the
best chemical antidote is hydrated ferric oxide, freshly prepared
by precipitating ferric chloride or tinct. ferri sesquichlor. with
carbonate of soda (washing soda), or by similarly precipitating ferrous
sulphate (copperas), and then shaking the mixture with air till it
turns red, or by the following formula:—

Tinct. ferr. perchlor. 1 oz.
Sod. bicarb. 1 oz.
Tepid water, a teacupful.

(Hoglan, Year Book of Pharm. 1881, p. 211).

M. Lucas of Beauvais has stated, that in nine cases of arsenical
poisoning, calcined magnesia arrested the symptoms and eventually
removed the effects (J. Chim. Medi. 1850).

REMARKS.

Arsenic has been given in pessaries by the vagina, in ointment for skin
diseases and by “cancer doctors,” also inhaled as vapour for asthma,
in each case with dangerous result.

The frequent occurrence of this poison in common articles of use gives
an opportunity to the defence which has led to analyses of multitudes
of articles—wall-papers, clothing, cooking vessels, &c. It may be
positively affirmed that if white arsenic _in the solid state_ be found
in the stomach, it could not have come from any of these sources. The
trace that could be derived from wall-papers would be infinitesimal.
The tests for arsenic are almost inconveniently delicate, so that
the slightest impurity of the reagents will make it appear to be
present. Reichardt (Archiv. der Pharm., xiv. 1-23), states that 1/1000
milligramme of As_{2}O_{3} evolved as arseniuretted hydrogen will
precipitate silver nitrate, and that by this means he has found it in
the urine of patients suffering from arsenical wall-papers. The effect
of such papers is certainly pernicious, though it may be mentioned that
in Silesia mortar is made with arsenical sand, and people living in
houses thus built do not suffer (Lancet, 1849, April 7th). On the whole
it may be concluded that in a trial, _traces_ of arsenic will not be
sufficient, a tangible quantity found and _weighed_ will be the only
sufficient evidence of poisoning by the mouth.

To illustrate the value of a knowledge of chemistry to a medical man in
such cases the following may be quoted. A child of ten was supposed to
have eaten a quantity of meal mixed with arsenic for rats. An emetic of
sulphate of zinc was given: the first vomit gave with ammon. sulphate
of copper a bright green, with ammon. nitrate of silver, a yellow
precipitate, thus establishing that the poison was arsenic. Emetics and
diluents were continued, then albumen was given. Some hydrated ferric
oxide was hurriedly made from common green vitriol (ferrous sulphate)
and ammonia: the washed precipitate was administered in successive
teaspoonfuls. Recovery on the third day. In the vomit 10 grains of
white arsenic were found. (Lancet, 1849, p. 311.)

The following is a curious form of attempted poisoning. A person lately
presented this prescription in Paris: “Decoct. barley, 8 oz.; hydroch.
acid, 1 drachm; _arsenious acid, 10 grains_.” The signature of a
physician was appended, but, on suspicion being aroused, was found to
be a forgery.

In Ann Merritt’s case, Dr. Letheby stated that arsenic had been taken
not more than two or three hours (afterwards he said four) before
death, because he found undigested gruel in the stomach, containing
arsenic _in solution_, and because the intestines contained very little
arsenic. This conclusion was considered by weighty authorities to be
rash, and probably wrong, because:—

1. He found 2 grains (a poisonous dose) in the liver. This could hardly
have got there within so short a time.

2. In a stomach irritated by arsenic or disease, food may remain
undigested for seven, eight, or more hours.

8. A previous dose of arsenic, adherent to the coats of the stomach,
might be dissolved by an influx of warm gruel.

4. The portion in the intestines might have been evacuated by purging.

5. The “pinkish liquid” described by the surgeon who performed
the _post-mortem_, pointed to admixture with blood, therefore to
inflammation of some standing, and certainly did not tally with Dr.
Letheby’s description of “gruel.”

With reference to the alleged administration of arsenic in cocoa in
Madeline Smith’s case, the following details will be illustrative.

100 grains of white arsenic were found to be a small teaspoonful,
not heaped. This quantity was mixed with two teaspoonfuls of Epps’s
cocoa. The colour was rendered lighter, but still looked natural. On
making up with boiling water and milk, as directed, a cup of cocoa
was obtained, in which neither appearance, taste, nor smell, betrayed
anything unusual. On standing the milk rapidly curdled, and the arsenic
deposited, but this would not be seen in an opaque cup. With arrowroot
or gruel a similar result was obtained.[140]

It has been stated that arsenic trioxide volatilizes with the vapour of
water. I have not found this to be the case to any appreciable extent,
but it does volatilize slowly at 100° C., and still more at 120°. About
½ gramme of As_{2} O_{3} lost, after six hours on the water-bath, 3 per
cent. of its weight; after six hours at 120° C. it lost six per cent.
When chlorides are present, as in the body, it is still more liable
to volatilization as arsenic trichloride. Hence matters containing
it cannot be boiled down or dried without danger of loss, unless
previously rendered alkaline.

R. Otto has stated that ordinary sulphuretted hydrogen may contain
arsenic from the sulphate of iron used. He proposes to prepare the
gas by the action of pure hydrochloric acid on pure calcium sulphide
obtained by roasting gypsum with charcoal (Ber. Chem. Ges. xii. 250). I
have tested water into which sulphuretted hydrogen has been repeatedly
passed, and have found no arsenic: if really present in the gas, the As
H_{3} is not absorbed in the liquid.

CHAPTER VIII.

POISONING BY ANTIMONY.

THE cases under this head are very numerous, and, therefore, difficult
of selection. I have given, as the leading cases, full reports, (1),
of that of Dr. Pritchard, of Glasgow, tried in the High Court of
Justiciary, in July, 1865, for the poisoning of his wife by repeated
small doses of antimony, and his mother-in-law by antimony and aconite;
(2), of that of Dr. Smethurst (the Richmond poisoning case), tried for
the poisoning of his mistress by small doses of antimony and arsenic,
at the Central Criminal Court, August 15th, 1859[141]; (3), I have
added a report of the Liverpool poisoning case—that of Thomas Waislow,
for the poisoning of Ann James, by antimony, tried at Liverpool, August
20th, 1860.

TRIAL OF DR. PRITCHARD.[142]

_Before_ THE LORD JUSTICE CLERK (RIGHT HON. JOHN INGLIS), LORD
ARDMILLAN, _and_ LORD JERVISWOODE, _at the_ HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY,
EDINBURGH, _July, 1865_.

_For the Prosecution_: The Solicitor-General (_now_ Lord Young), Mr.
Gifford, _and_ Mr. Chrichton.

_For the Defence_: Mr. Rutherford Clark, Mr. Watson, _and_ Mr. Brand.

By the _first_ count of the indictment the prisoner was charged with
the murder of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Taylor, by administering to her,
between the 10th and 25th of February, 1865, in Battley’s sedative
solution, tapioca, porter, or some other medicine or food, to the
prosecutor, unknown, tartarised antimony, aconite, and opium, or one
or more of them. In the _second_ count he was charged with the murder
of his wife by administering the like poisons, or one or more of them,
between the 22nd day of December, 1864, and the 25th of March, 1865,
in egg flip, cheese, porter, beer, or wine, or some other articles of
food, to the prosecutor, unknown. To the relevancy of the indictment
several objections were taken, but overruled, and the prisoner pleaded
“Not Guilty.”

THE HISTORY OF THE CASE.

_Edward William Pritchard_, a native of England, and member of the
Royal College of Surgeons since 1846, before he came to Glasgow, had
been a traveller in the Polar and Pacific Seas, and in the countries
bordering the Mediterranean, and first set up in practice at Filey, in
Yorkshire, where he married the daughter of a Glasgow silk merchant,
by whom he had a family. In consequence of this connection, about 1859
he removed to Glasgow, where, from his writings on several diseases,
he became favourably known as a person of superior attainments, and
gradually obtained a fair practice. Whilst thus apparently in the
enjoyment of popularity and success, he, in 1863, became the subject
of much adverse report, from the suspicious circumstances attending a
fire in his house, by which a maid servant was killed—the Insurance
Company refusing to pay his claim, and the doctor not taking legal
steps to enforce its recovery. The ugly rumours about this affair,
however, gradually subsided, and his social and professional position
was retained, until the sudden death of his mother-in-law, whilst
staying in his house to nurse his sick wife, was quickly followed by
that of the wife herself. As the mother-in-law was 70 years of age,
the statement that she had died of apoplexy was at first accepted.
When, however, the death of the wife so quickly followed, suspicion
was excited, inquiries were instituted by the police, and on the 21st
of March, 1865, Dr. Pritchard was arrested on the charge of poisoning
her. A _post-mortem_ examination of her remains had proved that her
death had not been due to natural causes, and a subsequent examination
of the body of his mother-in-law, exhumed for the purpose, led to the
same result in her case. Chemical analyzations of the interior portions
of both bodies disclosed in that of the wife the presence of antimony
in sufficient quantities to account for her death; and in that of the
mother-in-law to reduce the powers of her constitution so far as to
increase and facilitate the effects of a narcotic poison.

THE SYMPTOMS.

The details of the progress of the lingering illness of Mrs. Pritchard
until her death, and of the sudden seizure of Mrs. Taylor with what
proved to be a fatal attack apparently of apoplexy, were given in great
minuteness by several non-professional witnesses, servants in the house
at the time, pupils of Dr. Pritchard’s, and a girl whom Dr. Pritchard
had seduced and promised to marry when his wife died.

Up to October, 1864, Mrs. Pritchard, never apparently a very strong
woman, had been in her usual state of health. Towards the end of
that month, however, she began to look pale and lose her strength
from frequent vomitings, and had to keep her bed, as she believed,
from a severe cold, for four or five days. About this time, on her
temporary recovery, she went on a visit to her parents in Edinburgh,
and there gradually recovered, returning home about Christmas in her
former state of health. After a week or so the vomiting returned, and
on the 1st of February, 1865, she had a severe attack of cramp. Some
few days after, as the prisoner said, Dr. Cowan, a relative, saw her,
and prescribed small doses of champagne as a stimulant. However, the
vomiting returned, and about midnight on the 8th she was seized with
such a violent attack of cramp that, at her request, Dr. Gairdner was
called in, who at once stopped all stimulants. Dr. Pritchard told
every one that his wife was suffering from gastric fever. Dr. Gairdner,
however, could not find any feverish symptoms, and based his advice on
their absence, confessing himself “puzzled with the case.” On the 10th
Mrs. Taylor, her mother, came from Edinburgh to nurse her daughter. She
was a hale, hearty woman, though 70 years of age, but at times affected
with severe headaches, as a remedy for which she had been accustomed
for some years to have recourse to Battley’s sedative solution. On the
13th, at her suggestion, some tapioca was bought, brought into the
house, and left for some time on the lobby table. Of this, afterwards,
a cupful was made, and fetched by Mary McLeod, the younger servant, and
by her carried up to her mistress’s bedroom. Whether Mrs. Pritchard
partook of this or not was not known, but Mrs. Taylor ate a portion of
it, and the cook tasted it before it left the kitchen. Both Mrs. Taylor
and the cook were violently sick after taking the tapioca, the old lady
saying that she feared she was suffering from the same complaint as
her daughter. The tapioca had not been tampered with when purchased,
but when the remainder of it was analysed it was found to be charged
with nearly five grains of tartarised antimony. On the 16th the old
cook left, and Mary Patterson came. She found her mistress suffering
from continual vomits, and gradually getting weaker—as Mrs. Taylor
said, “one day better, and two days worse.” For the next twelve days
this state continued, and then a dreadful scene occurred. Mrs. Taylor,
who, whilst at Dr. Pritchard’s, had sent for a bottle of Battley’s
solution, was violently sick in the evening of the 24th of February,
and about nine on that night rang the bell violently, and was found by
the servant vainly endeavouring to vomit and asking for hot water to
assist her. By the prisoner’s orders this was twice brought, and when
on the second occasion Mary Patterson entered the room Mrs. Taylor was
sitting in her chair with her head down, apparently insensible, and
with her eyes closed. She was lifted into bed, and died in about three
hours. Whilst dressing her corpse a bottle, about two-thirds full of
Battley’s solution, was found in her pocket, and identified as that
which she had last purchased. That this also was pure and free from
poison when sold was clearly proved. When, however, it was analysed,
it was found to be charged with antimony and aconite. Dr. Pritchard
declared that she had died of apoplexy following on paralysis; but
Dr. Paterson, who had been called in at the last moment, distinctly
declared that there were no such symptoms. An attempt was made by the
prisoner to get Dr. Paterson to give the usual certificate of the cause
of death, and on his indignant refusal, the prisoner himself filled
up the form with the words, “Paralysis for twelve hours, followed by
apoplexy,” and the first victim was buried.[143]

Mrs. Pritchard still lingered. She had been sick on the day before
her mother’s death, but not for two or three days afterwards. Then,
however, the attacks returned, coming on, as before, within an hour
or two after her meals, which were uniformly sent to her by her
husband—generally by the hands of McLeod. It was during the last three
weeks of her miserable existence, that on one occasion he sent to her
from the supper table a small bit of cheese, which McLeod tasted at
Mrs. Pritchard’s request, when it gave her a burning sensation in the
throat, and made her thirsty. At another time he sent her a jug of
camomile tea, after taking a wine-glass of which, from time to time, as
ordered, she uniformly vomited. At another time, he had some egg-flip
prepared for her in the kitchen, and brought down the pieces of sugar
for it, taking them, as the witness believed, into his consulting
room, where he kept his drugs and poisons, before he put them into the
glass. Patterson, who tasted it, was struck with the taste, and Mrs.
Pritchard, who drank it, was sick very soon after, and in the following
night. In the week in which Mrs. Pritchard died she drank some port
wine which Dr. Pritchard had sent up, and again was sick. On the 17th
of March, the day before she died, Patterson, who had gone up to her
bedroom to speak about some linen, found Dr. Pritchard handing his wife
a glass of porter, which she drank. At that time Mrs. Pritchard was in
her senses. About five o’clock the bell rang violently. McLeod called
Patterson to come up at once. She did so, and found her mistress raving
about her mother, and calling on them to leave her and assist Mrs.
Taylor; her hands severely cramped—speaking wildly about her children.
After her hands had been rubbed, Mrs. Pritchard seemed to get more
calm, and Mary Patterson left, having handed the patient’s supper to
her husband. Until about half-past one the next morning Patterson heard
nothing. Then she was called up by McLeod to get a mustard poultice,
which the latter took up to the bedroom, and in a few minutes after the
bell again rang violently. She hurried up, and found the prisoner in
bed by his wife’s side. Her mistress was dead. The long agony of months
was at an end.

EVIDENCE OF THE MEDICAL ATTENDANTS.

_Dr. James Moffat Cowan_, her second cousin, in consequence of a
letter from the prisoner, saw Mrs. Pritchard on the 7th and 8th of
February. She was then in the drawing-room, and complained of great
irritability of the stomach, combined with an inability to keep down
her food, and vomiting for some time back. He visited her rather as
an old friend than as a professional man, recommended her to go to
bed, and advised small quantities of champagne with ice to be taken
at intervals, and as she expressed a desire for food, recommended her
husband to try injections of beef tea. She was seized with vomiting
during the evening, but when he saw her before he left on the following
day, seemed better, and he never saw her again alive. He spoke to the
apparent happiness in which she lived with her husband, and to the fact
that, after her death Dr. Pritchard, to enable the servants to take a
last look at their mistress, had the coffin opened. Mrs. Taylor, with
whom he was intimately acquainted, Dr. Cowan described as a person of
very temperate habits.

_Dr. William Tennent Gairdner_, who was sent for during the night
between the 8th and 9th of February, immediately after Dr. Cowan left,
was told by the prisoner that for some time his wife had suffered from
sickness and spasms, and that Dr. Cowan had recommended stimulants, and
that she had had champagne and chloroform.

“I found her,” said the witness, “in bed, lying on her back, with
a considerably flushed face, and in a state of pretty considerable
excitement. She told me of Dr. Cowan’s previous visit and of her
wish that I should be sent for, and we had a good deal of general
conversation about her symptoms. I found her to a certain extent
exhausted, but by no means extremely so. She had a pretty good pulse.
There was nothing in her symptoms to indicate immediate danger, and
the most remarkable thing about her symptoms was the violent state of
mental excitement she was in and the spasms of the hands. She held her
hands outside the bedclothes above her head, and I saw that the wrists
were turned in, and the thumbs somewhat inverted towards the wrists—a
very peculiar state of the hand. I thought she was intoxicated from
the combination of champagne and chloroform. When I turned to the fire
to warm my hands before feeling her, she called me very unfeeling, and
begged me not to leave her, using expressions for which I thought she
was not responsible, from her temporary intoxication. I then examined
her belly, and asked particularly if there was any chance of her being
pregnant,—that being a frequent cause of vomitings,—and found there
was none; and, after various inquiries, feeling her pulse and her
skin, spoke strongly against the use of stimulants, which I ordered
to be at once discontinued until I saw her again. Next day when I saw
her, she assured me that she felt better and had had no return of
the vomiting, but had still the remains of the spasms in her hands.
I repeated my injunctions of no stimulants or medicine, and that her
only food should be a plain boiled egg and bread and milk—that is,
nothing that could produce sickness or sit heavy on her stomach. I
told her that if her stomach had fair play it would digest the simple
food I indicated. _I was very much puzzled as to what was the matter
with her, and, had I been attending her as a general practitioner,
should probably have seen her once or twice a day; but there was a
doctor in the house, and my habit is to act as a consulting physician,
and not as a general practitioner._ I had to leave town for a distant
engagement, but before I left I wrote to Dr. Pritchard to inquire how
his wife was, and received the reply that she was better. I wrote also
to her brother, Mr. Michael Taylor, _as I was very much puzzled with
the case_, and asked to be backed up by him in forbidding the use of
stimulants. On my return Dr. Pritchard called, and left word that his
wife was better, and that I need not call again. I do not think that
there was any fever at all.”

In his _cross-examination_ Mr. Clark, in consequence of Dr. Pritchard
having said to the witness that it was a case of catalepsy, elicited
that Dr. Pritchard was somewhat careless in his nomenclature of
disease—“that he spoke occasionally a little at random, and was not a
model of wisdom, accuracy, and caution, in applying names to things;”
and that, in writing to her brother—who had been a fellow-student with
him—“he had not indicated to him that there had been any foul play,
but nothing more than improper treatment.”

_Dr. James Paterson_, who gave his evidence with an apparently strong
feeling against the prisoner, a man of very large experience, living
within two hundred yards of Dr. Pritchard’s house, had been called in a
little before eleven on the night of the 24th of February, to see the
mother-in-law.

“Dr. Pritchard,” said the witness, “met me in his hall, and conducted
me to the bedroom, telling me that his mother-in-law, whilst in
the act of writing a letter, had fallen off her chair on to the
floor, and been conveyed upstairs about half an hour before I came.
She and his wife, said the prisoner, had partaken of some bitter
beer for supper, and soon after both became sick and vomited, and
complained of its being more bitter than usual. From the quantity
remaining in the bottle they could not have taken more than a third
of a pint each.[144] I asked in regard to the previous state of his
mother-in-law’s health, and particularly as to her social habits,
when he led me distinctly to understand that she drank spirits
occasionally. He also stated that his wife had been very poorly for
some time with gastric fever, and that, some days previously, he had
telegraphed for her mother to come and nurse her. On entering the
bedroom I observed Mrs. Taylor lying on the edge of the bed nearest
to me on her right side, with all her clothes on. She had all the
appearance of a sudden seizure. Mrs. Pritchard, in her night-dress
and nothing on her head, and her hair very much dishevelled, was in
the same bed, but underneath the clothes, sitting up immediately
beyond her mother. Mrs. Taylor was then alive, and she gave me the
impression of a healthy-looking old lady, and previously in very
good health—rather beyond the usual size, well-formed; a very
superior-looking person, not having the slightest appearance of being
addicted to the use of spirituous or intoxicating liquors. Her face
was rather pale, but the expression was calm and placid. The eyelids
partially closed, the lips rather pale and livid; the breathing slow
and laborious; the skin cool, and covered with a clammy perspiration;
the pulse almost imperceptible, and she seemed to me perfectly
unconscious. On my opening up the eyelids, I found both pupils very
much contracted. From these symptoms, and judging from her general
appearance, my conviction was that she was under the influence of
opium or of some other powerful narcotic, and I at once pronounced my
opinion that she was dying.

“I and Dr. Pritchard retired a little from the bedside, and went
to the fireplace, and I then stated distinctly that she was dying.
Pritchard said she had frequently had attacks of a similar kind
before, but never one so severe. I said, nothing that we could do
would have the slightest effect, but that, as a last resource, we
might try mustard poultices to the soles of the feet, the calves of
the legs, and the inside of the thighs, and as quickly as possible
administer a strong turpentine enema. Pritchard at once proceeded to
prepare the enema, and said he had a little before given her one,
in which he had administered a glass of brandy. The old lady lay
apparently comatose, or unconscious; but on being roused a little,
and the head and shoulders slightly elevated, there was a degree of
consciousness came on, and the pulse became perceptible at the wrist.
She had not manifested consciousness before. I directed Pritchard’s
attention to the pulse, and he then clapped the old lady on the
shoulder and said, ‘You are getting better, darling.’ I looked at him
and shook my head ominously, as much as to say, ‘Never in this world.’
A slight fit of retching now came on, and she put up a small quantity
of a frothy kind of mucus, immediately after which the ‘coma,’ or
insensibility, returned—the breathing became more oppressed, more
laboured, and the alvine evacuations were passed involuntarily, I
then concluded that the case was hopeless, but Pritchard administered
his enema. I then left the room, and went downstairs with Pritchard to
his consulting room, and there repeated my opinion that she was in a
state of narcotism. Pritchard then said that the old lady was in the
habit of regularly using Battley’s Sedative Solution, and that she
had a few days before purchased not less than a half-pound bottle of
that medicine, and that he had no doubt, or it was very likely, that
she might have taken a good swig of it. I know that medicine, but
seldom use it. My impression was that she was not what is called an
opium-eater, or one that used opium to any great extent. She presented
no appearance of that.”

At this visit Dr. Paterson’s attention was forcibly attracted to the
appearances presented by Mrs. Pritchard.

“She seemed,” said the witness, “exceedingly weak and exhausted.
Her features were sharp or thin, with a high hectic flush on her
cheeks, and her voice was very weak and peculiar—in fact, very much
resembling a person verging into the collapsed stage of cholera. The
expression of her countenance conveyed to me the idea of a kind of
silly or semi-imbecile person at the time. At first I was inclined
to attribute her appearance to the recent severe attack of gastric
fever, which I was told by the prisoner she had had, and her symptoms
aggravated, of course, by the great consternation and grief not
unnaturally caused by the sudden and alarming condition of her mother.
At the same time I must say that I could not banish from my mind the
idea, or rather conviction, that her symptoms betokened that she was
under the depressing influence of antimony—that conviction came upon
me while in her presence, and I could not get quit of it. I did not
put a single question to her.”

At half-past eleven Dr. Paterson went home, and about one the next
morning he was sent for again, but refused to go, as he was certain he
could do nothing, but sent word that he would do so if Dr. Pritchard
thought he could be of any use. No answer came, and it was not until
the Saturday morning that he heard of Mrs. Taylor’s death, when her
husband called on him to ask him to certify the cause of death, and
the duration of her disease. This he refused, telling Mr. Taylor that
that document was not given to friends of the deceased, but only to
the Registrar. Soon after Dr. Paterson received from the Registrar
the usual form to fill up, which he returned at once in blank as it
came, with this note:—“Dear Sir,—I am surprised that I am called on
to certify the cause of death in this case. I only saw the person for
a few minutes a very short period before her death. She seemed to be
under some narcotic; but Dr. Pritchard, who was present from the first
moment of the illness until death occurred, and which happened in his
own house, may certify the cause. The death was certainly sudden,
unexpected, and to me mysterious.” The words “the cause of death” he
rendered emphatic by underlining them. That was the only communication
which he made to anyone, beyond speaking about it in his own family.
The certificate was eventually given by Dr. Pritchard, assigning as the
cause of death “paralysis for twelve hours as the primary cause, and
the secondary, apoplexy,” the duration of which had been one hour.[145]

* * * * *

On the 1st of March he met Pritchard accidentally, who asked him to
come and see his wife, which he did the next day.[146]

“She was in bed, still very weak and prostrate, and in a weak voice
expressed her satisfaction and her gratitude at my calling. Then,
in a very earnest manner, she asked me if I really thought that her
mother was dying when I saw her. I said most decidedly I did, and
had told Pritchard so. She then clasped her hands, looked up, and
feebly exclaimed, ‘Good God, is it possible!’ and burst into a flood
of tears. I put some questions then as to her mother’s previous state
of health, especially if she was habitually addicted to the use of
Battley’s solution. She told me that her mother’s health, generally
speaking, was good, but that she suffered occasionally from what she
called neuralgic headaches, and for relief of these attacks she did
take a little Battley’s solution; but she added that she could not be
said to be in the habitual use of that medicine.

“I then questioned her about herself. She told me that for a
considerable time past she had suffered very much from sickness,
retching, and vomiting, with severe pains in the stomach and
throughout the bowels, accompanied with purgings, great heat and
uneasiness about the throat and mouth, and a constant urgent thirst.
I examined her tongue; it was very foul, and of a lightish brown
colour. Her features were still very sharp and deeply flushed. Her
pulse was weak, contracted, and very rapid. Her skin was moist, but
defective in animal heat, and altogether she presented the appearance
of great general prostration. Her eyes were watery, but clear and
intelligent. I prescribed for her small quantities of brandy and
champagne to recruit her strength, and small pieces of ice to relieve
the thirst and irritability of her stomach. If she tired of these, she
should have recourse to granulated citrate of magnesia as a cooling
effervescent drink, and have a mustard poultice applied on the pit
of the stomach—these were verbal directions. I also recommended, at
short intervals, small quantities of easily digested nutritious food,
such as beef tea, calves’ foot jelly, chicken soup, arrowroot, and so
on. I then wrote a prescription for 12 grains of camomile, 24 of blue
or gray powder, 12 of powdered ipecacuanha, and 6 grains of aromatic
powder, to be carefully mixed and divided into six parts, one to be
taken daily, to relieve the biliary disturbance and soothe the mucous
lining of the alimentary canal. I gave her the prescription, and told
her to show it to Pritchard when he came home.”

From then until the day before her death the witness did not see
Mrs. Pritchard. On the 5th of March Dr. Pritchard had called on him,
and reported that his wife was better for his advice, but still very
weakly, and her stomach irritable, and had been strongly advised by Dr.
Paterson to continue the treatment he had recommended.

“On Friday evening,” continued the witness, “Dr. Pritchard called
upon me personally and requested me to come and see his wife. I did
so. She was in bed in a sitting posture, supported by pillows, and I
was very much struck with her terribly altered appearance. She seemed
quite conscious. I went up to her bedside and she caught my hand, and
I could see a half-smile of recognition on her countenance. She very
soon began to mutter something about her having been vomiting. Dr.
Pritchard was standing beside me, and he volunteered to say that she
had not been vomiting—that she was raving. She complained of great
thirst, and Pritchard poured some water out of a _carafe_ into a
tumbler and gave it her, and she drank it. I observed her countenance
very much changed from what it had been when I saw her last. Her
cheeks were hollow, sharp, pinched-looking, and still very much
flushed. There was a peculiarly wild expression: the eyes were of a
fiery red and sunk-looking. Her pulse was very weak and exceedingly
rapid. Her tongue was a darkish brown colour, very foul; and she
immediately began to grasp with her hand as if to catch some imaginary
object on the bedclothes. She muttered something about the clock,
but there was none in the room. I expressed my surprise at the great
change and alarming appearances, and asked Pritchard how long she had
been confined to bed since I saw her. He said only since morning, that
yesterday and yesterday afternoon she was in the drawing room amusing
herself with the children. I again expressed my surprise at her
alarming condition. He said she had not slept for four or five nights,
and I replied that we must endeavour to procure some refreshing sleep.
We went downstairs, and I then prescribed 30 drops of solution of
morphia, 30 drops of ipecacuanha wine, 10 drops of chlorodyne, and an
ounce of cinnamon water, to be taken every four hours if the first
dose did not give relief. Pritchard wrote the prescription at my
dictation. I said it was unnecessary; it was simple, and he might mix
it himself. I was anxious to save time, and give relief as soon as
possible. He said he kept no medicines but chloroform and Battley’s
solution; he did not keep a small stock for any emergency, which I
thought strange.[147] I then left the house, and at one o’clock the
next morning a message came that Mrs. Pritchard was dying, and in less
than three minutes after another that she was dead. I never entered
Dr. Pritchard’s house except on the occasions I have mentioned. I
never told him that I thought his wife had taken too much wine, and I
never recommended Dublin stout for her.”[148]

The _cross-examination_ of Dr. Paterson was confined to two points,
the grounds on which he held that Mrs. Taylor had not the appearance
of having been in the habit of using opium, and his conduct in not
disclosing to some member of her family the impression he had formed
that Mrs. Pritchard was being slowly poisoned by antimony. “When a
person is in the habit of taking opium to a great extent,” he said,
“you generally find that they are not very good in colour. They are
generally thin in features and hollow about the eyes—in fact, not of
a healthy appearance. Mrs. Taylor being stout and healthy-looking, my
impression was that she was not an habitual consumer of opium, though
she might take it occasionally as medicine.” On the second point he
stood on professional etiquette as a consulting physician, and not the
regular medical attendant, insisting that he had no right to revisit
his patient unless sent for, and saying that he believed he should
never have been called in the second time had he not accidentally met
Dr. Pritchard in the street.

“His first impression arose simply from seeing Mrs. Pritchard at the
time of her mother’s fatal seizure, when he formed his diagnosis from
the symptoms that were present, just as he was in the habit of forming
his opinion of any patient he saw for the first time—judging from
symptomatology, the science of the signs of disease. It was not his
duty to interfere in the family without being invited, as there was
another doctor in the house, and he did the best he could by apprising
the registrar when refusing to sign the certificate of Mrs. Taylor’s
death. Had he been called in consultation with another medical man,
he should have felt it his duty to state his medical opinion; and
had there been a _post-mortem_ examination of Mrs. Taylor’s body at
the time, he believed that in all probability the drugging of Mrs.
Pritchard with antimony would have gone no further, at least at that
time.”

When called in the second time on the 2nd of March, he said:—

“I believed her to be suffering under poisoning by antimony,”

and I prescribed accordingly. I saw her alone, but I did not give
her any indication of what I thought her ailment. I did not mention
antimony or poison in the slightest. I did not give her any idea
that she was labouring under any but a natural disease, because the
treatment which I prescribed for her, provided she got nothing else,
was in my mind quite sufficient to have very soon brought her round,
taking it for granted that my advice was carefully walked up to. I
did not mention to Dr. Pritchard that his wife was being poisoned by
antimony. It would not have been a very safe matter to have done so.
I did not go back the next day to see if my advice had been acted on.
I did not consider that she was my patient at all. I had no right or
title to go back and see her. In any case where a consultation is held,
the consulting physician has no right to go back to see the patient; it
would be a breach of the etiquette of the profession.”[149]

On _re-examination_ Dr. Paterson stoutly adhered to his opinion that
his being called in to see Mrs. Pritchard was purely accidental, and
that it would not have been very natural to have communicated his
suspicions to the husband.

PURCHASE AND POSSESSION OF MEDICINES AND POISONS BY THE PRISONER.

The prisoner, when it was suggested by Dr. Paterson that he should mix
in his own consulting-room the prescription, on the 17th of March, told
the doctor that he did not, like other medical men, keep in his house
a small stock of medicines for any emergency. It was, however, proved
that in the presses in his room were at least five-and-thirty bottles
of medicinal preparations, and several papers and bottles of poisons;
and that he had been a constant purchaser of poisons, and especially of
Fleming’s tincture of aconite and tartarised antimony, from September,
1864, to as late as the 16th of March, 1865.[150] According to the
witnesses for the prosecution, the quantities of antimony and tincture
of aconite bought by him were largely in excess of the amounts sold to
other medical men, though not so according to the experience of two
druggists called by the prisoner. Anyhow, as will be seen by the list
in the note, the purchases were larger than could have been required
in any ordinary practice. Besides the phials and papers subsequently
proved to contain poison, in one of the presses was a bottle labelled
Battley’s solution, which was found to contain an appreciable quantity
of antimony, to the extent of 1·5 of a grain per fluid ounce, and the
remainder of the tapioca to be charged with 4·62 grains of antimony to
the pound. A phial containing 3·5 grains of tartarised antimony, and
three others containing tincture of conium, and six other phials with
small portions of tincture of aconite, conium, and digitalis, were
found in the prisoner’s cupboard. In the chloroform, no metallic poison
was discovered; but in a small wooden box with a screw cover were 15·5
grains of tartarised antimony and arsenious acid (the common poison
of arsenic), in nearly equal proportions; 35 grains of tartarised
antimony in a pasteboard box, and about ten drops of aqueous solution
of corrosive sublimate were found in a quart wine-bottle.[151]

MEDICAL AND CHEMICAL ANALYSES OF THE BODIES OF MRS. TAYLOR AND MRS.
PRITCHARD.

MRS. TAYLOR.

On the 29th and 30th of March the exhumed body of Mrs. Taylor was
medically and chemically examined by _Dr. Maclagan_, the professor of
medical jurisprudence in the university of Edinburgh, and _Dr. Henry
Duncan Littlejohn_, surgeon of the Edinburgh police. In accordance
with the admirable practice of the Scotch courts these experts gave
in formal certificates “on soul and conscience,” which were read in
court before any personal examination was allowed. The medical report,
after detailing the healthy condition in which the different portions
of the body were found, concluded by stating that the examiners “had
not been able to discover in the body any morbid appearances capable of
accounting for death, and that they were of opinion that the cause of
death could not be determined without chemical analysis, and that for
that purpose they had secured the alimentary canal and its contents,
the heart and some of the blood, the liver, the kidneys, the bladder
and uterus, and a portion of the brain,” which had been entrusted to
Dr. Maclagan, of whose report the substance is now given:—

“_Contents of stomach_, amounting to five ounces, having been first
tested for vegetable poisons, and then for meconic acid, without
success, ‘the residues of the above process were tested for mineral
poisons; and a preliminary trial, by Reinsch’s method, having revealed
the presence of antimony, I subjected the whole to a process by which
I was enabled to determine the amount of this metal (process then
described). Assuming, for reasons afterwards to be given, that the
antimony existed in the form of tartar emetic, the amount of this
represented by the sulphuret which I obtained from the stomach was a
little more than a quarter of a grain (0·279).

“_Contents of intestines._—The whole contents were evaporated at a
gentle heat on the water-bath, and a dry residue obtained, weighing
430 grains. Ten grains of this, by Reinsch’s process, yielded a
characteristic deposit of antimony. To determine in what form this
antimony existed, other ten grains were treated with distilled water,
the solution filtered, and the fluid subjected to Reinsch’s process.
A characteristic antimonial deposit was obtained, thus proving that
this metal was present in a soluble form. There are only two soluble
forms of antimony met with in commerce. One of these, the chloride,
is a dark-coloured, acid, corrosive fluid, totally unsuited for
internal administration. The other is what is known scientifically as
‘tartarised antimony,’ and popularly as ‘tartar emetic,’ a colourless
substance possessed of comparatively little taste, and in daily use
as a medicinal agent. I have no doubt it was in this form that the
antimony had been taken, which I found in the alimentary canal of
Mrs. Taylor. I endeavoured to determine the amount of antimony in
the contents of the intestines, but the deposit was too small to
enable me with confidence to make it the subject of a quantitative
determination. No arsenic was found.

“_The Blood._—From one ounce a characteristic antimonial deposit was
obtained.

“_The Liver._—By operating on 1000 grains of this, I obtained a
quantity of sulphuret, indicating that the whole liver contained one
grain and one-tenth (1·151) of tartar emetic. I also examined the
other solid organs and tissues removed from Mrs. Taylor’s body, in
each case following Reinsch’s method, and in each case obtaining on
copper a characteristic antimonial deposit. I thus found that there
was more or less of antimony present in the muscular substance of the
heart, the spleen, the kidney, the coats of the stomach, and of the
rectum, the uterus, and the brain.

“_Lastly._ As Mrs. Taylor’s body had been exhumed, I thought it my
duty to examine some of the earth in which it had been interred,
though this was superfluous, from the fact of the soil being dry, and
the coffin entire: it was not found to contain a trace of soluble
antimony, and was therefore incapable of impregnating with this metal
any body buried in it.”

MRS. PRITCHARD.

On the 21st of March a similar examination was made of the body of Mrs.
Pritchard three days after death by the same medical men, who reported
“that it presented no appearances of recent morbid action beyond a
certain irritation of the alimentary canal, and nothing at all capable
of accounting for death.” They had therefore secured for chemical
analysis those parts of the body which they deemed likely to disclose
the cause of death. As a portion of this analysis had been conducted
during the temporary absence of Dr. Maclagan in London by Dr. Gamgee
and Dr. Littlejohn, previously to the report being read they were
called to prove that Dr. Maclagan’s report of what they had done in his
absence was correct. The following was the substance of the report of
the chemical analysis:—

“(1.) _Contents of stomach_ amounted to little more than ½ an ounce,
and free from all odour of any poisonous drug. Not a trace of any
vegetable poison or of antimony was found.

“(2.) _Urine._—The presence of antimony having already been
ascertained in a portion of this secretion, the remainder (7 ounces)
was employed to determine the quantity. The process followed was
that by which antimony is obtained in the form of the sulphuret,
after destroying the organic matter by means of hydrochloric acid
and potash. The quantity was readily weighed, and found to be rather
more than one-tenth of a grain (0·1078). This corresponds to nearly
one-fourth of a grain (0·121) of tartar emetic.

“(3.) _The Bile._—A little more than ½ an ounce of this fluid was
obtained from the gall-bladder. By Reinsch’s process 50 minims
readily gave an antimonial deposit. The remainder (4 drachms) used to
determine the amount, yielded sulphuret of antimony corresponding to
more than one-tenth of a grain (0·121) of tartar emetic.

“(4.) _The Blood._—1 ounce, by Reinsch’s process, readily gave
evidence of the presence of antimony.

“(5.) _The Liver._—The weight was 36 ounces, a portion of which,
weighing less than 4 ounces (1460 grains), by Reinsch’s process, gave
sufficient antimony to coat rather more than four square inches of
copper foil. (This experiment was satisfactorily tested by another
process described in the report.) As to quantity, 1,000 grains gave of
sulphuret of antimony 0·1234 grains, corresponding to a quarter of a
grain of tartar emetic, making the whole amount contained in the liver
almost exactly 4 grains (3·93 grains).

“I next examined the remainder of the solid organs removed from the
body of Mrs. Pritchard, and found more or less antimony in the whole
of them.

“I also examined certain articles of clothing and bed-linen handed to
me by the officer, and in the stains on four of them—the chemise, two
sheets, and a toilet-cover, on which was a stain as of wine—I found
antimony. From these experiments I have been led to the following
conclusions:—

“(1.) Mrs. Pritchard had taken a large quantity of antimony in the
form of tartar emetic.

“(2.) Having regard to the absence in her body of any morbid
appearances sufficient to account for death, and to the presence in it
of a substance known as capable of destroying life, her death must be
ascribed to the action of antimony.

“(3.) That it is most unlikely that this poison was taken in a single
large dose. Had this been the case, I should have expected to have
found some more decided evidence of irritant action in the mouth, the
throat, or the alimentary canal.

“(4.) That from the extent to which the whole organs and fluids of the
body were impregnated with it, it must have been taken in repeated
doses, the aggregate of which must have amounted to a large quantity.

“(5.) That from the large amount found in the liver, from its ready
detection in the blood, and from its being found passing so copiously
out of the body by the bile and the urine, it is probable that some of
the poison had been taken at no greater interval than a period of a
few days previous to death.

“(6.) That I am inclined to believe that it had not been administered,
at all events in any great quantity, within a few hours of her death.
Had this been the case, I should have expected to have found at least
some traces of it in the contents of the stomach, and more in those
of the intestines; whereas none was found in the former, and the
amount found in the latter seems to be amply accounted for by the bile
impregnated with the poison discharged into them from the liver.

“(7.) That the period over which the administration had extended
cannot be determined by mere chemical investigation, but must be
deduced from the history of the case, with which I am unacquainted.”

_Dr. Maclagan_ then stated what portions of the bodies he had handed to
Professor Penny for further analysis, and described the result of his
examination of the solid residue obtained from Mrs. Pritchard’s body by
the process adopted by Dr. Gamgee and Dr. Littlejohn.

“I determined the presence of mercury, and found a considerable
quantity of antimony remaining in it. I got a clear fluid by operating
on that residue with chlorate of potash and hydrochloric acid; and
then passing sulphuretted hydrogen, I got a precipitate of a dirty
orange colour, which was collected, washed and boiled in strong
hydrochloric acid. The yellow colour disappeared, and the precipitate
became black. The hydrochloric solution was then mixed with water
and tartaric acid, and it gave an orange precipitate which, when
collected and weighed, amounted to 0.082, equal on the whole to 1.265
of sulphuret of antimony—rather more than a grain and a quarter—in
the whole of the solid residue. This was in addition to what had been
found in the intestines after the precipitate had been obtained by
Dr. Gamgee and Dr. Littlejohn. A grain and a quarter of sulphuret
of antimony is equal to two and a half of tartar emetic; the amount
of tartar emetic in the whole of the intestines would be about five
grains and three-quarters (5.712).”

_In cross-examination, Dr. Maclagan_ deposed to the discovery of
about the three hundredth part of a grain of mercury in the 50 grains
of sulphuret; that in some cases he was not content with the mere
presence of the deposit on the foil, but boiled the copper foil in
potash—namely, with the contents of the intestines and with the
liver—but otherwise was content with the coloured deposit.

_Dr. Frederick Penny_ then gave in his reports on the portions of the
bodies of Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Pritchard, given to him by Dr. Maclagan.
The following is the substance of the report in Mrs. Pritchard’s case:—

“_Dried Contents of Intestines._—By the first process employed an
abundant black precipitate was obtained, which by proper treatment
was separated into sulphide of antimony and sulphide of mercury.
The sulphide of antimony, which was obtained of a fine orange-red
colour, was washed, dried, and weighed. Its weight corresponded to
a quantity of metallic arsenic equal to 2.1 grains in one thousand
parts of the dried contents of the stomach. The same sulphide was
found to be readily soluble in sulphide of ammonium, and also in
hydrochloric acid; and the acid solution, when poured into water, gave
a white precipitate, and when boiled with copper ribbon deposited
a violet-coloured coating on the surface of the copper. The coated
copper, on being heated in a glass tube, gave no distinct crystalline
sublimate. All these results are eminently characteristic of sulphide
of antimony when thus treated.

“The sulphide of mercury gave metallic mercury corresponding to 3
grains in 1,000 grains of the dried contents of the intestines.
The report then states how these tests were confirmed by further
experiments on the solution by Reinsch’s test supplemented by that of
Marsh.

“_Stomach_, by the same methods, yielded antimony in appreciable
proportions, equal to 0.5 of a grain in 1,000 parts, but no mercury;
that it was afterwards treated for morphia and aconite, but not a
trace of these substances was obtained.

“_Liver_ found to contain antimony equal to one-tenth of a grain in
1,000 parts, but no mercury.

“_Spleen_ yielded antimony in about the same proportion as the liver,
and also contained mercury in well-marked quantity.

“_Kidney_ about the same proportion as the liver, and a minute trace
of mercury.

“_Heart_ yielded antimony in a proportion rather larger than that
found in the liver, and less mercury than in the spleen.

“_Brain_ yielded antimony in less quantity than the liver, and no
mercury.

“_Blood_ yielded a small quantity of antimony, and a faint trace of
mercury.

“_Rectum_, antimony in less quantity than the liver, and no
indications of mercury.”

In the case of Mrs. Taylor, _Dr. Penny_ reported:—

“That all the articles submitted to him (liver, stomach, heart,
kidney, rectum, blood, and dried contents of intestines), and
subjected to analysis, contained antimony; (2), that the contents of
the intestines contained the largest proportion of antimony (0.583
parts in 1,000 parts); next, the liver and stomach (0.047 of a grain
in 1,000 grains in each); then the blood, and, in less quantity,
the heart, kidney, and rectum; (3), that part of the antimony in
the contents of the intestines was in a form soluble in water; (4),
that the kidney was the only article in which mercury was detected;
(5), that neither the stomach, nor the contents of the intestines,
contained aconite or morphia in quantity sufficient to be detected by
known chemical processes; (6), that the articles subjected to analysis
contained no other metallic poison than antimony and mercury as
reported above.”

_Dr. Penny_ also handed in his reports of the examination of the
contents of the cupboards in Dr. Pritchard’s consulting room, the
substance of which has already been given. In the first of these
reports, that of the 17th of May, Dr. Penny had stated that he was at
present engaged in testing the bottle of Battley’s solution (in which
he had discovered antimony) for other substances, the result of which
inquiry he now detailed:—

“I looked for mercury and other metals. I searched for aconite, and
also for conium. I found aconite. This is tested chiefly by the taste
of the abstract obtained by evaporation, and by its physiological
action upon small animals. A portion of the fluid was evaporated
to dryness, and the extract thus obtained was very carefully
tasted, or its effects upon the tongue and on the lips ascertained
by applying them to it. The effects were a tingling and benumbing
sensation—characteristic of aconite. To another portion of the
extract, dissolved in water, ammonia was added, and a precipitate
was separated and examined in the same way, after being dissolved
in diluted hydrochloric acid. The benumbing and tingling sensation
produced by that precipitate was very slight. But the ammoniacal
liquid, after the separation of the precipitate, was treated with
hydrochloric acid, and evaporated, and the sensation produced by this
residue was very strong.

“With a view to ascertain the character of aconite when mixed with
Battley’s solution, I mixed known quantities of tincture of aconite
with Battley’s solution, treating the mixtures in the same way. I took
Fleming’s tincture and the results were precisely similar; but when
the proportion of aconite was equal to 5 per cent., the sensation was
by no means strong; but when it was in the proportion of 10 per cent.,
it gave a sensation, though the same, much stronger than that of the
liquid in the bottle. I draw the conclusion, therefore, that in this
solution the proportion was between 5 and 10 per cent. I purchased
genuine Battley’s solution at several establishments in Glasgow,
including that of ‘Murdoch Brothers,’ and was satisfied that none of
them contained either antimony or aconite.”

_Dr. Penny_ then detailed his experiments with pure and impure
Battley’s solution on rabbits. Genuine Battley, when injected under
the skin, did not kill; 40 grain drops from the bottle found in Mrs.
Taylor’s dress did.

“I made in all about ten experiments with the genuine Battley’s mixed
with Fleming’s aconite. I will tell you the result of two experiments.
In one set I injected a mixture of Battley into three young rabbits,
and in a third into full grown rabbits. In the first set with young
rabbits I injected 10 grains of genuine Battley’s solution. In the
second experiment with a young rabbit I injected 10 grains of this
Battley’s (that found in the prisoner’s cupboard); in the third, I
injected a mixture of 9 grains of genuine Battley, and 1 grain of
Fleming’s tincture of aconite. In the cases of the old rabbits I
proceeded in a similar way, only increasing the dose to 40 grains.
The symptoms manifested by the rabbits, old and young, subjected to
the action of genuine Battley, were simple in character and few in
number, and were not materially altered by the variation of the dose.
The animal soon assumed a prone position, resting on the belly and
chest, and the head invariably resting on the ground. The forelegs
were either sprawling or gathered under the body, the hind legs always
extended sideways; the eyes remained open, and the pupils were natural
and not contracted; the breathing was invariably gentle; no cries
were uttered, and no convulsions or spasms of the body were apparent.
There was a complete condition of inanity, and, with the exception
of the open state of the eyes, the animal seemed to be in a state of
profound sleep. There was no indication of spasmodic movement, and,
when aroused and urged to motion, the movements were always performed
in a crawling, tortoise-like manner. In this state the animal remained
for several hours, and then gradually recovered.

“The effects produced by the mixture of genuine Battley with aconite
presented a striking contrast to those resulting from pure Battley.
Very soon after the injection the animal became restless and uneasy,
and then began to crouch, resting on its flank, with the hind legs
extending laterally, and the head erect. It next assumed a sitting
posture, in an attitude of watchful expectancy, and commenced to
twitch its lips and move its jaws as if chewing. Suddenly it staggers,
rolls over, and quickly regains its feet. Saliva begins to flow
from the mouth, and soon after piteous and peculiar choking cries
are emitted. Its head is retracted, and the breathing is painfully
laborious. Convulsions now set in, followed by intervals in which the
limbs are quite relaxed, and the animal lies helpless on its side.
Frantic leaps are now frequently taken, accompanied by movements of
a paralytic character. A state of utter prostration also occurs,
variable in duration, and then a strong convulsion comes on, during
which, or immediately after which, the animal expires, the limbs
becoming instantly relaxed.

“_The symptoms exhibited by the rabbits subjected to the Battley from
the prisoner’s cupboard responded in every important respect with the
effects produced by this mixture, and it was impossible to detect any
essential difference in them._”

The Battley’s solution used by Dr. Penny was not purchased from
“Murdoch Brothers,” but he had purchased and analysed some from that
house, and it was exactly similar to that which he had used. He had
also been present when the same experiments as his were tried on
rabbits by Dr. Maclagan, in the presence of Drs. Christison, Gamgee,
and Littlejohn, with the same result as in his experiments. Dr. Penny
was then examined on Dr. Maclagan’s report of his _post-mortem_
examination of Mrs. Pritchard’s body, and on the symptoms exhibited by
her from the time she was taken ill in 1865 down to her death. Replying
purely as a chemist, and not as a medical man, he declared them to
correspond with the action of tartar emetic or tartarised antimony. He
further accounted for the presence of the small portions of mercury by
the administration of Dr. Paterson’s powders, _Hydrargyrum cum creta_,
shortly before death. In Mrs. Taylor’s case he considered the vomitings
to be the result of the antimony, which had been traced by the
analyses, and repeated the conclusions, already given, to his reports
on both bodies.

_Dr. Maclagan_, who was recalled, declared that the whole of the
symptoms in Mrs. Pritchard’s case, from Christmas, 1864, until her
death—the sickness and vomiting, muscular depression, irritation
of the bowels, and cramp in the stomach—were symptoms of poisoning
by antimony, and could not, as a medical man, suggest any natural
disease to which they were due, that he could assign as the cause of
death. He had never seen antimony when rubbed into the skin (referring
to the prisoner’s statement that he had done so for a swollen gland
in his wife’s neck) produce any constitutional effect. The fact of
Mrs. Pritchard some years ago having taken antimony internally for
inflammation of the eyelids would not account for the symptoms; and
he agreed with Dr. Penny that the traces of mercury were due to the
powders prescribed by Dr. Paterson. “There was nothing in the case,” he
added, “to indicate to a medical man of ordinary intelligence that she
was suffering from gastric fever, or any other fever”; and he adhered
to the conclusions already given in his report, that she had been
poisoned by minute doses of antimony in the form of tartar emetic given
at intervals over a long period of time.

Dr. Maclagan attributed Mrs. Taylor’s death to something more than
antimony—some powerful, depressing poison.

“The symptoms,” he said, “might be produced by aconite—being found
with her head fallen on her neck, and hardly observed to breathe, her
pulse almost if not absolutely imperceptible, and the dozing, torpid
state in which she lay, were such as would result from aconite. Though
he might know in a case that aconite had been taken, he might not
be able to find it by chemical analysis: these organic poisons—all
the alkaloids—are very often not found, though known to have been
taken. The administration of opium might diminish the effect of
antimony in causing vomiting and purging, but its depressing effect
on the muscular system would still remain; and if opium, aconite,
and antimony were being administered at the same time, he should
anticipate symptoms such as appeared in Mrs. Taylor’s case. Taking the
symptoms and the results of the _post-mortem_ examination together,
the idea of apoplexy was satisfactorily excluded from his judgment;
and assuming the correctness of Dr. Paterson’s description of the
symptoms he saw, he should not have concluded that it was apoplexy,
nor did he think any other medical man would have. He was satisfied
with the presence of aconite in the Battley’s solution, without the
experiments on the rabbits, which only confirmed it.”

The _cross-examination_ of this witness was directed to the question
whether the symptoms in Mrs. Taylor’s case did not indicate poisoning
by opium, probably arising from an overdose of Battley’s solution.

“I saw,” said the witness, “no precise indications of poisoning by
opium, though I cannot say that she had not taken some. I think
aconite was the leading feature in the final part of the case. The
symptoms described by Dr. Paterson did not, in my mind, indicate
poisoning by opium or laudanum at all. They were not inconsistent with
her having taken opium, but they were not consistent with her having
been poisoned by it, and with the ordinary symptoms. The symptoms
of aconite predominated. If she had taken opium alone I should have
expected to find the pulse full and slow, and probably the breathing
laborious and stertorous. Though these were absent, I could not say
that she had not taken opium, particularly if she had been accustomed
to its use.” _When reminded from the judge’s notes that Dr. Paterson
had described the breathing as “laborious,” he said_, “It does not
make much, indeed not any, modification of my view, because the
condition of the pulse showed the action of aconite on the heart.
Laborious breathing is an indication of many things besides opium.”
_When reminded that Dr. Paterson spoke of her being in a state of
“coma_,” he admitted that that generally indicated opium and not
aconite, but added that here “it was more oppression than true coma,”
and assumed that Dr. Paterson did not use the word scientifically, but
as many persons did to describe insensibility. “_But,” said Mr. Clark,
“you pointed to the absence of ‘coma’ as indicative of poisoning by
aconite._” “I spoke of her,” replied Dr. Maclagan, “being in a torpid
condition, which I think was connected with the weakened state of the
circulation and not from fulness of the brain. Opium, like aconite,
is a vegetable poison, and is absorbed into the system: a person may
be poisoned by it without any trace remaining in the stomach or the
system capable of being detected by chemical analysis. All mineral
poisons are more easily detected, but I am not prepared to give into
the statement broadly that a person cannot be poisoned by antimony
without it being capable of detection, though I cannot recollect such
a case. The quantity here found in both cases was considerable. The
expectation is that the chemical analysis will detect it, but there
may be exceptions. The fact that Mrs. Taylor’s eyes were contracted is
an indication of poisoning by opium, but it also occurs in aconite,
though the cases vary a good deal in that respect, from people, as
I think, having observed the symptoms at different stages; and the
probability is that contraction had been produced at first, and then
relaxation at the time all the muscular parts became relaxed—namely,
at the time of death. Aconite is applied externally in neuralgia.”[152]

_Dr. Littlejohn_, who was next called, concurred in the opinion that
there was nothing to indicate gastric fever in Mrs. Pritchard’s case,
and that her death was due to the continuous administration of small
doses of antimony from the commencement of her illness to the day of
her death, and that the result of the chemical analysis was such as
he should, on that supposition, have expected. On the cause of Mrs.
Taylor’s death he was not so certain.

“It seemed to me,” said the witness, “that she might have died from a
dose of antimony administered shortly before death, or else from some
sedative narcotic poison. I have no difficulty in saying that she died
of poison, but only as to the particular poison which killed her. I
am inclined to believe that the symptoms in her case were mixed to
some extent, like the symptoms of narcotic poison, and to some extent
like the symptoms of antimony. There was nothing to show that she died
of apoplexy, and the _post-mortem_ examination did not indicate any
such. In the failure of circulation and great depression and spasms,
and the state of insensibility, I recognise the action of antimony;
in the later stages of antimonial poisoning we have generally great
insensibility. The hot taste in the mouth and burning sensation in
the throat after taking the bit of cheese suggest a large dose of
antimony, and also suggest a strong dose of narcotic poison—they
suggest many things besides cheese. That it caused violent sickness
in the case of one of the servants for some hours is quite consistent
with antimonial poisoning. In large quantities it would produce a
burning sensation in the throat. I have tried it in large quantities,
and the secondary sensation is always in the throat, and it did
produce a burning sensation. That the egg flip gave the same effect
in the case of the servant points to the use of antimony or some
substance resembling it. Various other emetics might produce these
effects. Egg flip is a convenient medium for administering antimony,
as it readily dissolves in it, and sufficient antimony could be dusted
on loaf sugar to produce sickness. Sugar is very porous, and antimony,
being a white powder, could be dusted over it, and a large quantity
absorbed in it—sufficient, not to kill, but to keep up the illness.”

In cross-examination, the witness adhered to his opinion as to the
suitableness of egg flip when the hot water had been poured on it, as
a medium for antimony, and to the possibility of a sufficient quantity
to produce sickness being conveyed into the cup on two pieces of loaf
sugar. Though he had not made any special experiments to support this
opinion, he considered himself, from his special acquaintance with
tartar emetic, entitled to answer in the way he had done. He did not
consider opium as a sedative but as a narcotic, and, in his opinion,
aconite was a sedative narcotic. There was nothing impossible for Mrs.
Taylor to take opium, and for that to contribute to the symptoms.

_Dr. Paterson_, who was re-called, was quite confirmed in his previous
opinion of the cause of Mrs. Pritchard’s death from the evidence he
had heard. Mrs. Taylor’s death, he thought, had been caused by opium,
but there might have been some other narcotic combined to him unknown,
and he thought that aconite and opium combined would contribute to
the effect and hurry the termination; but he never in his practice
had seen any person poisoned by such a combination. He had not the
slightest suspicion of antimony, and the narcotic effect was such when
he saw Mrs. Taylor that he did not believe that he could recognise the
effect of antimony. The narcotic effect would overpower the other, and
laudanum would interfere with the usual effect of antimony. What he
called stertorous breathing was rather oppressed breathing—snoring
and stertorous breathing were the same thing. “By coma,” he added, “I
meant insensibility—it means that, especially insensibility under
opium; and my impression was that it was opium alone, or some of its
preparations: it might be morphia.” Now that he had heard of the
discovery of antimony in the body, he believed the death to be due to a
combination of antimony and opium, a smaller dose of the latter being
likely to have a greater effect, in consequence of the condition of the
body produced by the former. If the opium contained upwards of five per
cent. of aconite, the effect, he considered, would be much more rapid
and more likely to be fatal.

On the conclusion of the medical testimony witnesses were called to
prove that at two banks in Glasgow, where Dr. Pritchard had accounts,
these were overdrawn on the 20th of March—that he borrowed to the
extent of £255 on his life policy, the last advance being as late
as the 13th of May—that his mother-in-law had advanced him £500
towards the purchase of his house, and that under her will he would
be entitled, in the event of the previous death of his wife, to the
interest on two-thirds of her property for the benefit of his children
until they attained twenty-one years, and then “for his own use as he
might consider proper.” Letters of Mrs. Taylor and Dr. Pritchard were
identified, in one of the latter being an entry under February 7th,
“Dr. J. M. C. here; on February 8th Dr. J. M. C. left”—namely, Dr.
Cowan.

THE PRISONER’S STATEMENTS.

In accordance with the Scotch practice, two declarations were made by
Dr. Pritchard before the sheriff, one on the 22nd of March, and the
other on the 21st of April. The _first declaration_ was as follows:—

“I have always attended my wife in all her ailments of every kind
during the whole period of our married lives, now fifteen years, and
some of these illnesses were very severe; but I never saw her so ill
as she was on the occasion which terminated fatally. As far as my
judgment goes, her last illness was gastric fever, which commenced
about the beginning of the present year. I gave my wife no medicines
during her illness excepting wine, champagne, and brandy, to support
her strength; and I gave her no medicines at all. I trusted to nature
to right itself, with the assistance of these restoratives. During the
last six weeks her power of sleeping entirely went away. In order to
procure sleep I gave her, at the commencement of her sleeplessness,
a small quantity of chloroform, but it entirely disagreed with her,
and I discontinued it. I then called in Dr. Gairdner, professor of
medicine in the university, and he visited and saw her several times;
and he continued to attend her till her old medical friend, Dr. James
M. Cowan, returned, and he came from Edinburgh to see her.[153] I then
wrote to her mother to come and nurse her, and she arrived about the
11th of February last; and her arrival had a beneficial effect upon
Mrs. Pritchard for some time, but still the sleeplessness continued;
and shortly after her mother’s death, which happened on the 25th of
February, she relapsed and became much worse, and very apprehensive
about herself, and she suggested to me the adoption of a medicine
with which her mother was very familiar—Battley’s solution of
opium—but I declined to give her any without first consulting Dr. J.
Paterson, who lived close by. I saw him, and consulted him, but he
did not see Mrs. Pritchard on that occasion, and he did not approve
of using the solution of opium. He prescribed granulated citrate of
magnesia, calomel, mercury, and chalk, and I acted on his advice
and administered the medicine, and it seemed to have a beneficial
effect.[154] Some time after, finding her sleeplessness still
continued, I, at her own suggestion, applied a solution of atropine
to the external parts of the eye, and it had a little effect for some
time, but the effects soon ceased. After her mother’s death, she
became rapidly worse; indeed, I ascribed her decease to the agitation
consequent on her mother’s death. At the time of the last event she
was strongly impressed with the idea that she would herself die at
the same time as her mother; in fact, she did die on a subsequent day
at exactly the same hour. On the night preceding her death she was
apprehensive that, unless she got sleep, she should not get through
the night. I went for Dr. Paterson, who came immediately and sat
for a considerable time by the bedside, and afterwards dictated a
prescription, which was made up at the Glasgow Apothecary Company’s
shop at Elmbank-street. It will be found in my desk at home. It was
for two draughts to be given four hours after the first if it did
not succeed. She got the first draught as prescribed by Dr. Paterson
about ten o’clock, but she said after drinking it that it was not
half strong enough, and asked if she might have some of her mother’s
medicine. I refused to give it her, and said I dare not do it. I gave
her a glass of port wine, and sat carefully watching for a short time.
I then went down stairs and had supper, and, after being absent for
some time, returned to see if she had got to sleep. I found her awake,
and she wished me to give her something to make her sleep. I refused,
and she then asked me to come to bed, as I must be tired with the
weary nights of watching. It was then about twelve o’clock. I tried
to persuade her that I should sit up to watch her till past the time
when her mother had died; but to please her I got into bed, and almost
immediately I fell asleep from the state of exhaustion I was in; was
awoke by her pulling at my beard, and found my wife struggling to get
into bed. She appeared to have got out of bed. She said, ‘Edward, I
am faint.’ I assisted her into bed, and asked her how long I had been
asleep, but she answered, ‘Don’t speak; look! do you see my mother?’
I said ‘No, it is only a vision; only imagination,’ and asked if she
felt pain. She said she felt cold, and I need try no more skill; that
I had failed this time, and that she was going to her mother. I got
alarmed and rang the bell violently, and the youngest servant came. I
desired her to make a mustard plaster as quickly as she could, and on
that my wife turned round and said, ‘Edward, I’m in my senses; mustard
plasters will do no good,’ and almost immediately she fell back in my
arms and died. The servant came with the mustard plaster, and found
her in that position. I did not give her any other medicine at that
time except a little brandy applied to her lips.[155] During the whole
course of her illness I never gave her any antimony, nor any medicine
in which there was any preparation of antimony. Antimony is a poison,
but it is used occasionally to subdue inflammations, and I applied it
to her neck, in October last, when she was plagued with a swelling
gland in the neck. I rubbed it in externally on that occasion,
and I have never given her any antimony since. On that occasion I
recommended change of air, and I gave her a little bottle of antimony
with her for the same purpose of rubbing in behind the ear. She went
to Edinburgh at that time, and she returned to Glasgow very much
better, and I have never seen the bottle of antimony since she got
it away with her. There was a considerable quantity of antimony in
my repositories at the time of my wife’s last illness, as I used it
extensively in my practice, and it was kept in a cupboard of which I
had the key, but which was not always locked. I did not see any of
it brought out, or lying about, during her illness. The cupboard
where the antimony was is in the consulting-room on the ground flat,
and she was so weak on the day of her death—Saturday—and on the
Friday preceding, that I do not think she had strength to have gone
to the cupboard herself. My wife took the antimony internally on one
occasion when she had a tendency to inflammation of the eyelids. This
was years ago, and I never knew her to use it internally, except on
this occasion. I never administered antimony to her internally on any
occasion, nor any other substance calculated to injure or destroy
life.”

In the _second declaration_, made on the 21st day of April, 1865,
he confirmed the correctness of the former one when read to him,
denied the charges as laid in the indictment, and elected to make the
following voluntary statement with reference to Mrs. Taylor’s death:—

“I never administered poison to her. I did, and I do believe, that
she died from paralysis and apoplexy. I have no further statements to
make, and by the advice of my agent will make none, with the exception
that I am entirely innocent of the charge preferred against me.”

Being asked by the Procurator Fiscal whether he ever administered or
caused to be administered to the said Jane Cowan or Taylor tartarised
antimony, declares:—

“My agent recommended me to say nothing, and I decline to answer the
question, and, as I act under my agent’s advice, it is unnecessary to
put any further questions.”

EVIDENCE FOR THE DEFENCE.

With this evidence the prosecution was closed late on the third day,
and on the next the defence was opened by calling witnesses on the
Prisoner’s behalf.

_Dr. Michael Taylor_, Mrs. Pritchard’s brother, had seen her on the
28th of February, a few days after his mother’s death, when she
objected to Dr. Gairdner again visiting her, and to following her
brother’s advice to have a nurse, as she did not like strangers about
her. He also identified as her writing two letters from Edinburgh to
her husband at the time of her visit to her parents in November, in
which she spoke of the slowness of her recovery and her inability to go
out, except two or three times.

_Mr. Simpson_, a partner in Duncan & Co., Chemists, in Edinburgh,
remembered Dr. Pritchard, some four years ago, purchasing Battley’s
solution at their shop, and that shortly afterwards other purchases of
this compound were frequently made in his name by one Thomson, whom
he recognised, down to the beginning of 1865. _Fairgrieve_, another
chemist in Edinburgh, spoke to repeated purchases of this compound by
or for Mrs. Taylor for several years before her death, once in a 5-oz.
bottle, but generally in bottles of 2 oz.[156]

Two other witnesses proved that they consulted Dr. Pritchard for
affections of the ear, and that to the first he gave a bottle labelled
“poison—2 drops in each ear every night,” and to the other a tonic
of glycerine and strychnia; the object being to account for the
numerous poisons found in the cupboard in his consulting room.[157]
_Dr. McHattie_ proved that there were not the necessary drugs in
the cupboard to enable the Prisoner to make up Dr. Paterson’s
prescription,[158] and afterwards his eldest son certified that his
father and mother lived happily together, and his daughter, who lived
chiefly with her grandparents, that they were fond of each other. The
evidence for the defence then was closed.

THE SOLICITOR-GENERAL’S SPEECH.

In addressing the jury on the evidence, the counsel for the prosecution
drew their especial attention to (1) the fact—not contested and not
contestable—that though none of the medicines prescribed by the
medical attendants on both of the ladies had contained any preparation
of antimony, antimony was found in their bodies—in that of Mrs.
Pritchard in such proportions as could only be accounted for by a long
continuous administration of that drug—in Mrs. Taylor’s sufficient
to so reduce her system as to increase the operation of any narcotic
poison; (2) that the notion of this having been taken by accident was
excluded even by the prisoner’s own statement, and that the idea of
suicide was entirely at variance with the characters of the sufferers,
and in the case of the wife with the fact that suicides do not choose
“a long, lingering, and painful death;” (3) that the prisoner had
in his possession the means of administering poison as well as the
opportunities; (4) that in the three cases in which symptoms of
antimonial poisoning were felt by those who tasted the cheese, the egg
flip, and the tapioca, the prisoner had the opportunities of dealing
with these articles of food before they were sent to his wife; (5)
that in the remnant of one of them—the tapioca—antimony to a large
extent was found; (6) that in a bottle of Battley’s solution found in
the pocket of Mrs. Taylor after her death aconite in deadly proportions
was detected; and (7) that there was a pecuniary motive, paltry as it
might be represented to be, to induce the prisoner to commit both these
murders.[159] Who, then, he said, put the antimony into the food? who
put that and the aconite into the Battley’s solution?

“Who, then,” continued the _Solicitor-General_, “was the murderer?
For there was a murder—a deliberate, cold-blooded, cruel
murder—committed in that house. Who was it? We know the inmates.
There were the two students of medicine. I suppose you may lay them
aside as having nothing to do with it. Suspicion does not attach
to them, neither had they the opportunity. The servants change in
the course of the enacting of this dreadful tragedy—all but one.
Catherine Lattimer was there until the 13th of February. The poisoning
went on after she left—the deaths both occurred after she left. She
was not the poisoner, nor was there a breath of suspicion about her.
Mary Patterson comes on the 16th of February. The poisoning, indeed,
goes on after she comes; but it had commenced long before—weeks
before. We, therefore, lay her aside. There was Mary McLeod, a girl
under seventeen, the only remaining grown person in the house during
the whole course of the administration to which I need refer. I need
not take any notice of the children, who were the only other inmates
of the house. See, then, to what we have come. There was a murderer in
the house—a murderer practising the dreadful art of slow poisoning
from the end of December till past the middle of March. The only two
grown persons, except the boarders, who were in the house during
that time—the only two who had access to the patients—were the
prisoner at the bar and Mary McLeod. This is narrowing the case to a
very short question. I have excluded every other idea from the case,
by fair, legitimate, convincing argument, upon evidence that is not
open to dispute. I have excluded the notion of natural death. I have
established the fact of death by poison. I have excluded the idea of
death by accident, by suicide, by the administration medicinally. You
are shut up, therefore, to murderous administration.... I find that
the only two who had access to these miserable victims, and had any
opportunity to perpetrate the murders with which they are charged,
were the prisoner and this one girl. Now, pray, consider, with
respect to the wife, upon the question whether or no the prisoner is
not the man clearly proved by irresistible evidence to be so, what
was the nature of the murder? _It was a murder in which you almost
detect a doctor’s finger._ It is gradual poisoning—poisoning so as
not to kill but to weaken; leaving off for a day, and then resuming
again—one day better, two days worse. During the whole time the
patient exhibited the symptoms of vomiting and purging, the result of
the action of antimony. You have that going on for a long time under
the very eye of a medical man, the husband of the victim, who was in
close attendance upon her. Do you think anybody else—do you think a
girl of seventeen could have done that deed? She knew nothing about
antimony.[160] If she did not do it, the prisoner must have done it.
And what is his case? His case respecting his own wife, who was thus
demonstrably being poisoned by inches under his very eye during this
long period—what is his case? “I thought it was gastric fever,” he
says. Gastric fever! Nobody could have thought it was gastric fever.
Nothing like gastric fever in it. Nothing like anything except what
it was—slow, cruel poisoning, which brought, in the course of two or
three months, this poor woman to the grave, with such an amount of
poison in her body.”

Referring, then, to the false statements made by the prisoner in
the case of Mrs. Taylor—that she had tumbled off her chair in his
consulting room in a fit, and been carried up to bed, when it was
proved that she had walked up to her bedroom from his consulting
room—had during the evening called to one of the servants to go
out and get sausages for supper—had had no tumble or fit, and that
the doctor himself knew nothing about her attack till the bell rang
violently three times—that hot water had been taken up by the servant
to make her vomit—the strange statement to Dr. Paterson before the
bottle of “Battley” was found in Mrs. Taylor’s pocket, that she had
purchased half-a-pound of it a few days before—the false certificate
of her death, “paralysis for twelve hours and apoplexy for one hour,”
when there was no paralysis except the paralytic affection caused by
the aconite, and that was not before she went upstairs at nine o’clock
in the evening, only four hours before her death: then referring to the
tapioca purchased entirely for Mrs. Taylor’s use, into which antimony
was put by some one; the Solicitor-General said:—

“Keep in view that the method of poisoning alleged against the
prisoner here is not the giving a dose that would kill, but the
introducing it into the food in such quantities that the taking
would not kill, but produce sickness merely—the intention being to
produce and continue the sickness for months, the fatal termination
then supervening. A poisoner in this way practises the dreadful art
successfully, and could not be very apprehensive of even himself or
any one else taking the food accidentally, as it would only make
them sick. He knows that to produce death it will be necessary
to continue it for a long time. Into this tapioca antimony is
introduced—sufficient to produce sickness in anybody taking it,
but not death. But Mrs. Pritchard does not get this tapioca. It is
taken by Mrs. Taylor, and she is seized immediately by symptoms
of poisoning by antimony. She is sick in the same way—I think she
expressed it—as her daughter was; because the effects were the same.
That tapioca was not put away, as it might be required again; and if
Mrs. Pritchard had wanted tapioca again, she would have got that, and
the poisoning would have been carried on by its means. If anybody else
got it, it would be a misfortune, but not much more. And who could
have introduced it but the master of the house, who was an adept in
such a mode of poisoning.—I do not know how many, if more than one,
partook of poisoned food; but some food had been poisoned. I take
that for granted, and that it had been taken by one of the boarders,
Connell, I think. But that is not presented as part of the case. He
was one day more or less sick. The prisoner does not seem to have been
alarmed about it—he does not seem to have been alarmed even when he
himself was sick upon some occasion in February. He knew very well
there was no occasion for alarm, for sickness was the end of it; that
it would require a long sickness in order to produce anything like a
fatal result.”

Briefly, then, reviewing the points he had made, the Solicitor-General
concluded his exhaustive address.

THE DEFENCE.

_Mr. Rutherford Clark_, in the opening of his speech, urged on the jury
that the enormity of the double crime required it “to be proved by
evidence strong, clear, overwhelming, that brought home to their minds
and consciences, without the slightest suspicion on the testimony, the
guilt of the prisoner,” and that “the motives assigned for it were
not such as could ever have, in the slightest degree, actuated any
human being to the commission of such hideous offences.” Whilst he
could not deny that he had the opportunity of committing the crime, he
contended “that it went a very short way—indeed no way at all—in even
suggesting or indicating his guilt.”

“If,” he said, “you find a case where crime is committed, and where
the person charged with committing it has made an opportunity
for himself—has been zealous in obtaining opportunities—then
opportunity is of the greatest possible importance and the strongest
possible evidence; but to say that he has opportunity in this case
is nothing more than to say it was likely, as indeed it was true,
that the husband who was attending the sick bed of his wife, should
carry to her some of her meals, and send up others with her meals.
But that he should do so is, I am sure, nothing unnatural—nothing to
suggest guilt. It would have been frightfully suggestive of guilt,
if, instead of sending up these meals, and taking them up himself, he
had always chosen some other agent to carry them up and to administer
the food she was taking. If that had been the case, I should have
been inclined to say that the Crown would have had a case much more
strong to indicate guilt, than they have when, as it is stated here,
that he was administering to the comfort of his wife while upon her
death-bed.”[161]

On the point that the prisoner was in possession of the means of
poisoning, “he was,” he said, “by profession a doctor, and had, no
doubt, as most doctors have, considerable quantities of drugs in his
possession. Whether he had more than most medical men kept in their
houses was a matter of opinion, but it was absurd to suppose that he
accumulated these large quantities of most powerful and destructive
poisons—a minute dose of many of which would have been fatal—for the
purpose of murder.”[162]

“But,” continued _Mr. Clark_, “it is not unimportant, in considering
this question, and it is very important especially in considering
the argument of the Solicitor-General, that these poisons were kept,
not in any locked press, but, on the contrary, within the reach of
the household. It is a remark I have made, that there was not one of
the poisoned articles of food which ever reached the lips of Mrs.
Taylor or Mrs. Pritchard without passing through other hands than the
prisoner’s, and it is odd enough that, in regard to each of them, the
person who administered it and who carried away the food left, is
this girl, Mary McLeod. It will not do for the Solicitor-General to
say, ‘I have established that one of two persons must have committed
these crimes,’ and that you can trace the particular finger of the
medical man in connection with them. Probability will never support
a conviction. It will not do for him to say, as regards the death of
Mrs. Pritchard, that it was the act either of the prisoner or Mary
McLeod, and that it was not likely that a girl of under seventeen
would have the skill to do it. Do you not think that he shrinks from
the onus of proof when he accepts this convenient mode of getting rid
of the difficulty, as he must prove that it is one of those two who
did it. He must prove by evidence that it was not Mary McLeod or some
one else in the house, and it was only by showing that it was not
Mary McLeod, that he can bring this charge home, to the prisoner.”
[Mr. Clark then noticed that the question was put to Lattimer whether
she put anything into the tapioca, but that that question was not put
to Mary McLeod.] “It is a singular omission in the case of the Crown,
which necessarily depends upon being able to select between those
two persons, whom the Solicitor-General stated were the only two who
could have committed the murder, that they did not venture to put the
question to exclude upon her evidence the fact that she might have
been guilty. And this is all the more strong that I shall trace every
article of poisoned food immediately through her hands.”[163]

Subsequently he reviewed the evidence as to each of the three poisoned
articles of food.

“Let us see,” he said, “about this tapioca:—it was suggested,
apparently through Mrs. Taylor, that Mrs. Pritchard would like
some. Accordingly some tapioca is brought by a little boy, and it
is brought in, and received by Mary McLeod. She says she placed it
for some short time on the lobby table. Catherine Lattimer says Mary
McLeod took it down to her, but Mary says Mrs. Taylor did. Now the
suggestion of the Crown is that the prisoner put antimony in this
tapioca, so nicely adjusted to the quantity bought as to produce
sickness leading to death, but not so as to produce death itself. It
would certainly have been of some importance to have shown that he had
any opportunity of administering or putting any poison into it, but
it is not proved—there is not a shadow of evidence that he had any
opportunity, or to show that he was in the house at the time. He was
a man accustomed to exercise an active profession, and, of course,
would naturally be out at that period of the day; but at all events it
is not shown that he was aware that his wife desired tapioca, or that
his mother-in-law had ordered it. It is not even shown that there was
the least possibility of his introducing antimony into that bag. It is
prepared and carried up by Mary McLeod to her mistress, who declines
to take it, and it is taken by Mrs. Taylor, who was taken ill after
partaking of it.”

Again, as to the poisoned bit of cheese:—

“It is spoken to by Mary McLeod. She tells you she had taken up the
tray for supper, and that on it was the cheese and other things which
were placed on the table at which Dr. Taylor and the other inmates
of the house are sitting; that she came out, and that, on returning
again, Dr. Pritchard handed to her a piece of cheese to take to her
mistress. She did not see him cut off the piece of cheese, but he
handed it to her sitting at the table; and it is perfectly obvious it
must have been cut off the cheese eaten by the family at supper. If
he placed antimony upon it, it must have been in the presence of the
persons at supper—a piece of yellow cheese which must have indicated
the powder of tartarised antimony, if placed upon it.[164]—It was
not asked if it were possible to put this tartarised antimony upon
the cheese while sitting at supper. I leave you to judge if it were
possible. It was taken up oddly enough—I cannot help noticing the
coincidence—by Mary McLeod. She says she ate part of it, and that it
did her no harm; but the residue was taken down into the kitchen and
eaten by Patterson, and she suffered from vomiting.”

Again, as to the poisoned egg-flip:—

“The doctor comes and tells his servant to prepare some, a thing not
unnatural to be taken by a person with a delicate stomach, and for a
medical man to order. But it is said this was a plot for Dr. Pritchard
to get in his drugs in this way. He supposes that he went through the
dining-room and got the sugar, and then into the consulting-room, and
then into the pantry, and dropped the pieces of sugar, on which he had
put antimony, into the egg. Does he give any proof of this? Does he
suggest anything more than suspicion? The Crown seems to have doubted
whether he could on the sugar have put in so much antimony as to have
produced the effects which the servant girl says she suffered. Dr.
Littlejohn thought it possible, but he had never tried the experiment.
A possibility at the best—a large possibility—that he could have put
in the drug. Was the egg-flip capable of producing the effects which
are said to have been caused by it? ‘Barely possible,’ according to
Dr. Littlejohn. What is its history: does it pass through his hands?
No. It was left by Patterson in the pantry, and Mary McLeod came down
for it to the kitchen. She was told it was in the pantry, and she
goes up to bring it down again. There, again, you have Mary McLeod
intervening in the matter, notwithstanding the dilemma on which the
Solicitor-General placed his case: she it is who carries it up to
the bedroom, and she it is who administers it to the patient who is
suffering there. There is another remarkable thing in this case. The
amount of antimony introduced must have been a very powerful dose,
because, taking only a teaspoonful of the egg-flip as Patterson
did, she lay vomiting and suffering all night. Mrs. Pritchard took
a wine-glassful, and vomited for about half an hour afterwards.
Surely if a strong woman took only a teaspoonful, and a weak woman a
wine-glassful, she would have been destroyed by the poison that had so
powerful an effect on the former.”[165]

Again, with reference to the bottle of Battley’s solution found in Mrs.
Taylor’s dress after her death, into which it was suggested that the
prisoner had put the aconite and antimony discovered in it, said Mr.
Clark:—

“He knew, no doubt, that she was taking it, but it is not in the
least degree proved that he knew where it was, in what bottle it was,
or where Mrs. Taylor kept the bottle. Mary McLeod did know, for she
bought it for Mrs. Taylor. But what is the ground of suggestion that
aconite had been put into that bottle before Mrs. Taylor had it? All
that you have is that Drs. Maclagan and Littlejohn say there was,
and that they were contradicted by the person who actually observed
its effects. And what became of this bottle? It was found on her
person after her death. Is it possible to suppose that he had the
means of getting at the bottle before her death to introduce the
poison? How could he? It was carried about her person, and there
is not the slightest suggestion that he ever had access to it; and
yet you are asked to act upon that suggestion, because it is said,
‘You may probably trace the administration of a medical hand.’ No:
probabilities are not in this case. It is proof, and proof alone, that
we can go on. What was the history of the bottle? It was found in her
clothes, no doubt, when the body was being dressed by Patterson and
Nabb, and even they did not know the very great quantity, perhaps,
that this old lady had taken. But still more, supposing that she
should take no aconite, she had taken sufficient of the mixture to
account for her death. Assuming that the highest mark on the bottle,
as taken by Dr. Paterson, is a correct one, it would come to be not
less than 2¾ ounces that had been taken. It was shown that the bottle
was put by for some time; but if it was taken away after the murder,
that is of very little consequence. If he had put antimony in it,
would it not have been very easy for him to have thrown the bottle
aside? But instead of that, we have him expressing his surprise to
these two women that she had taken such a great quantity. He takes
away the bottle, and brings it back again, and there it remains until
examined by Dr. Penny, who then finds that it contains some aconite
and antimony. But where is the shadow of a proof that he put it there?
The bottle was lying open—was not locked up in any way: it remained
in the house from the death of Mrs. Taylor till after the prisoner
was apprehended, more than a month afterwards. Any person in the
house might have access to it, and yet all that can be suggested to
prove that the prisoner put in this antimony and aconite before her
death was contained in the observation of my learned friend, that you
could trace, or that you could _probably_ trace here, the finger of a
medical man.”[166]

The false statement in the certificate of death, Mr. Clark attributed
to a desire of sparing the feelings of the husband. He did not justify
the morality of the act, but, looking at the circumstances, asked the
jury “if there was any degree of guilty knowledge when he asked Dr.
Paterson to inform his father-in-law of the cause of death, and he was
only forced to take that step by his refusal.” With Dr. Paterson’s
manner in the witness-box he naturally dealt in the most severe
language of reproof and censure.

“I do not believe,” he said, in concluding his remarks on this
witness, “he saw any symptoms of poisoning, or he would have acted
as any other medical man would have acted—unselfishly, nobly, and
generously in this matter. And when you see that this is inconsistent
with the whole conduct of the profession to which he belongs, I ask
you to disbelieve many of the statements he makes. You cannot rely
on these statements, given with a bias, for he tells you what is
incredible, or only credible at the loss of his own honour, which I
am sure he will strive studiously to guard. He has become a partisan
in this matter altogether, and forgot what is due to his position and
his profession. All that can be said of Dr. Paterson is this,—that he
speaks about the prisoner, of his mother-in-law, and speaks further
about what he said of her falling; yet even after all, this is merely
an account of a circumstance given by him some months, or, if you
like, a month after the case occurred. And because the prisoner made
some statements not exactly consistent with the truth as now disclosed
on the evidence, are you to believe, on Dr. Paterson’s statement, and
upon his statement only, that these statements were made so as to show
guilty knowledge. I can quite understand that after there is proof of
administration you may support that proof by evidence of falsehoods
which the prisoner may tell, if you have reliable evidence to prove
that they were stated. But when you have no evidence of administration
of poison, then the evidence is all the other way; then I think you
cannot eke out the probabilities of the case by appealing to these
probabilities, or to the falsehoods depending on evidence like that
here, as showing conclusively, beyond a reasonable doubt, that this
prisoner was the person who committed that foul crime upon the person
of his mother-in-law.”

Having thus commented on the evidence given for the prosecution on
all the leading points of the case, in masterly, if not convincing
arguments, in conclusion the prisoner’s counsel dwelt on the admitted
terms of affection in which he lived with his wife and children—on the
impossibility of believing in his commission of such a cold-blooded
murder, on the evidence adduced. “The whole evidence of the Crown,” he
said, “hangs upon probability, and can never justify you in believing,
in the first place, that he was capable of committing the crime; and,
in the second, it is hardly conceivable that anything so unnatural
should be committed by such a man.”

THE JUDGE’S CHARGE.

On the fifth day, the Lord Justice Clerk summed up the evidence in this
protracted trial with great minuteness, in the course of his charge
reading to the jury nearly the whole of the evidence, and meeting the
various objections to its relevancy offered by the prisoner’s counsel.
There were three points, he said, for their consideration. (1.) Did the
two ladies, or either of them, die from poison? (2.) If aye, was that
poison administered for the purpose of destroying life? (3.) Was it the
prisoner who administered it?

On the first point, after calling their attention in detail to the
medical and analytical evidence in the case of Mrs. Pritchard, that
she died from slow antimonial poisoning, he said, did not appear to
have been contested by the prisoner’s counsel, and, upon the evidence,
he did not think it admitted of a doubt. As the evidence showed that
it was not from a large dose of antimony taken lately before death
that she had died, the idea of accident or mistake was excluded. That
it might have arisen from unskilful treatment by the prisoner was
negatived by his assertion that he had never administered antimony to
her, except once externally in October last, which could have nothing
to do with the state in which the intestines were found in March. The
idea of suicide by slow poisoning, even if there had been any hint of a
suicidal tendency on Mrs. Pritchard’s part, was equally inadmissible:
she must, if killed by antimony, have had it administered to her for
that purpose. In Mrs. Taylor’s case, into the details of which he
fully entered, one was almost forced to the conclusion that her death
was brought about by the combined action of aconite, antimony, and
opium. As to the idea of accident in her case it was inconsistent with
the fact that the Battley’s solution was pure when bought. “Was it
then,” he added, “by accident that these two subtle poisons, aconite
and antimony, found their way into her medicine-bottle: if not by
accident, did she put them there herself, or had she any knowledge of
such things as to enable her, if she were willing, so to poison herself
by using her own medicine? There was no appearance of that, and the
character and conduct of the old lady, her natural condition both of
body and mind as you heard it described by the witnesses, is such as
not to suggest the idea of suicide in her case as a possibility at all.
Consider, then, with reference to both deaths, whether you can arrive
at the conclusion, or whether you can resist the conclusion, that the
poison by the means of which they were deprived of life was wilfully
given to them for the very purpose of destroying life.”

Passing then to the third question, “Was the poison of which these
ladies died administered to them by the prisoner?” the Lord Justice
Clerk went with great minuteness through the painful details of
Mrs. Pritchard’s long and lingering illness, the symptoms which it
exhibited, the prisoner’s misrepresentation of it as gastric fever,
when the medical men proved that there was no fever in the case, but
clear signs of antimonial poisoning, and the various acts of the
prisoner during it which were put forward as showing that he had,
and that he used, the opportunities his position offered, for the
purpose of administering the poison. The interest of this portion of
the charge, as well as of that relating to the symptoms and death of
Mrs. Taylor, and the prisoner’s conduct in relation to it, depends so
entirely on the judge’s method of marshalling the evidence, already
reported, that it could not be satisfactorily given except verbatim.
Many of the remarks of the learned judge, on these points of the
evidence, have already been reported in the notes. It will therefore be
sufficient to give, here, his remarks on the question of motive, and on
the suggestion of the prisoner’s counsel with regard to Mary McLeod.

“In regard to the matter of motive, I would suggest to you that the
motive that his pecuniary difficulties would be relieved by the death
of Mrs. Taylor, does not seem to have been made out satisfactorily.
You will consider the evidence, but I confess I do not think it worth
while to set it before you again. Then, the question comes to be, was
there a motive? What is there in the shape of a motive that may be
supposed to account for the perpetration of two such horrid crimes?
That is the way it was stated, and ably stated, by the prisoner’s
counsel. But there are some considerations applicable to that part
of the case which I am bound to suggest to you. The absence of
motive, in the ordinary sense of the word, is not a very uncommon
thing in the experiences of a criminal court. In truth, the existence
of any adequate motive for the perpetration of a great crime is a
thing impossible. Still there may be what is called an intelligent
motive—the existence of some foul passion, or some immediate and
strong excitement, which, in a moment of half frenzy, drives a man to
the commission of murder. These are all very evident and intelligible
incentives to crime. But when we find that, in the opinion of the
prisoner’s counsel, there is no motive, it means no more than this,
that the motive has not been discovered. There must have been a motive
or incentive, and yet we may never discover what it was. You are never
in a condition to say that there was no motive, but only that the
motive was not discovered; and the motives of human action, we know
from history and experience, are often inscrutable. Another motive or
incentive has been suggested—the illicit relation between himself and
Mary McLeod. This is a very important part of the case undoubtedly,
and one to which you are bound to give due attention. The prosecution
suggests that the existence of that intercourse was the reason or the
desire that led him to get rid of his wife. If that was the incentive,
I do not think there will be much difficulty in explaining the
incentive to the commission of the other murder; because her presence
in the course of the chronic poisoning of his wife would have been a
great obstruction and interference with his plans.[167] But it is for
you to say whether it is a sufficient motive. It is a fair question
for your consideration, and I should desire you to turn your minds to
it very seriously; keeping only in mind this view, that even supposing
you find it impossible to assign an intelligible motive for the
commission of one or both of these murders, the absence of evidence of
motive is not sufficient reason for acquitting the prisoner, if you
are satisfied from the other evidence in the case that he was guilty.
Motive, after all, can but create a presumption one way or another.
It is not evidence of the fact of murder, that a man has an obvious
motive to commit it; and just as little can the absence of proof of
the existence of a motive be a reason for finding the prisoner not
guilty, if the evidence of the fact of the murder be satisfactory
against him.”

Again, after having shown how no imputation could rest on the servants
Lattimer and Patterson, the learned judge thus dealt with the
imputation thrown out by the prisoner’s counsel against Mary McLeod:—

“He has said that there was another girl there who stands in a very
different position, and that it appears, singularly enough, that
whenever an article of food was to be carried to Mrs. Pritchard, Mary
McLeod’s is the hand that bears it. In short, if I understand aright
his theory, it is Mary McLeod who caused these murders, and he invites
you to choose between her and the prisoner, and to pronounce upon
a balance of probabilities which of the two it was. This is a very
painful position for you to be placed in. If it be necessary that you
should decide absolutely between the two it must be done. _At the
same time the prisoner’s counsel did not seem sufficiently to advert,
in considering the point, to the possibility that both might have
been implicated, and, if that was so, I suppose we should have little
doubt which was the master and which was the servant; and, although
the one might be the active hand that administered the poison, if two
were concerned, you would have very little doubt who was the actor,
and who set on the other. And, in fact, if you should arrive at this
conclusion, every article that the prisoner’s counsel alluded to for
the purpose of throwing the guilt on Mary McLeod would be an article
of evidence to implicate the prisoner at the bar._ But I do not desire
you to take this theory. On the contrary, I think it quite right that
you should consider on the balance of probabilities, as has been very
well said, which of the two is the perpetrator of this crime; and in
considering this, it is necessary for you to advert to this—that
the poison was administered in doses—in doses any one of which was
insufficient to kill, but which was quite sufficient, in the agony it
produced, and by the gradual reduction of the strength of the patient,
at length to lead to a fatal termination. Is it conceivable that a
girl of fifteen or sixteen years of age, in the position of a servant
maid, could of herself have conceived and executed such a design,
within this house, under the eye and subject to the vigilance of the
husband of her victim, himself a medical man? That is very hard to
believe. On the other hand, if you can suppose that the prisoner was
the person who conceived and executed this wicked design, it is not
so difficult to believe that Mary McLeod may have been the perfectly
unconscious instrument of carrying out his purpose—suspecting
nothing, knowing nothing of what was being done, and seeing nothing
but great kindness on the part of the prisoner to her mistress, and
seeing them dying, not rapidly as in the case of Mrs. Pritchard, and
though rapidly in that of Mrs. Taylor, still in a way the prisoner
accounted for as a medical man. You may understand easily enough that
a girl in the position of Mary McLeod might be made the unconscious
means of carrying out these designs, and perfectly innocent on
her part. But there is no difficulty in this question. If you are
satisfied that murder was committed, somebody did it. Some of them are
plainly innocent, and therefore the probability of guilt is reduced to
two. Of these two, one or both of them are guilty of this deed.”

Then with a remark on the suggestion of the prisoner’s counsel, that
Mrs. Taylor died of an overdose of opium in the Battley’s solution, the
learned judge left the case to the jury, who, after about an hour’s
deliberation, found the prisoner “Guilty,” and he was sentenced to
death.

After his conviction, in the hopes of exciting commiseration, Pritchard
drew up a confession implicating Mary McLeod, but the transparent
falsehood failing to gain for it any credence, he was induced to
put forward a second, and, subsequently, a third and apparently
full confession of his guilt. In this last he made the following
statements: “I am guilty of the death of my mother-in-law, Mrs. Taylor,
and of my wife. I can assign no motive for the conduct which actuated
me, beyond a species of ‘terrible madness,’ and the use of ‘ardent
spirits.’ I hereby freely and fully state that the confession made on
the 11th of this month (implicating McLeod) was not true, and I confess
that I alone, and not M. McLeod, poisoned my wife in the way brought
out in the evidence at the trial. Mrs. Taylor’s death was caused
according to the wording of the indictment and the main facts brought
out at my trial. I hereby fully acknowledge and now plead wholly and
solely _guilty thereto_, and may God have mercy on my soul.” He was
executed on the 27th of July, at Glasgow, in the sight, it was reported
at the time, of nearly one hundred thousand persons.

THE RICHMOND POISONING CASE.[168]

_Before_ THE LORD CHIEF BARON POLLOCK, _at the_ CENTRAL CRIMINAL
COURT, _July 7 and 8, and August 15 to 19, 1859_.

_For the Prosecution_: Mr. Serjeant Ballantine, Mr. Bodkin, Mr. Clerk,
_and_ Mr. Mereweather.

_For the Defence_: Mr. Serjeant Parry _and_ Mr. Giffard.

FIRST TRIAL—_July 7 and 8._

Thomas Smethurst, æt. 48, surgeon, was indicted for the wilful murder
of Isabella Bankes. The prisoner was a person of small stature and
insignificant appearance, with reddish-brown moustaches, probably
older than he stated, and, though appearing careworn, maintained great
self-possession throughout the proceedings, and especially during the
second trial.

HISTORY OF THE CASE.

Serjeant Ballantine, in stating the case to the jury, said it was
alleged that the prisoner took away the life of a fellow creature by
poison, and likewise contrived to throw around the means employed to
destroy life some more than ordinary difficulties in the way of the
detection of the crime; that in order to effect this purpose he had
availed himself of the knowledge he possessed, and made use of a slow
irritant poison, which he had administered with his own hands, until,
by the accumulation of poison and irritation, she died.

The prisoner was represented to be a member of the medical profession:
he had considerable knowledge of medicine, and was known as Dr.
Smethurst. He was a married man, and had a wife considerably older
than himself now living. At the time when he should first refer to Dr.
Smethurst, he was living with his wife in a respectable lodging-house
in Bayswater. While they were living there, in the autumn of 1858, Miss
Isabella Bankes also came there to reside. She was a lady of delicate
constitution,[169] and possessed of property under her own control of
between £1,700 and £1,800, and a life interest in £5,000, which, at
her death, went to other members of her family. The result was that
an intimacy sprung up between the parties. In November of that year,
the landlady, considering that there was too great intimacy between
Miss Bankes and the doctor, spoke to her, and, in consequence, she
left the house. On the 9th of December, Miss Bankes and the prisoner
went through the form of marriage at Battersea Church, and, two days
after, commenced to reside at Richmond. From a letter to his wife
found on him when in custody, it was evident that the doctor did not
intend this to be a permanent marriage. Until the 28th of January,
1859, nothing was heard of them; then Miss Bankes’s sister Louisa
received a letter from her, but not dated from the place where they
were living. On the 15th of February, the sister received another
letter from her. At that time they were living in Old Palace Gardens,
Richmond. Miss Bankes was then in good health, but, about the 28th
of March, her illness commenced. On the 3rd of April, Dr. Smethurst
determined to have medical advice. The landlady advised Dr. Julius, as
he and his partner, Dr. Bird, were the most eminent practitioners in
Richmond. They were accordingly called in. The former treated her for
diarrhœa, in the usual way, the complaint from which he understood she
was suffering, taking his account of her symptoms from Dr. Smethurst.
Dr. Julius all through consulted with the prisoner, who took a most
active part in the matter, and sometimes pressed upon him the use of
various medicines. He, however, was only on two occasions allowed to
be alone with his patient. On the 15th of April, on the landlady at
Old Palace Gardens asking a few shillings more rent, they removed to
Alma Villas—Miss Bankes so weak that she had to be taken in a cab and
carried upstairs. Dr. Julius, when he found that his remedies had a
contrary effect to what was intended, asked Dr. Bird to see her, but
did not mention his own suspicions, though they were very strong. On
the 18th of April Dr. Bird saw her, prescribed for her, but with the
same result as his partner. At this time she was sinking, and becoming
continually weaker. On that day the prisoner wrote a letter to her
sister Louisa marked “private and confidential.” It stated that her
sister was very ill, and wished to see her: she was to ask for Dr.
and Mrs. Smethurst, and not to breathe a word of the contents of the
note to anyone. The sister was not at this time aware of the marriage,
and had her own views of her sister’s conduct. She went, however, and
found her sister in a very feeble state. The deceased said to her, “Oh,
don’t say anything about it; it will be all right when I get well,
won’t it dear?” turning to Dr. Smethurst, who said, “Yes, it will be
all right soon.” Dr. Smethurst showed every kindness and attention to
the deceased during her illness, and to the time of her death she
treated him with love and affection. Miss Louisa, however, was never
allowed to be for a moment alone with her sister. Whilst she was
there the prisoner gave the patient a saline draught, and she vomited
immediately, and complained of its bad taste. Miss Louisa offered to
make some tapioca, but the prisoner objected on the ground that there
was not any milk. She then offered to make some arrowroot, but again
he objected on the ground that the landlady might not like it. That
evening the sister left, and next day wrote to the deceased, to which
letter she received the following reply from the prisoner:—“After
your departure, dear Bella had a very bad evening and night of it,
purely from the excitement of seeing you, and the fatigue consequent
thereon. Vomiting and purging set in at a fearful rate, which of course
prostrated her greatly. The doctor at once forbade any visitors for
the present, or he would not be responsible for the effects attendant
thereon.” The prisoner had no doubt made such representations to Dr.
Bird as induced him to say that she had better not receive visitors
for the present. On subsequent days the sister received other letters
from the prisoner postponing her intended visits from time to time;
describing her sister’s condition, and mentioning that he had insisted
on having a consultation with “Dr. Todd, the first physician of the
day, and the two regular attendants who were the first doctors in the
place.” One of these letters was dated April 30, but made no mention
of his having on that day instructed an attorney in Richmond to draw
up a will upon what he said was a draft by a barrister in London,
but was really entirely in his own handwriting. On the following day
(Sunday) he called on the attorney, and, representing that the case
was urgent, induced him to come to the lodging, where the will was
formally executed. By this will the whole of her property was left to
the prisoner.[170] The consultation with Dr. Todd took place, and he
agreed with other medical attendants that the patient was suffering
from unfair treatment. The prisoner, however, on the 29th, wrote to the
sister that Dr. Todd not only acquiesced in what was being done, but
recommended a perseverance of the treatment, with some slight additions
of his own. This was not the fact, but the prisoner was not made aware
of the suspicions entertained by the medical attendants. They, however,
caused the evacuations of the deceased to be tested, and the result was
so confirmatory of their views, that they communicated with the police,
and the prisoner was arrested. A number of bottles containing drugs and
medicines were taken possession of, and on his person was found the
following letter to his wife, sealed and stamped for post:—

_Monday, May 2, 1859._

“MY DEAR MARY,—I have not been able to leave for town as I expected,
in consequence of my medical aid being required in a case of illness.
I shall, however, see you as soon as possible. Should anything
unforeseen prevent my leaving for town before the 11th, I will send
you a cheque for Smith’s money and extras. I will send £5. I am quite
well, and hope you are the same, and that I shall find you so when
I see you—which, I trust, will not be long first. Present my kind
regards to the Smiths and old friends in the house. I heard from
James the other day, who said he had called on you, but that you had
gone out for a walk. With best love, believe me,

“Yours affectionately,
“THOMAS SMETHURST.”

The case not being, in the opinion of the Richmond magistrates, strong
enough to justify his committal, the prisoner was discharged. On the
following day, the 3rd of May, Miss Bankes died, a coroner’s inquest
was held, and the result was the re-arrest of the prisoner, and his
subsequent committal for wilful murder, for which he was put on his
trial on the 7th of July.[171]

EVIDENCE OF MEDICAL ATTENDANTS.

_Dr. Julius_ said:—

“He was called in on the 3rd of April to the deceased, who was
represented to be suffering from vomiting and diarrhœa. The prisoner
said he believed that her liver was overloaded with bile. The witness
prescribed accordingly, but without any abatement of the symptoms.
There was no appearance of bile in the evacuations after the third or
fourth day that he saw her, yet the symptoms of diarrhœa and vomiting
continued, with a burning sensation in the bowels and soreness of
the mouth. She complained of a parching throat and a burning thirst.
He could not account for any of these appearances from any natural
disease, and began to entertain an opinion that something of an
irritant character was being administered, and in consequence desired
that his partner, Dr. Bird, should see her. Did not communicate his
suspicions to Dr. Bird, who, taking the prisoner’s account of the
symptoms, and knowing the witness’s prescriptions, adopted his mode
of treatment, but with the same want of success. The medicines were
varied, but the symptoms continued the same. On this the witness
communicated his fears to Dr. Bird, and he on further observation
agreed that the patient was suffering from some irritant, of the
administration of which they knew nothing. During this period the
prisoner always saw the medical attendants, and was always present in
the room when they were with the patient, and recommended or dissuaded
the use of various medicines. He displayed a considerable knowledge
of medicine. On the 28th of April the patient was very ill, and she
repeatedly said to Dr. Bird in the prisoner’s presence that she should
like some one else to be called in. On the same day the prisoner (who
had always expressed a desire that the best medical advice should be
obtained) suggested that Dr. Todd should be called in. On Dr. Todd’s
arrival, witness gave him an outline of the case and treatment, but
did not say anything of the suspicions that had arisen in his mind.
Subsequent to Dr. Todd’s attendance witness procured some of the
evacuations, and in consequence of the examination of them, thought
it his duty to communicate with the magistrates, and the prisoner
was arrested, but released on his own recognizances. Witness was
unable to ascribe the symptoms to any natural cause, but if small
doses of some irritant poison were administered from time to time,
it would have accounted for all the appearances that had exhibited
themselves. Antimony and arsenic would be the character of poisons
likely to produce such results. _There was neither antimony nor
arsenic in any of the medicines he prescribed for her._ The prisoner
told him that she was not in the family way. Dr. Todd had prescribed
a pill containing a quarter of a grain of sulphate of copper and a
quarter of a grain of opium, to which the prisoner objected, as the
copper often produced symptoms of poisoning. On the Saturday the
prisoner said this medicine had produced intense burning in the mouth
and throat, constant vomiting, and fifteen bloody motions—that the
burning was from the “mouth to the anus.” In my judgment it could
not have produced these effects. The evacuation which I obtained was
previous to her taking any of these pills, as they did not arrive
until afterwards. When in prison Dr. Smethurst wrote to me three
letters for the particulars of the medicines that had been given,
which I answered. In the first he also wished to know what solutions
of arsenic were kept in our surgery, _and in the third letter ashed
for the date of the prescription for antimony, which had never been
prescribed_. He also told me that she had been ill just a week—that
previously she had been in very good health, able to take long walks,
in fact out a good deal.”

On his _cross-examination, Dr. Julius_

“Admitted that Smethurst’s communications to him of the symptoms
were made in the clearest and plainest manner, and tallied with his
own observations—that twice he believed he saw the patient without
the prisoner being present; that previous to the 15th of April the
prisoner had suggested to the witness that Drs. Hills or Hassell
should be called in, and a different treatment—one of a very
sedative character, which the witness considered as too powerful,
and, therefore, gave in a more diluted form; that witness had not,
whilst in attendance on Miss Bankes, the slightest suspicion of her
pregnancy, but that, if he had known of it, he should not have made
any difference in his treatment, and now that he did know of it, it
made no difference in his opinion as to the cause of her death. Whilst
admitting that the delivery of a woman who had a first child at the
age of forty-three would be very critical, he stated decidedly, as
the result of his experience, that the period of pregnancy would be
far less critical than in a younger woman. Vomiting was well-known to
be an early—the earliest—sign of pregnancy, but diarrhœa was not;
and though he had heard of a case in which it was accompanied with
diarrhœa, he had not heard of one in which the diarrhœa would not
yield to any ordinary treatment, and the life of the mother was only
saved by the destruction of the fœtus.”[172]

On _re-examination Dr. Julius_ stated that “vomiting in early
pregnancy had nothing to do with the burning sensation in the mouth
and throat; _that the sickness of Miss Bankes was decidedly not of
the same character as that of pregnancy, nor was the diarrhœa such as
pregnant women sometimes suffer from_.” Dr. Bird, and not the witness,
prescribed bismuth, acetate of lead, and nitrate of silver.

_Dr. Bird_, who from service in the Crimea in 1855 had had great
experience and opportunity of studying bowel complaints, confirmed the
evidence of his partner.

“None of the symptoms were in his opinion reconcileable with any
known disease, but were such as could be accounted for from the
administration of small doses of antimony or arsenic. The prisoner,
he said, told him, on one occasion, that the deceased had seen her
sister, and that it had very much excited her, and in consequence
witness told him that it would be better if she did not come again.
On the 30th he told the prisoner that he wished to take away a
portion of one of her evacuations, that it might be examined under
the microscope to see if any purulent matter was in it, that we might
judge if there was any ulceration of the bowels—that the prisoner
poured out a portion into a tumbler, which he tied over with an old
newspaper, and that the witness took it to his surgery, marked it
No. 2, sealed it with his own seal, and preserved it intact until
delivered to Dr. Taylor with the bottle No. 1 which Dr. Julius had
obtained. A third portion of an evacuation was shown to him by the
prisoner, which he put into a white jam-pot, and marked No. 3. He was
downstairs at the moment Miss Bankes died, but saw her every minute or
two before that. He gave an ample quantity of every ingredient used
in his prescriptions so as to afford a sufficient opportunity for
analyzation.”

On _cross-examination_, he described the various remedies he
prescribed, none of which would account for the symptoms, and stated
that he formed his opinion that it was a case of slow poisoning by an
irritant, not only from what Dr. Julius and the prisoner told him, but
from the vomitings, the motions, and the lady’s own account of her
symptoms.

_Mr. Caudle_, the assistant of Messrs. Julius and Bird, described the
medicines he compounded, and _Dr. Buzzard_ detailed the transmission of
the bottles of evacuations to Dr. Taylor.

_POST-MORTEM_ EXAMINATION.

_Mr. Barwell_, Assistant-Surgeon of the Charing Cross Hospital, who,
with Mr. Palmer, of Mortlake, made a _post-mortem_ examination of the
body on the 4th of May, said:—

“I found the back part of the body externally of a dark purple, being
full of blood from the position in which the body lay: I gathered from
that that the blood was more fluid, I should say, than usual. The arms
were perfectly flexible; legs very rigid; feet bent downwards and
turned in, and the muscles at their bottoms very rigid, indicating
cramp or spasm in the lower extremities; the abdomen drawn in and the
muscles tense and hard; the tongue rough, and the _papillæ_ more
elevated than usual. There were no signs of what I could call aphthœ;
the face was much emaciated and of a dull earthy colour; lower lip
drawn in under the upper teeth; front of the body generally of this
dull earthy colour; brain perfectly healthy; nothing wrong about the
lungs—they were healthy. I saw that the liver was firm, full-sized,
rather large, but did not then cut into it. I examined the uterus, and
found the common signs of pregnancy and a fœtus of somewhere between
the fifth and seventh week; the heart and great vessels connected with
it were perfectly healthy. _I examined the liver subsequently; it was
slightly fatty, rather fatty; the remainder hard. The liver when it
becomes fatty is usually soft, but in this instance it was hard, and
it was coloured in the usual manner—speckled._ Gullet healthy, no
signs of inflammation on it. The outside of the stomach, the smaller
end, that nearer the intestine, was red; the larger end, that where
the gullet enters, was of a dark colour; in the centre it was pale. On
examining the inside of the stomach, the narrow part or small end was
also red; at the larger end was a black patch of effused blood; near
the small end the mucous membrane was congested, that is the other end
from the black spot and near where the red was. The contents of the
stomach were a brown mucus mixed with blood and some bile, I should
say. There were no ulcers in the stomach, nor appearance of acute
inflammation. On the outside of the intestine I noticed on the 4th of
May (the first examination) that its commencement was very red, the
small intestines generally were inflated and minutely injected with
blood, and in certain spots they were roughened by lymph, the result
of inflammation, and glued together at certain turns where this lymph
or glutinous inflammation was effused; they were coherent together
from that cause; that did not apply to the entire length of the
intestines, only to a few parts, and chiefly quite the lower parts.
Those are the external symptoms. Internally, the first part of the
intestine (the _duodenum_) was inflamed for about three inches from
its commencement, but the mucous membrane was quite firm, and there
was no ulceration. From that point the rest of the mucous membrane
was only slightly injected, not inflamed. In the next intestine, the
_jejunum_, the mucous membrane was still firm; in places the vessels
were injected with its own blood, but this only in spots. In the
_ilium_, or lower intestine, there was much the same appearance at the
commencement as in the last, _except that approaching the lower part
the injections increased very much, and at last, about 3 feet from
its end, the mucous membrane was greatly altered; there was a deposit
of lymph therein, and a thickening of the membrane; an ill-organized
granular lymph; the membrane at the same time was roughened, and the
glands, which are in the intestine there, were less visible than
usual_. This deposit of lymph did not begin in the glands, but went
over the whole surface of the intestine, and concealed the glands
instead of rendering them more prominent—instead of being deposited
in the glands, was rather around them at first. _This brings me to
the_ cæcum. _On its mucous membrane were many very large spots.
The appearances within the_ cæcum _indicated very serious disease
indeed—inflammation, sloughing, ulceration, and suppuration._ Those
appearances diminished as I went lower down the intestines. _When I
reached the termination, the_ colon, _there was still ulceration,
but in a minor degree. In the_ rectum _there were three ulcerations.
I should also say that in the_ cæcum _were black spots of effused
blood, which were also found along the rest and in the_ rectum. I
have heard the evidence given of the symptoms exhibited during life,
and the treatment adopted. Taking those into consideration, and the
_post-mortem_ appearances, they are not reconcileable with any natural
disease with which I am acquainted.”

_By the Court._—“What is the conclusion you have formed?”

_Witness._—“_That the symptoms and appearances together have resulted
from some irritant, administered frequently during life._”

In his _cross-examination_, the earlier portion of which was occupied
with questions to test the accuracy of the notes of his report, the
witness explained that the hardness of the liver, which he observed,
was not a stage of _Cirrhosis_, as he had at first written in his
memoranda, “but a normal hardness, nothing extraordinary;” that the use
of the term “hard” did not imply that the liver was diseased, but that
the term “fatty” does.

_Sergeant Ballantine._—“I think I understood you to convey that there
were no signs of disease about the liver, except this fattiness?”

_Witness._—“No signs at all except that. That is not a disease of a
nature to affect the _cæcum_ and the intestines in any way.”

_By the Court._—“Is it in any way connected with diarrhœa and
vomiting?”

_Witness._—“No.”

_Dr. Samuel Wilks_, who had subsequently examined the intestines with
_Mr. Barwell_, confirmed his statements as to their condition and that
of the liver, and “should think Miss Bankes’ death was most probably to
be attributed to an irritant.”

On _cross-examination_, he allowed that “severe dysentery produces
great inflammation of the intestines, particularly of the larger; that
inflammation, if continued, results in ulceration and destruction of
the tissues; that the _cæcum_ and _rectum_ would be affected in that
way by dysentery, and that dark spots of effused blood are also a
consequence of severe dysentery.” His admission, however, rested on his
reading, and not from his experience of cases of acute dysentery, as he
had seen only “two cases, which they were obliged to call by that name,
not being able to arrive at any other conclusion as to the cause of
death.”

MEDICAL EXPERTS FOR THE PROSECUTION.

_Dr. Todd_, Physician to King’s College Hospital, was then called.

“Dr. Julius,” he said, “told him the nature of the case before he
saw the deceased, but not his suspicions. When he saw her he noticed
a peculiar expression of countenance—an expression of terror, as
though she were under the influence of some one, and that was not
in accordance with the appearance of a patient suffering under
an ordinary disease. The abdomen was very hard—an indication of
extensive inflammation in the stomach—and he was at once under the
impression that she was suffering from some irritant poison. By
witness’s desire an evacuation was obtained, and he directed Dr.
Julius to make up the sulphate of copper and opium pills to allay
irritation. He had never known any bad effect produced by these
medicines, and did not think it could produce a burning sensation
in the throat and stomach. If the disease had been diarrhœa, the
medicines administered by Dr. Julius were the proper ones.”

_Sergeant Ballantine._—“From all you have heard of this case, what in
your opinion was the cause of this lady’s death?”

_Dr. Todd._—“_I believe that her death was caused by the
administration of some irritant poison, such as arsenic, antimony, or
corrosive sublimate. The only natural disease that would account for
the symptoms is what would be called acute dysentery._”

On _cross-examination, Dr. Todd_ said:—

“I have never known any case or cases of early pregnancy of a woman of
about forty to forty-five years of age in which there has been violent
vomiting, violent diarrhœa, and severe dysentery, which no ordinary
medicines would stop, and in which the life of the mother has only
been saved by the abortion of the fœtus. No such cases have come under
my cognizance. I think it possible that excessive vomiting and great
diarrhœa may be caused by the early stage of pregnancy, and symptoms
somewhat allied to those under which this lady died; _but I think it
quite impossible that pregnancy alone, in an early stage, or in any
stage, could, produce extensive ulceration of the bowels_. _I think,
where it is a doubtful case, it is conclusive evidence against the
theory that the symptoms were caused by early pregnancy that you found
such extensive ulceration as existed in this case._”

_Dr. Buzzard_, who had been a staff-surgeon in the Crimea, _Dr.
Copland_, and _Dr. Bowerbank_, who had had great experience of acute
dysentery in tropical climates, gave it as their opinion that the
symptoms were not reconcileable with that disease, but were those
of the presence of irritant poison. _Dr. Babington_, Physician to
Queen Charlotte’s Lying-in Hospital, who had attended more than 2,000
women in their confinement, did not consider that the death was in
any way attributable to the fact of her being in an incipient state
of pregnancy. On _cross-examination_, whilst admitting that cases
of violent vomiting and diarrhœa in early pregnancy are recorded,
said that he did not remember any one of so severe a character as to
endanger life; that he did not think that the lady’s advanced stage of
life had anything to do with it; that it was a complication generally
at a later period of pregnancy; and that a first pregnancy between
40 and 45 years of age was not more critical in the early stage. On
_re-examination_, with reference to six cases of dysentery, in 1841, in
which he had made _post-mortem_ examinations, he said:—

“There was not the same amount of sloughing of the _cæcum_ as in this
case, nor destruction of the mucous membrane. The glands were in a
different condition. In the dysentery cases, the glands were quite
destroyed, and in three of the cases there was perforation of the
intestine. The symptoms in all six were different to those in this
case; there was no burning sensation of the throat.”

ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE.

_Dr. Alfred Swaine Taylor._—“On the 1st of May,” said the witness,
“Mr. Buzzard called on me, and brought me two bottles, which he said
contained matters he wished me to examine. I took about two drachms
from one of these bottles (No. 2), and having first examined the
test and the vessel to be employed, and ascertained that they were
pure, I then made the test, and discovered a metallic deposit on the
copper wire, which, in my opinion, indicated the presence of arsenic
or antimony; but I could not speak to the exact metal. I did not
proceed further at that time, as I desired to have the authority of
a magistrate. Bottle No. 2 was then resealed in my presence by Mr.
Buzzard, and taken away by him with bottle No. 1. After he left, as I
was told that it was necessary to do something to save the life of a
living person, though it was Sunday, I proceeded with my experiment by
boiling copper gauze in the remainder of the liquid in the tube, and
on examining it with a microscope, saw appearances closely resembling
metallic arsenic; and I then heated a portion of the gauze covered
with metal in a tube, and obtained crystals of arsenic (wire gauze
with the crystals on it produced). If you take the tube out, under the
microscope the crystals are perfectly clear; in this little sediment,
if you put it against a dark cloth, you will see a little ring of
crystals—it is quite plain in the sun light. I subsequently applied
the test of nitrate of silver and nitric acid to crystals obtained
in the same way, and the result convinced me that they were composed
of arsenic. Next day Dr. Buzzard brought back the bottles with the
magistrate’s order. I then proceeded with the examination of both
bottles, and the result perfectly satisfied me that I was correct in
discovering arsenic in bottle 2. My calculation was that there must
have been at least a quarter of a grain mixed with the four ounces of
matter in bottle 2.[173] There was no trace of mercury, bismuth, or
antimony, but I did discover the presence of copper by a subsequent
test; but only such a trace of it as might be accounted for from the
copper pill taken on the 29th. I examined the evacuation, and came to
the conclusion that it was such as would pass from a person who had
taken arsenic, and I immediately advised that the antidote for arsenic,
hydrate of magnesia, should be administered. I subsequently examined
the other bottle, and found that it did not contain any poison or any
metallic matter whatever.

“On the 5th and 7th of May Inspector McIntyre brought me a portion
of the viscera of a human being, which I subsequently submitted to
chemical examination. The officer also gave me a number of bottles, and
several pill boxes which I numbered, and subsequently some more. There
were altogether twenty-eight; and on the 14th of May others which I
also numbered. In none of the twenty-eight, omitting Nos. 5 and 21, did
I discover anything at all necessary you should be acquainted with. I
examined them for arsenic. I then examined the bottles containing the
viscera:—first, the _uterus_, which I did not analyse, but agree with
Mr. Barwell as to its impregnation; then the _œsophagus_, or gullet,
in which there were indications of some cause of irritation, but no
arsenic or antimony; _then the_ stomach, _containing yellowish fluid
with blood, and found antimony in two distinct places in the small
intestines; the middle portion of the small intestines contained the
largest quantity, the other part was above and below; some was found
above and below that and some in the_ cæcum; _altogether the amount
found in the stomach was very small. In one kidney and in the blood
of the heart there were traces of antimony, and in the blood in the
jar_. I was assisted by Dr. Odling, and we came to the conclusion that
the quantity did not exceed from a quarter to half a grain. I found
the appearance of the stomach and _cæcum_ such as Mr. Barwell has
described. I then examined the medicines prescribed by Dr. Julius, and
found them to contain the ingredients of which they were represented
to be composed. I then examined bottle No. 5, and found it to contain
355 grains of chlorate of potash, and free from anything else. That
bottle has been accidentally broken in half. I then examined another
bottle, No. 21, which appeared to contain a clear watery liquid of a
saline taste, and I tested a portion of the contents by Reintsch’s
test, and upon first trying the copper it was entirely consumed.[174]
I made a further examination which led me to conclude that there
was arsenic in the solution, but it turned out that I was mistaken,
and that it did not contain either arsenic or antimony, and that the
arsenical appearances originally produced came from the copper gauze.
By the destruction of the gauze the arsenic in it was set free, and
this destroyed the effect of the experiment. _The quantity of arsenic
that I discovered, I should say, was less than half a grain._ In the
experiment I made with this bottle, the arsenic was deposited by
myself. Dr. Odling also came to the same conclusion—that the bottle
contained arsenic, and we both stated that fact in our examination
before the magistrates and the coroner, but we were, of course,
mistaken. We believed, no doubt, at the time, that the arsenic we
found was in the bottle which contained chlorate of potash—a cooling
mixture. I have used the same description of gauze for many years, and
have never before found arsenic in it. I shall certainly continue to
use it, but shall take care not to do so with chlorate of potass.”

_Serjeant Parry_ here called for the deposition of Dr. Taylor made
before the magistrates, a portion of which was read. It stated that he
had discovered arsenic in bottle No. 21, in which there was chlorate
of potass; that the latter was a harmless saline mixture acting upon
the kidneys, and that if poison had been given in it, its effect would
probably be to carry off the noxious ingredient from the body very
quickly, but that by repetition constantly of such a proceeding chronic
inflammation would be created which would yield to no treatment, and
would end in the death of the patient from exhaustion.

_Dr. Taylor_ then continued:—

“At the time I gave this evidence I firmly believed that arsenic was
contained in the mixture and that it had not come from my test, but
had been placed there by some one. When before the coroner I expressed
my opinion that the death was referable to antimony and arsenic.
_The finding of the arsenic in the bottle did not have any effect
upon the opinion I subsequently formed with reference to the case._
The moment I discovered the mistake I had made I informed Serjeant
Ballantine. No arsenic was found in the body of deceased. I did not
form my theory to account for the absence of arsenic from the tissues
of the body, that it had been carried off by the chlorate of potass.
It did not enter into my consideration beyond this, that it acts
generally as a diuretic. After Dr. Odling and myself had given our
evidence relative to finding the arsenic in the bottle of chlorate of
potass, we thought it was possible there might be some mistake, and
we made other experiments to satisfy ourselves. We made seventy-seven
experiments with the same kind of gauze, and in seventy-six no arsenic
was discovered: and the only instance in which it was found was in
the evacuation in bottle 2.” The witness also said that he could
not, after hearing the symptoms and the treatment of the deceased,
attribute the death to any other cause than the administration of some
irritant poison.

This witness was also cross-examined at considerable length as to the
symptoms of slow poisoning by arsenic and by antimony, in which he
agreed with the previous witnesses, adding to their evidence the fact
of its operation in causing enlargement of the liver, and the deposit
of fat in it. Hence the use of sulphide of antimony to fatten the geese
used in Strasburg, in the manufacture of Perigord Pies. On the subject
of dysentery he could not speak, having ceased to practise as a medical
man, and confined his attention to analyses.

On _re-examination, Dr. Taylor_ said that “the half grain of copper,
given in the pill during life, would not by any action of any acid
in the stomach account for the quantity of arsenic found in the
evacuation; that he had examined and found no arsenic in the copper
pills; and that though arsenic was found in the sulphate of copper
taken from the surgery, there was not a quantity to be seen; there was
no arsenic in the bismuth, and no antimony in the medicines. Arsenic is
sometimes found in bismuth.”

_Dr. Odling_, Professor of Practical Chemistry at Guy’s Hospital, who
had assisted Dr. Taylor in his experiments, 2ì”confirmed Dr. Taylor’s
account in every respect, and expressed himself satisfied that there
was antimony in the body of the deceased. He agreed also in attributing
the death to the administration of some irritant poison, and did not
know any natural disease that would account for the symptoms spoken
of.”

_William Thomas Brande_, formerly Professor of Chemistry to the Royal
Institution, and for fifty years engaged in the practice of chemistry,
“had examined a portion of the liquid (the chlorate of potass), and
come to the conclusion that it did not contain arsenic. Reinsch’s test
for arsenic was reliable where chlorate of potass was not present.”
“Our first object,” said the witness, on cross-examination, “was to get
rid of the chlorate of potass, or to decompose it so as to render it
inert, which we did; and we then examined the liquid in question, and
found no arsenic in it.”

_To the Court._—“I was not aware that Reinsch’s test would be
inapplicable to such a compound, and if I had applied it, and the
result appeared as it did to Drs. Taylor and Odling, I should have
come to the same conclusion, that there was arsenic in the substance.
_The matter that has appeared since is to a certain extent new to the
chemical world. We have always been aware of the presence of very
minute quantities of arsenic in copper, but we have never considered
it as interfering in any way until this particular case._”[175]

MEDICAL AND ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE FOR THE DEFENCE.

It will be convenient, as in the previous trials, to report at this
period the medical and analytical evidence offered on the part of the
prisoner, subsequent to the address of Serjeant Parry. This was devoted
to the following points: (1), the absence of some of the well-known
symptoms in slow poisoning by arsenic or antimony, or by both; (2), the
similarity of the symptoms in this case to those exhibited in cases of
acute dysentery; (3), the occurrence of severe diarrhœa, with vomiting
in the _early_ stages of pregnancy; (4), that the non-discovery of
either arsenic or antimony in the tissues of the body could not be due
to its being given in, or with chlorate of potass; (5), the probability
that both the arsenic and the antimony found in the evacuations and
intestines might be due to the presence of arsenic in the bismuth, and
of antimony in the grey powders administered as medicines. In support
of these opinions four doctors and analysts, all belonging to what
was known as the Grosvenor School of Medicine, were examined, two of
whom (Dr. Richardson and Mr. Rodgers) had given evidence for Palmer at
his trial, Dr. Richardson then suggesting that Cook’s symptoms were
reconcileable with an attack of _Angina pectoris_, and Mr. Rodgers
supporting the view that if strychnia had been given to Cook, it must
have been discovered in his body by chemical analysis.

_Dr. Richardson_, after generally asserting that the symptoms in Miss
Bankes’ case were not in the main reconcileable with either slow
arsenical or antimonial poisoning, or both, enumerated the following as
absent if it was a case of slow antimonial and arsenical poisoning:—

“1st, the inflammation of the conjunctival membrane of the eye; 2nd,
soreness of the inner surface of the nostril; 3rd, a skin disease
peculiar to arsenical poisoning; 4th, excoriation, amounting to
absolute destruction, possibly, of the surface at the orifice of the
mucous tracts, the mouth, the anus, the lips, and the vagina—and,
lastly, and, in his opinion, the most important, the absence of
the peculiar nervous symptoms which he should expect to find
which characterise arsenical poisoning—frequent convulsions of a
violent kind, in many cases; or in others, where the symptoms may
be prolonged, tremor of the whole limbs, a suppressed convulsion in
fact. _Although he should not expect to find all these symptoms in a
case of arsenical poisoning, he believed it to be quite impossible
that a case of arsenical poisoning could exist from which they would
all be absent._—The results of the _post-mortem_” he said, “were
inconsistent with arsenical poisoning, because the inflammation that
would establish it was most demonstrated in the part ordinarily
most free in such poisoning—that, had it been a case of arsenical
poisoning, arsenic must have been found in the tissues, and, had it
been given in chlorate of potass, the whole of it would not have been
eliminated. He based this opinion on an experiment he had lately made
on a large dog, to which in sixteen days he had given 18 grains of
arsenic and 365 of chlorate of potass, in small doses, two or three
times a day, and then killed and examined and chemically analysed in
conjunction with Dr. Thudichum and Dr. Webb, two of the witnesses for
the defence. In this animal he found arsenic in the liver, lungs, and
heart, a trace in the spleen and in the kidneys, but the greater part
in the liver. He could venture to say that he found half a grain.”

_The Judge._—“_Give me leave to say, that the value of this
experiment is nothing if you give a dog arsenic day by day for sixteen
days, and then it is killed, and some arsenic is found left in it; is
that all it proves?_”

_Witness._—“_No; it was done to prove whether the chlorate would
eliminate the arsenic as fast as it was given._”

_The Judge._—“_All that the experiment proves is, that chlorate
of potass does not eliminate the whole of the arsenic, because it
eliminated all but half a grain._”

The witness then went on to show, by experiments on two other dogs,
that the administration of chlorate made no difference either as
regards symptoms, pathology, or the chemical result. Speaking again of
the sweating as one of the symptoms in antimonial poisoning absent in
Miss Bankes’ case, _he admitted that he had seen it only in one case,
and that, where it had been given in excess, for a long time, and in
large doses medicinally, and that in two other cases of acute poisoning
by antimony there was no particular eruption, because, as he said, the
attack was not long enough_. Such was all the experience he had had in
cases of slow poisoning. As to the effects of antimony on the liver,
he could only speak from some experiments on animals in 1856-7, and
that, in reality, he had no experience at all in slow poisoning, except
from experiments on animals. Of dysentery, too, he knew very little;
had seen two or three cases, _but had never met with it in the early
stage of pregnancy; he had met with one between the third and fourth
month, but not between the fifth and seventh week_. He had analysed the
bismuth usually administered in medicine, and had found nearly half
a grain of arsenic in an ounce, and, in a case in which 90 grains of
that drug had been given at the rate of 5 grains three times a day—for
dyspepsia—with Drs. Thudichum and Webb he found about the fiftieth of
a grain of arsenic in the urine.

The _cross-examination_ of this witness was mainly occupied by
questions about his evidence on Palmer’s trial, and in trying to
elicit from him that these canine experiments had been made for the
purposes of the present case. The latter he denied, but admitted that
he had made them after reading the examinations before the magistrate
and the coroner, and that though he did not communicate them to the
prisoner, he talked about them so frequently to his colleagues at
the Grosvenor School, that he was not surprised at being interviewed
by the prisoner’s solicitor and asked to give evidence for his
client. As to his evidence on Palmer’s trial, he maintained that
he did not endorse the theory that Cook died of _Angina pectoris_;
that he did not negative the idea of strychnia, but at last admitted
that he could not deny that he went there to support the theory of
_Angina pectoris_.[176] In the cases of the dogs his analysis was
not quantitative: he was content with the fact that the arsenic was
present. He negatived the idea that the ¼ of a grain of copper in the
pill would produce a burning sensation from the mouth to the anus, _but
admitted that any irritant given for a long time would unquestionably
produce that effect_. The form of dysentery to which a lady with such
a liver as Miss Bankes’ would be subject, would be subacute, not that
arising from poison, but which is prolonged over a very considerable
time: not chronic, but something between chronic and acute, but too
severe to be strictly chronic; that would not harden the coats of the
stomach; would produce a great deal of mischief in the bowels; would
not thicken them, but probably lead to a deposit of false membrane:
it would not harden them, but a false membrane would; if there was
great congestion, the wall would be thicker. He had not acted as an
accoucheur since 1854, but was of opinion that sickness accompanied by
dysenteric diarrhœa, in the early stage of pregnancy, might have been
the cause of all the appearances exhibited in this case. Diarrhœa was
sometimes an incident of and caused by pregnancy; the opposite effect,
constipation, was not more usual.

On _re-examination_, the witness qualified his admission as to the
effect of the copper pill to this extent, that, “in a patient suffering
from violent irritation, arising either from a natural or mechanical
cause, sulphate of copper would have a tendency to increase that
irritation; and he justified his reliance on the experiments on animals
on their forming the great bulk of scientific knowledge in Europe on
the subject of poisons and their operation on the human frame, and
by the fact that the materials for forming a judgment of the effects
of slow antimonial poisoning on the human subject were very bare,”
and concluded by saying, that, “after his cross-examination, and his
attention having been called to all the points deemed important, he
still adhered to his opinion that the deceased lady might have died
from natural causes.”

_Dr. J. E. D. Rodgers_, Professor of Chemistry in Knowle College, but
for seventeen years at the Grosvenor School, agreed with Dr. Richardson
that chlorate of potass would have no effect in eliminating arsenic or
antimony from the human system; that the absence of arsenic or antimony
from the tissues, and especially from the liver, would cause him to
doubt whether the allegation of poisoning was correct, and that he did
not think it possible to find it in the blood and not in the liver,
“as the blood in the heart must be regarded as a sample of the whole
28 lbs. circulating in the system, and, if you find the poison in one
small portion, you must find it wherever the blood flows.” He confirmed
the amount of arsenic said to be in bismuth, and had found antimony
in grey powder: should expect to find, in a case of slow poisoning,
the symptoms spoken to by Dr. Richardson, and, if he did not find any
arsenic in a body from which an evacuation containing one-sixth of a
grain came, it would lead him to doubt whether the experiment had been
correct.

_Dr. J. L. W. Thudichum_, Lecturer on Chemistry at the Grosvenor
School, and a pupil of Liebig’s, attributed the death to what he
called _diphtheritic dysentery_, of which he had seen two cases,
and, on opening the body in one case, found the false membrane from
which the disease takes its name. The only medical work in which he
had seen this form of dysentery described was _Rokitansky’s Morbid
Anatomy_.[177] It was not, however, at all necessary to find the false
membrane, as it might be broken up and discharged, and hearing that
shreddy matters were found in the evacuations, would confirm his view.
He quite concurred with the previous witnesses as to the symptoms
they would expect to find in a case of slow arsenical or antimonial
poisoning. He had analysed grey powder and bismuth. In the former he
found caustic and carbonate of lime, mercury partly oxidised, silica,
with phosphate of iron, arsenic and antimony—more arsenic than
antimony; in the bismuth he found both arsenic and antimony—more than
a trace—enough to answer the test two or three times—an appreciable
quantity. “I dare say,” he said, “there was half a grain in 20 grains.
It is almost necessary, from the mode of its preparation, that it
should contain arsenic.”

On _cross-examination_, the witness admitted that he had not made any
quantitative analysis, because they were so laborious; had used in his
experiment about one-sixteenth of 2 ounces of the grey powder, which
he dissolved; neither the grey powder nor the bismuth had anything to
do with the death of Miss Bankes, but the fact of bismuth containing
arsenic might account for the traces in the evacuation, and if antimony
was taken in a medicine it might account for the analysis, but this
would depend upon the quantity in the medicine.

_Dr. Cornelius Webb_, Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology
at the Grosvenor School, and Physician to the Great Northern Hospital,
said:—

“From all he had heard deposed to in court he was of opinion that the
deceased died from natural causes that might be accounted for—that
the fact of her being in an early state of pregnancy ought most
decidedly to be taken into consideration; _though he did not know
of a case, he was of opinion, founded on practical experience and
general knowledge, that severe vomiting and severe diarrhœa which
would not yield to ordinary treatment may arise from an early state
of pregnancy—that Miss Bankes died from dysentery, made worse by the
condition of early pregnancy, and that a burning sensation in the
mouth is consequent upon dysentery, and the diarrhœa and vomiting
of pregnancy. All the symptoms in her case might arise from the
vomiting and diarrhœa of pregnancy_. The ulceration in the stomach,
obliteration and partial destruction of the mucous membrane, the
effusion of blood under it, and the dark patchy spots and ulcers and
injection generally of the membrane might, as Dr. Wilkes said, arise
from dysentery. If the deceased at one time had an affection of the
womb, for which she used nitrate of silver (a pint bottle of this
was found in her room), it would indicate ulceration of the neck
of the womb; and if there had been such a condition of the womb an
appreciable time before pregnancy, it might add to the irritation of
pregnancy. Unless he found other symptoms, the vomiting, diarrhœa,
sensation of the throat and the intestinal canal, accompanied by
ulcerous appearances in parts of the body, would not, in his judgment,
necessarily lead to the conclusion that she must be the subject of
irritant poisoning—unless he found other symptoms, it would not enter
his head. In a case of antimonial poisoning he should expect to find a
clamminess and cold perspiration of the skin. In arsenical poisoning
he should expect to find arsenic in the kidneys and the spleen, as
well as the liver; should expect to find it in the liver first—it
is the great criterion. And from the absence of these symptoms and
appearances in this case, he was fortified in his opinion that she
died from natural causes.”

The _cross-examination_ of this witness was mainly directed to his
assertion that, “in such a case as this, had he been called in at its
early stage, notwithstanding he was told that she was not pregnant, and
that her courses were in order, he should have examined the patient for
pregnancy, especially if he found that the remedies were useless in
stopping the vomiting and diarrhœa.”

“Dysentery,” he said, “was a most common disease, and in such a state
as Miss Bankes was, the quarter-of-a-grain copper pill might increase
the irritation. Diphtheritic dysentery was a form of idiopathic
dysentery, that is, occurring without any particular poison—the
Eastern form; there is a dysentery that arises from natural poison,
just the same as fever. If I had been acquainted with all the symptoms
I have heard described in court, I should not have dreamt of poison.”

_Dr. G. F. Girdwood_, who had delivered upwards of 3,000 women,
strongly supported the view of the death being due to the effects of
dysentery, combined with pregnancy. “Idiopathic dysentery would be
its proper name—a special disease originating in itself, one single
malady, one single suffering. He had had several cases of dysentery
at early stages of pregnancy, one of them very severe, in fact,
contemporaneous with it—he should say symptomatic of pregnancy: this
would be much aggravated by a bilious temperament, and any affection of
the liver.”

On _cross-examination_ the witness explained that “in this country
idiopathic dysentery assumed a less severe form than in warm
climates—was what is called subacute or chronic, and that the state
of the cæcum indicated a case of _subacute, not of severe dysentery,
of prolonged dysentery_, and that it did not necessarily follow that
such a case should commence with febrile symptoms.” On re-examination
he stated, that “in early pregnancy the dysenteric motions have become
bloody, the sign of dysentery which may come on immediately or not;
in a day or two in acute dysentery, the result of neglected diarrhœa.
_Subacute dysentery_ is frequently the result of neglected diarrhœa,
or chronic dysentery—you have acute, subacute, and chronic.”

_Mr. James Edmunds_, Surgeon to the Royal Maternity Charity, cited
a case in his own practice of a woman of about forty years of age,
who had been married ten or twelve years, and who in her pregnancy
suffered from vomiting, purging, and severe pain in her abdomen,
and who, from the _post-mortem_ examination which he made, he was
convinced died of dysentery, complicated by vomiting and irritability
of the stomach attributable to pregnancy, and purging attributable to
dysentery. “Purging,” he said, “was often a symptom at an early stage
of pregnancy, and often of impending labour.”

On _cross-examination_, however, he admitted that when he first
attended this woman, _when the symptoms first began, she had been
pregnant five or six months_.

_Dr. Tyler Smith_, the last medical witness called for the defence, in
practice for fifteen years as an accoucheur, said that

“He was acquainted with cases in which excessive vomiting in pregnancy
had caused death—where it went on after pregnancy had commenced,
sometimes during the whole period, but these were exceptional cases.
It would require considerable skill to determine accurately the age
of a fœtus, as you may have a case in which it may die and remain _in
utero_ without development, though no decomposition takes place. He
had known one case in which there was a great amount of vomiting and
some amount of purging, in which the friends of the lady could not
be brought to believe that her husband was not poisoning her. These
symptoms might become so violent as to be mistaken for a case of
poisoning; the expression on the face in such cases was that of death
by starvation.”

On _cross-examination_, he admitted that though he had seen cases of
death in pregnancy from vomiting conjoined with purging, he believed
the vomiting to be the great cause of death, and that ordinarily, if
dysentery is excessive, abortion is produced. On _re-examination_, he
said “that in the case of a woman of from forty to forty-five years
of age, doses of irritant poison were more likely to procure abortion
than idiopathic disease.” To a question by a juryman, he said, “any
irritating medicine would tend to keep up dysentery.”

With the evidence of a dentist (Pedley) who had attended the prisoner
about the middle of February last, and recommended the use of chlorate
of potass for foulness of breath, the evidence for the defence was
closed.

THE JUDGE’S CHARGE.

_The Lord Chief Baron_, in his address to the jury, which occupied
eight hours and a half, and of which, therefore, only the leading
points can be given, said:—

“As to the marriage of the prisoner and the deceased—though in
itself a breach of the law and a felony—the jury ought not to allow
it to have any weight, excepting so far as it operated, with the
other facts in the case, upon the question whether the prisoner was
guilty or innocent of the more serious crime laid to his charge.
It appeared to him that it was a most important subject for their
consideration—the position of the deceased at the time the fatal
event occurred, and also what she believed to be her position with
the prisoner. In the letter she wrote to her sister she stated she
was happy, and she also told her sister when she first saw her during
her illness, that when she got well all would be right. What did she
mean by that expression, and what would have become of the prisoner
if she had got well, he having a wife living? In the will that had
been made by the deceased, she appeared to have been studiously called
‘spinster,’ and she signed her name, ‘Isabella Bankes,’ and how she
could have done this, knowing that she had gone through the ceremony
of marriage with the prisoner, and might, therefore, naturally have
supposed herself entitled to the name of ‘Smethurst,’ was certainly
a very mysterious and extraordinary circumstance.[178] He could not
help observing on the circumstances under which the will was made. The
prisoner had certainly told Mr. Senior a falsehood, and he did not
appear to scruple to degrade most seriously the unhappy lady for the
purpose of having the will prepared in the form he required. If he
had told the attorney the truth, he would never have drawn the will
in the form in which it appeared. Again, at the very period when this
unhappy woman was lying in agony on her death-bed, and according to
the prisoner’s statement unable to bear the excitement of seeing her
sister, he took into her room on the Sunday an entire stranger, and
there a will prepared by himself was read to her, and executed by her
under the circumstances of degradation to which he had alluded. Thus
this poor dying woman, from whom all her relations had been excluded,
had a stranger thrust into her presence, and was allowed to pass into
the other world without one word of religious consolation, as if she
had been a beggar and an unbeliever in a heathen land. Again, as to
the pecuniary motive, on the supposed inadequacy of which counsel
had commented because she would have been entitled to receive the
interest of the £5000 (£150) only during her lifetime, it should not
be forgotten that by her will he would be at once in the possession of
a sum equal to twelve years’ purchase of that dividend.”

“The illness of the deceased appeared to have commenced very soon
after the parties arrived at Richmond; the prisoner appeared to have
described it as a bilious attack; he undoubtedly appeared desirous
to have additional medical aid, and Dr. Julius was in consequence
called in. In both the lodgings he appeared to have performed all the
offices that were necessary in connection with the patient, although
it was perfectly clear that he had ample means for providing the
necessary attendance. The jury would consider what bearing this had
on the case. Did he refuse to have a nurse because he did not wish to
have a witness in that bedroom? He not only refused to have a nurse,
but he wrote to the deceased’s sister to prevent her from visiting
her sister. He said that he could not afford a nurse, yet at this
very time the deceased had an income of at least £220 a year. It also
appeared that no portion of any of the food given to the deceased
was allowed to remain; it was always thrown away, so that no person
ever had an opportunity of tasting it. This was one of the facts of
the case, from which the jury would draw their own inference. It was
a fact in favour of the prisoner that neither arsenic nor antimony
was found at his lodgings or on his person. He had, however, ample
opportunity between his discharge on the Monday and his re-arrest
on the following day, of getting rid of any poison, and if the jury
thought that the deceased really died of poison, the fact that none
was found in the prisoner’s possession would not have much weight.

“After the first interview, the prisoner had taken every means in his
power to prevent the deceased from seeing her sister, on the ground
that the doctor forbade it[179]—which was not true. Why was not the
sister informed on the 30th, when she was allowed to see the deceased
again, that she had made a will, and what could be the object of the
prisoner in wishing that the young woman who was to witness the will
should be told it was a ‘Chancery paper’ and not a will? The fact of
the sister having been sent away on the day before the death, was
probably more in connection with the will, and from fear lest the
deceased should, at the last moment, revoke it in favour of a beloved
sister, than with the actual death—but it was a fact in the case. It
was also a fact in the case, that after the prisoner ceased to attend
on the deceased she ceased to vomit, and that the prisoner said that
as the parties about the deceased had interfered, he should take no
further responsibility, nor pay for anything, though at that time
he had money of the deceased’s at his bankers.[180] It was another
fact to be considered that the draft of the will was entirely in the
prisoner’s handwriting, and that there was no evidence that it was
drawn by a barrister as he represented.”

On the medical testimony, the _Chief Baron_ said:—

“The medical witnesses called for the defence thought the symptoms of
this case inconsistent with slow poisoning, and that had arsenic or
antimony been the cause of death, some portions of those substances
would have been found in the body.[181] These statements were,
however, the opinions of scientific men, the result of reading
and study, and the jury would have to consider how far it weighed
against the evidence of those scientific witnesses who had seen the
patient when living, and had observed personally all the symptoms
that manifested themselves. The medical men first called in found
themselves baffled by the disease; the medicines not only did not
alleviate the symptoms, but did not produce even their natural
effects. They, therefore, came to the conclusion that something was
being administered which counteracted their medicines. Dr. Todd, one
of the most eminent physicians of the day, was called in, and came to
the same conclusion. These gentlemen, and other competent witnesses,
who had not seen the patient while living, were equally of opinion
that the symptoms were not ascribable to any natural causes; but were
those which would arise from the administration of an irritant poison.
The counsel for the prisoner had laid much stress upon the mistake
made by Dr. Taylor in one of his tests, and asked them to dismiss Dr.
Taylor’s evidence from their consideration. He did not agree with
this. The failure of Dr. Taylor’s analysis in one instance arose
from a new and hitherto unknown fact in science, and did not in any
way invalidate his testimony.[182] It appeared to him that no answer
had been given to the main point urged by the prosecution—that no
medicine whatever had the slightest effect upon the malady under which
the deceased was suffering. _He did not agree with the prisoner’s
counsel, that the real question for the jury was to consider which set
of medical witnesses were entitled to credit. The medical evidence was
important, but the jury must, in addition, look at all the other facts
of the case, and particularly to the conduct of the prisoner and the
motives for his crime._ They must, after all, be guided by those rules
of common sense that would operate on the minds of reasonable men
with regard to the more important actions of their lives; _and even
supposing that there were no medical testimony at all in the case,
they would still have, as it appeared to him, a very grave question to
decide with reference to the guilt or innocence of the prisoner_.”

The jury, after deliberating for twenty minutes, returned a verdict
of “Guilty.” When the prisoner, who appeared thunder-struck at the
verdict, was called upon to say why sentence of death should not be
passed on him, he speedily recovered his self-possession, and addressed
the Court in a powerful, though rambling speech, in which he attempted
to explain away some portions of his conduct, strongly asserted his
innocence, and denounced Dr. Julius, against whom he appeared to
entertain a bitter animosity. Again, when the usual sentence had been
passed upon him, which he heard without emotion, he denounced Dr.
Julius as his murderer, and declared that “he was innocent before God.”

No sooner was the verdict given than its correctness was questioned
alike by the legal and the medical profession, each discussing it
within its own domain, the doctors confining themselves too exclusively
to the conflict of medical testimony, the lawyers confining their
disputes too exclusively to the collateral facts of the case. Such,
however, was the discussion between the two professions, that the Home
Secretary (Sir G. Cornewall Lewis) deemed it advisable to reprieve the
culprit until the case had undergone deliberate revision.

By the account given by Mr. Justice Stephen, based on the notes and
papers of the late Lord Chief Baron, it would appear that, in addition
to the numerous letters (some very foolish on both sides) sent to him,
and transmitted by him to the Home Secretary, two communications,
described as “somewhat hastily prepared,” were forwarded from _Dr.
Baly_ and _Dr. Jenner_. These urged that “sufficient weight had not
been given to the fact of the pregnancy and the ambiguous character of
the symptoms,” and, some of the letters added, “their inconsistency
and incompatibility with poison.” As the reasons on which these
“somewhat hastily prepared communications” were based are not divulged,
it is impossible to judge of their value. The learned Judge, on the
contrary, called the Home Secretary’s attention to the statement in
the memorial to the Prince Consort (already quoted, note, p. 474), to
certain entries in Smethurst’s diary, not proved at the trial, and
not now given, showing that he had wilfully misstated the symptoms of
the patient, and to a statement in a letter of _Mr. Herapath_ in the
_Times_ that the quantity of arsenic extracted from the chlorate of
potass was larger than could have been released from the copper gauze.
(See Chapter IX. p. 509.) On receiving this report the Home Secretary
referred the whole of the documents, together with the copy of the
evidence, to Sir B. Brodie. His reply, which, it is reported, dealt
not only with the medical, but the moral evidence of Smethurst’s
guilt,[183] concluded in these words: “Taking into consideration all
that I have stated, I own that the impression on my mind is that there
is not absolute and complete evidence of Smethurst’s guilt.” Thus on
evidence not subjected to the searching cross-examination which it
could have received if produced at the trial, and the opinion of a most
eminent surgeon (not an analyst) merely on reading the papers submitted
to him, the prisoner was pardoned. “The responsibility,” says Judge
Stephen, “was thus shifted from those on whom it properly rested on
to a man, who, however skilful and learned as a surgeon, was neither
juryman nor judge.”[184]

THE LIVERPOOL POISONING CASE.

TRIAL OF THOMAS WINSLOW FOR THE WILFUL MURDER OF ANN JAMES.

_Before_ BARON MARTIN, NORTHERN CIRCUIT, LIVERPOOL, _August 20, 1860_.

* * * * *

_For the Prosecution_: The Attorney-General for the County Palatine
(Mr. Bliss, Q.C.), Mr. Aspinall, _and_ Mr. Temple.

_For the Defence_: Mr. Digby Seymour, Q.C. for the County Palatine,
Mr. Fenwick, _and_ Mr. Little.

HISTORY OF THE CASE.

The prisoner, who had been an ironworker, was charged with the murder
of Ann James, by aggravating the disease of the _cæcum_, under which
she was suffering, through the administration of minute doses of
antimony. Mrs. James came to Liverpool from Devonshire, in 1854,
whither she was soon followed by her sister Eliza, her sister’s husband
a Mr. Townsend, an invalid, three nephews, and a niece, who was married
to a japanner of the name of Cafferata. Commencing business as a
grocer, she had subsequently kept an eating-house, which was eventually
turned into a night refreshment and registered lodging-house, of which
the prisoner, one of her lodgers, had taken the active management.
Between him and the Townsends it was evident that no good feeling
existed. They were jealous of his influence over their aunt, and
suspicious of the intimate relations that existed between them. One of
the nephews, Martin, who had caused her much trouble and expense from
frequently enlisting in and having to be bought out of the army, acted
as baker to the shop, but, with that exception, the Townsends had no
share in the business. Previous to the last illness of their aunt, her
sister, lately left a widow, and the other two nephews, died suddenly,
as it was found afterwards, under very suspicious circumstances. No
investigation, however, was made in their cases, until after the aunt’s
death.

Mrs. James had prospered in her business: according to her own account,
the prisoner had made it. Her stock-in-trade and the goodwill were
worth between £200 and £300: she had four gas shares, valued at £200,
and £130 in the savings bank, at the time of her death. An authority
for the withdrawal of the money from the savings bank, the holograph of
the prisoner, was found in a drawer, and during her last illness the
prisoner had gone to the gas company to try and get the shares entered
in his own name, and been told that it could not be done without a
proper transfer, or by will. On this he got the solicitor of the
gas company to see Mrs. James and draw her will. This the solicitor
did, no one but himself and his clerk being present, and by it the
business and stock-in-trade were left to the prisoner, and the rest
of the property divided equally between Mrs. Cafferata and her child,
and the nephew Martin, the prisoner being appointed sole executor. On
the 5th of February, Mrs. James was so ill that the prisoner called
in Dr. Cameron, Physician to the Liverpool Southern Hospital, who
found her in bed, suffering from bowel complaint, and a tumour in the
abdomen, which he believed to be cancer, and very weak and prostrate.
He prescribed for her, and desired to be sent for again if she became
worse. On the 26th of that month the prisoner wrote to Mrs. Cafferata
at Manchester to come at once if she wished to see her aunt alive.
She came and stayed with her for a fortnight, sleeping in the same
bed, in the back parlour, of which the prisoner had the key at night.
During Mrs. James’s illness her food was prepared by her servants, and
brought to her room generally at night by the prisoner, who was very
attentive, and showed great interest in her condition. On the 29th of
March, Dr. Cameron was sent for again, and found her symptoms similar
to those he had seen on his first visit. Again, on the 8th of May he
saw her, when she was suffering under a violent attack of purging and
vomiting, but, as regarded these effects, was convalescent by the 19th.
On the 25th, however, he found her again very ill, and for the first
time, from the symptoms, suspected that some foreign ingredient, some
irritating substance, such as antimony, had been given to her. Mrs.
Cafferata had again been sent for to attend on her aunt. Dr. Cameron
prescribed tannin as an antidote, and on the 6th of June Mrs. James
was again convalescent. Two days after, however, the same bad symptoms
reappeared, and she became exceedingly prostrate. Some of her urine and
excretions were obtained and handed to Dr. Edwards for analysis, and
its results communicated to Dr. Cameron, who, in consequence, went to
her house on the 10th of June with the police, took possession of all
the medicine bottles and some cups that were in her room, and had Mrs.
James taken to the Southern Hospital. More specimens of the excretions
were obtained, and instructions given that for the future they should
be, from time to time, preserved. On the evening of the 9th of June, if
Mrs. Cafferata was to be believed, a most suspicious incident occurred.
“On that evening,” she said, “I made my aunt a cup of sago from a
parcel on the kitchen shelf, which she took, and at three o’clock the
next morning took up to her a cup of tea and an egg, and, as she did
not eat them, I placed them on a chair by the bedside, went into bed to
her, and slept till nine o’clock, having locked the door, and placed
the key under it. When I awoke I found my aunt awake, and appearing to
want to go to sleep. I then saw two cups had been brought into the room
in the night” (the prisoner admitted that he brought one) “and the cup
gone from the bedside.”[185] In one of these cups was a little sago, in
which antimony was detected by chemical analysis. For some days after
her removal to the Hospital Mrs. James continued very ill, but ceased
to have attacks of vomiting and purging after the first or second day.
Afterwards, however, she improved in health until the 22nd of June,
when dangerous symptoms occurred, and she died in two days.[186]

MEDICAL AND ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE.

_Dr. Cameron_, who attended the _post-mortem_ examination of the body
of the deceased, gave the following description of the appearances
presented.

“The body was greatly emaciated. The membrane of the gullet presented
a yellow appearance. At the entrance of the stomach there were two
patches of false membrane, but I could form no opinion how they were
caused. The stomach was distended, and contained sixteen ounces of
fluid. There were two small ulcers communicating with the cancerous
tumour, which might have been caused by the administration of antimony
or by disease. The bowels had been perforated and their contents
discharged into the cavity of the abdomen, which was the immediate
cause of death. My opinion is, that antimony was administered within a
very short time of her admission into the hospital—sometime between
the 9th and 10th of June. I do not think antimony was given to her
after her admission into the hospital. The vomiting was not of the
kind ulcers would produce, but of a kind which might be produced by an
irritating substance such as antimony.”

On _cross-examination_ by _Mr. Digby Seymour_, he said:—

“Hot food in a case like that of Mrs. James might produce vomiting,
and always occasioned more or less pain with ulceration of the
stomach. There was no redness of the small intestines. Vomiting was
one of the principal symptoms of ulceration of the stomach, as by
tending to starve and weaken the patient it produced emaciation and
prostration. Purging was not a usual symptom of an ulcerated stomach,
but occurred with cancer in the bowels. Witness agreed with Dr.
Richards as to there being no case in which slow antimonial poisoning
was accompanied with dysenteric evacuations. The alternation of
constipation and purging was one of the known symptoms of antimonial
poisoning. The intermitting condition of the patient was one of the
reasons which led him to the conclusion that she was the subject of
poison. Witness agreed with the opinion that in malignant diseases of
the stomach the symptoms remitted in a remarkable way so as to excite
a hope that recovery would take place; but the truce was not very
long; frightful disorganization was at length produced and inevitable
death at last. Softening of the brain had been noticed in some cases
of antimonial poisoning, but it was not a frequent or even an ordinary
indication. Antimonial poisoning sometimes produced enlargement of
the liver, but it did not in this case. Aphthous ulcerations in the
glands of the small intestines are also symptoms of the presence of
antimony—_there were none in this case_. Eminent writers on _Materia
Medica_ and pathology assert that some persons can tolerate the
presence of poison in their bodies without it having any effect upon
them. It is also an accepted truth among eminent scientific writers,
that there are conditions and circumstances of the human frame in
which antimony may not possess poisonous results.”

On _re-examination_, the _witness_ said:—

“This toleration of poison is common in certain cases of inflammation,
but it is my opinion that, in this case, the opposite to toleration
has been established. Aphthous ulcerations are not often observed
in cases of poisoning by antimony. The absence of these symptoms,
combined with the state of the liver and brain, in no way affect my
opinion as to the poisoning in this case. There were peculiar symptoms
in the vomiting of Mrs. James which induce me to believe that it was
not caused by the ulcer. Antimony would aggravate the ulcerous disease
and enfeeble the bodily powers, as well as affect the appetite. One of
the effects of slow poisoning by repeated doses is that the stomach is
prevented from receiving fresh nourishment.”

_To the Judge._—“I have never attended a human patient poisoned by
antimony. Persons suffering from sickness after food are relieved
by vomiting; but in the case of Mrs. James there was considerable
retching after the food was thrown off the stomach.”

_John Baker Edwards_, Analytical Chemist, said:—

“He analysed a bottle of urine which he received from Dr. Cameron
on the 6th of June, and informed him that he found in it slight
traces of antimony. On Saturday, June 9, he received two bottles
from Dr. Cameron, one of which contained fæces, analysed it and
found slight traces of antimony. The other bottle was marked
‘vomit.’ Analysed that, and found in it two considerable deposits
of antimony. Subsequently confirmed this analysis by other chemical
tests. He sublimed it by the application of heat, and obtained a
white sublimate, which, when examined under the microscope, had the
appearance of oxide of antimony. Afterwards dissolved this in tartaric
acid, passed sulphuretted hydrogen gas through it, and obtained an
orange precipitate—sulphuret of antimony. He could not scientifically
distinguish whether it was ‘free’ or ‘eliminated’ antimony.[187] On
Wednesday, the 13th of June, he received three bottles labelled ‘Mrs.
James, Tuesday,’ one of which was labelled ‘vomit.’ It had scarcely a
trace of antimony. The other two bottles contained fæces and urine,
in each of which was a trace of antimony. On the same day he also
received two cups, one of them containing about a tablespoonful of
sago. This he analysed and found in it two considerable deposits
of antimony on copper, which he sublimed and recognised under the
microscope as oxide of antimony. On Thursday the 14th he received
three bottles, one of them of vomit, containing no antimony; the
other two containing fæces and urine, in which was no antimony. On
the 15th he again received a bottle of vomit and also one of fæces,
and in the former he found two antimonial deposits, which under the
microscope he recognised as oxide of antimony, and in the latter a
trace of antimony. On the following day he found traces of antimony in
two bottles of urine. The day after he received two bottles, one of
urine, and found a trace of antimony in each. He also examined some
uncooked sago which contained no antimony. Subsequently (after Mrs.
James had been removed to the hospital) he received bottles labelled
‘Mrs. James.’ The vomit contained no antimony, but there were still
distinct traces of it in the fæces and urine. He subsequently received
four jars containing brain, lungs, heart, spleen, kidneys, intestines,
stomach, and blood, labelled ‘Mrs. James,’ and four bottles containing
fluids. He analysed portions of these separately. From one half of the
stomach he obtained five deposits of antimony. He also obtained five
deposits of antimony from the intestines, four deposits of it from one
of the kidneys, and three deposits of it from one half of the liver.
He found no trace in the brain. In four ounces of blood he found a
distinct deposit of antimony, and also from the fluid of the stomach.
He also analysed six bottles of medicine and two of urine, and found
no antimony. On the 26th of July he took a portion of the spleen and
lungs of Mrs. James to London, and examined them there in conjunction
with Dr. Miller and Dr. Taylor, and also the deposits of the viscera.
He examined and tested them and found by the most approved tests
applied that they contained antimony.”

On _cross-examination_, the _witness_ admitted:—

“That the first satisfactory result which he obtained was on the
9th of June—that he had no doubt that the trace he found on the
7th was antimony, but it was not a satisfactory result—that he had
examined the body of a dog which died from antimony, and which had
been exhumed, and had not found a trace, and, that if the animal had
vomited after taking it he should not have expected to find any.”

_Dr. A. S. Taylor_ said:—

“That he received some jars at Guy’s Hospital from Inspector Horne,
containing portions of the stomach, cæcum, liver, one kidney, and
the heart, and afterwards from Dr. Edwards a portion of the spleen
and lungs. He divided them and gave a part to Mr. Miller. Dr.
Edwards showed him some sublimate on glass, and deposits on copper.
He examined them. The deposits on copper were metallic antimony, and
those on the glass were oxide of antimony. He was of opinion that
antimony had entered the body during life. Assuming the deceased to
have been labouring under the disease of the cæcum, and to have had
two ulcers in her stomach, the administration to her of antimony, by
depressing the bodily powers, would tend to accelerate death. Antimony
had a powerful depressing influence and lowered the pulse in strength,
produced great exhaustion of the system, and in a serious disease
affecting the body was likely to aggravate its effects. A person might
be able to bear a dose of antimony in health, who in a serious disease
would be destroyed by it. His opinion, in this case, was that antimony
had been administered at intervals in small doses. Antimony could be
found in the tissues three weeks after it was taken. It might during
that time be found, day by day and at intervals, in the secretions.
The tests which he had applied were the most approved known in
science.”

On _cross-examination_, the _witness_ said:—

“The disease which has been described as affecting the deceased must
have terminated fatally. The death had been caused by inflammation
arising from the passage of the contents of the diseased bowel
into the cavity of the abdomen. It was very difficult to draw the
line where a patient had rallied from the effects of poison, and
where she sank under disease. The medical man in attendance on the
deceased person would be the best judge of the influence of poison in
accelerating death. Small doses frequently repeated would have the
effect of irritating the mucous membrane of the bowels. In two most
marked cases of poisoning with which he bad been connected there had
been no change in the condition of the liver. _All the indications in
Mrs. James’s case were referable to natural causes._ If antimony were
found in the fæces, he should conclude that the purging was occasioned
by antimony. In vomiting caused by ulcers in the stomach, it was
confined to the relief of the stomach from its contents, and then
ceased. Antimony produced prostration of the nervous power.”

_Dr. Miller_, Professor of Chemistry at King’s College, confirmed the
opinion of Dr. Taylor so far as it related to the chemical analysis,
but gave no medical opinion.

_Dr. Clarence Pemberton_, House Surgeon at the Southern Hospital in
Liverpool, deposed that he attended Mrs. James and paid attention
to her symptoms. He made the _post-mortem_ examination. “Taking
the symptoms observed during lifetime, and the appearances shown
by the _post-mortem_ examination, and assuming the judgment of Dr.
Edwards to be correct, the cause of death, in his judgment, was the
diseased ‘cæcum,’ but the administration of antimony would undoubtedly
accelerate her death.”

On _cross-examination_, he admitted that, _judging from what he saw in
the hospital, all the symptoms might be attributed to natural causes_,
and, in answer to the Judge, said that _on the post-mortem examination
he could find no traces or symptoms which he exclusively attributed to
the administration of antimony_.

_Dr. Francis Ayrton_ said he saw the viscera and the other portions
of the deceased sent for analysation. He observed some redness at the
commencement of the small intestines, and some spots on the large ones,
and he formed his opinion from these spots that an irritant had passed
through the bowels. Antimony was an irritant, and would produce such
appearances. He had heard the evidence given, and his opinion was that
the deceased’s death was accelerated by antimony. He also admitted,
on cross-examination, that _what he observed in the viscera might be
attributable to other causes than antimonial poison_.

THE PRISONER’S STATEMENTS.

According to the evidence of Mrs. Cafferata, and the inspector of
police, the prisoner openly accused the Cafferatas of having poisoned
their aunt. He objected to their interference, and ordered them to
leave the house, calling Cafferata a second Palmer, because he carried
white powders about in his pocket, and saying, when the wife showed
him the soda powders in question, “You are not likely to show me the
right stuff.” When Mrs. Cafferata wanted to go to the hospital to see
her aunt, he threatened to put her under arrest. That the prisoner
had a great deal of drink when he spoke in this way was admitted by
the witness, but when he made the same accusation of the Cafferatas
to the inspector such apparently was not his condition. On the other
hand, a Mrs. Higgins, on cross-examination, spoke to a threat of Mrs.
Cafferata’s that “she would hang the orange dog (the prisoner), and
that after her evidence they would want no more.”

PURCHASE OF POISON BY THE PRISONER.

The proof of the purchase of antimony by the prisoner was most
unsatisfactory. A woman (Ann Foley) who used to work for Mrs. James,
remembered that during the previous summer, on one occasion, when Mrs.
James was sitting behind the counter and the prisoner was present, she
said to him, “Here is Mrs. Foley; she will go for it;” that they then
gave her twopence and told her to go and get antimony for the dog, and
that when she went to a chemist of the name of Miller for it he would
not let her have it, but told her to tell them to bring the dog over to
him. This chemist’s assistant (E. P. Rees) remembered a woman coming
for antimony some nine or ten months before, a second person coming
also for it on the same day, and a third about four months after for
the same drug, to poison a dog with. The third person, he believed,
but could not swear, was the prisoner. Another witness (Eliza Brennan)
told a strange story about the prisoner. She had been in Mrs. James’s
service, some two years ago, and spoke to him about leaving and going
to Dublin in the first week of her service. On this the prisoner, she
said, advised her to stay, but added that, “if she would go, if she
would buy him half-a-crown’s worth of antimony in Dublin, and send it
to him by the boat, he would give her £5.” Lastly, a newspaper boy
(Thomas Maguire), who slept at Mrs. James’s house, swore that

“The prisoner once sent him for a pennyworth of something for the dog,
he did not know its name, but what he got was a white powder, which
when given to the animal in water purged it violently—that within
half an hour the prisoner sent him again for the same, and now told
him its name was antimony. He got it, said the witness, from a young
man, name Coopland, at Miller’s the chemist. He declared it was taken
from a bottle six or seven from the window, and professed to point out
the bottle to the Inspector of police. He knew that the letters ANT.
on it stood for antimony. He had also several times since January last
seen the prisoner when making bread and butter for the mistress take
from his pocket a white powder in a paper and throw some of it on the
bread before he buttered it; when he asked him once what it was, the
prisoner had said it was salt. When the witness said ‘there was salt
enough in the house without that,’ the prisoner made no reply.”

To Inspector Home the prisoner admitted that “he knew the use of
antimony, and had given it to cattle, but had not had any in his
possession for many years.”

In his charge to the jury, _Baron Martin_ told them that, if they
believed that the prisoner administered the antimony with the intention
of killing, and that her death from a natural disease was thus
accelerated, that was murder—citing the dictum of Lord Hale “that if
a man be sick of some disease which might possibly end his life, and
another gave him a wound, which would hasten his death, this was murder
by the party giving the wound”—they were to guard against prejudice
because of the nature of the crime, and not to convict unless the
evidence affirmatively satisfied their minds of his guilt.

The jury almost immediately returned a verdict of “Not Guilty.”

CHAPTER IX

ANTIMONY.

Properties of the metal—Alloys—Compounds—Chlorides, sulphides,
oxides, hydride. Tartar emetic—solubility, composition, uses
and occurrence—commercial, veterinary, medicinal. Doses
and preparations—fatal dose, fatal period. Physiological
effects—Antidotes—Separations and tests—(1) Reinsch’s—Presence of
antimony; purity of the copper employed, how to be secured; different
stains resulting from presence of arsenic, antimony, mercury, bismuth,
tin, silver, gold, platinum, palladium, sulphur compounds—(2) Dr.
Maclagan’s test in Pritchard’s trial—(3) Marsh’s test—Remarks
on Pritchard’s trial—On Smethurst’s trial—Dr. Taylor and Mr.
Herapath—Arsenic in bismuth—Antimony in grey powder.

ANTIMONY.

THE metal antimony (symbol Sb, from its classical name _Stibium_)
is heavier than arsenic (sp. gr. 6·8), less easily tarnished, more
difficult to pulverize, and not nearly so volatile. It forms somewhat
brittle masses, with a fern-like crystalline appearance on the surface.
When broken the interior shows radiating (rhombohedral) crystals of a
bluish-white, strongly metallic lustre (arsenicum is greyish, bismuth
is pinkish, white), yielding a grey or black powder. Melting point,
425° C. Heated with the blowpipe on charcoal it gives white fumes of
oxide, _without odour_ (arsenic gives a garlic odour). The metal is
insoluble in water and dilute acids, but soluble in _aqua regia_ to
form antimonious chloride; also soluble in sulphide of potassium or
sodium. Hot concent. sulphuric acid converts it into sulphate. Nitric
acid turns it into a white powder consisting chiefly of _metantimonic
acid_, HSbO_{3}, of which a small quantity dissolves.[188] The
powdered metal burns in chlorine, forming Sb Cl_{3}, or Sb Cl_{5}.
Metallic antimony is obtained as a “mirror” in Marsh’s test: the
distinctions between it and arsenic have been already given (p. 389).

The following is the percentage of metallic antimony in different
alloys. English type metal, 20 to 25; German ditto, 15; Britannia
metal, 10 to 16; pewter, 7; Argentine, 14½; Ashbury metal, 19½; white
or anti-friction metal for engine-bearings, 10; Babbit’s metal, for
similar purposes, 13; alloy for ships’ nails, 17 (Ure’s Dictionary, I.,
169; Roscoe and Schorlemmer’s Chemistry, 1880, ii., 2, p. 307). There
is also antimony in brass, metallic mirrors, bell-metal, &c. (Blyth).
_Antimony black_, used for giving a steel-like lustre to plaster casts,
is finely divided Sb, precipitated from the chloride by zinc.

Metallic antimony is not poisonous unless partially oxidized.
Commercial samples usually contain a little arsenic, which enters into
the salts.

_Antimonious chloride_, Sb Cl_{3}, when pure, forms colourless
glistening deliquescent crystals. A solution in hydrochloric acid
constitutes the commercial “butter of antimony” used for giving a dark
bronzing to brass. It is a thick, powerfully acid liquid, coloured
brown by the presence of iron, fuming in air, very corrosive, and
of an irritating odour, distilling over at about 200° C. (_pure_ Sb
Cl_{3} boils at 223° C.), decomposed by water into a white magma of
_oxychloride_, Sb O Cl, “powder of Algaroth” (tartar emetic is not
decomposed by water). It is a violent corrosive poison, blackening and
destroying the surfaces like oil of vitriol. For cases, _see_ Woodman
and Tidy, p. 130.

_Antimonic chloride_, Sb Cl_{5}, is rarely met with. It resembles Sb
Cl_{3}, but is liquid.

_Antimonious sulphide_, Sb_{2} S_{3}, is found native as “stibnite,”
“speiss-glas,” “grey antimony,” or “antimony glance,” sp. gr. 4·63, in
lead-grey striated prisms, fibrous or massive, of a strong metallic
lustre, fusing readily to a dark-brown glass —“vitrum antimonii”),
giving before the blowpipe white fumes, and an odour of sulphur
dioxide —“brimstone”). It is the principal ore, the source of all the
preparations, and is itself used in fireworks. When powdered it is
black, and in this state was used by the Roman ladies under the name of
“stibium,” by the Orientals as “Kohl,” for darkening the eyelids. It
is soluble in hot hydrochloric acid to form SbCl_{3}. The precipitated
sulphide is orange, and will be noticed under the tests. Sb_{2} S_{3}
would not be poisonous until oxidized.

_Antimonious oxide_, Sb_{2} O_{3}, obtained by burning Sb in air, is a
white powder, turned yellow on heating, soluble in hydrochloric acid to
form Sb Cl_{3}, and in cream of tartar (acid potass. tartrate) to form
_tartar emetic_. Unlike As_{2} O_{3}, it does not easily volatilize in
crystals. It is occasionally found native.

_Antimonic oxide_, Sb_{2} O_{5}, is a pale yellow powder. There is also
an intermediate oxide, Sb_{2} O_{4}.

_Antimonious and antimonic acids_ are hydrates of the above oxides.
They exist in several modifications, and form metallic salts, one of
which, sodium pyrantimonate, Na_{2} H_{2} Sb_{2} O_{7}, 6 H_{2} O, is
the only known insoluble salt of sodium, and hence available as a test.

_Antimonious hydride_, Stibine, or “antimoniuretted hydrogen,” Sb
H_{3}, has never been obtained pure. In admixture with hydrogen,
as given by Marsh’s test, it is a colourless gas, almost or quite
_inodorous_ (distinction from As H_{3} which smells like garlic),
decomposed by heat into hydrogen and a “mirror” of Sb. Its poisonous
properties have been doubted, but it is probably more dangerous than
As H_{3}, on account of the absence of the warning odour. It burns
with a bluish-green flame, giving white clouds of Sb_{2} O_{3}, and a
spot of Sb, duller and greyer than As, when a cold porcelain surface
is depressed into the flame. Passed into silver nitrate solution, the
Sb is precipitated along with metallic silver as _silver antimonide_,
Ag_{3} Sb, whereas arsenic under the same circumstances would remain in
solution as As_{2} O_{3}.

TARTAR EMETIC.

_Potassio-antimonyl tartrate_, _tartrate of antimony and potash_,
“_antimonium tartarizatum_,” “_tartarized antimony_,” “_stibiated
tartar_,” symbol K (Sb O) C_{4} H_{4} O_{6}, ½ H_{2} O, occurs in
colourless rhombic octahedral crystals, transparent at first, but
becoming opaque by efflorescence, or as a white powder, inodorous, and
with a strong metallic taste. The aqueous solution is faintly acid to
test-paper, and becomes mouldy on keeping. When evaporated on a glass
slide, it leaves a crystalline residue of _tetrahedra_, cubes and
branching forms. (_See_ figure in Guy and Ferrier’s For. Med., p. 469.)
Heated on platinum, tartar emetic blackens and swells up with an odour
of burnt sugar (due to the tartaric acid), gives a bluish-green tint
to the flame, and quickly fuses and makes a hole in the platinum, from
the formation of a fusible alloy. Heated in a closed tube, it gives
charcoal, potass. carbonate, and metallic antimony, which does not
sublime at a moderate temperature, is inodorous, and may be separated
in metallic globules by washing (differences from arsenic; _see_ p.
389). Sulph. hydrogen of course gives the orange-red sulphide.

_Solubility._—Tartar emetic is almost insoluble in alcohol, and still
less soluble in ether, chloroform, &c. Spirits and water, such as
are mixed for drinking, dissolve nearly as much as cold water, and
more if warm. The solubility in cold water is given very variously in
the text-books, from 1 part in 21·8 —“20 grains per fluid ounce,”
British Pharmacopœia), 1 in 20 (Garrod and Blyth), 1 in 15 (Brande’s
and Gmelin’s Chemistry), to 1 in 14 (Graham and Taylor). To clear up
this difficulty I prepared for Dr. Bernays in 1879 a very pure sample
of the salt: he found that 100 cubic centimetres of water at 58° F.
dissolved 6·67 grammes, equal to _one part in fifteen_. The solubility
rises rapidly with the temperature, till it reaches _one part in two_
at the boiling point. The discrepancies are accounted for by the facts
that, (1), the textbooks do not mention the temperature; (2), the salt
readily effloresces in air, losing water and becoming less soluble;
(3), impurities are often present.

_Composition._—Commercial tartar emetic is generally very pure. It
sometimes contains a trace of sand and dirt, occasionally an excess of
cream of tartar (potass. hydrogen tartrate) from careless preparation,
but I have never found arsenic. The theoretical percentage of Sb is
36·53: in good commercial samples Bernays found 36·03 to 36·32 per
cent.; in an over-dried specimen, 37·4 per cent. One sample contained
23 per cent. of cream of tartar and only 28·13 of Sb; another, 10 per
cent. tartar and 32·7 of Sb.

USES AND OCCURRENCE.

The alloys and pyrotechnic uses have been already mentioned. The impure
fused sulphide (vitrum antimonii) is employed to give a yellow tint to
glass and porcelain. The oxides are used in glazing earthenware, and
in glass and china painting. The following are antimonial pigments:
“Antimony cinnabar,” and “crocus,” or “saffron of antimony,” are
oxysulphides: “Naples,” “Cassell,” and “antimony yellows,” are chiefly
antimoniates of lead. Small quantities of antimony occur in iron ores,
ferruginous waters, the coal formation, and in river sand (Roscoe).

In _veterinary practice_, large doses of antimonials are given to
animals, as much as 90 grains of tartar emetic being often administered
to a horse in his gruel three times a day. Other preparations are used
(_see_ Blyth’s Pract. Chem. 1879, p. 404). They are supposed to cause
fattening.

_Medicinally_ it is employed in typhus, _delirium tremens_, small
doses in croup and the broncho-pneumonia of children, as a general
expectorant in asthma and bronchitis, in whooping-cough, by some
recommended also in scaly skin affections. In acute inflammations
and pneumonia, it has lost favour, as too depressing (Farquharson’s
Therapeutics). In times before chloroform, tartar emetic was even used
to lower the muscular tension previous to reducing dislocations.

DOSES AND PREPARATIONS.

_Pulvis antimonialis_, 3 to 10 grains. This is the Pharmacopœial
equivalent of “James’s Powder,” a secret remedy once highly popular. It
contains one part of Sb_{2} O_{3} to two of phosphate of lime.

_Vinum antimoniale_, antimonial wine, is a solution of 10 grains of
tartar emetic to each ounce of sherry: dose, 5 minims to 1 fluid drachm.

_Antimonii oxidum_, Sb_{2} O_{3}, is often very impure. It may
contain, (1), higher oxides of Sb, when it is not completely soluble
on boiling with water and cream of tartar; (2), carbonate of lime,
when it effervesces with acids and contains less Sb; (3), traces of
arsenic, when it gives a garlic odour before the blowpipe on charcoal.
Percentage of Sb, 83·56: dose, 1 to 4 grains.

_Antimonium sulphuratum_, or _oxysulphuretum_, is precipitated Sb_{2}
S_{3} with a small amount of Sb_{2} O_{3}. It contains about 62 to
65 per cent. Sb (pure Sb_{2} S_{3} has 70·2 per cent.). Dose, 1 to 5
grains, but rarely prescribed, except in “compound calomel pill,” _pil.
hydrarg. subchlorid. co._, which contains 20 per cent. of Sb_{2} S_{3}.

_Antimonii chloridi liquor_, a solution of Sb Cl_{3} in hydrochloric
acid, is sometimes used as a caustic, never internally.

_Antimonium tartaratum_, tartar emetic: dose, as a diaphoretic, 1/16
to ⅙ grain; as a depressant, ⅙ to 1 grain; as an emetic, 1 to 2 grains
(to 3 grains, Farquharson). It should never be used as an emetic in
suspected poisoning, as its presence would confuse the investigation.

_Unguentum antimonii tartarati_, antimonial ointment, contains 20 per
cent. of tartar emetic.

The following proprietary pills contain tartar emetic in the annexed
proportion per pill weighing about 3 grains:—_Dr. J. Johnson’s_, 0·04
grain; _Mitchell’s_, 0·05 grain: _Dixon’s_, 0·06 grain (Blyth).

It has been stated that the liqueur _absinthe_ owes its deleterious
effects to antimony. I have tested several specimens, but never found
antimony, though traces of lead or copper were occasionally present.

_Fatal dose._—About this, nothing can be exactly stated. The smallest
was, in a child, ¾ grain; in an adult, 2 grains; but in this instance
there were circumstances which favoured the fatal operation (Taylor,
Med. Jur. i., 310).

If vomiting and purging happen, the poison is for the most part
expelled: except for the effects of exhaustion, there may then be
hardly a limit to the amount which may pass in and pass out. Taylor
records recoveries from 120 grains, 200 grains, and even _half an
ounce_ of tartar emetic. In pneumonia it has been given in repeated
doses of 2 grains without ill effects. It must be remembered that, in
the hands of the poisoner, its perverted use is, not to kill, but to so
weaken the vital powers that a small and not suspicious dose of some
other poison may complete the death.

_Fatal period._—Shortest, seven hours in an adult female (Wormley);
eight hours in a boy after 10 grains tartar emetic (Lancet, 1846, p.
460). Usually much longer: four days after 40 grains (Orfila, i., 480);
up to one year from after effects (Guy and Ferrier).

PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS.

The unpleasant metallic taste, the heat in the throat, and burning in
the stomach, have been described in the previously reported trials,
and in other cases. Afterwards there is nausea, severe vomiting,
profuse watery purging, often convulsions which are sometimes tetanic
in character; the skin is generally cold and clammy with perspiration;
there is collapse from exhaustion, and occasionally delirium and
insensibility. Death may happen either during the convulsions, or
during the collapse. The heat and constriction in the throat is not
invariably present.

After death there is generally found inflammation of the stomach and
intestines, especially the cæcum: the brain is sometimes congested,
the throat rarely affected. The stomach-contents are usually tinged
with blood, as with most irritant poisons.

In smaller doses it acts at first as a sedative on the brain; the
action of the heart becomes slower, weaker, and finally irregular,
the pulse is soft, the breathing slower; there is an increased
bronchial secretion, and general muscular relaxation. As an emetic
it is sluggish and depressing, and is often followed by diarrhœa. It
powerfully promotes perspiration, and is therefore used in influenza,
&c. Poisonous doses may cause paralysis, prostration, degeneration of
the liver and other organs (_see_ Taylor’s remark about the geese at
Strasburg, p. 464), inflammation and even ulceration of the intestines
(Farquharson and others).

ANTIDOTES.

Sometimes vomiting does not occur: in this case it should be promoted
by tickling the throat, and by draughts of warm water. _Tannin_
precipitates compounds of antimonious oxide (Sb_{2} O_{3}), but not
those of antimonic oxide (Sb_{2} O_{5}): as the former are the ones
almost invariably used, astringent preparations, such as strong
tea, coffee, decoction of oak bark, galls, tincture of catechu or
kino, should be given. Tannin, or tannic acid, is commonly kept by
photographers. Failing this, sodium carbonate (washing soda), in not
too strong solution, may do good. Opium to allay the irritation, and
brandy to overcome the depression, should then be tried.

SEPARATION AND TESTS.

During life, antimony may be found in the urine and fæces: after death,
if its administration has been long continued, it will be found in all
parts of the body, but especially in the _liver and spleen_. If the
doses have been discontinued some time before death, none may be left
in the stomach and intestines.

The enquiry divides itself into three parts: 1st, the _presence_ of
antimony; 2nd, the preparation used; 3rd, the quantity.

I. PRESENCE OF ANTIMONY.

Marsh’s and Reinsch’s tests have been mentioned under arsenic. It,
however, will be necessary to add a few observations on their special
use for Sb.

A fractional part, say one-fourth, of the suspected matter, after
mincing or pounding, is digested with hot distilled water containing
5 per cent. of _pure_ hydrochloric, and a little tartaric, acids,
well shaken or stirred in a covered or closed vessel, and after some
hours filtered. To a portion of the filtrate is added a little more
hydrochloric and a little sulphuric acid (to reduce the higher oxides
of As and Sb), and the whole is boiled for ten minutes. A portion of
the filtrate is now subjected to

_Reinsch’s Test._—First it is absolutely necessary to have _pure
copper_; so pure, in fact, that a quantity, _larger than would be used
in testing_, will not, _if totally dissolved up_, yield any As or Sb to
another piece of copper boiled in the solution.

Dr. Taylor’s mistake in the case of Smethurst, more fully treated of
hereafter, was a very natural one. The trace of arsenic in his copper
would not have affected the conclusion in ordinary cases: but it would
be better not to test at all than to use materials which are not
_proved beforehand_ to be free from the poison we are seeking. Pure
“electrotype” copper can now be purchased; or it can be made pure by
either of the following methods.

(_a_) “Pure” commercial sulphate of copper is boiled with a slight
excess of chlorine water, then treated with dilute ammonia till a
slight permanent precipitate forms: after standing twelve hours it is
filtered (the precipitate containing iron and arsenic), acidulated with
_pure_ sulphuric acid, and subjected to the current from two Daniell
cells, the terminals being two plates of hard wax well coated with
purified graphite: the coating must communicate with the copperwire
from the battery, and the wire must not dip into the solution. The
distance between the terminals should be so regulated that the copper
may be deposited _slowly_ and in a tough layer on the negative pole:
the thin plate so obtained may afterwards be easily detached, hammered
or rolled, and cut into suitable pieces: it is absolutely free from
arsenic.

(_b_) Pure crystallized chloride of copper is mixed with pure carbonate
of soda in excess, the mixture dried with constant stirring, heated to
near redness, powdered, mixed with an equal volume of lamp-black, and
introduced into a “plumbago” crucible lined with a paste of purified
graphite and oil. The crucible is covered, and gradually heated in
a Fletcher’s or Griffin’s gas furnace (not with coal or coke), and
finally kept at a very high temperature till the copper is reduced.
The fumes contain chlorides of copper, sodium, &c., and are poisonous.
The copper, after separation from the slag, may be cast, hammered, or
rolled, and is free from As or Sb.

I suggest these processes more for manufacturers than for chemists, but
expense and trouble should really be subordinate considerations where
life is concerned.

Now for the application. Two flasks containing pure diluted (25 per
cent.) hydrochloric acid are placed on a sandbath, and nearly closed
by small glass funnels. About a square inch of pure copper, cleaned by
sand-paper, is placed in each: to one is added the suspected liquid,
to the other an equal bulk of 5 per cent. hydrochloric acid. Both are
boiled, with occasional inspection. If the following are present, the
copper will be darkened:—

_Arsenic._—Stain _steel-grey_: dried and heated in closed tube it
gives _easily_ a sublimate of octahedral crystals of As_{2} O_{3}.
(_See_ Arsenic, _ante_.)

_Antimony._—Stain black, or in small quantity, _violet_: in the closed
tube it gives with difficulty an _amorphous_ white sublimate of Sb_{2}
O_{3}, soluble in H Cl, and then precipitated _orange_ by H_{2} S.

_Mercury._—Stain silvery: in closed tube gives a sublimate of
_metallic globules_, made more visible by rubbing them together with a
splinter of wood.

_Bismuth_, _tin_, _silver_, _gold_, _platinum_, _palladium_, &c., give
black, grey or silvery deposits, but no _sublimate_ in the tube. _Gold_
gives a stain which is _yellow_ on burnishing, and yields no sublimate.

_Sulphur compounds_ in the organic matter may give a dull stain, which
may even yield a kind of sublimate in the tube, but this sublimate will
not conform to the tests for As or Sb.

If there is much As or Sb, the deposit sometimes peels off if boiled
too long.

The process used by Prof. Maclagan in the Pritchard trial is also a
good means of verification. Boil the stained foil in a solution of
caustic potash, exposing it occasionally to the air (or boil with
a weak, slightly alkaline solution of potass, permanganate, and
filter—Odling). The Sb will be oxidized and dissolved. Add HCl and
pass H_{2} S: an orange precipitate of Sb_{2} S_{3} will prove the
presence of antimony.

If Sb has been found, remove the first piece of copper, and boil with
another piece, and so on till the Sb is all removed. The coated slips,
the sublimate, the Sb_{2} S_{3}, and the copper in the second flask
which has still remained bright, should be sealed up to be shown in
court.

The previous treatment with sulphurous acid prevents any interference
by oxidizing agents such as chlorate of potash, nitrates, iodine, &c.

_Marsh’s Test_ is more delicate, but more liable to error, than
Reinsch’s.

Two methods of applying Marsh’s test to antimony may be used.

A. By Edmund Davy’s process with sodium amalgam (_see_ Arsenic, p.
388), only As H_{3} passes off, the Sb remaining behind. Hence, when
the arsenic has finished coming over, if the remaining solution be
acidulated with _pure_ sulphuric acid,[189] _pure_ zinc put in, and
one or two drops of _pure_ platinic chloride added to facilitate the
evolution of hydrogen, the antimony will then come over as Sb H_{3}.

B. Or the original substance may be placed in the flask, treated at
once with the zinc and dilute acid, and the As H_{3} and Sb H_{3}
passed together into silver nitrate solution, and separated by
filtration as directed under arsenic. _See_ p. 389, also as to the
distinctions between the stains of Sb and As. To these add, that
metallic spots of both As and Sb are soluble in yellow ammonium
sulphide: the solutions on evaporation to dryness on the water-bath
give:

(_a_). With _arsenic_ a _yellow_ stain, soluble in ammonia, insoluble
in hydrochloric acid;

(_b_). With _antimony_ an _orange_ stain, insoluble in ammonia, soluble
in hydrochloric acid.

_Metallic antimony_ can be precipitated as a black powder from its
solutions by acidulating with hydrochloric acid and treating with
a slip of pure tin, which does not precipitate arsenic. Zinc or
electrolysis also precipitate Sb, along with copper and many other
metals. Hence this method is not available in mixtures.

_Sulphuretted hydrogen_ gives with antimonial solutions slightly
acidulated an orange-red precipitate of sulphide, insoluble in ammonia
or ammonium carbonate, soluble in ammonium sulphide, soluble in hot
strong hydrochloric acid by conversion into antimonious chloride, and
sulphuretted hydrogen: the former then gives a white precipitate with
water, the latter gives the characteristic odour and blackens lead
paper.

The reactions with sodium hydrate and sodium carbonate, are not so
clear or decisive. Potass. ferrocyanide gives no precipitate. Tannin
and tincture of galls give a yellowish white precipitate. Before the
blowpipe with sodium carbonate on charcoal, solid Sb compounds give a
grey brittle globule of the metal and a white incrustation. But there
is rarely sufficient for such a test to be of use in toxicological
work, there is also a risk of loss, and other metals give a similar
reaction.

_N.B._—_Among other substances, sulphide of antimony is frequently
added to caoutchouc in the process of vulcanising india-rubber: in all
toxicological experiments involving tests for antimony (and arsenic),
great danger of a mistake is thus attendant on the use of ordinary
vulcanised india-rubber tubing. Black unvulcanised tubing should alone
be employed._

II. PREPARATION USED.

The insoluble compounds would act very slowly as poisons and would
require very large doses, hence would be found in the solid form in the
stomach, and could be identified by appearance, by the microscope, and
by the tests, after washing and settling down.

To ascertain whether antimony was _in solution_, the liquid contents of
the stomach, after dilution with water if necessary, should be allowed
to settle, the nearly clear top layer decanted and filtered, and the
filtrate examined. The soluble compounds are:—

1. _Tartar emetic._ Solution _slightly acid_, taste metallic. On
evaporation on a glass slide _tetrahedral crystals_ are obtained. If
the solution is moderately strong, it gives a white precipitate with a
little hydrochloric acid, soluble in excess: with water it gives _no
precipitate_. Stomach generally inflamed but not corroded.

2. _Antimonious chloride_, Sb Cl_{3}. Solution _strongly acid_,
effervescing and giving a white precipitate with sodium carbonate.
Taste corrosive and powerfully metallic. On evaporation, no tetrahedra.
No precipitate with hydrochloric acid: with water a white precipitate,
re-dissolved by tartaric acid.[190] By analysis a large quantity of
_chlorine_ will be found. The stomach is corroded and often blackened
or charred.

3. _Antimonates_, _antimonites_, _sulphantimonites_, and _-ates_
(such as “Schlippe’s salt”), are rare and improbable. Antimonates
are _alkaline_, give a white precipitate with acids, and a white
crystalline one with sodium salts. Schlippe’s salt is strongly
alkaline, and gives with hydrochloric acid an orange-red precipitate of
sulphide.

III. QUANTITY.

To ascertain the amount of Sb is absolutely necessary. Marsh’s test is
not available, since a large part of the antimony is thrown down on the
zinc and remains in the generating flask. It has been proposed to wash
this off and weigh it, but other metals and impurities are present,
so that this is not practicable. Reinsch’s test has been applied
quantitatively by weighing the copper before and after the test: the
difference of weight was supposed to be the As or Sb. But the copper
may dissolve or oxidise, sulphur and other things deposit on it; so
that this method is not correct.

If antimony only is present, acidulate with hydrochloric acid, pass
sulph. hydrogen in excess, warm, filter, wash the orange hydrated
antimonious sulphide into a porcelain capsule, remove most of the
water, dry on the water bath, finally at 200°C. and weigh. 100 grains
of Sb_{2} S_{3} correspond to 85·88 of Sb_{2} O_{3}, to 196·47 of
tartar emetic, to 71·76 of Sb, to 134·41 of Sb Cl_{3}.

But in the stomach any other metal may be present, hence a process of
separation must be used. It is not generally necessary to destroy the
organic matter: if this be desired, Fresenius and v. Babo’s process,
of heating with H Cl and potass. chlorate (previously proved pure) may
be used without much danger of loss, as Sb Cl_{3} is not so volatile
as As Cl_{3}. Otherwise the solution made by pure hydrochloric and
a little tartaric acids is treated with sulphuretted hydrogen. The
precipitated sulphide may be of uncertain, though suspicious colour.
After collection on a filter and washing, it should be extracted with
dilute ammon. carbonate solution (10 per cent.): _arsenic_ only will
dissolve and will be reprecipitated as sulphide on adding an acid. The
remainder on the filter must be treated with freshly prepared ammon.
sulphide: _antimony_ and _tin_ will dissolve. If any black residue
remains on the filter, it will consist of _mercury_, _lead_, _bismuth_,
or _copper_: it should be treated with hot 25 per cent. nitric acid,
when all will dissolve except _mercuric sulphide_. We shall then have
three portions:—

1st. The _mercuric sulphide_. Wash, dry, and weigh. Then heat in
a sealed tube with dry sodium carbonate, collect the sublimate of
metallic mercury, weigh it, and preserve in a sealed tube.

2nd. The nitric acid solution containing _lead_, _bismuth_, and
_copper_. Evaporate nearly to dryness, dilute, add dilute sulphuric
acid, and a little alcohol, after standing collect and weigh the
precipitated sulphate of _lead_. Precipitate the _bismuth_ by ammon.
carbonate in excess, and the _copper_ from the filtrate by zinc or by
sulph. hydrogen. (_See_ Fresenius’ Quant. Anal. p. 411).

3rd. The ammon. sulphide solution of the _antimony_ and _tin_.
Evaporate to dryness, dissolve in hot strong hydrochloric acid, dilute,
divide into two equal portions: in _one_ throw down both metals by a
rod of _zinc_: in the other throw down only Sb by a slip of _tin_. Wash
off both precipitates, dry and weigh. The first is antimony and tin
together, the second is antimony alone (Gay Lussac). The difference is
the tin.

Usually only _some_ of these metals will be present. _Tin_ has derived
more importance lately since Hehner has proved its almost constant
presence in canned provisions.

As to the delicacy of the precipitation of antimony by zinc or
galvanism, Mohr (Toxicologie, 1876) states that a solution containing
·00005 gramme of Sb in one cub. centimetre gives a distinct reaction in
fifteen minutes. Such a solution gives with H_{2}S only a colouration,
and after a long time a faint precipitate. 1/30000 part gives with zinc
a clear reaction in one half-hour: with H_{2} S, only a colour, no
precipitate, in twelve hours. 1/40000, doubtful: 1/50000, imperceptible
with zinc: of course, nothing with H_{2} S. The reaction is only
decisive if other metals are excluded.

From the solution of Sb Cl_{3}, or tartar emetic in H Cl, _gallic acid_
throws down Sb, and not As or tin. The precipitate after washing and
drying contains 40·85 per cent. of Sb. (Chem. News, XXIV. 207, 251.)

To sum up, the decisive characters of antimony are:—

1. An orange red precip. by H_{2} S in slightly acid solutions.

2. The insolubility of this precip. in ammon. carbonate.

3. Its solubility in ammonium sulphide.

4. Its solubility in hot H Cl, with evolution of H_{2} S, and formation
of a solution of Sb Cl_{3}, which is precipitated by water and cleared
up again by tartaric acid.

REMARKS.

DR. PRITCHARD’S CASE.

In connection with the supposed administration of tartar emetic on a
piece of cheese, in Dr. Pritchard’s trial (_see_ Mr. Clark’s review
of McCleod’s evidence, p. 438), the following considerations are of
interest.

1. An exceedingly small (weighed) quantity of dry powdered tartar
emetic was sprinkled on the surface of a little piece of cheese:
although the amount of tartar emetic used was far less than that
required to induce vomiting, &c., the powder was found to be plainly
visible, and the appearance of the cheese so treated would certainly
have excited suspicion in the mind of any ordinarily observant
person. Hence it is impossible that enough tartar emetic to produce
the recorded effects should have been sprinkled externally on the
very small amounts of cheese described —“not larger than a bean”—M.
McCleod: “size of a good large pea”—M. Patterson).[191]

2. With reference to the Lord Justice Clerk’s observation, p. 439,
_note_, tartar emetic is _not_ easily dissolved, a cold saturated
aqueous solution containing only 5 per cent. of the salt (according to
the B. P., 20 grains dissolve without residue in 1 ounce of water). A
piece of cheese, the size of a bean, would weigh about ⅛ ounce. I have
found by experiment that 1 ounce cheese took up by soaking not more
than ¼ ounce water, which, from the above, could contain in solution
5 grains of tartar emetic. Hence a piece of cheese, the size of a bean,
= ¼ × ⅛ = 1/32 ounce water = ⅝ grain of tartar emetic. This amount
could not cause the symptoms described.

3. If put on in powder the poisonous salt could only be concealed
by being rubbed over with butter or oil: if soaked in a solution of
tartar emetic, the cheese, in order to avert suspicion, must be wiped
or dried—operations practically impossible at the table with so many
present.

Two possibilities remain: (_a_) Cheese is often eaten with salt. Dr.
Pritchard may have had a little salt-cellar by his side, professedly
for his own use, containing tartar emetic, either alone or mixed with
salt. He may have placed a spoonful of this on the plate with the
cheese: the latter may have been either dipped into the salt or got
into it accidentally. No question was asked at the trial about such
a likely fact, which would account for one person suffering, and not
another, according as they got the salt or not. The strong taste of
salt would avert suspicion from that of tartar emetic. (_b_) McCleod
said that it was “new cheese—they had it in the house—it was soft—it
tasted hot like pepper.” It is possible, but not easy, by warming and
pounding in a mortar, to mix cheese with a considerable amount of a
powder: it would then look _soft_ and rather unnatural, but might, as
“new cheese,” escape suspicion. This theory is less probable than the
other.

_Tapioca._—Mr. Clark’s remark, p. 438, “Now the suggestion of the
Crown is that the prisoner put antimony in this tapioca, so nicely
adjusted as to produce sickness leading to death, but not so as to
produce death itself,” is inconclusive, as it requires a considerable
amount to produce _death_. A large quantity of tartar emetic could be
mixed with tapioca without suspicion, and would not betray itself by
any peculiar appearance on cooking. The same remark applies to the
sago in Winslow’s case.

_Egg-flip._—“The amount of antimony introduced on the sugar into the
egg-flip must have been a very powerful dose, because Patterson took
only a teaspoonful and lay vomiting and suffering all night.” The total
amount was a tumblerful (= 10 fluid ounces). Mrs. Pritchard took a
wine-glassful (= 2 fluid ounces); was sick very soon and all night.
Mary Patterson took a teaspoonful, was sick immediately, and vomited
frequently throughout the night. Her dose must have been at least 1
grain. This would make 60 grains in the whole. Such a quantity of
tartar emetic would be about a teaspoonful, and obviously could not
be introduced on two lumps of loaf sugar, as the following experiment
shows:—Two rather large pieces of loaf sugar weighing together 204
grains were gently shaken with powdered tartar emetic, and the loose
part shaken off. The lumps now looked rather powdery, but nothing very
noticeable. The amount of tartar emetic they had taken up was nearly
3 grains (2·96), not nearly a teaspoonful, though amply sufficient to
cause vomiting. It is not the _porosity_, but the roughness of surface,
that enables a powder to adhere to the sugar. The tartar emetic might
have been slipped into the egg-flip, out of the hand, at the same time
that the sugar was added, the mixture being afterwards stirred up.

DR. SMETHURST’S CASE.

DR. TAYLOR AND MR. HERAPATH.

In his evidence before the committing magistrates, on the 20th of May,
Dr. Taylor said:—

“I found no arsenic or antimony in any of the bottles delivered to me
by Inspector McIntyre on the 5th and 7th of May, except one, and the
homœopathic medicine: that one was bottle 21.[192] When I received this
bottle it was about half full of thin, watery-looking mixture, and
I tested it. It had a cooling, pleasant saline taste, not repugnant,
no smell. I detected nothing wrong with the taste. I evaporated some
in a glass, and examined it by the microscope, and then found it was
not tartar emetic, as I thought. I then applied the tests for arsenic,
and every test I tried was destroyed, and failed to show the existence
of arsenic, owing, as I supposed, to there being in it, and my tests
convinced me that there was, something very peculiar about it that I
had not met before. I tried Reinsch’s process, but I found that it
dissolved the copper-gauze as soon as I put it into the liquid. I then
determined to extract this noxious agent, and continued to put in
copper-gauze until it no longer possessed the power to dissolve it.
I then put in a piece of copper, which at once received the arsenic.
I was able to decide by these tests that the mixture was chlorate of
potash. I found there was of chlorate of potash 7 grains to the ounce,
or 1 and 6/10ths per cent., and there was a grain of arsenic to every
ounce. I found that the taste of the liquid in this bottle was such
that no one would be likely to suspect that it contained arsenic,
more particularly as the quantity of arsenic was so small that the
liquid could be mixed with any kind of food and swallowed without the
person being aware of it.[193] In the bottles brought to me by Dr.
Berry[194] I found arsenic—_that was white arsenic_. I could not give
an opinion on that in the evacuation (No. 2), as that was mixed with
blood and mucus. In No. 1 there was biliary matter without any metallic
substance.”

Subsequently to the conviction of Smethurst, Mr. Herapath wrote the
letter to the _Times_, on the 27th of August, before referred to in the
Lord Chief Baron’s communication to the Home Secretary, in which, after
a wordy and personal attack on Dr. Taylor, with special reference to
his having used for twenty years untested copper, he said:—

“But was the arsenic said to have been found in bottle 21 really in
the copper used to prove its presence? Could the copper wire-gauze
dissolved by 7 grains of chlorate of potash and its associated
hydrochloric acid deposit one grain of arsenic? In the face of all
England, I say it could not. The 100th part of a grain of arsenic in
that quantity of copper would render it so brittle that it could not
be drawn into wire at all, much less into fine wire fit for gauze. The
fact is the whole set of operations were a bungle. Reinsch’s process
is inapplicable where nitrates or chlorates are present. Taylor must
have known this: it was well known then that chlorates, nitrates,
arsenates, and other oxidizing agents, interfered with Reinsch’s
process. When Taylor found the copper dissolved—he knew that one of
these oxidizing agents was present—he ought then to have either used
Marsh’s test instead of Reinsch’s, or should have prepared the solution
by sulphurous acid first. The method he did use was as dangerous as
could be.”

Whether Mr. Herapath communicated this opinion to the friends of
Smethurst before the trial, as he ought to have done, does not appear.
At any rate he was not called for the defence, and his opinion was
apparently only made public after the conviction. It stands, therefore,
like all the other communications laid before the Home Secretary,
untested by cross-examination. How far was he correct?

Taylor does not state how much of the liquid in bottle 21 he took
for analysis. Assuming that he took 1 ounce, 7 grains of chlorate
would dissolve, _at the most_, 22 grains of copper. If this yielded
1 grain of arsenic, the copper must have contained 4½ per cent. of
that poison—an impossible quantity. Less than ½ per cent. of arsenic
renders copper brittle. So far Herapath was right.[195]

(2.) If Taylor was right that what he got was _white arsenic,
that could not have come from the copper, which can only contain
arsenicum—metallic arsenic_. Therefore if Taylor’s analysis was not
altogether wrong, _in bottle 21 there really was arsenic, and the
prisoner was proved to have had the materials for poisoning in his
possession_.

Taylor’s procedure in dissolving up piece after piece of copper, which
had not been previously proved, by the same process, not to contain
arsenic, was highly blameable, and his assertion that he had previously
tried his tests and found them pure, was not strictly true. Altogether,
his tests both for arsenic and antimony were not reliable.

* * * * *

ADDENDA.

The “bismuth” frequently referred to in the report of Smethurst’s
trial is the Bismuthi Subnitras, B. P., also known by the various
names of “Bismuthum Album,” “White Bismuth,” “Trisnitrate of Bismuth,”
“Subnitrate of Bismuth,” “Magistery of Bismuth,” “Pearl White,” &c.
This compound is a basic nitrate of bismuth, Bi N 0_{4}, H_{2} 0: it is
insoluble in water, and is a heavy, white, minutely-crystalline powder,
much used in medicine, and also as a cosmetic. The name “bismuth” is
misleading as applied to this drug, which is _not_ bismuth, but a
_salt_ of that metal.

Ordinary subnitrate of bismuth frequently contains various
adulterations and impurities. The most usual adulterants are carbonate
of lead, carbonate of lime and phosphate of lime (Royle’s Materia
Medica, 1876): among the impurities which have been found are ammonia
(Piper, Pharm. Journ., Ap. 21, 1877), arsenic, lead, iron, chlorine,
and sodium salts. Some specimens of bismuth subnitrate analysed by
Herapath contained 1 grain of arsenic in 1000: others contained as
much as 1 grain in 433. Taylor, also, found arsenic in three samples
out of five examined by him. Riche (J. Pharm. et Chim., 5, 384)
states that the majority of commercial samples of bismuth subnitrate
contain lead and arsenic, the former to the extent of ·03-·04 per
cent. (as sulphate), and the latter (as arsenious acid) to ·002-·01
per cent., while Chas. Ekin (Pharm Journ., 3, III., 381) remarks that
this preparation of bismuth is often very impure, containing much
subchloride, copper, and occasionally lead. On the other hand, three
specimens of subnitrate of bismuth, analysed by Bernays, contained no
arsenic, lead, or carbonic acid, while the percentage of bismuth oxide
present closely approximated to the theoretical amount. Moreover, in
the Practitioner, Mar. 1871, p. 191, the results of the examination of
six samples of bismuth subnitrate are given, the only impurities found
being traces of chlorine and sulphuric acid: there was no arsenic.
_Hence it is evident that subnitrate of bismuth does not always contain
arsenic: and the quantity of this impurity, when present, is so minute
as (having regard to the small doses in which the drug is usually
prescribed in medicine) to be insufficient to produce the graver
symptoms of arsenical poisoning._[196]

The presence of arsenic in bismuth subnitrate may easily be detected by
Marsh’s test.

Subnitrate of bismuth nearly always contains arsenic and other
impurities, when it has been prepared from commercial bismuth. The
British Pharmacopœia, therefore; very properly directs that _purified_
bismuth (Bismuthum Purificatum, B. P.) should be used in the
preparation of this drug: the B. P. method of purifying the metal is
as follows. 10 ounces of bismuth and 1 ounce of nitrate of potash are
fused together in a crucible, heated and stirred, until the salt has
solidified into a slag over the metal: the salt is now removed, another
ounce of nitrate of potash is added, and the remainder of the process
is repeated. The fused bismuth is now poured into a mould, and allowed
to cool.

Herapath states that the arsenic is not all removed by this process,
and he proposes to boil the nitrate in solution of a caustic alkali,
which removes the arsenic and converts the bismuth into oxide, from
which the salts can be prepared (Royle).

From the purified metal subnitrate of bismuth can be prepared by the
following process, which is that given in the British Pharmacopœia.
2 ounces of purified bismuth are gradually added to a mixture of 4
fluid ounces nitric acid with three ounces distilled water: when
effervescence has ceased, heat is applied for a few minutes, and
the solution is decanted from any insoluble residue. The liquid is
concentrated by evaporation to 2 fluid ounces, and poured into half a
gallon of distilled water. The precipitate formed (Bi N 0_{4}, H_{2}
0) is well washed by decantation, filtered, and finally dried at a
temperature not exceeding 150° F.

In the event of the bismuth used not having been thoroughly purified,
and being therefore still likely to contain a trace of arsenic, a
modification of the above process, recommended by R. Schneider (Journ.
Prakt. Chem., 1879, 418), may be employed. It consists in _heating_
the acid before the bismuth is added, and continuing the heating until
the metal is dissolved. If arsenic be present, the solution will
contain in suspension a white precipitate of _bismuth arsenate_, which
is nearly insoluble in nitric acid, and can be removed by filtration
through asbestos, before the solution is diluted. Cold nitric acid
would convert any arsenic present into _bismuth arsenite_, which is
readily soluble in nitric acid, and could not, therefore, be separated
by filtration.

“_Grey powder_” is Hydrargyrum cum Creta, B. P., and consists of one
part of metallic mercury in a very finely divided state, mixed with
two parts of chalk. It is made by rubbing mercury and prepared chalk
together until metallic globules are no longer visible. The mercury
in this preparation always becomes in course of time more or less
oxidised, the amount of oxide formed varying according to the length of
time the mixture has been kept, and the extent of its exposure to the
air.

Iron, silica, and phosphoric acid, might be present in very small
quantities as impurities, in many samples of grey powder: caustic
lime could not possibly occur, unless the specimen had been subjected
to a red heat, which would drive off the mercury and so spoil the
preparation. Antimony and arsenic would rarely be met with as
impurities in grey powder, and if present, would only be in very minute
quantities.

CHAPTER X.

POISONING BY ACONITIA OR ACONITINE. THE WIMBLEDON POISONING CASE—DR.
LAMSON.

UNDER this head of poisons, there is only one trial to report in
full, that of Dr. Lamson for the murder of his brother-in-law, Percy
Malcolm John, at Wimbledon, on Saturday, the 3rd of December, 1881,
for which he was tried before Mr. Justice Hawkins, at the Central
Criminal Court, on the 8th of March, 1882, and the five following days.
The especial difficulties in the way of detecting this preparation of
aconite, invested the case with more than usual interest to both the
medical and legal profession. The subsequent attempt by the convict’s
friends to induce the Home Secretary to delay his execution, in order
that his mental condition might be inquired into, backed as it was by
the American Government, kept alive the public interest to an unusual
extent, and bid fair to revive another such controversy as that which
followed, but with a different result, on the conviction of Smethurst.
By the kindness of Mr. W. A. Mills, Dr. Lamson’s solicitor, I have had
the advantage of reading the whole of the very numerous affidavits
tendered in support of this application, of which I have given a
summary at the close of the trial.[197]

Though the trial now reported is the only one in which aconitia was
employed, other forms of aconite have been used in previous cases. In
that of Dr. Pritchard it was administered in the form of tincture of
aconite, and as far back as 1841, in the case of _Reg._ v. _McConkey_,
it was administered as powdered aconite root. In this case the reputed
poisoner was tried at the Lent Assizes, Monaghan, and the medico-legal
investigation was conducted by the late Dr. Geoghegan, of Dublin. As
in Pritchard’s and Lamson’s cases, the medical evidence was beset with
difficulties, for no trace of the poison could be discovered in the
body, and it was only by a close analysis of symptoms and appearances
that the charge was brought home to the prisoner. The deceased had
eaten at his dinner some greens dressed for him by the prisoner: he
complained of their having a sharp taste, and this was perceived also
by another person present who tasted them. It was ascertained that
the deceased, soon after the meal, had vomited a greenish matter,
and suffered from purging, restlessness, incoherence, lockjaw, and
clenching of the hands. He died in about three hours after having eaten
the greens, but was not seen by a medical man while living. The chief
appearance met with was in the stomach, where the mucous membrane was
of a light reddish-brown colour. Traces of vegetable matter were found
in the intestines, but no poison could be detected, either botanically
or chemically. The symptoms suffered by a friend of the deceased,
who had accidentally tasted the greens, were very characteristic of
poisoning by aconite. In _two_ minutes he felt a burning heat in the
mouth, throat, gullet, and stomach; then a sensation of swelling in
the face, with a general feeling of numbness and creeping of the
skin. Restlessness, dimness of sight, and stupor almost amounting to
insensibility, followed; and in about an hour after the meal he was
found speechless—frothing at the nose and mouth, the hands and jaws
clenched, appearing occasionally as if dead, and then again reviving.
Vomiting, purging, tenderness at the pit of the stomach, cramps,
tingling of the flesh, and a burning taste in the mouth, followed. This
man did not entirely recover until after the lapse of five weeks. The
prisoner was convicted, and confessed before his execution that the
powdered root of Monkshood (aconite) had been mixed with pepper and
sprinkled over the greens.[198]

THE WIMBLEDON POISONING CASE.

_Before_ THE HON. MR. JUSTICE HAWKINS, _at the_ CENTRAL CRIMINAL
COURT, _March 9, and five following days, 1882_.

* * * * *

_For the Prosecution_: The Solicitor-General (Sir F. Herschel), Mr.
Poland, _and_ Mr. A. L. Smith.

_For the Defence_: Mr. Montagu Williams, Mr. C. Matthews, Mr. E.
Gladstone, _and_ Mr. W. S. Robson.

_George Henry Lamson_, surgeon, aged 29, was indicted for the murder of
his brother-in-law, Percy Malcolm John, at Blenheim House, Wimbledon,
on December 3rd, 1881.

HISTORY OF THE CASE.

In the winter of 1881, among the pupils at the school of Mr. Bedbrook,
of Blenheim House, Wimbledon, was Percy Malcolm John, the youngest of
the five children of a Manchester merchant, a lad of about nineteen
years of age, a sad sufferer from paralysis of the lower limbs produced
by curvature of the spine, but otherwise in a fair state of health.
Since the death of their mother in 1869, the children had been orphan
wards in Chancery, and previously to 1881, one brother and one sister
had died, under age, another sister had married a Mr. Chapman, and the
third the prisoner, a medical practitioner at Bournemouth, who was now
indicted for the murder of his brother-in-law. By the wills of their
parents, the children, as they came of age or married, were entitled
to the family property in equal shares, those of such as died under
age passing to the survivors. Hence, at the time of his death, Percy
John had property in expectance to the amount of £3,000, which, in the
event of his death as a minor, would be equally divided between his
two married sisters, and by the settlement made by Mrs. Lamson on her
marriage, her share would come into the hands of the prisoner.[199]
Though such a sad sufferer from paralysis as to be unable to move
about readily except in a wheel-chair, and only able to drag himself
backwards up a few stairs,[200] there were no symptoms of serious
bodily illness in the lad: his temper was good, and his intelligence
fair.

In his brother-in-law’s health Lamson appeared to take great interest,
visiting him at the school, having him to stay at his own house, and
sending to his master from America some medicines which he stated had
been found useful in that country in similar cases. On the 1st of
December, the prisoner wrote to the boy that he would come to see him
the next evening, before he left for Paris—a promise which he failed
to keep.[201] On the 3rd, however, about seven in the evening, he came,
bringing with him some sweets, a cake, and a box containing gelatine
capsules, which he told the master he had brought for him from America,
as convenient for enabling him to administer nauseous medicines to his
pupils. At this interview with his brother-in-law, he persuaded Mr.
Bedbrook, who was present, to take one of these capsules to try how
easily they were swallowed. Whilst doing so, the master noticed that
the prisoner was filling another with some powdered sugar, which he
had asked for, on the plea of destroying the alcohol in some wine of
which he was partaking. When he had put in the sugar, the prisoner,
turning to the lad, shook up the capsule, saying, “It has to be shaken
in order that the medicine may go to the bottom. You are good at
taking medicine; take this.” The boy swallowed the capsule, and within
a few minutes after, the prisoner, saying that he wanted to catch the
tidal-train for Paris, left the school-house. In about twenty minutes
afterwards Percy complained of heartburn, gradually became worse, was
carried up to bed, and vomited largely in the closet.[202] “He felt,”
he said, “as he had done in the previous August when the prisoner gave
him a pill in the Isle of Wight.” He was in great pain, violently
restless, and with difficulty kept down by those who were holding him.
After more simple remedies had failed to relieve him, the doctors
who had been called in injected morphia under the skin, which had a
temporary effect. This was subsequently repeated, but with no apparent
result, and shortly afterwards he died, within four hours of swallowing
the capsule. The _post-mortem_ examination revealed no signs of such
a natural form of disease as would account for his sudden death—the
only sign of disease being the long-standing curvature of the spine,
distressing, but at that time innocuous. A chemical analysis of the
stomach and other parts of the body was had, and, so far as the present
state of scientific knowledge could decide, it was the firm opinion of
the experienced analysts Drs. Stevenson and Dupré, that death was due
to an irritant vegetable poison, and that that poison was aconitia,
a most highly poisonous vegetable alkaloid, containing the active
principle of aconite, the product of the root of monkshood.

Suspicion naturally fell on the prisoner, and was greatly increased
when it was discovered that a few days before his last visit to the
boy he had purchased aconitia in London, and that previously to the
illness of the deceased in the Isle of Wight, the prisoner had also
purchased of a druggist at Shanklin some of this deadly poison. In the
meantime the prisoner had gone to Paris, whence on the 8th of December
he unexpectedly returned, presented himself to the police at Scotland
Yard, in consequence, as he said, of the reports he had seen in the
papers, and, apparently to his surprise, was taken into custody.

Other incidents in the prisoner’s career and conduct gradually came
to light. Whilst in practice as a surgeon at Bournemouth he had been
in great pecuniary difficulties, though he had received his share of
the property of that one of the children who had died a minor; an
execution had been put into his house, and at the time of the murder he
was admittedly in straitened circumstances. Again, in the boy’s boxes
at school, in addition to some genuine quinine powders purchased of a
chemist in the Isle of Wight, and proved to be free from poison, which
had been sent to the boy by the prisoner, were three heavily charged
with aconitia, and two pills containing this deadly drug. Again, he had
written to the boy on the 1st of December that he would call on him on
his way to Paris the next day. He went to Wimbledon, however, on the
evening of the 2nd, with his friend, a Mr. Tulloch, whom he left at the
station, whilst he professed to have gone to the school, and to whom he
said that “he had seen his brother-in-law, who was much worse, and that
he did not expect he would live long, and that he would not go on to
Paris that night, as Mr. Bedbrook, who was a director of a continental
line, had told him that there was a bad boat on.” All this was untrue.
He had never been to the school, and Mr. Bedbrook had nothing to do
with any continental line. He had invented the whole story.

In the trial that followed, the interest centred on the impossibility
of detecting vegetable poisons by any chemical tests, and on the
necessity, as in Dr. Pritchard’s case, with aconite, of relying on
the test of tasting the extract from the various parts of the body.
On this test, supported by the effects observed on injecting drops of
the extract under the skins of mice, which successively died of the
operation, and exhibited the same symptoms before death as resulted
from similar injections of pure aconitia, depended the proof that
the death resulted from this poison. I proceed therefore to give the
medical and analytical evidence in detail.

EVIDENCE OF MEDICAL ATTENDANTS.

_Dr. Berry_, of Wimbledon, the regular medical attendant at the school,
who had known the deceased for a year and a half, and only had occasion
to attend him twice during that time, once for vaccination, and another
time for an eruption on the skin, his state of health being otherwise
good, gave the following account of the symptoms:—

“On Saturday, Dec. 3, I arrived at the school about five minutes to
nine p.m., and was taken by Mr. Bedbrook to Percy John’s room.[203] He
was in bed, and partly undressed, and in great pain in the stomach. He
also complained of the skin of his face being drawn, and that there
was a sense of constriction in the throat, in consequence of which he
was unable to swallow. He was retching and vomiting; the vomit was a
small quantity of dark-coloured fluid. I asked him shortly after the
cause of his illness (Mr. Bedbrook had previously made a communication
to me), and said to Percy, ‘Did your brother-in-law ever give you
quinine pills before?’ He said, ‘Yes, at Shanklin.’ I said, ‘Did it
make you like this before?’ ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but not so bad.’ There
is nothing in ordinary quinine pills to produce such symptoms. I
did not form an opinion at that time to what the symptoms were due.
During an interval of the vomiting I had some white of egg beaten
up in water given to him, which he was able to swallow, and had hot
linseed poultices placed on his stomach. He was very restless on the
bed—violently so, throwing himself backwards and forwards and from
side to side. Several people held him to prevent him from injuring
himself. He did not improve at all under this treatment. Hearing that
Dr. Little, a medical man of Wimbledon, was in the house, I had him
sent for, and in about twenty or twenty-five minutes after I had been
in the room he came. I consulted him, and we determined to inject
some morphia. I left the house to get the morphia and an instrument,
being away five to ten minutes. When I returned the deceased was
not better, and I injected a quarter of a grain of morphia under
the skin, over the region of the stomach. This was done about ten
o’clock. The symptoms abated somewhat about half-past ten, but not
very much. They were still all present, but in a modified degree, and
then they returned again a little before eleven as severely as before
the injection of the morphia. A little before eleven the deceased
asked to have the morphia injected again. He complained then of pain
in his body, but not in any particular part. I then about eleven
injected one-sixth of a grain of morphia in the same place as before,
but it had no apparent effect. In about ten minutes he became a little
unconscious and wandering. That was the first time I noticed it. His
breathing became slower and sighing, and the heart’s action weaker and
weaker, and he died about twenty minutes after eleven.”

In his account of the symptoms and the progress of the case until the
deceased’s death, Dr. Berry was fully confirmed by Dr. Little, who
added that at that time they were of opinion that the death was due to
an irritant poison. _Dr. Berry_ then gave the results of

THE _POST-MORTEM_ EXAMINATION.

“After his death Dr. Little and I collected some of the vomit which
had been caught in a basin in the bedroom. (He had previously vomited
in the closet.) I also collected some from the floor of the bedroom
and the closet, and the whole was put into a cup together, and thence
into a clean bottle, which was sealed with my own seal, and given to
Mr. Bond on the day of the _post-mortem_ examination.

“On Tuesday, Dec. 6th, Mr. Bond, Dr. Little, and myself, made a
_post-mortem_ examination. I made some notes at the time which I have
here. With the exception of the paralysis of the lower limbs, he was
a particularly well-developed, muscular lad. The brain was slightly
congested superficially, as well as the substance of the brain itself.
By superficially, I mean the membranes. There was no fluid in the
ventricles of the brain, nor under the membranes. The pupils of the
eyes were dilated; the lips pale and the tongue bleached; in the
right lung were some old adhesions at the apex, between the lung and
the chest wall, the result of inflammation at some previous time.
Both lungs were healthy, but considerably congested in the lower
part. The heart was healthy muscularly, the valves also healthy; _it
was almost entirely empty and flaccid_. There was a small quantity
of fluid in the _pericardium_. The liver was normal in size, but
intensely congested. The kidneys were also normal in size, but much
congested, and the spleen was also congested but normal in size.
The stomach had the mucous membrane congested throughout. Under the
surface, near the large end of the stomach, were six or eight small
yellowish-grey patches, slightly raised, about the size of a small
bean. Towards the smaller end of the stomach were two or three similar
smaller spots. I believe that they were the result of inflammation,
caused recently before death. The stomach contained three or four
ounces of dark fluid, which was carefully preserved, and of which
Mr. Bond took charge. I examined the _duodenum_, the first part of
which was greatly congested, and there were patches of congestion on
other parts of the small intestines. Portions of the intestines were
taken care of by Mr. Bond, who also took possession of the stomach
itself and portions of the liver, with the gall bladder, both of the
kidneys and the spleen. The bladder contained three or four ounces of
urine, which was drawn off and taken possession of by Mr. Bond. There
were no traces of inflammation in the _peritoneum_. The membranes of
the spinal cord were greatly congested. Except the appearance of the
lungs and the curvature of the spine, these were all the appearances
I noted in the _post-mortem_ examination. There was nothing in the
_post-mortem_ examination to account for death from natural causes.
I should say that he died from the effect of some irritant poison,
the administration of which would, I believe, account for all the
appearances. Aconitia is a vegetable alkaloid poison, and the
appearances would be consistent with a fatal dose of that poison, but
I have no special knowledge on the subject.”

On _cross-examination_, the witness repeated, in several forms, that
he had no special knowledge of aconitia, but some of aconite as used
internally for cancer, erysipelas, and other complaints, and was unable
to say whether a grain of aconitia blended into 20 pills would be good
for curvature of the spine, and that the remedies he applied were for
the violent irritation of the stomach from which up to the time of his
death he believed the deceased was suffering.

“At the _post-mortem_ I examined the spinal cord and the spinal
curvature. The cord was healthy, but congested. The existence of
paralysis is consistent with a healthy spinal cord, but not with
healthy bone and healthy intervertebral cartilages. I did not examine
the condition of the arteries in the neighbourhood of the curvature.”

_Mr. Williams._—“Are you not aware that there are many cases on
record of death having resulted from the effects of pressure on the
arteries in the regions of these curvatures?”

_Witness._—“No; but I am not prepared to say that there are not such
cases.”

_Mr. Williams._—“Will you undertake to say that death did not result
from such a cause as that?”

_Witness._—“I cannot undertake to say. I did not examine to see the
effect of the spinal curvature on the position of the lungs.”

_Mr. Williams._—“Nor what its effect was on the heart?”

_Witness._—“No.”

_Mr. Williams._—“Do you not know that the lungs are very much
displaced in some cases of spinal curvature?”

_Witness._—“Yes, they are.”

_Mr. Williams._—“Is not the heart very much displaced?”

_Witness._—“Yes.”

_Mr. Williams._—“You say this irritation of the stomach was
consistent with poisoning with vegetable alkaloids, and yet you have
never seen a case of such poisoning?”

_Witness._—“I have not; I did not take means to ascertain whether the
appearances were _post-mortem_. I know—only from Taylor’s ‘Medical
Jurisprudence’—that vegetable alkaloids have produced these symptoms.”

On _re-examination_, the witness said that “he could not think that the
death was caused by anything he saw in the curvature of the spine; that
if death had been caused by pressure on the arteries, he should not
have expected to find the symptoms of irritation in the stomach which
existed after death; that displacement of the lungs and heart had not
been, in this case, produced by the curvature of the spine, and, if
there had been much displacement of either, he could not have failed
to observe it.” Dr. Little was equally inexperienced with Dr. Berry in
cases of poisoning, but agreed with him that the curvature of the spine
in the lumbar region had not displaced either the lungs, the stomach,
or the heart, and that the patches on the surface of the stomach were
of recent date—“might have existed for days, but not for weeks, but
not without the patient suffering.”

_Mr. Bond_, the Lecturer on Forensic Medicine at the Westminster
Hospital, detailed the various portions of the body which he put aside
for chemical analysis and delivered to Dr. Dupré; the receipt of two
pills given to him by Dr. Berry, one of which was taken out of one of
the capsule boxes after the boy’s death, and the other brought to Dr.
Berry whilst he was in attendance on the deceased, and two packets
of sweets, and part of a cake. He further confirmed the evidence of
Dr. Berry as to the results of the _post-mortem_ examination, with
the exception, that Dr. Berry had omitted to state that “the whole
of the lungs were somewhat congested, and the anterior part of them
exceedingly so, and that the body was not decomposed.” In his opinion
there was nothing to account for death from natural causes, and
he attributed it to poisoning by some vegetable alkaloid, such as
aconitia, a fatal dose of which could be given in one of the capsules.
The appearances on the _post-mortem_ examination were, he considered,
such as he should expect to find in death by aconitia. He agreed also
with the other medical men that the grey patches on the stomach were
recent, due to intense irritation, and would cause the deceased great
pain, and induce vomiting. On the question of the probable effect
of the curvature of the spine, he gave the following most material
evidence:—

“The principal curvature was in the lower part of the body; in the
upper part of the spine there was slight anti-posterior or forward
curvature, but it was not enough to affect the position of the heart
or lungs relatively to each other. The cavities of the chest appeared
to me to be deeper from before backward than usual. The heart was in
its right position, except perhaps that it was higher up in the body
than is normal. In the lower region there was a good deal of lateral
curvature. I examined the spinal cord down to the end of the dorsal
vertebræ, and I found the membranes very much congested, but otherwise
it was quite healthy, to all appearance. I did not examine it with a
microscope. In the lower lumbar region I did not open the canal, for
it was very twisted, and I had difficulty in getting it open. No
disease there could have caused sudden death. The curvature appeared
to be of long standing; the bones were very hard, and there was no
active disease there. I think it impossible that death could have been
caused by pressure produced by the curvature on one of the arteries.”

The _cross-examination_ of Mr. Bond by Mr. Williams was directed,
_first_, to whether the time at which after taking the dose the
symptoms might be expected to show, depended on its amount. Of this the
witness had no knowledge, but considered that that would be determined
by the fulness or emptiness of the stomach; and _secondly_, whether he
would expect to find in the stomach the amount of poison that would
cause death. On this last point the following questions and answers
must be reported:—

_Mr. Williams._—“Would you, supposing death had been occasioned by
aconitia, expect to find the amount of poison that had caused death,
or would it have disappeared?”

_Mr. Bond._—“I believe it would be possible to use so small a dose
that it could not be found in the stomach.”

_Mr. Williams._—“Supposing death caused by aconitia, would you expect
to find the actual amount that caused death?”

_Mr. Bond._—“That would depend on the amount. My opinion is that if
death was caused by an ordinary amount, traces would be found.”

_Mr. Williams._—“Of the amount that caused death?”

_Mr. Bond._—“Not of all.”

_Mr. Williams._—“And you say aconitia enough to cause death might
leave no trace in the stomach?”

_Mr. Bond._—“Not of aconitia in the stomach.”

_Mr. Williams._—“Do you agree with this: ‘that the poison found on
analysis would be over and above that used up in causing death?’”

_Mr. Bond._—“No; I should not agree to that, unless it means that so
small a quantity had been absorbed, causing death, leaving a larger
amount which did not cause death. What I mean is, that the poison
which may have caused death has been removed from the stomach to other
organs, and it is quite possible that a larger amount may be left
behind in the stomach than the portion which has been removed, and
caused death.”

_Mr. Williams._—“Do you mean that it would be decomposed in causing
death?”

_Mr. Bond._—“I do not know whether it would or not. I think not. I
will not give a decided answer one way or the other. I have no idea.”

_Mr. Williams._—“‘Guy and Ferrier on Forensic Medicine’ is one of the
first authorities, is it not?”

_Mr. Bond._—“Yes, I think so.”

_Mr. Williams._—“Do you agree with this, in regard to aconitia, ‘that
the commencement of the symptoms may be in a few minutes or in one or
two hours’?”

_Mr. Bond._—“I do not know anything about poisoning by the alkaloid
aconitia, so I cannot say one way or other.”

_Mr. Williams._—“I understood you to say, that the ventricles of the
heart were both empty?”

_Mr. Bond._—“The ventricles and auricles were both empty.”

_Mr. Williams._—“Can you produce any case on record where such a
symptom as that has appeared in poisoning by aconitia?”

_Mr. Bond._—“No, I cannot produce any case on record of poisoning by
aconitia.”

On _re-examination_, the witness declined to speak more positively on
this point, on the ground that he was a surgeon, and therefore had not
had experience in the pathology of such cases. His only experience in
poisoning by alkaloids had been in a case of strychnia. In reply to
the Judge, he admitted “that other vegetable poisons, even a strong
solution of oil of mustard, would produce the same congestion of the
stomach, and the same yellow marks as had been found; that a vegetable
alkaloid would pass within a minute from the stomach into the blood,
and that it would be more likely to be found in the liver, kidneys, and
urine, than in the heart; he did not know whether strychnia had been
found in the heart when not discoverable in the blood and the urine.”

ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE.

_Dr. Thomas Stevenson_, Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence and Chemistry
at Guy’s Hospital, and Examiner in Forensic Medicine at the London
University, after enumerating the various matters handed to him and
Dr. Dupré by Mr. Bond for analysis,[204] and stating that the methods
of it were arranged with his colleague, the manual operations carried
out by both of them, and the results of those performed by Dr. Dupré
examined by himself, gave the following evidence, which must be
reported in full.

“The bottle marked ‘A’ contained portions of the liver, spleen, and
kidney. To that was applied Stas’s process. I obtained an alkaloidal
extract which contained a trace of morphia, and which, placed on the
tongue, gave a faint sensation like that produced by aconitia. I
reserved that for experiments. To the bottle ‘2,’ which contained
part of the bowels, large and small, I applied the same process. I
obtained an extract which I have done nothing further with—that
is to say, I have not tested the extract. No. 3 contained a fluid,
the contents of the stomach, 3½ ozs. This was treated in a somewhat
similar way. The fluid contained a raisin and a piece of fruit like
the top of a carrot or an apple. From that fluid I obtained, by Stas’s
process, an alkaloidal extract, which was distinctive, and produced
a very faint sensation, like that of aconitia. When placed on the
tongue, burning of the lips was produced, though the extract did not
touch the lips. Burning, tingling—a kind of numbness peculiar but
difficult to define; a salivation creating a desire to expectorate,
a sensation at the back of the throat of swelling up, and this was
followed by a peculiar seared sensation of the tongue, as if a hot
iron had been drawn over it, or some strong caustic placed on it. I
reserved that alkaloidal extract also for physiological experiments.
No. 4 D contained a human stomach, and 7 ozs. of spirits added to
preserve the stomach. I observed that the stomach was reddened, I
think from congestion, in the region of the greater curvature, and
posteriorly. At one part there was a little pit as if a blister or
inflammatory effusion of lymph had broken. From the stomach and liquid
in the bottle I made an extract by Stas’s process, and obtained an
alkaloidal extract. That I reserved; but I tasted it, and it had no
particular taste that I could recognize. Next was No. 5 E, containing
the urine, 6 ozs. I opened it in Dr. Dupré’s presence. He found that
4 ozs. of urine had had 2 ozs. of spirit added to preserve it. I made
an extract from a portion of that liquid—three-fourths. I obtained an
alkaloidal extract which contained a trace of morphia. By a further
process I obtained more morphia, but the first alkaloid I referred to
was more than could be accounted for by the morphia I obtained. Some
of this extract was placed upon my tongue. It produced the effects of
aconitia, which I have already described, in a marked degree, and a
peculiar burning sensation extending downwards towards the stomach.”

_By the Judge._—“I have 50 or 80 alkaloids in my possession, and I
have tasted most of them.”

_The Solicitor-General._—“How long did the effects last?”

_Witness._—“About four hours—not all the effects, but the burning on
the tongue did. I made an experiment on about one-third of the urine.
I injected it beneath the skin of a mouse. The animal was obviously
affected in two minutes. From that time it exhibited symptoms of
poisoning, and died in 30 minutes. I made some experiments on mice
from Morson’s aconitia, which I procured for the purpose. I injected
some of that, after dissolving it, under the skins of several mice.
It operated on the mice in a manner which was undistinguishable from
the effect of the urine. The effects of the two I might say were
ridiculously alike. Tartaric acid was previously used on a mouse in
the same quantities and was found inoperative. I retained portions
of the extract made from the liver, spleen, and kidneys, from the
stomach, and from the contents of the stomach. All contained an
alkaloid; two giving a slight taste of aconitia, and the third no
taste. I then mixed together the alkaloidal extracts, Nos. 1, 3, and
4, and I injected it under the skin of a mouse, in the same manner,
and it produced effects on the mouse, in nine minutes from that time,
of severe symptoms of poisoning, and the animal died in 22 minutes.
These symptoms were precisely similar to those produced by Morson’s
aconitia. No. 6, the vomit, contained nearly ten ounces, or half a
pint, of thick, pasty fluid stuff, with which also were spirits of
wine. Dr. Dupré pointed out marks showing that to 5oz. of vomit 5oz.
of spirit had been added. There was a good deal of solid matter in
the vomit, which must have been of a solid character. I examined the
solid portion and found it consisted of pieces of fat, a very small
portion of the muscular fibre of some animal, pieces of onion, a
little starch, probably that of wheat, a slice of candied peel like
that put on the top of cake, a piece of apple pulp, raisins, and some
pineapple, with just the odour of pineapple drops. I subsequently
examined with the microscope the vomit again, the solid portions, to
see if I could find anything corresponding to the root of aconite or
the root of horseradish. I found neither. I made an extract from the
vomit, and obtained an alkaloidal extract. The extract had no trace of
morphia or of quinine. I applied it to the tongue with a very powerful
result, such as that of aconitia. The severe forms of attack lasted
for 6½ hours; it lasted for that time, though the effects did not then
cease. I took 1-24th part for experiment on a mouse. I injected it
into the back of a mouse. It was severely affected in 2½ minutes, the
symptoms continuing till the time of its death, 15½ minutes after.
Those symptoms were parallel with those of aconitia. In my judgment
the vomit submitted to me contained a considerable quantity of
aconitia.”

_Question._—“Can you fix what quantity?”

_Answer._—“Approximately it was not less than one-seventh, and not
more than one-fourth of a grain.”

_Question._—“What would be a fatal dose of aconitia to a human being?”

_Answer._—“There is only one fatal case I know of, and in that
death was caused by about one-sixteenth of a grain. What is known to
have caused death was not less than one-twenty-first of a grain, and
not more than one-thirteenth. Each of the boxes produced contained
capsules. There were only two pills in them. They were gelatine-coated
pills, like those in the bottle. I examined those pills, or rather I
saw Dr. Dupré do so. They were simply five-grain quinine pills.”

_Question._—“The packet of sweetmeats, No. 8. Did they contain any
traces of poison?”

_Answer._—“No.”

_Question._—“No. 9, the cake?”

_Answer._—“That contained no traces of poison of any kind.”

_Question._—“No. 10, the capsules, did you examine them?”

_Answer._—“They are simply gelatine capsules.”

_Question._—“You have told us there were some pills loose?”

_Answer._—“Yes; there were four, and they were similar to those I
have just referred to, quinine, gelatine-coated pills. There was some
sugar in a paper. Some of the powders were in larger papers than
others; six were in large. They contained 1½ grains of disulphate
of quinine. There were 14 smaller papers containing powders. They
were tied together in a bundle numbering from 7 to 20. They varied
considerably in weight, the lowest weighed 6-10ths of a grain, the
highest 1⅛ grains. Three of the powders differed in appearance. The
average weight of those which were quinine were 9-10ths of a grain. I
examined those powders, and I found they consisted, eleven of them,
7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, and 20, of disulphate of quinine
simply, the ordinary quinine powders, but varying considerably in
weight, from 3-10ths of a grain up to 1¼ grains. Of the other three,
my attention was drawn to No. 16 by Dr. Dupré; it was a different
colour, as also were Nos. 17 and 19. No. 16 was an obvious mixture;
there were two substances clearly to a chemist, who would have noticed
the mixture at once. It was a very pale fawn, the mixture; the other
was a pure white. No. 16 weighed 1-8/10 grs. or 1·79 grs. No. 17
weighed ·88 of a grain; No. 19 weighed 1·26, or about 1¼ grs. In the
No. 16, which appeared to be a mixture, it looked as if the quinine
had been damaged. I tasted it, and in about three minutes a startling
sensation came on. The sensation was severe for three hours, and then
gradually went away after dinner.”

_Question._—“Did you make a special examination of the pills?”

_Answer._—“Yes.”

_Question._—“What amount of aconitia was in the pills?”

_Answer._—“Decimal 83. In the quinine pills there was ·96. I tested
the action of this quinine on a mouse. In three and a half minutes
after I had administered it the effect was the same as before. In
No. 17 there was aconitia, and in 19 there was aconitia; I cannot
tell you how much. In 17 and 19 I noticed the difference in colouring
between the ordinary quinine powders. The proportion of aconitia was
considerably less in 16 as compared with 19.”

_Question._—“Is it usual to wrap pills in tinfoil?”

_Answer._—“No.”

_Question._—“Or to put them in boxes of this description?”

_Answer._—“Oh, no.”

_Question._—“Were these two pills examined by yourself and Dr. Dupré?”

_Answer._—“Yes; one weighed 3 grs. and another 2¾. There was nothing
particular in the appearance. There was a little bitterness at first
with the 2¾ grain pill. I cut out a small piece with a penknife.
We all took a little piece, I only took the 22nd part of a grain.
Part of it was used for the microscope. It caused intense burning.
The bitterness of quinine was followed by intense burning, and the
same symptoms I have already described, but of a more severe kind. I
injected some of that into the back of a mouse. It exhibited symptoms
of poisoning, was very ill in two minutes, and it died in 4½ minutes.
I came to the conclusion that there was ·45 of a grain of aconitia
in that pill, or nearly half a grain. No. 12 was the sherry. I found
no trace of poison in that, nor in the wafers. I have said the urine
contained aconitia, showing that the poison had been absorbed into
the blood, had passed through the tissues of the body, and had become
excreted. I have said I found in the extracts traces of morphia. I
have heard of the injection of morphia by Dr. Little and Dr. Berry
during the last hour of the boy’s illness. The traces I found were
such as I should have expected to find from that, both in the urine
and probably in the liver too.”

_Question._—“Could a fatal dose of aconitia be administered in such a
capsule as this?”

_Answer._—“Oh, yes. Many times a fatal dose. I have put into one a
grain of aconitia, and into another a half-grain.”

[Capsules produced by Witness, and shown to Judge and Jury, to show
how little space in the capsule was occupied even by the grain of
aconitia.]

Witness continued.—“The symptoms lasted after tasting the pill 7½
hours, notwithstanding having taken a meal.”

_Question._—“Supposing aconitia taken in a capsule of this
description, would it prevent a taste on the tongue?”

_Answer._—“Oh, yes.”

_Question._—“I believe there is no test of aconitia?”

_Answer._—“No specific or characteristic chemical test.”

_Question._—“What are the tests?”

_Answer._—“We can tell chemically that it is an alkaloid. Then
there is the physiological test, the effect on the tongue and the
neighbouring parts, and its general effect on the system if taken in
any quantity. Then the other physiological test is that it will kill,
after a definite course of symptoms, as shown in my experiments with
the mice.”

_Question._—“Have you any doubt that you did find aconitia in the
portions of the body you examined and in the vomit?”

_Answer._—“Not the least. I have heard the description of the
deceased boy. He had symptoms such as would arise from poisoning by
aconite. His symptoms approached more nearly to those caused by that
than any other poison. Judging from the symptoms discovered at the
_post-mortem_ examination, I should say that he died from poisoning by
aconitia.”

_Question._—“Is aconitia a medicine commonly used for spinal diseases
in this country?”

_Answer._—“No.”

_Question._—“I do not know if you are aware of its use here by
medical men?”

_Answer._—“No; the British Pharmacopœia orders it for external use,
but makes no mention of any dose for internal use. It was formerly
tried a quarter of a century ago, or thirty years ago, but it was
given up because it was too dangerous.”

On _cross-examination_ by _Mr. Williams_, after he had stated that he
had never seen an acknowledged death from aconitia, but founded his
opinion not only from tasting, testing, and the experiments on mice,
but from his reading, and that he knew that it was used in France
and Germany, but not that it was sold at the French chemist’s in the
Haymarket as a patent medicine, the examination proceeded as follows:—

_Question._—“Do you know Guibert’s French book on chemistry?”

_Answer._—“Yes; I know the book. I have it in my possession.”

_Question._—“Would you look at that book—is that it?”

_Answer._—“Yes; that is the book.”

_Question._—“Do you there find a formula for pills with aconitia in
them?”

_Answer._—“Yes.”

_Question._—“And drops?”

_Answer._—“Yes.”

_Question._—“For internal use?”

_Answer._—“No. The drops are for dropping in the ear; the pills are
for internal use.”

_Question._—“Also for ointment?”

_Answer._—“Yes.”

_Question._—“And in the British Pharmacopœia you will find ‘Unguentum
Aconitiæ,’ 8 grains of aconitia to 1 ounce of lard?”

_Answer._—“Yes.”

_Question._—“Is Sidney Ringer an acknowledged authority on
therapeutics?”

_Answer._—“Yes.”

_Question._—“Do you know his books?”

_Answer._—“Yes.”

_Question._—“Do you agree with this:—‘Aconite is used externally in
the form of liniment or ointment to relieve pain?”

_Answer._—“Yes.”

_Question._—“The ‘Unguentum Aconitiæ’ alludes to aconitia, does it
not?”

_Answer._—“Yes, the ointment does.”

_Question._—“Is that applied in neuralgic cases?”

_Answer._—“Yes, it is used in neuralgia and rheumatism.”

_Question._—“Do you agree with the statement, ‘That a piece of
ointment the size of a bean or nut should be applied with friction,
which enhances its efficacy?’”

_Answer._—“Yes, to the skin.”

_Question._—“A piece the size of a bean would contain half a grain of
aconitia, would it not?”

_Answer._—“Yes.”

_Question._—“Do you agree that the application in such a case will
cut short pain?”

_Answer._—“Yes.”

_Question._—“And prevent sickness?”

_Answer._—“I do not know about that. Sickness is not a usual symptom
in neuralgia and rheumatism.”

_Question._—“Do you agree with this, that ‘Aconite diminishes
sensibility, and it has been used internally in various painful
diseases?’”

_Answer._—“Yes, aconite.”

_Question._—“Have you heard of the use of aconitia in typhoid fever?”

_Answer._—“No; I have heard of its use in fevers generally, but not
in typhoid.”

_Question._—“In the _Journal of Medicine_, No. 27, March, 1882, by
Dr. Phipson—--“[205]

The _Solicitor-General_ objected that that was something written
within a few days.

_Mr. M. Williams._—“Then I will put this question generally. Have you
heard of its use internally in severe cases of fever?”

_Answer._—“Yes, I have heard of its use in fever, but not in typhoid.”

_Question._—“Have you heard of its use in pleuro-pneumonia?”

_Answer._—“Yes, in very minute doses; it is recommended in a journal
of medicine which is edited by a man who is not a medical man.”

_Question._—“Your collaborateur, Dr. Dupré, is not a medical man, is
he?”

_Answer._—“No.”

_Question._—“With regard to the symptoms—the dilated pupils—are
they not invariably dilated three days after death?”

_Answer._—“After a natural death. The surface of the tongue being
rough is no sure sign of aconitia poisoning. Congestion of the brain
has been observed in aconite poisoning, but is no sure sign.”

_Question._—“Has bloody fluid in the bag of the heart been met with
in aconitia poisoning?”

_Answer._—“Yes.”

_Question._—“Would you expect to find the ventricles and auricles
empty?”

_Answer._—“It has been observed in poisoning by preparations of
aconitia; but in the only case of aconitia poisoning I know of
the state of the heart is not mentioned. You will find it in the
_Philadelphia Journal of Medicine_ of November last.”[206]

_Question._—“Is congested liver a sign of aconitia poisoning?”

_Answer._—“The congestion of the internal viscera is an important
sign of poisoning by aconitia. The congestion could be caused by
various means. The kidneys being congested was consistent with
aconite poisoning, but not dependent on it. The same could be said
of congestion of the spleen. I am prepared to admit that cases may
have occurred in which congestion has been caused without poison. The
patches in the stomach may have existed days before death, but not
without causing pain. I commenced the analysis of the contents of the
stomach on the 10th of December. I commenced the analysis of the vomit
the same day. I commenced to examine the urine the same day.”

_Question._—“You say the bottle C, No. 3, contained matter from which
you extracted an alkaloidal extract. Would you expect to find an
alkaloid from morphia in the contents of the stomach?”

_Answer._—“No; but I should expect to find it in the urine, and I
found in that more alkaloid than was consistent with morphia. That
requires the most delicate test. By a further extraction I got a
little more morphia.”

_Question._—“The precise process I ask you for in testing the
alkaloidal extract.”

_Answer._—“I took half the contents of the stomach. I mixed it with
such a quantity of rectified spirit as, with the spirit previously
added by Dr. Dupré, made the proportion of spirit two volumes of
spirit to one volume of matter. The liquid I took was acid in
reaction. The liquid stood over from Sunday to Monday. It was then
filtered. The insoluble part was well washed with rectified spirit.
The clear liquid was then evaporated at a temperature below that
of the human body, till it was almost solid. The portion I had not
dissolved in spirit was then treated with an additional quantity of
spirit, to which a little quantity of tartaric acid was added. The
mixture was then warmed to 140 deg. Fahr. It was then cooled. The
insoluble part was well washed with spirit, and the clear liquid
evaporated at a temperature below that of the human body. A fairly
solid residue was obtained. I now obtained two alcoholic extracts,
each of which was treated in a precisely similar manner, but
separately, by digesting them with warm absolute alcohol, or rather
tepid, till the alcohol would take up and dissolve nothing more. The
solutions in absolute alcohol were filtered and evaporated nearly
to dryness. They were then treated with a little water. They were
found to be acid in reaction, and the two solutions—that is to say,
that from the plain spirit, and the other from the tartaric acid
spirit—were mixed. Care was taken that they remained just faintly
acid, and the solution was then agitated with washed ether. The ether
was allowed to separate; it was drawn off, and replaced by fresh
ether. This operation was carried out five times. The ether was set
apart, and allowed to evaporate at a temperature below boiling point;
that was reserved as not containing any alkaloid. The residue was oily
and partially dissoluble with water; it was of a brownish colour. It
was not weighed, but was a very appreciable quantity.”

_Question._—“Were these tests conducted for aconitia only?”

_Answer._—“Oh, no; I tested for other poisons. The aqueous liquid
which separated from the ether was made alkaline by carbonate of
soda, and it was then agitated with a mixture of washed ether and
washed chloroform. The ether-chloroform solution was then allowed to
separate, drawn off, replaced by washed ether, the ether again drawn
off, and again replaced by ether, which was again drawn off. These
chloroform-ether mixtures were mixed and evaporated, and finally dried
in vacuo over oil of vitriol. Before it was placed in the vacuum, I
examined it to see if there were any volatile alkaloids, which would
be distinguished by their peculiar odour. There were none. I then
weighed it, after drying, and found its weight ·108 of a grain, or
rather more than 1-10th of a grain. It was slightly crystalline in
appearance. I tasted it, putting a little on my tongue. That was one
of my taste tests.”

_Question._—“That was afterwards dissolved, and part of it was
applied to the mouse?”

_Answer._—“Yes, but I had previously tested it for an alkaloid. I
went through the same operation with the vomit and the urine, with
only minor differences of details here and there as occasion required.”

_Question._—“You say that the effect on the tongue was characteristic
of aconitia. Was it characteristic of nothing else?”

_Answer._—“Nothing else that I know of.”

_Question._—“Not of veratria?”

_Answer._—“No; I have tried that on the tongue, and its effect is
different. I do not recollect that delphinia is like aconitia. Morphia
has no marked bitterness. I know that the taste is very different from
other substances. Pepperine has an immediate burning effect.”

_Question._—“Is not phosphoric acid a test for aconitia?”

_Answer._—“No; it is given as a test, except by those who have
studied it recently. I have made experiments with pure aconitia with
no results. The book produced is written by an authority. Fluckijer,
in his work on the subject, gives the reaction of aconitia, but it
is German aconitia he refers to; it is very different to English
aconitia. I see no reference to English aconitia in Fluckijer.”

The book was handed back to counsel, and Mr. Montagu Williams said the
date was 1879.

_Witness, cross-examined further._—“The solution injected into the
mouse was measured on each occasion. About three minims of liquid
altogether was injected. With the exception of the urine and one of
the vomits, the injections were unmixed. He believed, of course, that
too much reliance must not be placed on experiments on animals.”

_Question._—“Is it not a recognised fact that alkaloids are found in
the human body after death, irrespective of poisons?”

_Answer._—“It is a question still _sub judice_. It has been asserted
that such is the case where the stomach or other viscera has been much
decomposed.”

_Question._—“What are called cadaveric alkaloids, utterly
irrespective of the administration of poison?”

_Answer._—“It is so asserted.”

_Question._—“Is not Stas’s test a mode of extracting cadaveric
alkaloids?”

_Answer._—“Cadaveric as well as natural alkaloids.”

_Question._—“Would these cadaveric alkaloids produce the same effects
as the natural alkaloids?”

_Answer._—“They have been described as producing the same effects;
but I have seen no description of one producing the effects of
aconitia. There is a test distinguishing these cadaveric alkaloids
from all natural alkaloids, except morphia and veratria, and certainly
from aconitia. That test was applied to these extracts when no morphia
was present,—the reduction of the ferricyanide to the ferro-cyanide
of potassium. There is an authority for the method of obtaining and
distinguishing these cadaveric alkaloids. I was one of the first to
point out that alkaloidal extracts from the stomachs of the dead
would kill frogs if injected under the skin. I have read most of the
foreign writers on this subject. I have not read Peschi, and cannot
say whether they produce pricking of the tongue. I do not remember any
of them describing sensations produced on the tongue from cadaveric
alkaloids, similar to those from aconitia. Many things would produce
prickings on the tongue.”

_Question._—“Have you found the ordinary residue of the stomach from
the dead poison the lower animals?”

_Answer._—“I have never known it to do so. I will not say it is not
so.”

_Question._—“How long after the administration of aconitia would you
expect the symptoms to appear?”

_Answer._—“From a few minutes to an hour and a half.”

_Question._—“Would the time of action depend upon the dose?”

_Answer._—“The probabilities are that a large dose would soonest
produce effect. The smallest dose that has produced death has been
between 1-21 gr. and 1-13 gr., or about 1-16 gr.”

On _re-examination_ by the _Solicitor-General_, the _Witness_ explained
that it was when corpses were putrefying that the cadaveric alkaloids
were produced. He had procured alkaloidal extracts from the urine,
viscera and stomach, and ascertained the effects of them upon mice:
had made twenty-two experiments this year: there were two cases of
heart disease, and four of the liver, kidneys, spleen, vomit, and six
from the urine. He had also, in six instances, taken from the urine
of living persons, and in three from that of healthy dead persons.
Those extracts had no effect on his tongue. He had had many years’
experience, and certainly never tasted anything like aconitia, and he
had tried these alkaloidal extracts on the same number of mice without
the animals suffering except from the puncture. One of these mice,
he added, he had killed with the _three-thousandths_ of a grain, and
_two-thousandths_ of a grain was always fatal to a mouse. To a question
by the judge, he said “it would make a great difference in the time
when the severe symptoms appeared, whether the poison was swallowed
directly and whether it came into direct contact with the tongue.” Dr.
Dupré confirmed in every detail the statements of his colleague. “In
his case the effects of tasting the alkaloid from the urine continued
over four hours, and that from the vomit over six hours, though he took
lunch and dinner during that time. In the vomit he did not find any
trace of quinine which he should have expected had aconitia been given
in conjunction with quinine.”

THE PREVIOUS ACTS OF THE PRISONER.

Soon after his marriage in 1879, the prisoner set up in practice at
Bournemouth, whence in April, 1880, he went for a six months’ trip to
America. Early in 1881, he was in great pecuniary difficulties, and
had to part with his furniture to pay an execution out of his house,
and again went to America on the 30th of August. Three days before he
sailed, whilst staying with his mother at Ventnor, he visited Percy
John at Shanklin, where the boy was staying with the Chapmans, and
promised to return on the Monday, the 29th, before he left England. It
was supposed that he did so, and it was then, according to the boy’s
statement before reported, that he gave him a pill, after which he was
taken ill in much the same way as at Blenheim House in the December
following.[207] From America he returned on the 17th of October, and
after a visit to Ventnor, where he got a cheque, which was subsequently
dishonoured, cashed by a tradesman (Price Owen), he was in London on
the 1st of December, staying at the Nelson Hotel, Portland-road. His
actions are now taken up by the following witness, to whom, and to
whose brother, the prisoner had from time to time advanced money, in
the case of the brother pawning his surgical instruments and watch, on
the 24th of November, in order to lend him five pounds.[208]

_John Law Tulloch_, a student of medicine living in Alma Square, St.
John’s Wood, said:—

“I have known the prisoner for some time. I did not see him till
December of last year from the previous April. I saw him on the 1st
of last December, a Thursday night, at my house. He said he was
staying at Nelson’s Hotel, and was going to Paris the next night.
He had dinner at my house. I went with him to Nelson’s Hotel, and
assisted in packing his luggage. I went with him from the hotel to
Waterloo Station. We had with us a leather case, a handbag, and
a rug. He said he thought he would go first of all to see his
brother-in-law at Wimbledon. We went to Wimbledon together at about
six in the evening.[209] He said he was going up to the school, at
Mr. Bedbrook’s. I waited for him in the public-house opposite. He
came back to me in about twenty minutes. He said that he had seen his
brother-in-law, who was very much worse. He added that he did not
expect him to live long. He said he had seen Mr. Bedbrook, who was a
director of one of the Continental lines, and that gentleman had told
him that it was as well that he should not go that night, as there was
a bad boat on the service. We returned to town, and went together to
the Comedy Theatre in Panton-street. After that we went to Stone’s, a
public-house opposite the theatre, and while we were there he wrote
the cheque produced, on the Wilts and Dorset Bank, dated December 2,
1881, for 12_l._ 10_s._, payable to J. L. Tulloch. He asked me to
try and obtain the cash for it. We went first to the Adelphi Hotel
in Adam-street, but could not get it cashed there. We then drove to
the Eyre Arms, St. John’s-wood, which is close to where I reside. Mr.
Perrot, the landlord, cashed the cheque, and I gave the money to the
prisoner. I then parted from him, and arranged to meet him on the
following day at the Adelphi Hotel. I saw him there about three or
four in the afternoon. I was to meet him at half-past one, to see him
off by a train at 2.50, but I do not know from what station. He said
that he was too late for the mid-day train, and could not go until
night. I went with him to the Horseshoe to have some refreshment.
When there we found that one of the bags received from the Eyre Arms
contained coppers. We returned to the house and obtained a 5_l._ note
in exchange. He left me there about six. I did not hear of him again
till he was in custody. The cheque was dishonoured. On the 13th of
December he wrote saying the amount would be in my hands very soon,
and he was surprised at my attitude towards, or, rather against
him.”[210]

On _cross-examination_, the _witness_ said:—

“I have said to-day the prisoner said on December 2, ‘the boy is very
much worse, and I don’t think he will last long.’ I do not think he
said anything about his having passed his examination that day. I was
quite sober. I do not owe him money.”

At five minutes to seven, on the evening of the 3rd of December,
he was at Blenheim House telling Mr. Bedbrook he wished to see his
brother-in-law. The boy was brought into the dining-room, some wine
got for the prisoner, and some powdered white sugar to cure, as he
said, the alcohol in it. He then had with him a leather bag from which
he took some Dundee cakes and sweets, of which the boy and the master
partook.

_Mr. Bedbrook_ deposed:—

“About a quarter past 7 the prisoner said to me, ‘Oh, by the way,
when I was in America, I thought of you and your boys, and I thought
what excellent things these capsules would be for the boys to take
nauseous medicine in.’ He produced two boxes of capsules from his bag,
and said, ‘I should like you to try one to see how easily they can be
swallowed.’ I examined them, and put one in my mouth.”

_The Judge._—“Was the box wrapped in paper, or was it handed to you
open?”

_The Witness._—“It was handed to me open.”

The remainder of the capsules were here produced.

_Mr. Montagu Williams._—“I do not think they are all of one size.”

_Mr. Poland._—“These are the original capsules.”

_Witness_ continuing, said—“I swallowed an empty capsule, and it was
very easy to swallow.”

_The Witness_ continuing, said—“The prisoner took the lids off
both of the boxes. While I was examining a capsule the prisoner was
filling another with sugar, with a little spade spoon. He then, having
apparently filled it with sugar, said, ‘If you shake it the medicine
will come down to one end.’ He then handed the capsule to the boy
Percy John, who was sitting on his right, about a yard from him. In
doing so he said, ‘Here, Percy; you are a swell pill taker; take this,
and show Mr. Bedbrook how easy it is to swallow.’ Percy John then put
the capsule in his mouth as far back as he could, and at one gulp it
was gone. I remarked to him, ‘That is soon gone, my boy.’ The prisoner
then said, ‘I must be going now,’ and I then looked at the time-table
to see the next train for London. It was then 7.20 or thereabouts,
and I told him the next train left at 7.21, and advised him to go at
once or he would miss his train. Previous to this I had asked him to
remain a little longer, until the 7.50 train. He said, ‘I cannot, as
I have to catch a train at eight o’clock at London Bridge, _en route_
to the Continent.’ He said he was going to Florence, _viâ_ Paris.
Passing through the drawing-room I remarked to him that I thought the
curvature of the spine of the deceased was getting worse. He observed
on that occasion that he did not think the boy would last long. I did
not make any reply to that. He then left the house at about 21 or 22
minutes past seven o’clock. He left behind the two boxes of capsules.
I placed them on the dining-room waggon.”

_Question._—“From the time Percy John had swallowed the capsule how
many minutes elapsed before the prisoner said, ‘I must be going now’?”

_Answer._—“He said it within five minutes. After the prisoner left
the house I returned to the dining-room, where Percy John was. When I
got back deceased said, ‘I feel as if I had an attack of heartburn.’
I think after that I returned to my guests. He was reading the
newspapers.”

_Mr. Montagu Williams_ objected to the statements of the deceased being
put in evidence.

_The Judge_ said that evidence as to symptoms could be received when
made by the deceased.

_Examination continued._—“I returned to him in five minutes. He said,
‘I feel as I felt when my brother-in-law had given me a quinine pill
at Shanklin.’ He said he would like to go to bed. I gave orders that
he should go to bed. Mr. Bell carried him upstairs.”

_The Judge._—“At what time was this?”

_Answer._—“Between eight and nine.”

The fatal attack now came on as previously described. In the box with
the capsules were some little pills, and in the boy’s own box in his
bedroom a small box of quinine powders, and another with two pills
wrapped in tinfoil.[211] In the previous year, when the prisoner was
in America, Mr. Bedbrook had received from him a box of pills, with a
letter, saying that “he had met some one in America suffering from the
same complaint as the boy, who had derived great benefit from taking
medicine similar to that now sent, and requesting Mr. Bedbrook to see
the boy take the medicine.” “I afterwards,” said the witness, “gave
the boy one of the pills, and next morning he complained of being very
unwell. At that time the box was in his bedroom, and Percy John said,
‘I will take no more of them.’ I thereupon took the pills downstairs,
and until the box produced was found, was under the impression that I
had thrown it away.”[212]

PURCHASE OF ACONITIA BY THE PRISONER.

_Mr. Charles Albert Smith_, a chemist at Ventnor, proved that on
the 28th of August, 1881, the prisoner purchased of him 3 grains
of sulphate of atropine, and 2 grains of aconitia, and that he had
labelled the latter “Aconitine, poison.” As he had previously made
up prescriptions for the prisoner, and knew him as a medical man, he
sold the poison to him without hesitation. Aconitia, he believed, was
commonly used for neuralgia and cancer, to relieve the palpitations in
heart disease, and as a diuretic in dropsy.

On the 24th of November, 1881, the prisoner asked for 2 grains of
aconitia at Messrs. Allen & Hanbury’s, of Plough-court, Lombard-street;
and as the assistant, on reference to the Medical Directory, found the
prisoner’s name as a medical man practising at Bournemouth, he sold
them to him without further precaution than labelling it “Poison.”
On the evidence of this witness, Mr. Dodd, a difficulty arose, from
his having at first entertained the impression that it was “atropia”
which he had sold. The price of this drug to a medical man would have
been only threepence a grain, whilst that of aconitia would be 1_s._
3_d._[213] In the petty-cash book of the day, among entries of sales
marked “C”—the sign that they were sold to a medical man—was one of
2_s._ 6_d._, but none of 3_d._; and Mr. Dodd, after consulting with the
other assistant who was present at the sale, became convinced that it
was “aconitia,” and not “atropia,” which he had sold to the prisoner.
“There is also,” he said, “a difference in colour, atropia being white,
and aconitia yellowish-white.”

A previous attempt to purchase aconitia was proved by Mr.
Stilling,[214] an assistant of Messrs. Bell & Co., Oxford-street,
on the 20th of November. Twice before that day the prisoner had had
prescriptions made up there, which he wrote in the shop, and marked as
for his own use. These contained morphia and atropia, but at the bottom
of the second of these prescriptions he had written, “Digitaline, pure,
5 grains.”

_By the Judge._—“He told me he practised at Bournemouth.”

_By Mr. Poland._—“He led us to infer that he was accustomed to
prescribe this digitaline for internal use. It is the active principle
of foxglove, and is a poison. While he was in the shop I looked at
our stock of digitaline, and found it more coloured than I expected.
I told him that, and said I would provide him some fresh from the
manufacturer in a few days. I did that because he had laid stress on
its being pure. He did not say when he would call again, but in a
few days. Dr. Lamson himself then struck out the lower part of the
prescription as to the digitaline. All the rest was made up—morphia
and the sulphate of atropia. He waited in the shop while it was made
up, and paid 2_s._ 9_d._ for it. In a few days he called again; it was
after the 20th of November. He then asked for one grain of aconitia
for internal use. I knew it was poison, and I recommended him to
procure it where he was better known. Nothing more was said, and he
left the shop. I believe he wrote an order for one grain of aconitia
in the shop, and I believe he tore it up himself. Except seeing him on
the 11th and the 16th I knew nothing of him before.”

_By Mr. Williams._—“He told me on the 11th that he was staying at
Nelson’s Hotel, in Portland Street. I cannot swear that there was a
written order for the aconitia. I believed that when I went from the
shop for my fellow-assistant, Dr. Lamson wrote the order; and then
when we returned he tore it up. I have not said anything about that
order before to-day, because I was not asked. Only the atropia and
morphia were bought on both occasions.”

_Re-examined._—“When he asked me for the aconitia, knowing it was a
potent poison, I went to consult a fellow-assistant, and then he wrote
the order, as I believe.”

It may be noted here that the larger quinine powders in the box which
were found to be pure were proved to have been purchased of Mr.
Littlefield, a chemist at Ventnor, on the 13th of October, 1880; that
he knew nothing of the smaller ones, which were proved by Dr. Stevenson
to contain aconitia, and that he never kept that drug in his shop. In
this he was confirmed by his assistant, Mr. Bright, who identified his
own handwriting on the box in which they had been sold. The smaller
quinine powders were not traced.

THE SURRENDER OF THE PRISONER.

On the 7th of December, the prisoner called at Scotland Yard and saw
Inspector Butcher, who gave the following account of the interview:—

“When the prisoner came there and saw me, he said, ‘Mr. Butcher?’
and I replied, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘My name is Lamson. I am Dr. Lamson,
whose name has been mentioned in connection with the death at
Wimbledon.’ I asked him to be seated, and he continued, ‘I have
called to see what is to be done about it. I considered it best to
do so. I read the account in the public papers in Paris, and came
over this morning. I have only just now arrived in London. I am very
unwell, and much upset about this matter, and not in a fit state at
all to have undertaken this journey.’ I then communicated with Chief
Superintendent Williamson, who said to the prisoner, ‘You will have
to remain a time.’ I remained with him. His wife was present. He
conversed on various subjects for some time, and then he said, ‘Where
is the delay? I thought I would come here and leave my address. I am
going into the country to Chichester, so that you will know where to
find me, and I will attend the inquest. I have travelled from Paris
_viâ_ Havre and Southampton. I went over _viâ_ Dover and Calais.’
After this I again saw Chief Superintendent Williamson, who called the
prisoner into another room. I said, ‘Dr. Lamson, this case has been
fully considered, and it has been decided to charge you with causing
the death of Percy John. I therefore take you into custody, and
charge you with causing the death of Percy Malcolm John, at Blenheim
House, Wimbledon, on the 3rd of December instant.’ He said, ‘Very
well; do you think bail will be accepted? I hope the matter will be
kept as quiet as possible, for the sake of my relations.’ I told him
he would now be taken to Wandsworth police-court, and the question
of bail would rest with the magistrate. I conveyed him in a cab to
the Wandsworth police-station. On the way he said, ‘You will have my
father here in a day or two. I hope it will be stated that I came to
Scotland Yard voluntarily. I came from Paris on purpose.’ I said,
‘Certainly.’”

On searching the box which he had left at Euston Station among various
articles, chiefly of plate, a medical memorandum book was found, from
which the Solicitor-General read an extract on the “effects of acrid
vegetable poisons,” and then closed the case for the prosecution.

_Mr. Montagu Williams_, having previously had the letter read from the
Home Office, refusing to allow an independent analysis of the contents
of the body on the part of the prisoner, then commenced.

THE DEFENCE.

Of the speech for the defence, which lasted the greater part of two
days, and dealt with the case with extreme minuteness, it will be
sufficient to give a summary, especially as its leading points were
remarked upon so fully in the charge of the learned Judge.

On the question whether the death of the boy was from poison, _Mr.
Montagu Williams_, necessarily laid great stress on the admitted
inability of the scientific witnesses to rely on any other test than
that of taste. “Scientifically,” he said, “it was a leap in the dark,
and they had to traverse a region of science up to the present moment
unexplored. Who knows about aconite? and echo answers who? What was
it? The root of monkshood. Aconite was one form, and aconitia was the
active principle of that form: and up to the present moment, with the
exception of one reported case, there was not a single authority on the
subject.” Pursuing this subject, he said:—

“The first medical witness called was Dr. Berry, who on the night of
December 3rd was visiting at Blenheim House, where he saw the poor
boy until his death, and observed all the symptoms under which the
unfortunate lad suffered. What were they? The lad told him that he
was suffering from heartburn, and where was the symptom of heartburn
in the administration of aconite in the evidence of the experts that
had been brought before them? What medical gentleman had said that
heartburn was a sign of aconitia poisoning? The poor lad was found
vomiting, and Dr. Berry and another medical man, Dr. Little, treated
him for irritation of the stomach. Neither of them treated him for,
or thought of, poisoning. The boy was taken from the bath-room, where
he was found, to the bed from which he never rose, and from first to
last all the symptoms were those of irritation of the stomach. From
nine o’clock to past eleven no attempt was made to use the stomach
pump; and if the medical gentlemen thought poison had been taken, they
never used anything to relieve him, or what might have saved him. If
poison was in the minds of these medical men, why did they not treat
him for such? It was clear, therefore, there was no thought of poison;
and Dr. Berry admitted in evidence that it never occurred to him that
it was so until the _post-mortem_ examination. He said he then thought
the death was from alkaloid poisoning. It was the duty of him (Mr.
Williams) to cross-examine him on vegetable alkaloids. What was his
knowledge? His knowledge was a blank, and he admitted he knew nothing
of vegetable alkaloids. Therefore, the first expert witness called for
the prosecution—who had, moreover, the benefit of seeing the symptoms
in life—broke down altogether. It was his case that the theories of
the prosecution were of the most speculative character. Dr. Little
differed somewhat, and said, ‘We came to the conclusion that the boy
was dying from a vegetable poison an hour before his death,’ while Dr.
Berry said it was not until the _post-mortem_ examination that they
thought anything of the sort. Dr. Little says he read about vegetable
alkaloids in his student days. Both those gentlemen, who give the
opinion that death resulted from vegetable alkaloids, knew nothing
whatever about the subject. Then they had Mr. Bond, a gentleman of
great scientific attainments, well known in these courts, who gave
the results of the _post-mortem_ examination, and he (the learned
counsel) thought it would not be straining the imagination too much
to say that that gentleman gave the first idea of poisoning in the
matter. Mr. Bond said he came to the conclusion that death resulted
from a vegetable alkaloid, and again the same line of questions and
answers followed. Mr. Bond admitted he had never known a case of
such poisoning. And so the jury were asked to form a verdict on the
evidence of two persons who had seen the symptoms of the deceased in
life, and were entirely ignorant of the signs of vegetable alkaloid
poisoning, and of Mr. Bond, who was not present, and who admitted he
was also ignorant upon the subject. They were asked to give a verdict
on which an existence hung, and to say they had no doubt whatever that
aconitia was in the body. He could only say up to that time there
was not one single piece of evidence that the boy died by aconitia
poisoning.”

Passing thence to the evidence of Doctors Stevenson and Dupré, whose
tests, the former said, “rested on his taste, on the effects of the
solutions on the mice and his reading,” he called the attention of
the jury to Dr. Stevenson’s admission that the results of most of
these tests were consistent with other causes, though consistent
with aconitia, and ridiculed the effects on the mice as confirmatory
tests, quoting the remarks of Lord Coleridge that tests upon animals
were always found to be most unreliable, and of Professor Tidy, “that
although useful at arriving at results, they sometimes failed, and
were not reliable.” “If they used their common sense they must see
that that must be so. So delicate was the constitution of a mouse that
one of those experimented on had died because the injecting needle had
been stuck in a quarter of an inch too far. Mice would sometimes die
from fright, and also from the injection of water, and yet because
these mice spoken of died in five minutes they were asked to say
that they died of aconitia poisoning.” As to the test of taste, Dr.
Stevenson had admitted “that it was like some other alkaloids, and not
like others.” The question of the production of cadaveric alkaloids
was still _sub judice_. He was prevented, by the refusal of the Home
Office, to allow experts on the prisoner’s behalf to be present at the
analytical examination, from calling scientific witnesses to rebut—“an
act that was trifling with life—a beautiful bit of red-tapeism; and,
if it was contrary to all practice, the sooner it was done away with
the better.”

On the second point, whether if aconitia was given, it was given by the
prisoner, _Mr. Montagu Williams_, after alluding to the way in which
his admitted poverty had been pressed against the prisoner, called the
attention of the jury to the facilities the prisoner would have had of
poisoning his brother-in-law during the boy’s visit at his house in
the summer, or his projected visit at Christmas; to the fact that the
supposed attempt was made in the full light of gas, and in the presence
of both the master and the victim; that there was no proof that he had
brought a capsule ready charged with poison, and that he must have
manipulated one before their eyes, and that it was not by his request
that powdered white sugar was brought. “What was there to prevent lump
sugar being brought?” As to the pills found with the capsules,

“Where did they come from? No pills were given to the boy by the
prisoner, for Mr. Bedbrook was present the whole time and no mention
was made of pills. Where was the boy all the afternoon? In the room
downstairs, and able to move about, though this was studiously
concealed by everyone from Blenheim House. In this room was the box
in which two pills were afterwards found, one of which was charged
with aconitia. Were there other pills in that box? It was known that
Percy John kept medicine unknown to everyone in the establishment,
although it was against the rules of the school; it being the duty
of the master to administer all medicine. The poor fellow was called
‘the swell pill taker,’ and what was more likely than that, with the
fascination of the new capsules before him, he should have taken a
pill for the heartburn from which he was suffering. Did he do so? It
was suggested that these pills were some sent by the prisoner, but
Mr. Bedbrook had exploded that idea. He swore that he thought he had
destroyed those referred to, but at any rate he had never given them
back to the prisoner. Now did these four or five pills, found on the
table, come from the box? Was there any evidence to show that the boy
did not carry pills in his pocket, and took one in consequence of the
heartburn? What did the prosecution mean? Did they mean to say that
there was a pill hidden in the capsule? If the boy had thought of
such a thing, would he not have asked Mr. Bedbrook or Banbury whether
they felt in a similar state? The boy was in the possession of all
his faculties when questioned, but he did not say one word about the
capsules.”

_Mr. Montagu Williams_ then alluded to the admission of Mr. Whalley
that poisons were occasionally left in the house after the chemical
lectures, and to the probability that so large a dose of aconitia
as was assumed to have been given would have acted sooner, as Dr.
Stevenson admitted that 1/21 of a grain might kill, and 1/13 would
certainly have a fatal effect. As for the medical note-book found in
the prisoner’s possession, he reminded the jury of Lord Campbell’s
opinion in Palmer’s case that nothing was more natural for a
professional man, and added, “It had no more bearing on the case than
if ‘Russell on Crimes’ had been found in his own possession, on a
charge of murder.”

On the proof of the purchase of aconitia at Allen’s, he begged them to
note, that on the 5th of December the police commenced their enquiries,
on the 6th the assistants at Allen’s communicated with them, saying
that the prisoner had purchased atropia, and that it was not until
after that that they changed their opinion and were convinced that
it was aconitia. It was true that no entry of 3_d._ was found in the
cash book, but there was one of 8_d._, and one of the chemists had
deposed that the wholesale price of atropia, to a medical man, was
4_d._ a grain. But even if it was aconitia that the prisoner then
purchased, it was only natural for him so to do, as he was suffering
from rheumatism, of which it was a cure. Again, though they knew where
the larger quinine powders, which were not poisoned, came from, it had
not been proved whence the smaller came, which it was the duty of the
prosecution to have done. “Oddly enough, they were tied up with a piece
of string, a most unusual thing coming from a chemist’s shop. They had
traced twelve quinine powders, but they had failed to trace the pills
sent from America which Mr. Bedbrook swore were not given back to the
deceased. He, Mr. Williams, could not say where the smaller powders
came from, nor where the pills came from. The burden was not on him to
do so, but on the prosecution.”

Turning then to the evidence of the visit to the boy at Shanklin,
_Mr. Williams_ said he would deal with that important episode most
successfully.

“Albert Smith,” he said, “proved that on the 28th of August he sold to
prisoner three grains of atropia and one grain of aconitia, charging
4_d._ per grain for the first and 1_s._ 6_d._ per grain for the last
named. The suggestion on the part of the prosecution was that in the
month of August the assassin was at work and an attempt was made on
the life of the lad. In his judgment he would make that melt into the
thinnest of thin air. The 28th of August was a Sunday, and on the
previous day Mr. and Mrs. Chapman and the boy arrived. At that time
there were four persons of the name of Lamson residing at the Isle of
Wight—namely, the prisoner’s father and mother, and himself and his
wife. On the 27th of August they met the boy at the station, and went
to Mrs. Jolliffe’s lodgings, and here again there appeared a kindness
and solicitude for the deceased. The 28th was Sunday, and it was said
that he bought aconitia on that day, and that he was present on the
29th, and in order to prove it it was said that a parcel was left at
the station in the name of Lamson, when there were four persons on the
island named Lamson. It was further said that the deceased suffered
from illness after taking something given to him by the prisoner, and
from that they assumed it was aconitia bought at the shop of Mr. Smith
that he had taken. The proof was all the other way, as the symptoms
upon which the prosecution relied all through the case were not those
which could be assigned to aconitia, while he recovered within a few
hours. Beyond that, it was shown that he suffered from indigestion,
especially by the fact that although he dined at one o’clock on the
day of his death, undigested food was found in the vomit at nine
o’clock at night. The prisoner purchased the atropia and aconitia on
the 28th of August, he was to leave for America on the 30th. This
mixture was the very thing he would have taken, and the very time he
would have bought it for the purpose of going on the voyage. The dates
exactly suited.”

Counsel’s explanation of the story told by the prisoner to the witness
Tulloch was ingenious.

“The prisoner did not deny that he went down to Wimbledon on December
2 with Tulloch, but if he contemplated assassination then would
he have been likely to have taken Tulloch with him? That was an
observation worthy of some note. He would try and imagine a state
of things to have existed, which was not impossible but more than
probable. It was admitted that upon the 2nd of December the boy had
been passing an examination. It was also admitted the first thing the
prisoner was greeted with on the 3rd was, ‘I am glad you did not come
yesterday.’ When he went down on the 2nd what was more likely than
that he met some one, perhaps one of the boys, for it was a holiday,
who told him it was an examination day, and he therefore postponed his
visit until the next day? All the importance of this visit depended
on the evidence of a man who had altered his evidence as originally
given, and who, it was suggested, was on that night the worse for
liquor.”

With the remarks that the flight of the prisoner to Paris, where he
could have been arrested, and his return to England and surrender to
the police, were not the acts of a guilty man; that, to obtain the
pecuniary gain from the boy’s death, the prisoner must have applied to
the Court of Chancery, and if there had been suspicion of foul play
would find, instead of receiving £1,500, the hangman’s halter round his
neck, and a fervid appeal on behalf of the wife who had stood by him in
Court, and his young child, _Mr. Montagu Williams_ concluded his minute
and able survey of the case against his client.

THE REPLY.

The _Solicitor-General_, in his comparatively brief reply, directed
the attention of the jury to the following points. He admitted that,
in this case, they had to traverse a branch of science but little
known, that little was known of aconitia, and everything speculation.
He urged, however, that “that argument, whilst fair, might be pressed
too far, as then a man desirous of taking life had only to use some
poison but little known, and then to ask that he should not be rendered
liable for the results of his crime. They found, no doubt, from time
to time, fresh materials used for the commission of crime. If a man
from his knowledge used a poison little known and little used, still
science, with unerring precision, and working as fast as him, could
bring the crime to light.” The idea of death from natural causes had
apparently been abandoned by the prisoner’s counsel, so that it was
impossible to doubt that it was due to poison, and what that poison
was must rest on the evidence of the scientific witnesses, “the first
in their profession, of the highest skill, not called in to prop up
any theory, but to frame an independent opinion. The presence of a
third party would not have been likely to assist the analysis, while on
the other hand it might have led to difficulty, and even mistake.” He
disputed the correctness of the quotation from Dr. Tidy. What he really
did say, was, “Experiments on animals may furnish us with much useful
information in cases of suspected poisoning, but their value must not
be over-estimated.” In this case they were only used to strengthen
the evidence from taste. “The two tests must be used together. It
was their combined force that drove home to the mind the conviction
that Dr. Stevenson was right when he said that what he found in the
body was aconitia, and nothing but aconitia.” “As to the cadaveric
alkaloids, they had in evidence that they were only produced along with
putrefaction, and that their results on animals were totally different
from those of the extracts from the boy’s body. Would they not say that
Dr. Stevenson’s experiments had been conducted in every way to exclude
error, and must they not, looking at the whole of the scientific
evidence, accept his judgment?”

As to the possibility of the boy himself obtaining this poison, it
was fenced round with such safeguards that not even a medical man,
unless personally known, could obtain it without a record being kept.
His story about the visit to Wimbledon was pure invention, and the
explanation of it by counsel ingenious, and no more. Falsehood seemed
to have been uttered by him at every turn. The taking Mr. Tulloch with
him was a mere blind: his return and surrender intended to divert
suspicion. Had he remained in France he must have been arrested, and,
if he had no money, he was compelled to return to England.

THE JUDGE’S CHARGE.

In his charge to the jury, after pointing out that the two points to
which they had to direct their attention were whether the boy died
from poison or a natural disease, and if by poison, whether it was
administered to him by the prisoner, Sir Henry Hawkins alluded to the
alleged motive—the prospect of an accession of fortune at the time
when the prisoner was in great pecuniary difficulties—and the fact
that until the day of his death the deceased, though a cripple, was
free from any mortal disease. Then, after referring to the details of
the prisoner’s visit to the boy on the 3rd of December, the judge made
the following remarks on the results of the chemical analysis, and the
comments of Mr. Williams on them:—

“The presence of morphia was, he said, accounted for, as it had been
injected beneath the skin for the purpose of allaying the pain. With
regard to the dark fluid in the stomach, it contained, according
to the evidence of Dr. Stevenson, traces of food, an apple, and a
raisin, and from it an alkaloidal extract was obtained; on applying
which to the tongue a slight taste of aconitia was produced. The
sensation extended to the lip, although the extract did not touch
it. The sensation was a burning, tingling, numbing one difficult to
define. Salivation and a desire to expectorate were produced—there
was a sensation at the back of the throat, a swelling up: this was
followed by a peculiar seared sensation of the tongue, as though a
hot iron had been passed over it or strong caustic. Experiments were
made with extracts from the liver, spleen, and kidneys, from the
dark fluid, and from the stomach itself, and within nine minutes mice
showed symptoms of poisoning, and died in about twenty-two minutes
afterwards. The same sensation, in fact, was produced on the mice as
had been produced on his own tongue previously. In the urine there
was a taste of aconitia, which brought on a sickening and a burning
sensation. Mr. Montagu Williams had said that the experiments upon
mice were hardly a test as to what the effect of the extract would be
upon human beings. Granted; but they were about the only tests that
could properly be made, and they proved the presence of aconitia.
The drug, Dr. Stevenson said, produced a sensation to the tongue and
throat which was unmistakable, and its property of killing was proved
by its test upon the mice. Could they believe Dr. Stevenson mistaken
about that, it was asked—were there not other vegetable alkaloids?
There were; and Dr. Stevenson said they all had peculiar tastes
which differed from that of aconitia. He further said that, having
made himself acquainted with between 50 and 80 vegetable alkaloids,
aconitia differed in taste from any of them. The learned Judge
proceeded to read the evidence given by Dr. Stevenson as to the action
of the extract and of prepared aconitia on the mice. Dr. Stevenson had
minutely examined the vomit to endeavour to trace some of the fibre of
monkshood from which aconite was extracted, and which, as was known,
had sometimes been mistaken for horse radish, but not a particle could
he find. But he obtained all the symptoms of aconitia upon his tongue,
and death resulted in 15½ minutes when a small quantity was injected
into the back of a mouse. He gave it as his opinion that 1-13th of a
grain was sufficient to kill, and that he found enough aconitia in
the stomach to cause the death of two persons. Dr. Stevenson had been
submitted to a severe cross-examination, and it would be for the jury
to say whether they believed that he had really found aconitia. Mr.
Williams had said they were embarking in a new region in aconitia
poisoning. It might be they were not very learned in it, though they
would doubtless advance as fresh experiments were made and fresh tests
applied. At present it was true there was no chemical test. That was
admitted. Mr. Williams, in the course of his cross-examination, had
spoken of phosphoric acid, but Dr. Stevenson said that only applied
to foreign aconitia, and not to Morson’s English preparation. They
had before them the explanation of Dr. Stevenson. It stood for what
it was worth, and it was for them to say if he was correct, after the
experiments he had made, in saying that he had found aconitia. Dr.
Stevenson had explained the only tests, physiological and otherwise,
to trace aconitia, and had formed his opinion that death arose from
that substance. With reference to cadaveric alkaloids, Dr. Stevenson
did not admit that poisonous cadaveric alkaloids were to be found in
the human body. He did not dispute there were cadaveric alkaloids, but
he disputed their being poisonous. He did not say they were not so;
it was still an open question. The result of the 22 experiments he
had made by tasting cadaveric alkaloids never gave him any taste like
aconitia, and in only one case did death ensue to a mouse experimented
upon, which was where the little animal’s spine was injured by the
needle used for the injection. Another circumstance spoken to by Dr.
Dupré was that no trace of quinine was found in the vomit, but that
might be due to the fact that a portion of the vomit was thrown away.
Upon the testimony as to the cause of death the prosecution said that
there was no possibility of accounting for death by natural causes,
and it was for the jury to say whether the death was from aconitia.”

Then going through the evidence of the prisoner’s pecuniary
embarrassments, he alluded to the sending of the pills from America as
showing that if he had entertained the design of poisoning the boy, he
had done so long before the fatal act.

“Mischief, it was held, had been concocted long before the lad died.
Prisoner went to America in the early part of 1881, and returned about
the 2nd July, and whilst there, as Mr. Bedbrook had said, he sent over
a box of pills, saying that he had found them to be useful in the
complaint under which the boy suffered. The boy had one pill given
to him, and Mr. Bedbrook believed that as he did not like it he took
the box and threw the remainder away. In the month of August aconitia
was, it was said, administered to the boy whilst at Shanklin, and that
it came from powders contained in a box. These circumstances did not
lead to death, but they indicated, as was contended, the desire of
the prisoner to do mischief to the unfortunate boy. It was a question
certainly whether the pills given were the same as those which the
prisoner sent over from America, and which Mr. Bedbrook believed
he had thrown away. In the bedroom at Wimbledon was found a box of
quinine powders—six large and fourteen small ones. Eleven of the
small ones were of pure quinine, but three of them were more or less
mixed with aconitia. Dr. Stevenson said that one of the powders—No.
16—contained 1 and eight-tenths of a grain, and that the proportion
of quinine to aconitia in it was as 83 to 96. Dr. Stevenson tested it,
and the sensation upon his tongue lasted three hours. One-fiftieth
part of a grain was tried on a mouse, and it was dead in six minutes
and a half afterwards. They would judge how fatal a quantity was in
the powder if they bore in mind what they had been told as to the
fatality of 1-13th part of a grain. In Nos. 17 and 19 there was some
trace of aconitia, but in neither of them anything like the quantity
in No. 16. The box in which those powders were found had been in
common use, and one of the boys had actually taken one of them.
Anybody, of course, might have taken one of the eleven pure powders,
and the lad himself—with the exception of once, at Shanklin—had
never shown any symptoms that might be considered anything like
aconitia poisoning. No doubt three of the powders did contain aconitia
in considerable quantities, and they had to consider how did the
aconitia come into them? Among other things found in the boy’s box
were two pills in a tin pill-box. A tin pill-box, it was suggested,
was sent over from America. Mr. Williams said that Mr. Bedbrook stated
he had destroyed them, but the fact remained that the box with the two
pills—one of which was poisoned—were found in the play-box. It was
true there was no evidence that the box was the same, but Mr. Bedbrook
said it resembled that which he received from America, but which he
said he thought he had destroyed.”

_Mr. Williams._—“Pardon me, my Lord, but Mr. Bedbrook, I think, never
said he destroyed the box; he said he had destroyed the pills.”

_The Judge._—“ I think he said he threw them away.” His Lordship
referred to his notes, and said that Mr. Bedbrook in his evidence
stated that he took the box downstairs, and was under the impression
he threw it away. When he saw the box, however, it appeared to him
exactly like that which came from America, and the pills were also
exactly like them.

_Mr. Williams._—“Mr. Bedbrook said he never gave the pills back to
the deceased boy.”

_The Judge._—“That is so. He said he was under the impression he had
thrown them away. It was said that the boy could not get aconitia
himself, but though he could not do so the prisoner could. Next they
heard what had occurred at Shanklin in October, 1881. The prisoner
was going to America, and sailed on the 30th August. On the 27th of
that month Mr. and Mrs. Chapman, with the boy, went to Shanklin, and
found on the platform to meet them the prisoner and his wife. They
had some conversation, and prisoner promised to call on Monday, 29th,
to say ‘Good-bye.’ On the night of Sunday, the 28th, they had it
on the testimony of Mr. Smith, a chemist, that the prisoner called
on him and bought, amongst other things, three grains of atropia
and one grain of aconitia. It was endeavoured to be shown on the
part of the prosecution that he had called pursuant to his promise
on the 29th, and in evidence of that it was sought to produce the
cloak-room book of the railway station. On the 29th, however, the boy
was unquestionably unwell. It was clear that on the 27th the prisoner
saw him, and said he would call again on the Monday, but there was
no direct evidence that he did, although he bought aconitia on the
28th, which Mr. Williams said might have been bought with an innocent
motive, as the prisoner at the time was suffering from neuralgia.”

Reviewing then the prisoner’s conduct in London, and the story invented
by him about his pretended visit to the boy on the 2nd of December,
“which,” he said, “did not amount to much, but must be taken, with the
other circumstances of the case, to show that the prisoner’s word was
not to be relied on,” the learned judge then referred to the incidents
of the fatal night. As to the two boxes of capsules, he continued:—

“The prosecution suggested that these two boxes of capsules were
brought by the prisoner, but they did not suggest there was poison
in any of them. They were clearly innocent capsules, as two of them
did no harm either to Mr. Bedbrook or to the lad Banbury, each of
whom swallowed one. What the prosecution suggested, however, was that
whilst Mr. Bedbrook was examining the capsule he had taken from the
box, the prisoner took another, in which there was aconitia, from
another box, and that over that aconitia he put in the sugar, and then
administered it to the boy. That was the suggestion made. They asked
for those facts to be put together—the boy was in as good health as
he ordinarily was, in as good spirits as usual, having neither eaten
nor partaken of anything in which there was a suggestion of poison
during the day, and yet within half-an-hour, or less, of seeing the
prisoner and swallowing the capsule he was taken ill. The cake, the
sweets, and the capsule were all three given him by the prisoner, and
within a short time he showed the first symptoms described, viz.,
heartburn, which was followed rapidly by painful sensations, and the
contraction of the throat, retching, vomiting, agony, and raving to
the time of death. On these facts the prosecution asked them to come
to the conclusion that he not only died by aconitia, but by aconitia
administered to him by the prisoner, it being clear that no other
person administered anything to him during the prisoner’s visit. The
prosecution contended farther that they had shown the prisoner to be
possessed of aconitia, upon the evidence of two purchases of aconitia
by him, one from the chemist at Ventnor on the 28th August, and the
other about the 20th November at Allen and Hanbury’s, in Plough Court.

Then again placing before the jury the two questions he had referred to
in the opening of his charge, and warning them not to allow sympathy
either for the poor boy or the prisoner to bias their decision, Sir
Henry Hawkins left the case in their hands.

In less than three-quarters of an hour the jury returned a verdict of
“Guilty.” When called upon as usual to say why judgment should not be
passed upon him, the prisoner, standing with arms folded, in a loud
voice, “protested his innocence before God,” and with very few words,
the learned judge pronounced sentence of death.

EVIDENCE OF LAMSON’S STATE OF MIND.

Within a short time after the conviction of the prisoner, Mr. Lowell,
the American Minister, by the instruction of President Arthur,
requested the Home Secretary to suspend the execution, on the faith
of a statement from the United States Attorney-General that evidence
bearing on the state of mind of the prisoner, was preparing in America,
and would be shortly forwarded to England. To this novel application
Sir William Harcourt acceded, in courtesy to the applicant. The
promised affidavits arrived, and were considered by the Home Secretary
as insufficient. Again a further application for delay was made, on
the promise of further evidence, and acceded to for the term of a
fortnight, with clear notice to Lamson that if the promised affidavits
were not more satisfactory than the preceding ones, the sentence
would be carried out. Such they proved in the opinion of Sir William
Harcourt, and Lamson was at length executed on the 28th of April.

The proffered evidence not only covered the whole of Lamson’s life from
the days of his medical pupilage at Paris till his trial, but sought
to establish “a marked hereditary tendency to insanity,” from the fact
that his grandmother had been in the New York Bloomingdale Asylum from
the age of seventy-six till her death four years after, and had been
previously suffering from “senile dementia,” the apparent cause of
which was entered in the Hospital Register as “predisposing;”—that
her brother, a sea captain, at the age of eighty, was in the same
asylum, having been suffering for two years from “dementia,” also
entered as “predisposing;” and that her daughter, a Mrs. McGregor, at
the age of thirty-one, was a patient until her death about three years
after—her mania “puerperal,” and also entered as “predisposing.”[215]
No evidence, however, was offered of the mental condition of any less
remote ancestors.

As a _Medical Student_ in Paris in 1869-70, Lamson is described as
suffering from cerebral anæmia with a tendency to melancholia, given
to imaginary complaints about the surgical theatre, apt to take
offence, with a passion for chemical experiments of a morbid character,
generally genial in manner, and taciturn of speech. When employed in
the American Ambulance during the siege of Paris in 1870-71, “his
behaviour was so wild, erratic, and bad, that his associate aids were
not prepared to say whether it was that of an idiot or the result
of special wickedness—his mind so disordered that he could not be
entrusted to administer medicines, as to the effects of which he seemed
to be utterly destitute of judgment and common sense—just as likely to
give a large and dangerous dose as a smaller and safe one, no matter
how particularly instructed, and seemed to be utterly reckless of
results.”[216]

From this date to the year 1877, no evidence was offered of his conduct
or state of mind. In that year he acted as a surgeon for the Red Cross
Society at Bucharest, in the Servian War. Whilst there “he exhibited a
mania for the administration of aconitia in almost every case, using
it in season and out of season, and in such quantities as to alarm the
medical staff and render his recall to England necessary. Here, too, he
appears to have commenced on himself the extravagant use of hypodermic
injections of morphia, to which he subsequently became so notoriously
addicted, on the plea that he was in constant pain and misery,” and to
have been constantly under the influence of some anæsthetic. He was
also habitually incoherent and inconsistent in his way of talking,
boasting of adventures in the American Civil War, when he could have
been only twelve years of age. His father, who was with him, seemed to
keep a constant watch over his son, and frequently expressed his wish
that some other surgeon should be associated with him.[217]

In 1879 Lamson purchased a medical practice at Bournemouth, and during
the two years that he remained there, according to the testimony of
friends and servants, behaved in a most erratic and strange manner.
Whilst there his habit of injecting morphia under his skin increased
in a most extraordinary degree, one witness saying that “he was hardly
ever in his company for more than an hour that he did not use the
hypodermic syringe.” When visiting patients he seemed not to know
why he had come, or what he ought to do, behaving so strangely that
his services were eventually dispensed with. His habit of telling
extravagant stories grew rapidly upon him. His eyes had a fitful and
nervous look as if afraid of phantoms. He seemed to be perpetually
trying to look sane, and the witness (Warren, an artist) who spoke
to these symptoms said “he had frequently seen him walking along
quickly, his head hanging down, when he would stop suddenly, turn
back, and branch off in some other direction, crossing backwards and
forwards over the road without rhyme or reason.” Mr. Radcliffe Hall, of
Welbeck-street, to whom Lamson had made in writing a perfectly baseless
statement about Mrs. Hall’s antecedents, and afterwards could remember
nothing about it, had seen him inject morphia twenty times a day.
His servants thought him mad, and humoured him accordingly, and the
patients who attended at the dispensary which with another medical man
he managed, with only one or two exceptions, refused to be attended by
him.[218]

From April to May, 1881, Lamson was staying at Rouse’s Point, New York,
with the Rev. Irving McElroy, the rector of Christ Church, during which
period his habit of injecting morphia was continued, and, according
to the testimony of the rector and his wife, Dr. Winston, the Medical
Director of the New York Mutual Life Assurance Company, Dr. Murray,
Physician of Rouse’s Point, Dr. Hall, and others who knew him, it was
seriously affecting his brain. On one occasion he was found in the
public street with no coat on, and his left arm bared. He had a syringe
in one hand, and with the thumb of the other was pressing down the
place where the injection had been made.[219] At his friend’s house
he passed the greater part of the day on the lounge, either dozing or
attempting to read. He was then using a mixture apparently of morphia
and atropine, but told them he preferred aconitine, but could not
procure it in that section of the county. To one of the witnesses he
admitted that his whole existence depended on the constant use of
morphia. The marks of these repeated injections were detected by Dr.
Williamson of Edinburgh whom Lamson consulted in New York in October,
1881, who marked the serious change that had taken place in his
health, and urged his discontinuance of this baneful practice. Dr. Hall
considered Lamson “not a perfectly sane man,” Dr. Winston considered
that he “had become a helpless victim of the habit (of injecting
morphia) which had seriously impaired his mental powers and destroyed
his moral responsibility,” and in Dr. Murray’s opinion “he was utterly
irresponsible for his acts.” It is admitted, however, that at intervals
his conversation was perfectly clear and lucid, and to none of the
medical men appears to have been put the legal test question, “did he
know the difference between right and wrong, at the time wherein he
committed the crime?”[220]

Lastly, we are offered testimony as to the condition of Lamson’s
mind for a few days immediately preceding the fatal occurrence, and
that of his father and wife as to his strange conduct for some time
previous. All, however, that this evidence amounts to is, that he was
so strange and extravagant in his manner and conduct, that he was
spoken of by friends and acquaintance as a lunatic, that “for a year
past his wife’s fears and anxieties had been greatly and increasingly
aroused for the soundness of his mind—that his brain, predisposed to
weakness, or constitutionally liable to disturbance, was unsettled
by ill-health and trouble, and its disease aggravated by the use of
morphia.” His father spoke to the wild and fanciful delusions in which
his son indulged—the whole being myths, and believed “that for at
least eighteen months he had been in an unsound state of mind, steadily
increasing in its character and blinding him to the natural and
inevitable effects of his acts; and that the balance of his mind had
been quite destroyed.” His solicitor deposed that “he could obtain no
assistance from him in the preparation of his defence—that he appeared
to have no memory and to be incapable of appreciating the bearing of
any of the facts of his case, or the gravity of his position; that he
laboured under extravagant hallucination, whilst his statements were
either incoherent, inconsistent, or manifestly the creations of a
disordered brain.”

Three medical men of experience speak to the effects almost certain
to be produced by such an habitually excessive use of morphia or
opium, as that of which Dr. Lamson was the victim. Dr. Coghill, of
the Ventnor Consumptive Hospital, and for eight years municipal
medical officer and consulting physician to a general hospital in
China, where he had unusual facilities for becoming familiar with
the effects of opium smoking and eating, has no hesitation in saying
that “anyone in the habit of using opium to such an extent would be
incapable of self-control, and have his moral senses and powers of
judgment deteriorated to a degree rendering him incapable of resisting
morbid influences.” Dr. H. H. Kane, of Fort Washington, New York,
who had written on the effects of “these drugs that enslave,” and on
the “Hypodermic Injection of Morphia,” and was then in charge of a
hospital devoted to the treatment of opium smokers and eaters and the
like habits, admits that “as regards the question of insanity from the
habitual use of opium or its alkaloids, more especially morphia, but
little definite is known. Insane Asylum reports,” he adds, “record
every year from six to eight cases of insanity attributed to the
prolonged use of opiates; and physicians in general practice recognise
it as a rare, though well-established, form of insanity. A person
with an hereditary tendency to insanity, or with a mind weakened from
any combination of circumstances, or from bodily disease, using this
drug in large amount for a considerable time, could hardly escape some
unsettling of his mental and moral powers. Actual mania, melancholia,
and dementia are probably rare, but have undoubtedly occurred from
this cause. Of all the forms of the opium habit that by hypodermic
injection, as a rule, works the most harm in the shortest time.”

Dr. R. M. Miller, of Norwood, who saw Lamson professionally in
July, 1881, when his friends were alarmed at his condition, is of
opinion “that morphia and atropia, taken in such quantities, would
gradually ruin the powers of the nervous system and also the powers of
self-control.”

Such is the substance of the testimony of the cloud of witnesses
proffered in support of the appeal for a scientific investigation
into the mental state of Lamson at the time when he committed the act
for which he was arraigned. To what does it amount? Even if it goes
beyond proof that he was occasionally nervous, disconnected in his
ideas, aimlessly untruthful, and with a hobby for the administration
of aconitia as a panacea for all diseases, and a loss of vital nerve
and energy, there is no evidence to suggest that these eccentricities
were dangerous or ever assumed the form of homicidal mania. “If,”
said a contemporary writer, “Lamson could appreciate the pecuniary
benefit he would derive from Percy John’s death—and why else should
he have selected his victim?—he could realise the wickedness of
his act. A symptom of dangerous madness is that it acts without
apparent motive—the immediate circumstances of the murder pointed to
the exercise of a crafty deliberation, which, though not in itself
inconsistent with homicidal mania, was not as aimless as homicidal
mania.” Is it not a parallel case to that of Dove, a weak and erratic
mind, in that case further weakened and unhinged by drink, in this case
by the vicious use of morphia? Are not the words of Baron Bramwell
in Dove’s case strictly applicable to this? “The rules of law,” said
that judge, “are that it must be clearly proved that, at the time of
committing the act, the party accused was labouring under such a defect
of reason, from disease of the mind, as not to know the nature and
quality of the act he was doing; and if he did know it, that he did not
know he was doing wrong.” Until the law is altered it is impossible
to doubt that the Home Secretary was right, “that he could find in
the affidavits and statutory declarations no sufficient grounds for
advising an interference with the sentence of the law.”

CHAPTER XI.

ACONITE: ACONITIA OR ACONITINE.

Plants: Aconitum napellus—A. ferox. Alkaloids:
Aconitia—Pseudaconitia—other bases—Decompositions—Proportions
in the plants. Commercial aconitia—German aconitia—English
aconitia. Separation—Tests, chemical and physiological.
History—Preparations, official and non-official. Physiological
effects—Causes of death—Post mortem appearances—Treatment and
antidotes—Remarks—Phosphoric acid test—Case referred to by Dr.
Stevenson.

THE name aconite is applied to a great number of plants belonging
to the natural order Ranunculaceæ. Two species only need be noticed
here, _Aconitum napellus_ and _A. ferox_. The former is the well-known
“monkshood,” “wolfsbane,” or “blue rocket,” a very beautiful but
exceedingly poisonous plant, commonly cultivated in English gardens.
This very variable and widely diffused species is found in the
mountainous districts of the temperate regions of the northern
hemisphere: it occurs in the Alps up to an altitude of more than 6,000
feet, in the Pyrenees, and in the mountain ranges of Germany and
Austria. It is also met with in Sweden, Denmark, Siberia, and in the
mountainous districts on the Pacific coast of North America.

_Aconitum ferox_, Nepaul aconite —“Bikh”), is a native of the
subalpine Himalayas, occurring, together with A. napellus and several
other poisonous species, at an elevation of 10,000 to 14,000 feet.

The most recent researches of Dr. C. R. Alder Wright and others have
shown that Aconitum napellus chiefly owes its poisonous properties to
the base _aconitia_, or _aconitine_ (also called _aconitina_), C_{33}
H_{43} NO_{12}, a highly active crystallizable alkaloid furnishing
readily crystallizable salts. This base constitutes about one-half of
the total quantity of alkaloids present in the root, and is considered
to be in combination with _aconitic acid_, H_{3} C_{6} H_{3} O_{6}.
There is also present, but in much smaller quantity (about 10 per
cent. of the total bases present—Wright), another physiologically
active crystallizable alkaloid, _pseudaconitia_, C_{36} H_{49} NO_{12},
similar in many respects to aconitia (especially in its effects
upon the animal system), but not so readily yielding crystallizable
salts. The roots of A. napellus contain, in addition to aconitia and
pseudaconitia, a considerable quantity of a third base, comparatively
inert, apparently amorphous, yielding non-crystallizable salts, and
containing a higher percentage of carbon than either aconitia or
pseudaconitia.

Aconitum ferox contains as its active principle _pseudaconitia_, or
_nepaline_, associated with a comparatively small quantity of aconitia:
there is present in addition a non-crystallizable alkaloid containing
more carbon than either of the other bases, but apparently not
identical with the analogous body from A. napellus.

The plants have been stated to contain, besides the bases already
named, various other alkaloids, such as “napel-line,” “acolyctine,”
“lycoctonine,” &c., but there is no doubt that these substances are
merely products of the decomposition of aconitia and pseudaconitia,
formed during the process of extraction. Aconitia and pseudaconitia
are very easily decomposed; thus, when heated with water in a sealed
tube, the former is converted into benzoic acid and a fresh alkaloid,
_aconine_, C_{26} H_{39} NO_{11}, the reaction being represented by the
following equation:—

C_{33} H_{43} NO_{12}+H_{2}O=C_{7} H_{6} O_{2}+C_{26} H_{39} NO_{11}.
Aconitia. Water. Benzoic acid. Aconine.

Pseudaconitia, so treated, yields dimethyl-protocatechuic (or
“veratric”) acid and a new base, _pseudaconine_, C_{27} H_{41} NO_{9},
the equation being:—

C_{36} H_{49} NO_{12}+H_{2} O=C_{9} H_{10}O_{4} + C_{27}H_{41} NO_{9}.
Pseudaconitia. Water. Dimethyl-protocatechuic Pseudaconine.
acid.

Aconine is doubtless identical with Hübschmann’s “napel-line,”
discovered by him in commercial aconitia, and afterwards proved to
be the same as the “acolyctine” which he had previously obtained.
Pseudaconine is apparently the base “lycoctonine” of the same chemist.

Commercial aconitia is a mixture of aconitia and pseudaconitia with
variable quantities of their decomposition-products, aconine and
pseudaconine, and of the amorphous unnamed alkaloids above referred
to (Wright and others; Year-Book of Pharmacy, 1877, _et seq._).
In commercial aconitia prepared from Aconitum napellus (_German
aconitia_), _aconitia_ predominates: _English aconitia_ is chiefly if
not entirely prepared from A. ferox, and in it _pseudaconitia_ is the
prevailing active base.

All parts of the plants (A. napellus and A. ferox) are poisonous,
the active principles being contained in the seeds, roots, leaves
and flowering tops. The roots are chiefly used for the extraction of
the alkaloids, of which the proportions yielded are very variable
and depend on the time when the roots are collected. An ounce of the
fresh root of A. napellus contains, according to Woodman and Tidy,
from ¼ to ¾ of a grain of aconitia, while a pound of the dried root
furnishes from 12 to 36 grains, or 0·1 to 0·2 per cent. “The average
produce of the root, _collected after flowering_ and fresh, is 8·58
grains of aconitia in the pound; of the same dried, 35·72 grains. But
if collected before flowering, the yield is only 3·5 grains per pound
in the fresh, and 12·13 in the dried root (Herapath). These results are
the average of several experiments.... The root of A. ferox contains
about three times as much alkaloid as that of the English plant”
(Royle’s Mat. Med.). According to Wright and Rennie (Year-Book of
Pharm., 1880, 458), the percentage of total bases yielded by the root
of A. napellus, calculated on the dry substance, amounted to ·07 per
cent., equivalent to about ·05 per cent, of total alkaloids in the dry
herb. Two-fifths of the total alkaloid consisted of pure crystallized
aconitia.

Commercial aconitia or aconitine is generally met with as a white
amorphous powder, but is occasionally crystalline. It dissolves in
150 parts of cold and 50 parts of hot water, and is also soluble in
alcohol, benzole, and chloroform: it is inodorous, possesses an acrid
taste (W. and T., For. Med., p. 392), and is strongly alkaline to
test-paper. It generally fuses below 100° C. (60° C., W. and T.), and
gives an amorphous sublimate above 150° C. (_pure_ aconitia fuses
at 183°-184° C.: _pure_ pseudaconitia melts at 104°-105° C.): when
strongly heated with free access of air, it burns with a yellow, smoky
flame, leaving no residue. Crystallized samples of commercial aconitia
are the purest. Amorphous aconitia, and particularly that prepared in
Germany, is very impure, being admixed with considerable quantities
of comparatively inert bases. The use of such a preparation should be
avoided, as being liable to give rise to a false idea as to the proper
dose of the pure alkaloid (Royle’s Mat. Med., 1876, p. 773). Morson’s
“English aconitine” (_pseudaconitia_) is much more powerful than the
French and German products, which are mostly prepared from A. napellus,
and consist mainly of aconitia.[221]

Aconitia and pseudaconitia differ from one another in their
molecular weights and melting-points; they also furnish different
decomposition-products: aconitia readily furnishes well-crystallized
salts, while the salts of pseudaconitia are usually obtained amorphous;
and finally, crystallized aconitia is anhydrous, while pseudaconitia
crystallizes with one atom of water.

The two bases are similar as regards their physiological action
(pseudaconitia is perhaps somewhat more powerfully active than
aconitia), and general behaviour with reagents.

The characters and physiological action of commercial aconitia
_vary greatly_, as might be expected from the ununiformity of its
composition.

SEPARATION AND TESTS.

For the extraction and separation of aconitia from anima matters, the
modification of Stas’s general method, described on page 5 (Chap. I.),
may be employed. The alkaloids of aconite being, as has been already
shown, very liable to decomposition, great care must be taken, during
the extraction with alcohol and subsequent evaporation of the extracts,
that the temperature does not rise above 50° C.: the use of mineral
acids should also be avoided.

_Tests._—1. The residue of aconitia or pseudaconitia, obtained on
spontaneous evaporation of the anhydrous chloroform solution, will
generally be found to be more or less crystalline, when examined under
the microscope.

2. The Taste Test.—A minute portion of the residue, either alone or
dissolved in a small quantity of water acidulated with acetic acid,
should be rubbed with the finger on the lips and gums, or cautiously
applied to the tip of the tongue. If aconitia or pseudaconitia be
present, a peculiar tingling and numbness will be quickly experienced
in and around the parts to which the alkaloidal extract has been
applied: salivation, with a desire to expectorate, and a sense of
swelling at the back of the throat, are also frequently noticed. The
effects, or some of them, usually last from three to six hours, or even
longer. _This action is peculiar to aconite; the test, therefore, is of
the utmost value, and one which must never be omitted._

3. The Physiological Test.—Inject a small quantity of the alkaloidal
extract, dissolved in a little water acidulated with acetic acid,
into the back of a mouse or other small animal. In the event of
aconitia being present, characteristic symptoms of aconite poisoning
are manifested in a few minutes, and the death of the animal rapidly
ensues. Among the chief symptoms observed by Dr. Fleming, in some
experiments upon animals, made in 1844, were “weakness of the limbs,
staggering, a gradually increasing paralysis of the voluntary
muscles, loss or diminution of sight, slowness of pulse, difficulty of
breathing, occasional convulsive movements, in two cases opisthotonos,
contracted pupils, but often dilating two or three minutes before
death, and death by asphyxia.” (Woodman and Tidy’s For. Med., p. 394).
This test is also a very important one.

4. Chemical Tests.—Solutions of salts of aconitia and pseudaconitia
are precipitated by most of the general reagents for alkaloids, such
as Mayer’s reagent, tannic acid, potassium tri-iodide, phosphomolybdic
acid, &c. Platinic chloride, picric or carbazotic acid, and auric
chloride, however, do _not_ give precipitates, except in _concentrated_
solutions. Among the special tests for aconitia and pseudaconitia
which have been described, the following may be mentioned. (A)
With _sulphuric acid_, no change takes place in the cold, but on
warming, a pale yellow, deepening into brown, and finally changing
into violet-red, is observed. This reaction varies very greatly with
different samples of aconitia, and little or no reliance can be placed
upon it as a toxicological test. (B) With _sulphuric acid_ and a drop
of _saturated solution of sugar_, a fine rose-red colour, passing into
dingy brown, has been obtained. Experience, however, has not shown
this test to be of any especial value. (C) If cautiously heated for
ten or fifteen minutes on the water-bath with a few drops of _syrupy
phosphoric acid_, aconitia is said to yield a violet or blue colour.
This reaction is uncertain and therefore useless: it may be obtained
with impure samples, while pure aconitia and pseudaconitia fail to give
it. Mr. T. B. Groves (Year-Book of Pharmacy, 1873) says:—“The colour
reactions of these alkaloids may be dismissed in a word. There are
‘none.’ As for the phosphoric acid reaction producing a blue colour,
I have never succeeded in obtaining it. It is probably due to some
accidental impurity, and I believe Dr. Flückiger has arrived at the
same conclusion.”

Hence, as there are no reliable, characteristic, and distinctive
chemical tests for aconitia, its presence or absence must be judged
chiefly from the results of the tests of taste and physiological
action on small animals. _A substance, previously proved to be an
alkaloid by its yielding precipitates with most of the general reagents
for alkaloids, and which, when applied to the tongue and injected under
the skin of a small animal, produces the effects already described, is
absolutely certain to be aconitia._

HISTORY, PREPARATIONS, AND DOSES.

_History._—The _Ἀκόνιτον_ of the Greeks and Aconitum of the Romans
are believed to refer to the genus Aconitum, if not actually to
A. napellus. The ancients were well acquainted with the poisonous
properties of aconite, which has been widely used as an arrow-poison.
It was employed by the ancient Chinese, and is still in requisition
among the less civilised hill tribes of India.[222] Something similar
was in use among the aborigines of ancient Gaul. In a Welsh MS. of
the 13th century, aconite was pointed out as one of the plants which
every physician was to grow. The root and the herb are met with in the
German pharmaceutical tariff of the 17th century. Störck, of Vienna,
introduced aconite into regular practice about the year 1762 (Flückiger
and Hanbury; “Pharmacographia,” 1879).

_Preparations and Medicinal Doses,_—Aconite leaves (Aconiti Folia) and
root (Aconiti Radix) are officinal in the British Pharmacopœia, and the
plants from which they are obtained (A. napellus) are cultivated in
Britain (Squire’s Companion to the B. P., 1868). The chief preparations
are as follows:—

1. _Aconitia_, B. P.—Aconitine. Not for internal use, according to the
Pharmacopœia. It is, however, occasionally prescribed in very minute
doses (1/400 to 1/50 of a grain by the mouth: not more than 1/200 of a
grain, subcutaneously injected; Royle’s Materia Medica). Dr. J. Harley
has given 1/200 of a grain, once a day, in fevers.

2. _Unguentum Aconitiæ_, _B. P._—Ointment of aconitia. Prepared with
lard. Strength, 8 grains of aconitia to the ounce (= 1·66 per cent.).
For external application in painful nervous affections, neuralgia, &c.

3. _Linimentum Aconiti_, _B. P._—Useful for external application in
neuralgia or lumbago. May contain about 2 per cent. of aconitia (Blyth).

4. _Extractum Aconiti_, _B. P._—Prepared from the leaves and flowering
tops. Dose, 1 to 2 grains.

5. _Tinctura Aconiti_, _B. P._—Dose, 5 to 10 minims, twice or
thrice a day (Squire); 5 to 15 minims, and only to be gradually if
at all increased (Royle); never to exceed 5 minims (Farquharson’s
Therapeutics).[223]

6. _Fleming’s Tincture of Aconite_ is not officinal; it is nearly four
times stronger than the B. P. tincture, and must on no account be given
in the above doses (Royle).

7. _Liston’s Strong Tincture._—Not officinal.

8. _Aconiti Succus._—The expressed juice. Not officinal. Dose, 15 to
20 minims (Squire’s Comp. to the B. P.).

9. _Extractum Aconiti Rad._—Not officinal. Prepared with alcohol.
Dose, half a grain.

_Fatal Dose of Aconitia._—Smallest: in one case 1/50 of a grain
nearly proved fatal (Pereira). The tenth and even twentieth of a
grain are believed to have caused death (Headland; Herapath). The
average quantity for an adult is probably between 1/16 and 1/20 of a
grain. One drachm of the root, four grains of the alcoholic extract,
and one drachm of the tincture have proved fatal.[224] Numerous
well-authenticated cases are on record of aconite root being scraped
and eaten at table, in mistake for horseradish, with very serious and
even fatal results.[225] (See Guy and Ferrier’s For. Med., p. 617.)

_Fatal Period._—The shortest time in which death has been known to
occur is 1¼ hour: the longest, 20 hours: average, less than 4 hours
(Guy and Ferrier). A case is mentioned in Woodman and Tidy’s Forensic
Medicine, however, in which death occurred in 20 _minutes_. “The
symptoms usually make their appearance in from a few minutes to one or
two hours; whilst death usually takes place within three or four hours”
(W. and T., p. 393).

PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS.

Aconite produces, locally applied, a tingling sensation, followed by
numbness, and the earliest symptom of poisoning by aconite, when any
one of its preparations has been taken by the mouth, is tingling,
followed by numbness and anæsthesia of the lips and throat, afterwards
becoming general. Vomiting occurs frequently, but not universally:
purging is not nearly so frequent (W. and T.). The intellectual
faculties are usually unaffected, but in some cases there is stupor.
Aconite paralyses both the reflex and motor activity of the spinal
cord, hence there is an almost total loss of muscular power. The
respiratory centre is eventually paralysed, so that death may result
from suffocation (Farquharson). The heart’s action becomes feeble and
irregular; its rapidity is first diminished, then increased. The face
is pale, and the body bathed in a clammy sweat: the pupils “are at
first contracted, and afterwards dilated shortly before death.” The
respiration becomes slower, then irregular, and death generally results
from its cessation (_asphyxia_).

In cases of poisoning by aconite, death may be caused by (1)
_asphyxia_, (2) _shock_, or (3) _syncope_.

The following symptoms were noted in the case of a cat, to which
one-tenth of a grain of Morson’s English aconitia (= pseudaconitia,
or nepaline) was administered:—stertorous and difficult breathing,
staggering motions, convulsions (always contracting, never stretching
like strychnia), vomiting, foaming at the mouth, moans and spasmodic
cries, violent struggles for breath; the body fell over on one
side, the limbs were stretched forward and worked spasmodically,
but never stiffened. Attacks intermittent, with peaceful intervals.
Involuntary defecation; retching (the stomach had already emptied
itself), prolonged low moans, gasps for breath, abdominal rumblings,
insensibility for two hours with occasional twitching, moans and cries.
Eyes wide open, _pupils not contracted_. Finally, after 2½ hours, a few
slight struggles, a convulsive gasp, and death. Stiffening very slow.
Tongue protruded beyond the teeth.

Twelve hours after death, the rigidity was very strong. A post-mortem
examination was then made, with the following results. Pupils dilated.
Intestines and other organs normal, not congested: lungs collapsed and
congested: heart very much venously congested. Blood not more fluid
than usual. Larynx filled with frothy mucus. Brain congested.

On analysis of the stomach and other organs an alkaloidal extract was
obtained, which, when submitted to the taste test, produced all the
effects characteristic of aconitia. It is worthy of remark that the
colour-tests completely failed.

_Treatment and antidotes._—“Emetics, stimulants internal and external”
(Squire’s Comp. B. P.). No chemical antidote is known: animal charcoal
has been recommended, but its efficacy is doubtful. A mustard emetic
should be applied, followed by the stomach-pump. “In the latter
stages, depletion from a jugular vein to relieve the distension of the
right heart, accompanied by the most persevering efforts to promote the
expansion of the chest.” Gentle magneto-electric currents down the back
of the neck and around the margin of the ribs, to excite contractions
of the diaphragm, accompanied by rhythmical abductions of the upper
extremities, should be employed. If there is yet a capability of
swallowing, brandy and ammonia should be given (Royle’s Mat. Med.).

REMARKS.

Pure aconitia is perhaps the most deadly poison with which we are
at present acquainted, and all the preparations of aconite are
excessively poisonous. Unless employed with extreme caution they are
very dangerous, and should on no account be used, even for external
application, except with the advice of, or by a medical man.[226]

The urgent necessity for an alteration in the law at present relating
to the sale of poisons, and for the introduction of a clause placing
some restrictions on the sale of patent medicines containing poisons,
is strikingly shown by the fact that such preparations as “Neuraline”
are now sold without any restriction whatever. Indeed, as the law at
present stands, the most virulent poisons, if contained in, or sold
as patent medicines, can be obtained by any ordinary person with less
difficulty than the same poisons can be purchased, under their own
proper names, by a medical man. Neuraline, a patent medicine containing
a preparation of aconite, was brought rather prominently forward,
in 1872, in connection with the death of the Hon. G. C. Vernon, the
question arising as to whether the too frequent use of neuraline by the
deceased, for pains in his head, had been the cause of death.[227]

The phosphoric acid test for aconitia, referred to by Mr. Montagu
Williams during the trial of Dr. Lamson, is described in Professor
Flückiger’s work (“Pharmaceutische Chemie”; Berlin, 1879); but it is
at the same time mentioned that crystallized aconitia gives only an
extremely faint reaction, and crystallized nitrate of aconitia none at
all.

It has been already pointed out (p. 573) that this test is one which
cannot be relied on, and that the violet colour is believed to be due
to impurities present rather than to aconitia itself.

The internal administration of aconitia in very small doses is
recommended, in cases of dysentery and typhoid fever, by a writer in
the _Journal of Medicine and Dosimetric Therapeutics, according to
the method of Dr. Ad. Burggraeve_, a publication edited by Dr. T. L.
Phipson. Dr. Burggraeve’s method (or “dosimetry,” as it is called) is
in several respects similar to homœopathy, and the journal in question
cannot be regarded as a generally accepted authority.

In his speech for the defence, Mr. Montagu Williams referred to
the supposed existence of cadaveric alkaloids or ptomaines, and to
the absence of special chemical tests for aconitia. With reference
to the ptomaines, see Chap. 1, p. 12. The objection, that there is
no characteristic chemical test for aconitia, is to a great extent
deprived of its force when one remembers that aconitia can be proved to
be an alkaloid by its deportment with the general alkaloidal re-agents;
that the taste test alone will distinguish it from all other alkaloids;
and that it exerts a powerful and distinctive action on small animals,
and ultimately destroys them.

It must not be forgotten that the remark of Lord Coleridge’s, quoted by
Mr. Montagu Williams, is nothing more than an expression of personal
opinion, by an eminent _lawyer_ on a _purely scientific_ subject;
valuable, no doubt, but not necessarily infallible.

The statement of Messrs. Allen & Hanbury’s assistant, that aconitia is
yellowish-white (p. 544), does not hold good of all samples: the colour
of the alkaloids varies with their degree of purity, and pure aconitia
is not less white than pure atropia.

Full details of the case of poisoning by aconitia, referred to by Dr.
Stevenson (p. 534), are to be found in _Schmidt’s Jahrbücher der In-und
Ausländischen gesammten Medicin_, edited by Dr. Adolf Winter, vol. 189,
p. 122: the case was originally communicated by T. Haakma Tresling to
a Dutch journal (_Weekbl. van het Nederl. Tijdschr. voor Geneesk_, 16,
1880). The following is a short account of this case.

A patient, for whom medicine containing aconitia nitrate (to be taken
in small and repeated doses) had been prescribed by a physician,
Dr. M., experienced soon after the first and second doses a burning
sensation in the throat, followed by vomiting and, later on, by
difficulty of respiration: the skin was icy cold to the touch,
although internally there was a sensation of burning throughout
the body. With the object of proving that these effects were not
attributable to the medicine, Dr. M., at four p.m. on March 16th,
1880, took a dose of the mixture, containing rather more than 1/16
grain of aconitia nitrate. The first symptoms of poisoning appeared
in about an hour and a half; and, about four hours after he had
taken the poison, Dr. M. was found to be pallid, with a cold skin,
contracted pupils, small and irregular but not accelerated pulse,
swollen tongue, headache, shivering fits, and a sensation of burning
in the mouth: there was also pain extending from the throat to the
lower part of the stomach. Suddenly the power of vision became extinct,
simultaneously with a great dilation of the pupils: sight shortly
afterwards returned, the pupils at the same time again contracting.
Vomiting was induced by tickling the throat; the ejected matter was
thick, red-coloured, and contained the remains of food previously
consumed: vomiting subsequently recurred spontaneously. The first
convulsions occurred eight hours and forty minutes after the dose had
been taken; respiration became more difficult, and Dr. M. complained
of humming in the ears, and deafness, first in one ear and then in
the other. Ether was now subcutaneously injected: dilation of pupils,
with loss of vision, again followed, being succeeded by vomiting, and
violent and long-continued convulsions. In eight hours and fifty-three
minutes extraordinarily violent vomiting set in, and was followed by a
succession of violent convulsions. Dr. M. could not again be restored
to consciousness, the pupils were dilated and remained unaffected by
the light, and respiration was slow and laborious. Notwithstanding the
employment of electricity, breathing became slower, the beating of the
heart ceased to be audible, and death occurred in nine hours from the
time at which the poison was taken.

On a _post-mortem_ examination being made, it was found that the
surface-tissues of the body were very pale and contained little
blood, while the internal organs were much congested. The intestinal
congestion increased towards the stomach, and diminished towards the
large intestine. The colon, rectum, and bladder were very pale and
bloodless. The latter contained about 70 grammes (= 2¼ fl. oz.) of
urine. The liver and spleen were enlarged, the kidneys small; all much
congested. Defecation had not taken place, though some urine had been
passed. The lungs did not fill the cavity of the chest; they contained
fresh infiltrations and some small cavities: adhesion, congestion, and,
in the lower portions, numerous emphysematous patches. Much fat was
deposited on the right side of the heart, which contained thin blood.
Brain congested.

INDEX.

ACONITE,
varieties (napellus, ferox), 568
alkaloids, aconitine or aconitia, 569
pseudaconitia, 569
aconine and pseudaconine, 570
extraction and tests—
taste, 572
physiological, 572
chemical, 573
extraction and texts—
taste, 572
physiological, 572
chemical, 573
history and preparations, 574
doses, fatal, 575
fatal period, 576
cause of death, 577
post-mortem appearances, 577, 581
treatment and antidotes, 577
remarks. Phosphoric acid test, 579
Use in dysentery, 579
Colour of aconitia, 580
Case referred to by Dr. Stevenson, 580

ALKALOIDS,
derivation, 3, 4
chemically and physiologically considered, 4
general process for extracting, 5-8
morphia, curarine, solanine, 8
Guy’s subliming cell, 9
general reagents, 10-12
ptomaines or cadaveric, 13, 14

ALLOYS OF ANTIMONY, 491

ALLOYS OF ARSENIC, 374, 381

ALMONDS, BITTER, 59, 60, 78

ANALYSIS,
quantitative, indispensable in cases of poisoning by antimony,
mercury, and lead, 3

ANGINA PECTORIS,
Dr. Richardson (_Palmer’s trial_), 175, 289

ANILINE DYES,
arsenic in, 379

ANIMAL CHARCOAL,
reagent for alkaloids, 11
antidote, 12, 577

ANTIMONY,
symptom of poisoning by, 2
properties. Chap. IX., 490
alloy of, in different metals, 491
compounds of, chlorides, sulphides, 491
oxides, hydride, 492
tartar emetic, solubility, 493
composition, uses and occurrences, 494
doses and preparations, 495
fatal dose and fatal period, 496
physiological effects, 497
antidotes, 497
separation and tests. Reinsch’s, 498
Marsh, 500
preparation used, 502
quantity, 503
remarks (_Pritchard’s case_), 505
(_Smethurst’s_), 507
Addenda—bismuth, 510
grey powder, 513

ANTISEPTIC,
arsenic as an, 376

APPLE PIPS,
amount of prussic acid in, 59, 60

ARSENIC,
element. Chap. VII., 373
solubility of, 321, 375
taste of (_Christison_), 321-3
trioxide of, 374
uses and occurrences of, 376-381
steeping wheat—soap—antiseptic, 376
glass—for fur in boilers—candles, 376
wood preserving—sheep washing—paints, 377
wall papers—medicines, 378
horses—teeth stopping—aniline dyes, 379
rat and fly poisons—metal cleaning, 380
arsenic eaters—cosmetic—bronzing, 380
glucose beer—paper collars, 381
speculum metal—inhaling, 381
sulphides of, 381
orpiment (Burdock’s case), 382, and note
acid, 382
arsenates, 383
trichloride, Arseniuretted hydrogen, 383
extraction and tests, distribution, occurrence in soils, 384
modification of old process, 385-7
Marsh’s, 388
Reinsch’s, 390
doses, medicinal, poisonous, 391
physiological effects of, 392
treatment and antidotes, 393
presence in common articles, 394
attempted poisoning by forged prescription, 394
remarks on evidence of Dr. Letheby (_Merritt’s case_), 395
on Madeline Smith’s case, 395, note 396
supposed presence in sulphuretted hydrogen, 396
_See_ trials of Madeline Smith, Pritchard, and Ann Merritt,
Chap. VI.

ASHLEY, Mrs.,
evidence of (_Tawell’s trial_), 19

AYRTON, Dr.,
evidence of (_Winslow’s trial_), 487

BABBINGTON, Dr.,
evidence of (_Smethurst’s trial_), 460

BALL, GEORGE,
trial of, at Lewes, 49-52

BAMFORD, Dr.,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 99-100

BANKES, ISABELLA,
case of, 448

BARLOW, SILAS,
trial of, 268-75
history of the case, 268
symptoms of poisoning, 269
medical evidence, 271
analytical evidence, Dr. Lees, 272
Dr. Bernays, 274
defence and verdict, 275

BARNES, LAVINIA,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 98-9

BARRETT, Mrs.,
evidence of (_Tawell’s trial_), 20

BARWELL, Surgeon,
evidence of, _post-mortem_ (_Smethurst’s trial_), 456

BATEMAN, Mrs.,
evidence of (_Tawell’s trial_), 41

BEDBROOK,
evidence of (_Lamson’s trial_), 541

BELLADONNA,
insensibility, symptom of poisoning by, 2
dilates the pupil of the eye, 2

BERNAYS, Dr. A. J.,
evidence of (_Barlow’s trial_), 274

BERRY, Dr.,
evidence of (_Lamson’s trial_), 520

BIRD, Dr.,
evidence of (_Smethurst’s trial_), 455

BISMUTH,
potassio-iodide of, reagent for alkaloids, 10
subnitrate, arsenic in, 510

BLANC MANGE,
arsenic used for colouring, 377

BOILERS, FUR IN,
arsenic used for removing, 376

BOWERBANK, Dr.,
evidence of (_Smethurst’s trial_), 460

BRAMWELL, Baron,
charge of (_Dove’s trial_), 260-2

BRAND, Surgeon,
evidence of (_Lamson’s trial_), 524

BRODIE, Sir B.,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 117
opinion of (_Smethurst’s case_), 478

BROOKS, Mrs.,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 92

BRUCIA,
convulsions, symptoms of poisoning by, 3
whence obtained, 284
tests for, 285

BURDOCK, M.A.,
trial for poisoning by orpiment, 382, note.

CADAVERIC ALKALOIDS,
properties, 12-14
resembling strychnia, 291
in Lamson’s case, 550, 580, 537-8

CALVERT, F. C., Chemist,
indestructibility of strychnia, 149, note

CAMERON, Dr.,
evidence of (_Winslow’s trial_), 482

CAMPBELL, Lord Chief Justice (_Palmer’s trial_),
omission of Keeling’s evidence, 104, note
charge of, 220-31

CANDLES,
arsenic used in, 376

CANTHARIDES,
vomiting symptom of poisoning by, 2

CARBONIC ACID AND OXIDE,
sudden death in poisoning by, 1, 2

CASSAVA,
amount of prussic acid in, 59

CAUDLE, Chemist,
evidence of (_Smethurst’s trial_), 456

CHAMPNEYS, Surgeon,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 23-7

CHERRY KERNELS,
amount of prussic acid in, 59

CHESHIRE, Postmaster,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 188-9

CHLORAL AND CROTON CHLORAL,
insensibility, symptom of poisoning by, 2

CHLORINE,
process for obtaining pure, xvi.

CHLOROFORM,
solvent for alkaloids, 4, 5
antidote to strychnia, 290

CHRISTISON, Professor,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 147-8
(_Dove’s trial_), 248
(_Madeline Smith’s trial_), 315, 358

CHRONIC POISONING,
symptoms of by antimony, mercury, lead, 3, 497

CLARK, RUTHERFORD,
defence of Pritchard, 435

CLUTTERBUCK, Mr.,
details of case of (_Palmer’s trial_), 123

COCCULUS INDICUS,
symptom of poisoning by, 2

COCKBURN, Attorney-General,
statement and reply (_Palmer’s trial_), 84-94, 209-19

COOK,
murder of. _See_ PALMER.

COOPER, Analytical Chemist,
evidence of (_Tawell’s trial_), 28-33
cross-examination, 33-9
discovery of prussic acid in apple pips, 32, 60, 64

COPLAND, Dr.,
evidence of (_Smethurst’s trial_), 460

COPPER,
preparation of pure, 498

CORBETT, Dr.,
evidence of (_Madeline Smith’s trial_), 323

COSMETIC,
use of arsenic as a, 380
bismuth, 510

COWARD, Inspector,
conduct of (_Merritt’s trial_), 369

CURARINE,
process for extracting, 8
properties, 277, 281

CURLING, J. B., Surgeon,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 111

CYANIDE OF POTASSIUM,
symptoms and _post-mortem_ appearances, &c., 80

DANIELL, Dr.,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 119

DEATH, SUDDEN,
evidence of poisoning by sulphuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids,
poisonous gases, carbonic oxide, arseniuretted and
antimoniuretted hydrogen, kakodyl, strychnia, oxalic and prussic
acid, 1, 2
chloroform, sometimes, 2

DE MEAU, French Consul,
evidence of (_M. Smith’s trial_), 338

DEVONSHIRE, Surgeon,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 109, note—134, note

DIGITALIS,
insensibility evidence of poisoning by, 2
dilates the pupils of the eyes, 2

DODD, Chemist,
evidence of (_Lamson’s trial_), 544

DOVE, Mrs.,
evidence as to her case (_Palmer’s trial_), 124

DOVE, WILLIAM,
trial for murder of wife—early life, 233-5
history of the case, 235-9
symptoms—Ann Fisher, 239
Mrs. Witham, 240
Mrs. Wood, 241
Mr. Scarth, 242
medical and analytical evidence (Mr. Morley), 242-8
(Mr. Nunneley), 248
(Professor Christison), 248
(Mr. Hobson and Mr. Teale), 249
(Mr. Richard and Mr. William Hey), 250
prisoner’s actions and statements (Ann Fisher), 250
(Gray, Hicks), 251
(Harrison, Jenkins, Scarth), 252
defence—letter to the Devil, 253
evidence of insanity (Dr. Williams), 254-7
(Dr. Pyeman Smith), 258
(Mr. J. Kitchen), 259
judge’s charge, and verdict, 260-3
confessions of, 263-8

DRAGENDORFF,
process for alkaloids, 4

DROPS AND MINIMS (_Ball’s trial_), 50-1
table of relative proportions of, 81

DUPRÉ, Dr.,
evidence of (_Lamson’s trial_), 538

EDWARDS, Dr.,
evidence of (_Winslow’s case_), 484

EGGLESHAM POISONING CASE (_Agnes Montgomery_), 52-3

ESSENTIAL OILS,
vomiting symptom of, 2
containing HCN, 60

EYE,
action of poisons on the—opium, morphia, calabar bean, aconite?, and
strychnia, contract the pupil; belladonna, henbane, tobacco,
stramonium, digitalis, and hemlock, dilate the pupil, 2

FIREWORKS,
arsenic in, 379
antimony, 492

FISHER, ANN,
evidence of (_Dove’s trial_), 239, 251

FISHER, ISHMAEL,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 191-3

FLY POISONS,
arsenic in, 379

FORMIC ACID,
to be tested for in supposed cases of poisoning by hydrocyanic
acid, 82-3
difference from sulphocyanide, 70

FORSTER,
supposed case of tetanus, 177-8

FOULNER,
evidence of (_Pritchard’s trial_), 431

FOWLER’S SOLUTION,
arsenite of potash, 378
dose of, 391

FRANKLIN,
trial of (arsenic in blanc mange), 377, note

FRESENIUS,
process for arsenic, 385

GAGE, MARIA,
trial of (arsenic in rat poison), 379

GAIRDNER, Dr.,
evidence of (_Pritchard’s trial_), 399-403

GAY, Dr. JOHN,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 179

GILLETT, Mrs.,
evidence of (_Merritt’s trial_), 368

GIRDWOOD, Dr.,
evidence of (_Smethurst’s trial_), 472

GLASS MAKING,
arsenic used in, 376

GLUCOSE BEER,
arsenic used in, 381

GRANULES, GRITTY,
on spine (_Palmer’s trial_), 171, 292

GRAY, MARGARET,
evidence of (_Dove’s trial_), 251

GRAY, R, E.,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 177-8

GUY, Dr.,
process for subliming alkaloids, 9

HADLER, Mrs.,
evidence of (_Tawell’s trial_), 41

HAGGART, C.,
evidence of (_Madeline Smith’s trial_), 340

HANDYSIDE, Lord,
judgment in Madeline Smith’s trial, 361

HARLAND, Dr.,
evidence, _post-mortem_ (_Palmer’s trial_), 105-9

HARRISON (the witchman),
evidence of (_Dove’s trial_), 252

HART, Mrs.,
history of (_Tawell’s trial_), 41

HAWKINS, Sir H.,
remarks on Poisons Acts (_Lamson’s trial_), 544, note
charge of (_Lamson’s trial_), 555

HEHNER,
tin in canned provisions, 504

HEMLOCK,
symptoms of poisoning by, 2
antidote to tetanus, 293

HERAPATH, Chemist,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 163-6
letter to the _Times_, 165, note
and Dr. Taylor (_Smethurst’s trial_), 507

HEY, R. and W. Medical men,
evidence of (_Dove’s trial_), 250

HICKS, MARY,
evidence of (_Dove’s trial_), 251

HOBSON, Dr.,
evidence of (_Dove’s trial_), 249

HOPE, Lord Justice Clerk,
judgment on L’Angelier’s diary (_Madeline Smith’s trial_), 359
charge (_Madeline Smith’s trial_), 352-5

HORSES,
use of arsenic for, 379

HOSPITAL, LONDON
case of tetanus at, 178

HOSPITAL, ROYAL FREE,
case of tetanus at, 179

HOWARD, Mrs.,
evidence of (_Tawell’s trial_), 28

HYDRIDE OF ANTIMONY, 492

HYDRARGYRUM CUM CRETA (grey powder),
composition of, 513

HYDROCHLORIC ACID,
purification of, xvi.

HYDROCYANIC ACID,
synonyms and properties, 55
variations of strength of, 55-6
British Pharmacopœia (HCN), 57
sources of, 58-61
poisonous doses, 59, 79
the quickest poison, 2
quantity in apple pips (Cooper), 32
(Thomas), 40
(C. G. Stewart), 59-60
tests for detection of, preliminary, 61-3
odour test (_Tawell’s trial_), 24, 34
smell-blindness (Stewart), 63-7
silver test, 67-8
Prussian-blue test, 69
sulphur test, 70
guaiacum, uranium, picric acid, cupric sulphate, cobalt chloride,
potash and mercuric oxide tests, 71
peroxide of hydrogen test, 72
mercurous nitrate test, 72
apparatus for the silver, Prussian-blue, and sulphur tests, 72-3
salts of, 73-8
potassium cyanide, 73-4
mercuric cyanide, 74-5
cyanides of the heavy metals, 75
double cyanides, 75-6
sulphocyanides (Pharaoh’s serpent), 77
in the saliva, 78
oil of bitter almonds, amount in, 78
antidotes to, medicinal uses of, fatal dose, 79
symptoms of poisoning by, and _post-mortem_ appearances, 78-80
how long after death discoverable, 81-3

HYDROGEN, SULPHURETTED,
death by, 1
supposed presence of arsenic in, 396
reagent for antimony, 501

IGASURIA and IGASURIC ACID, 285

INGLIS, Dean of Faculty,
defence of Madeline Smith, 342-52

INGLIS, Lord Justice Clerk,
charge at Pritchard’s trial, 445

INHALING ARSENIC,
in asthma and bronchitis, 381

INSANITY,
plea of, evidence in support of (_Dove’s trial_), 254-60
affidavits in support of (_Lamson’s case_), 561

INSENSIBILITY,
symptom of poisoning by morphia and opium, henbane, stramonium,
nicotine, darnel, hemlock, fools’ parsley (doubtful), water
hemlock, Indian hemp, woody nightshade, berries of potato,
lobelia inflata, foxglove, cocculus indicus, some fungi,
chloroform, chloral, croton chloral, amylene, methylene
dichloride, sulphuretted hydrogen, carbonic oxide, belladonna, 2
not in strychnia, 288

IVORY, LORD,
judgment on extracts from L’Angelier’s diary, 363

JONES, Surgeon,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 101-4, 190

JULIUS, Dr.,
evidence of (_Smethurst’s trial_), 453

KEELING, MARY,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 104
omitted by Lord Chief Justice, 104, note

KERR,
evidence of (_Pritchard’s trial_), 431

KILLERS, VERMIN,
composition, 283, 379

KITCHEN,
evidence of insanity (_Dove’s trial_), 259

LAMSON, G. H., Dr.,
trial for murder of brother-in-law. Chap. X., 514
history of the case, 516-20
evidence of medical attendants (Berry, Little), 520
_post-mortem_ (Little), 521-3
(Bond), 524-6
analytical evidence (Dr. Stevenson), 526
(cross-examination), 532
(Dr. Dupré), 538
previous acts of (J. L. and W. Tulloch), 539
(Bedbrook), 541
purchase of poison by (C. A. Smith), 543
(Dodd, Shilling), 544
remarks on Poisons Act by judge, 544, note
surrender of prisoner, 546
defence (Montagu Williams), 547-53
reply (Solicitor-General, Herschel), 553-5
judge’s charge (Sir H. Hawkins), 555-60
verdict and sentence, 560
affidavits in support of application for inquiry into his
sanity, 561

L’ANGELIER,
poisoning of. _See_ MADELINE SMITH.
extracts from diary, judgment on, 342-59
did he commit suicide? 395-6

LAWRIE, Dr.,
evidence of (_Madeline Smith’s trial_), 325

LEAD
process for alkaloids, 7, 279

LEE, Dr.,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 117

LEES, Dr.,
evidence of (_Barlow’s trial_), 272

LETHEBY, Dr.,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 166-9
(_Merritt’s trial_), 366, 395

LEWIS, Sir C.,
decision in Smethurst’s case, 479

LIQUOR,
strychniæ, 283
arsenicalis, 379

LITTLEJOHN, Dr.,
evidence of (_Pritchard’s trial_), 424-5

MACDONALD, W., Dr.,
evidence and cross-examination (_Palmer’s trial_), 180-2

MACHATTIE,
evidence of (_Pritchard’s trial_), 431

MACLAGAN, Dr.,
evidence of (_Madeline Smith’s trial_), 326
(_Pritchard’s trial_), 412, 422-3

MARSH’S PROCESS (arsenic), 388
(antimony), 500

MAYER’S REAGENT FOR ALKALOIDS, 10

MERCURY,
symptoms of, 3
grey powder, 513
stain on copper, 499

MERRITT, ANN,
trial for poisoning her husband, 364-72
medical and analytical evidence (Toulmin), 365
(Letheby), 366
purchase of poison by, 368
acts and statements (Gillett), 368
(Coward), 369
prisoner’s defence, 371
charge and verdict, and reprieve, 372
case referred to at Palmer’s trial, 168

METALLIC STAINS ON COPPER,
distinctions between, 499

METALS,
cleansing and bronzing of, by arsenic, 380

MILLER, Dr.,
evidence of (_Winslow’s trial_), 486

MILLS, ELIZABETH,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 94-8

MINIMS AND DROPS,
(_Ball’s trial_), 50, 51
table of relative proportions of, 81

MONCKTON, Dr.,
evidence of (_post-mortem_, _Palmer’s trial_), 109

MORLEY, Surgeon,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 124-7
(_Dove’s trial_), 242-7

MORPHIA,
symptom of poisoning by, 2
distinction from strychnia, xv.
process for extracting, 8, 9
was it used by Palmer? 291

MORSON’S ACONITINE, 577-9

MOTIVE,
remarks on (Inglis, defence of M. Smith), 347
(Inglis, charge, _Pritchard’s trial_), 445
(Hope, Lord Justice Clerk, _M. Smith’s trial_), 439
(Shee, Serjeant, defence of Palmer), 201

MYATT, GEORGE, Saddler,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 92, note

MYATT, JAMES, Postboy,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 193-4

NEWTON,
chemist, evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 184, and note

NEPALINE AND NAPELLINE,
aconite alkaloids, 569, 577

NEURALINE,
preparation of aconite, 579

NITRIC ACID,
test for brucia, 285
for morphia, xv., 6, 285 note

NORBLAD, Surgeon,
evidence of (_Tawell’s trial_), 36-7

NUNNELEY, Surgeon,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 152-63
(_Dove’s trial_), 184, and note

ODLING, Dr.,
evidence of (_Smethurst’s trial_), 464

ORPIMENT,
composition and properties, 381
as a cosmetic, 320, 382
MARY ANN BURDOCK, 382, and note

OXIDATION TEST FOR STRYCHNIA, 280

OXIDES OF ANTIMONY, 495

OXIDES OF ARSENIC, 374, 382

PAINTS,
arsenic in, 377

PALMER, WILLIAM,
trial of, for murder of J. P. Cook. Chap. II., 84
his connection with Cook, 84-94
health of Cook, 90-1, note
sickness of Cook at Shrewsbury, 91-3
Cook’s symptoms at Rugeley (Elizabeth Mills), 94-6
(Lavinia Barnes), 98
(Mary Keeling), 104
medical evidence (Bamford), 99-100
(Jones), 101-4
_post-mortem_ (Harland), 105-9
(Monckton), 109
(Devonshire), 109, note, 134, note
medical experts (J. B. Curling), 111
(Dr. Todd), 114
(Daniell, Solly, Lee), 119
(Sir Benjamin Brodie), 117
(Dr. Jackson), 119-20
late cases of strychnia (Agnes Sennett), 121
(Mrs. S. Smyth, Romsey), 122
(Mr. Clutterbuck), 123
(Mrs. Dove, _see_ MORLEY), 124-7
analytical evidence (Dr. Taylor), 128-45, 291
(Rees and Brande), 145
(Professor Christison), 146-8
medico-scientific evidence for defence, points of, 149-50, 288
(Mr. Nunneley), 152-63
(Mr. Herapath), 163-6
(Dr. Letheby), 166-9
(Professor Rogers), 170
(Dr. F. Wrightson), 170
(Mr. Partridge), 171-3
(Pemberton and Robinson), 174
(Dr. Richardson), 175, 468, 289.
cases of tetanus on part of defence, 177-82
purchase of poison by, 183-5
acts of, during illness and after death of Cook, 186-96
J. Myatt, evidence of, 193
letter to the coroner, &c., 194-5
committal of, for murder, and conduct in gaol, 196
evidence of, in forged bill case, 196, note
defence of, by Mr. Serjeant Shee, 196-208
reply of Attorney-General, 208
charge of Lord Campbell, 220
verdict and sentence, 231
remarks of Sir James Stephen, 231
suggested use of morphia by, 291

PARKE, Baron,
charge of (_Tawell’s trial_), 42-7

PARTRIDGE, Surgeon,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 171

PATERSON, Dr.,
evidence of (_Pritchard’s trial_), 404-26

PATTERSON, Servant,
evidence of (_Pritchard’s trial_), 398

PEMBERTON, Surgeon,
evidence of (_Winslow’s trial_), 486

PENNY, Dr.,
evidence of (_Madeline Smith’s trial_), 357
(_Pritchard’s trial_), 413, 418, 420, 426

PERKINS, Constable,
evidence of (_Tawell’s trial_), 23

PHOSPHO-ANTIMONIC ACID,
reagent for alkaloids, 12

PHOSPHO-MOLYBDIC ACID,
reagent for alkaloids, 10

PHOSPHO-TUNGSTIC ACID,
reagent for alkaloids, 11

PHOSPHORIC TEST FOR ACONITIA. _See_ ACONITE.

PICKERING, Surgeon,
evidence of (_Tawell’s trial_), 38

PICRIC ACID,
reagent for alkaloids, 11

PIPERINE AND PYROXANTHINE,
distinctions from strychnia, 156, 281

PLATINIC CHLORIDE,
reagent for alkaloids, 12

POLLOCK, Lord Chief Baron,
censure of Inspector Coward, 369-70
charge (_Smethurst’s trial_), 473-7
report to Home Secretary, 478

PORTER,
does it disguise HCN? 37, 65

POTASSIUM TRI-IODIDE AND POTASSIO-MERCURIC-IODIDE,
reagents for alkaloids, 10

PRINCIPLES,
to be observed in testing for poisons, 14, 15

PRITCHARD, Dr.,
trial of, for murder of wife and mother-in-law, 397-448
history of the case (Patterson, McLeod), 398
symptoms (Gairdner, Paterson), 399
medical attendants, evidence of (Gairdner), 403
(Paterson), 404-26
purchase of poisons by, 412
_post-mortem_ examinations (Maclagan), 413-18
chemical analysis of medicines in Pritchard’s room, 413
of bodies (Penny), 418
of bottle of Battley’s solution, 419
experiments with Battley’s solution on animals, 420-1
causes of death (Dr. Maclagan), 422-3
(Dr. Littlejohn), 424-5
(Dr. Paterson), 426
declarations (official) of, 427
witnesses for defence (Dr. M. Taylor), 430
(Simpson, Foulner, Kerr, and McHattie), 431
speech of Solicitor-General, 431
Rutherford Clark for prisoner, 435
judge’s charge, 445
verdict, confession, 447

PRUSSIC ACID. _See_ HYDROCYANIC ACID.

PSEUDACONITIA. _See_ ACONITE.

PTOMAINES. _See_ CADAVERIC ALKALOIDS.

RAT POISONS,
arsenic in, 379

RICHARDSON, Dr.,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 175
(_Smethurst’s trial_), 466

ROBERTS, Chemist,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 183

ROBERTSON, Dr.,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 174

ROGERS, Professor,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 170
(_Smethurst’s_), 469

ROSS, Surgeon,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 180

SALTS OF HYDROCYANIC ACID,
symptoms, 79
_post-mortem_ appearances, 80

SARGEANT, J.,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 91

SAVAGE, Dr.,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 90, note

SCARTH, Chemist, 242
evidence of, (_Dove’s trial_), 242

SCHEIBLER’S REAGENT FOR ALKALOIDS, 11

SENNETT, AGNES,
case of tetanus (_Palmer’s trial_), 121

SHEE, Serjeant,
speech for defence (_Palmer’s trial_), 196-208

SHEEPWASH,
arsenic in, 377

SHILLING,
evidence of (_Lamson’s trial_), 544

SILICO-TUNGSTIC ACID,
reagent for alkaloids, 12

SMETHURST,
trial of, for murder of Isabella Bankes, 448-79
history of the case (Ballantine), 449-53
evidence of medical attendants (Julius), 453-5
(Bird and Caudle), 455-6
_post-mortem_ examination (Barwell), 456-8
(Wilks), 458-9
medical experts for prosecution (Todd), 459
(Buzzard, Copland, Bowerbank, and Babbington), 460
analytical evidence (Taylor), 461-4
(Herapath’s letter on, Odling), 460
medical and analytical evidence for defence, 465-73
(Dr. Richardson), 466
(Drs. Rogers and Thudichum), 469
(Dr. Cornelius Webb), 470
(Dr. Girdwood), 472
(Dr. Tyler Smith), 473
judge’s charge (Pollock), 473-7
reference to Brodie, 478
pardon, 479
conviction for bigamy, 452
proof of Miss Bankes’ will, 452

SMITH, C. A., Chemist,
evidence of (_Lamson’s trial_), 543

SMITH, JEREMIAH,
examination and cross-examination (_Palmer’s trial_), 185, note

SMITH, MADELINE,
trial of, for murder, 295, 359
history of the parties, 295-8
declaration of the accused, 298-300
L’Angelier’s symptoms (Mrs. Jenkins), 300-3
medical attendants, evidence of (Dr. Thomson), 304
(Dr. Steven), 305
_post-mortem_ examination (Appendix A), 355
analytical evidence (Dr. Penny), 307
(Prof. Christison), 315-58
medical experts for defence (Dr. Lawrie), 325
(Dr. McLagan), 326
opportunities of administering poison—1st charge, 329
2nd charge, 330
3rd charge, 332
conduct and statements of (M. de Meau), 337-42
(C. Haggart), 340, note
proposed evidence from L’Angelier’s diary (Appendix C), 342, 359
the defence, 342
judge’s charge and verdict, 352-5
quantity of arsenic found in body of a murdered person
(Appendix B), 353

SMITH, PYEMAN, Dr.,
evidence of (_Dove’s trial_), 258

SMITH, TYLER, Dr.,
evidence of (_Smethurst’s trial_), 473

SMYTH, Mrs.,
case of tetanus (_Palmer’s trial_), 122

SOLANINE,
extraction of, 8

SOLLY, Surgeon,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 117

SONNENSCHEIN’S REAGENT FOR ALKALOIDS, 10

SPECULUM METAL,
arsenic in, 381

SPINAL GRANULES (_Palmer’s trial_), 171-4
specimens at St. Thomas’ Hospital, 292-3

STEPHEN, Mr. Justice,
notes on Palmer’s trial, 169, 231-2
Dove’s trial, 268
Smethurst’s trial, 478-511

STEVEN, Dr.,
evidence of (_Madeline Smith’s trial_), 305

STEVENS,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 91, note

STEVENSON, Dr.,
evidence of (_Lamson’s trial_), 526-32

STRYCHNIA (Chapter V.), 276
sources and properties of, 277
separation of, 278-80

STRYCHNIA TESTS,
microscope, taste, colour, 279, 280
galvanic (Letheby), 282
Marshall Hall’s, bichromate of potash, 282
picric acid, sodium nitrite, mercuric chloride, 283
preparations of (table), 283
vermin killers, 283-4
doses, medicinal, 285
fatal period for, 286
symptoms of, in man, 287
_post-mortem_ appearances, 289
treatment and antidotes, 290
value of colour tests, 291
discovery of, in the tissues, 291
did Palmer poison Cook with morphia? 292
supposed preparation of spinal gritty granules, 292-3
differences between morphia and, xv.

SULPHIDES,
of antimony, 491, 495
of arsenic, 381, 387

TANNIN OR TANNIC ACID,
reagent for alkaloids, 12
antidote to antimony, 497

TARTAR EMETIC. _See_ ANTIMONY, 494

TAWELL, JOHN,
trial of, for murder of Mrs. Hart, 16-49
previous life of, 17
symptoms of poison (Ashley, Barrett), 19, 20
conduct at Slough, 21
arrest of (Williams, Wiggins), 22
statement by (Perkins), 23
medical evidence (Champneys), 23-7
previous attempt to poison (Howard), 28
analytical evidence (Cooper), 28-36
(Norblad, Pickering), 36-8
purchase of poison by (Thomas), 39, 40
history of Mrs. Hart (Bateman, Hadler), 41
defence (Kelly), 41-2
judge’s charge (Parke), and verdict, 42-7
confession, question about publication of, 48
legal dispute about his Australian property, 48-9

TAYLOR, A. S., Dr., Analyst,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 128-45
(_Smethurst’s trial_), 461-4
and Herapath, 507

TAYLOR, MICHAEL, Dr.,
evidence of (_Pritchard’s trial_), 430

TEAL, Dr.,
evidence of (_Dove’s trial_), 249

TEETH STOPPING,
arsenic used in, 378

THOMPSON, Dr.,
evidence of (_Madeline Smith’s trial_), 304

THUDICHUM, Dr.,
evidence of (_Smethurst’s trial_), 469

TODD, Dr.,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 114
(_Smethurst’s trial_), 459

TOYS,
coloured with arsenic, 378

TRI-IODIDE AND TRIOXIDE OF ARSENIC. _See_ ARSENIC.

TULLOCH, J. L. and W.,
evidence of (_Lamson’s trial_), 539
petition to Home Secretary, 560

VOMITING,
a symptom of poisoning by all irritant poisons, acids, alkalies,
alkaline salts, &c., 2

WALKER, PETER,
trial of (Egglesham poisoning), 51-2

WALL PAPERS,
arsenic used in colouring, 378

WEBB, Dr.,
evidence of (_Smethurst’s trial_), 470

WIGGINS, Constable,
evidence of (_Tawell’s trial_), 22

WILKS, Dr.,
evidence of (_Smethurst’s trial_), 458

WILLIAMS, Inspector G. W. R.,
evidence of (_Tawell’s trial_), 22

WILLIAMS, CALEB, Dr.,
evidence of (_Dove’s trial_), 254

WILSON, CATHERINE,
case of tetanus (_Palmer’s trial_), 180

WINSLOW, THOMAS,
trial of, for murder of Mrs. James, 479-89
history of case, 479-82
medical and analytical evidence (Cameron), 482
(J. B. Edwards), 484
(Ayrton), 487
(Miller, Pemberton), 486
prisoner’s statements, 487
purchase of poison, 488
charge and verdict, 489

WITHAM, Mrs.,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 124
(_Dove’s trial_), 240

WOOD, MARY,
evidence of, objection to, 233, note
(_Dove’s trial_), 241

WOOD PRESERVING,
arsenic used for, 377

WRIGHTSON, Dr. F.,
evidence of (_Palmer’s trial_), 170, 177

YOUNG, Solicitor-General,
speech of (_Pritchard’s trial_), 431

THE END.

BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO., PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Christison on Poisons, 1829, p. 491.

[2] For instance, strychnia or strychnine, morphia or morphine,
aconitia or aconitine, are the same substances.

[3] 39 & 40 Vict. cap. 77, sec. 12.

[4] Potassio-mercuric iodide, made by dissolving 50 grammes of
potassium iodide and 13·5 grammes of mercuric chloride, in a
litre of distilled water. The reagent is added till no further
precipitate is produced, which is known by filtering a small
portion at intervals and testing with the potassio-mercuric
iodide to see if finished. The strength of the solution must
be, as nearly as possible, 1 part of the alkaloid in 200, so
that an _approximate_ idea must first be obtained by weighing
or otherwise. As the quantity is in poison cases generally
too small to weigh, the approximate idea must be gathered by
comparing the intensity of the tests with those furnished by
known amounts of the alkaloid. Each cubic centimetre of Mayer’s
solution precipitates ·02 gramme of morphia, ·0268 of aconitia,
and ·0167 of strychnia. For further details see Blyth’s
Practical Chemistry, 1879, p. 289.

[5] Rennard (Chem. Centr. 1876, 456) asserts that acetic ether
is preferable to amylic alcohol, as the latter dissolves more
colouring matter.

[6] To recover the alkaloid, dissolve the precipitate in
sufficient sulphurous acid solution, and evaporate: the
sulphate is left (Wagner).

[7] If the picrate precipitate be dissolved in dilute potash,
and the solution shaken with ether-chloroform, the latter, on
evaporation, leaves the alkaloid again in a free state.

[8] At the inquest this witness said that she rinsed out one of
the glasses on the table to give the deceased the water.

[9] Evidence of Katherine White, barmaid; W. Marton, gardener;
J. Kendal, waiter at the Jerusalem Coffee-house; H. Crapp,
clerk G. W. Railway, Slough; G. Lewis, postboy at Salthill;
R. Roberts, innkeeper, Slough; C. Wibberts, guard of G. W.
R.; Weymouth, a plumber; E. J. Howell, superintendent of
Slough station; Rev. E. T. Champneys T. Holman, constable, of
Farnham-Royal.

[10] At the inquest, this witness, speaking of the results of
the chemical analysis, said:—“It may not have been prussic
acid, but in conjunction with some salt nearly allied to it. I
do not think it was administered by itself but in some liquid.
The salts of prussic acid have not the same pungent peculiar
odour as prussic acid itself. They would produce death, but he
could not say how quickly.” Mr. Norblad, on the same occasion,
suggested that one of the salts into the composition of which
prussic acid enters, might have been given; “that cyanide of
potassium, the salt to which he referred, would cause death
in from two seconds to a quarter of an hour, according to the
amount given.” At the time of the inquest it was not known
that the prisoner had bought of Thomas, Scheele’s solution of
prussic acid. On the properties of the various kinds of these
salts, see Mr. Stewart’s remarks, pp. 73-77.

[11] Doubtful. C. G. S.

[12] On the mooted question of “odour,” see Mr. Stewart’s
experiments and remarks on smell-blindness, pp. 63-66.

[13] In giving the examination-in-chief of this witness, I
have, through the kindness of Mr. C. Platt, the clerk of
assize of the old Norfolk circuit, been able to correct the
cotemporary reports in the _Times_ and the _Bucks Herald_by the
original report of his experiments made by Mr. Cooper to the
prosecution. Mr. Cooper was unable to be at the inquest, and
the results of such of these experiments as Messrs. Champneys
and Norblad had witnessed were then alone given in evidence,
excluding those where the odour of prussic acid was smelt by
Mr. Cooper and his sons, and where the quantity in the portion
of the contents of the stomach submitted to analysation was
determined.

[14] See the table of Mr. Stewart’s experiments on bitter and
sweet apples, and other fruits, p. 59.

[15] The reporter is wrong here; see cross-examination of Mr.
Champneys, p. 24, in which he says that neither Mr. Norblad nor
Mr. Pickering smelt the odour on the first opening of the body.

[16] Sweet almonds would not affect the production of prussic
acid from the apple-pips, except as tending to produce emulsine.

[17] See note at p. 38 as to Pickering’s evidence on this point.

[18] See p. 58.

[19] Judge Therry’s Reminiscences of 30 Years’ Residence in N.
S. Wales. 2nd edition, p. 107. I have altered the conclusion
of the Judge’s remarks from information supplied to me by a
relative well acquainted with Sydney in those days.

[20] Animal matter contains the elements carbon, hydrogen,
nitrogen, and oxygen: the carbon and nitrogen unite with the
alkaline metal to form a cyanide, or a ferrocyanide if iron
also be present.

[21] Case of Sir T. Boughton, 1781.

[22] The potash and ferrous salt form potassium sulphate and
ferrous hydroxide, the latter combines with cyanogen and more
potash to form potassium ferro-cyanide, the ferric chloride
with the potash produces ferric hydroxide and potassium
chloride; when the hydrochloric acid is added, it dissolves up
the excess of ferrous and ferric hydroxides, forming ferrous
and ferric chlorides, and the ferric chloride unites with the
potassium ferrocyanide to form ferric ferrocyanide or Prussian
blue.

[23] Professor Carey Lea (American Journal of Science, 3,
ix., 121) prefers to mix a weak solution of ammonio-ferrous
sulphate with a little ammonio-ferric citrate, to acidify with
hydrochloric acid, then to place two or three drops of this
on a white plate, and to add a few drops of the suspected
solution. A blue cloudiness indicates HCN. This method, he
says, is capable of detecting 1/5000 of a grain of HCN. But I
do not think it more delicate than the old method if properly
performed, and it does not so easily admit of comparative
experiment as to quantity.

[24] Professor Toynbee met his death by incautious use in this
way.

[25] Death from suffocation.

[26] 19 Vict. c. 16.

[27] The authorities for the following report are (1) Report of
Trial of William Palmer. J. Gilbert, Lond., 1856. (2) Reprint
of _Times_ Report of the Trial. Ward and Lock, Lond., 1856; and
the Life and Career of William Palmer, by the same publishers.
(3) Verbatim Report of the Trial, from shorthand notes of Mr.
Angelo Bennett. J. Allen, Lond., 1856. (4) Letter to Lord Chief
Justice Campbell by the Rev. Thomas Palmer, brother to the
prisoner, with appendix of documents, including memorial from
his solicitor to Sir G. Grey, letters and newspaper criticisms.
Taylor, Lond., 1856. I have also availed myself of Mr. Justice
Stephens’ summary of the trial and his comments on the
evidence, in the appendix to the third volume of his History of
the Criminal Law of England.

[28] “From his childhood upward,” says his brother, “no man was
gentler of heart—his charity was inexhaustible; his kindliness
to all who were in distress well known. To him the wanderer
resorted in his afflictions; by him the poor and houseless
were fed and comforted. I write in the face of the public,
with my character as a gentleman and a clergyman at stake, and
I avow only facts that cannot be denied. His liberality was a
proverb; his frank sincerity, his courage, his faithful loyalty
to his friends, his temperance, his performance of the duties
of religion, his social relations in the character of father,
husband, and son, won for him the love and confidence of all
who approached him; and though it is true that in one fatal
instance he violated the laws of his country, and subjected
himself to a severe penalty for an infringement of its
commercial code, yet, this excepted, his was in all respects
the very opposite of that cool, calculating, cowardly, crafty
temper, which is essential to the poisoner, and we know cannot
co-exist with those qualities which my brother possessed from
his earliest years down even to the day when your lordship sent
him to his death.” Letter to Lord Campbell, pp. 4, 5.

[29] The excuse put forward for this was his wish to raise
money for Bate. The prisoner’s brother complains, in his letter
to Lord Campbell, pp. 29, 30, and with justice, that though the
evidence of the negotiation for this insurance was afterwards
excluded as irrelevant, the statement was allowed to be made
by the Attorney-General without a comment, which Lord Campbell
must have known would prejudice the case against the prisoner.
This exclusion of the evidence of a statement which has been
allowed to pass unchallenged is nearly as useless as the formal
warning not to pay any attention to some evidence that has
been wrongly admitted—the prejudice has been raised, and the
mischief already done. But for the result of this trial, he
would have been tried for the murder of his wife, whose body
had been exhumed and analysed.

[30] As the probability of Cook’s state of health predisposing
him to epileptic attacks was made part of the prisoner’s case,
the evidence of his regular medical attendant is subjoined:—

_Dr. Henry Savage_, physician, of 7, Gloucester-place,
_examined by the Attorney-General_.—I knew John Parsons Cook.
He had been in the habit of consulting me professionally during
the last four years. He was a man not of robust constitution;
but his general health was good. He came to me in May,
1855, but I saw him about November of the year before, and
early in the spring of 1855. In the spring of 1855 the old
affair—indigestion—was one cause of his visiting me, and he had
some spots upon his body, about which he was uneasy. He had
also two shallow ulcers on his tongue, which corresponded with
two bad teeth. He said that he had been under a mild mercurial
course, and he imagined that those spots were very syphilitic.
I thought they were not, and I recommended the discontinuance
of mercury. I gave him quinine as a tonic, and an aperient
composed of cream of tartar, magnesia, and sulphur. I never
at any time gave him antimony. Under the treatment which I
prescribed the sores gradually disappeared, and they were quite
well by the end of May. I saw him, however, frequently in June,
as he still felt some little anxiety about the accuracy of my
opinion. If any little spot made its appearance he came to me,
and I also was anxious on the subject, as my opinion differed
from that of another medical man in London. Every time he came
to me I examined him carefully. There were no indications
of a syphilitic character about the sores, and there was no
ulceration of the throat, but one of the tonsils was slightly
enlarged and tender. I saw him last alive, and carefully
examined him, either on the 3rd or 5th of November. There was
in my judgment no venereal taint about him at the time.

_Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant Shee._—I do not think that
the deceased was fond of taking mercury before I advised him
against it; but he was timid on the subject of his throat, and
was apt to take the advice of anyone. No; I don’t think that he
would take quack medicines. I don’t think he was so foolish as
that.

_Mr. Stevens_, his stepfather, who saw him at the Euston
Station on the 5th of November, when starting for Rugeley,
said, “he looked better than he had seen him for a long time.
‘You don’t look,’ he said to him, ‘like an invalid’; and Cook,
striking his chest, said he was quite well, and should be all
right if he was happy.” In point of appearance he was not a
robust man; his complexion was pale, and he had sore throat in
the previous winter for some months.

For the defence, _Foster_, a farmer, said he considered him of
a weak constitution, because he had bilious headaches, the last
a year and a half back, but admitted that he hunted three days
a week.

_John Sargeant_, a betting man, who met him at the races which
he attended, said:—I had an opportunity of seeing the state
of his throat before he died. I was with him at the Liverpool
meeting the week previous to the Shrewsbury races; we slept
in adjoining rooms. One morning he called me into his room
and drew my attention to his throat, which was much inflamed.
There were ulcers upon it, and the tongue was so swollen, that
I said I was surprised at the state of his mouth. He said he
had been in that state for weeks and months, “And now,” he
said, “I don’t take notice of it.” He had shown me his throat
before this at almost every meeting we attended. He took
some gingerbread and cayenne on the platform at Liverpool,
and told me afterwards it nearly killed him. (It came out
afterwards that the cayenne nut was a trick nut.) The witness
had also known Palmer supply Cook with blackwash before his
death. He had never seen Cook’s throat dressed by anybody, and
was surprised to see him eat and drink so well. He saw the
blackwash applied (externally) at the Warwick Spring Meeting in
1855. With reference to another point, this witness spoke to
Cook being unable to pay him more than £10 out of £25 at the
Liverpool meeting, and promising the balance at Shrewsbury.

[31] On the part of the prisoner, a saddler at Rugeley, of
the name of _Myalt_, whom Fisher spoke of as being in the
room with Cook and Palmer, was called to give an entirely
different account of this suspicious incident. “I saw Cook,”
said this witness, “in Palmer’s company on Wednesday, about
twelve o’clock. I had not dined with Palmer, but at my house
at Rugeley, and got back to Shrewsbury between eight and nine,
and went to Palmer’s room to see if he was in. The first person
I saw was Cook at the room door, who said, ‘What brought you
here?’ I told him, ‘to see how they were getting on.’ Palmer,
I found, had gone out, and I went into the town, and was away
about an hour. “When I returned Palmer was not there, so I
waited in his room till he returned, about a couple of hours.
He came in with Cook, who was the worse for liquor—not very
drunk—rather. They asked me to take some brandy and water; it
was produced directly afterwards—the brandy in a decanter,
the water might be on the table. I did not leave the room at
all, from the time Cook and Palmer came in till they all went
to bed. I did not see anything put into the brandy and water;
nothing could be without my seeing it. Palmer and I left
together, and slept that night in the same room. Cook said
something about its being bad. He drank part of it off, and
then gave it to some one to taste. He proposed to have some
more, but Palmer said he would not unless Cook drank his out.
Nothing more happened that night. Next morning Palmer asked me
to call Cook. I went into his room, and he told me how ill he
had been in the night, and obliged to send for a doctor. He
asked me what had been put into the brandy and water, and I
told him I did not know of anything. He asked me to send for
the doctor—Palmer. I did so. The witness did not remember Mrs.
Brooks coming, or Palmer being called out of the room. He swore
that Cook did not say ‘it burns my throat.’ Did not remember
Fisher saying that it was no good his tasting it, as there
was nothing in the glass. He told Mr. Gardner and Mr. Stevens
before the inquest what he now said, but they had not subpœnaed
him.

[32] “Lord Campbell did not even read this portion of the
witness’s evidence to the jury. Whatever its value might
be, and it had some in the prisoner’s favour, they were not
reminded of it, and can hardly be expected to have remembered
it after a twelve days’ trial.” Letter to Lord Campbell, p. 24.

[33] Some questions on this point were put to Mr. Gardner, the
solicitor for the prosecution, but were stopped as too general.

[34] Mills, in her cross-examination, said that Palmer “had on
a plaid dressing-gown, but could not say whether he had on a
cap or not.”

[35] Lord Campbell had omitted from his notes this
contradiction of the statement of Mills and others that
the body was arched, and when Mr. Serjeant Shee called his
attention to it, made no comment on it to the jury.—_Evidence
of Mary Keeling._

[36] But see the evidence of Mr. Partridge, Mr. Rogers, and
Mr. Pemberton as to the state of the exhumed corpse, and the
probable effect of the granules.—_Evidence of scientific
witnesses for the defence_, _post_, pp. 170-4.

[37] A _Mr. Devonshire_, a late assistant of Dr. Monckton’s,
who was present at the _post-mortem_, was also called to
confirm the previous witnesses. He also proved the extraction
of the liver, kidneys, spleen, and some blood, and their safe
delivery through a clerk (Boycott) to the attorneys at Rugeley
to Dr. Taylor for analysis.

[38] Mr. Curling agreed with Dr. Watson, _Principles and
Practice of Physic_, in the cases of “the sticking of a fish
bone in the fauces, the stroke of a whip-lash under the eye
leaving the skin unbroken, the cutting of a corn, the biting of
the finger by a sparrow, the blow of a stick on the neck, the
insertion of a seton, the extraction of a tooth, the injection
of a hydrocele, and the operation of cupping,” but not with
“the percussion of the air caused by a musket-shot.” He also
explained that the supposed case of tetanus produced at once
where a negro servant cut his thumb with a dish, rested on the
authority of an old cyclopædia, and that his judgment was more
mature and his experience greater than when, twenty-two years
of age, he wrote the treatise in which he had quoted this case.
(It was only in Rees’ Cyclopædia.)

[39] _Dr. Todd_, in reply to Lord Campbell, defined idiopathic
tetanus to be “that form of the disease which is produced
without any external wound, apparently from internal
causes—from a constitutional cause.”

[40] Evidence of _Dr. Robert Corbett_, physician, of Glasgow,
at the time medical clerk at the Glasgow Infirmary; _Dr.
Watson_, surgeon to the infirmary; _Dr. J. Patterson_, of the
infirmary laboratory; and _Mary Kelly_, patient.

[41] This is a test for brucia and not for strychnia. See p.
285.

[42] See _Ptomaine’s_ or _Cadaveric Poisons_. Chemical
introduction, _ante_, p. 12, and Chapter V., p. 278.

[43] “Mr. Mayhew called on me with another gentleman with
an introduction from Professor Faraday. I received him as I
would Professor Faraday, and entered into conversation with
him about these cases. He represented, as I understood, that
he was connected with some insurance company, and wished for
information about a number of cases of poisoning that had
occurred during many years. After we had conversed about an
hour, he asked if there was any objection to the publication
of the details. Still believing him to be connected with an
insurance office, I replied that, so far as the correction of
error was concerned, I had no objection to anything appearing.
On that evening he went away without telling me he was
connected with the _Illustrated Times_, or any other paper. It
was not until Thursday that I knew that. It was the greatest
deception that ever was practised on a scientific man.”—_Dr.
Taylor’s evidence._ In his charge, Lord Campbell said, “I must
say I think it would have been better if Dr. Taylor, trusting
to the credit he had before acquired, had taken no notice of
what had been said; but it is for you to say, whether, he
having been misrepresented, and having written this letter to
the _Lancet_ to set himself right, materially detracted from
the credit which would otherwise be given to his evidence.” It
was these statements in the _Illustrated Times_, copied into
other papers, that led Dove to resort to strychnia to poison
his wife.—_See his case, post._

[44] On the value of experiments on animals, see Chemical
Introduction, _ante_, p. 6.

[45] “A mixture of sugar and bile, or a substance called
pyroxanthine—the product of a distillation of wood—will produce
the purple and red tint.”—_Taylor’s evidence._ But see Chapter
V.

[46] _Curarine._ See Chapter V.

[47] On this point see Chapter V.

[48] This suggestion of negligence on the part of the operator,
Mr. Devonshire, and the comments on it by the Attorney-General,
having subjected him to several attacks both in the Central
Criminal Court and in the _papers_, he gave the following
explanation in a letter to the _Morning News_, dated May 29:—

“It was agreed in consultation at Mr. Freer’s, at Rugeley,
that the stomach and intestines should be opened, and, with
their contents, enclosed in a jar. It was further agreed that
the spinal cord should not be opened if its upper portion and
the brain should prove to be in a healthy condition. At the
examination I was assisted by Mr. Newton, a young gentleman
who had, unfortunately, never witnessed a _post-mortem_. He
punctured the stomach, and about a teaspoonful of its contents
was lost. Afterwards, when Dr. Harland and I were examining
the lining membrane, Mr. Newton suddenly turned the stomach
inside out; an additional half teaspoonful was thus lost, the
remainder falling into the jar. This accounts for Dr. Taylor
finding the mucous membrane in contact with the intestines.
With the exception of this casual puncture I maintain the
_post-mortem_ was skilfully performed.”—_Letter to Lord
Campbell._ Appendix, p. xxiv.

[49] The extract from Orfila is: “In a dog who for four entire
months had taken no emetic, having taken three grammes in ten
days (that is, about forty-five grains), but had not taken any
for four months, the metal was found accumulated in the bones;
the liver also contained a great deal, and the other tissues
but little.”

[50] The letter referred mainly to the case of the prisoner’s
wife. Mr. Serjeant Shee wished only the concluding paragraph to
he read, but the Attorney-General insisted on the whole. It was
dated only Jan., published in the _Lancet_ of February 2, was
headed “_Audi alteram partem_,” and was as follows:—

“SIR,—I have great pleasure in replying to the inquiries
in your leading article of January 19. (1) I stated that I
had never known antimonial powder, when given in medicinal
doses (_i.e._, from five to eight grains a dose) to produce
vomiting or purging. I am aware that experience differs on
this point—that some have found the substance inert, and
others very active. From some recent experiments on antimonial
preparations, I think it not unlikely that the powder sometimes
contains arseniate of lime. Dr. Pereira mentions that in
the case of a dose of half a teaspoonful it on one occasion
produced violent vomiting, purging, and sweating; while in
still larger doses (120 grains to a dose), prescribed by Dr.
Elliotson, it occasioned in some instances only nausea. I
have never met with any case in which serious symptoms could
be referred to its operation; and in the case of Ann Palmer
(the wife) this medical preparation would not account for the
antimony found in her body. (2) My statement as to the cause
of death was that the deceased died from the effects of tartar
emetic, and from no other cause; that is the opinion which Dr.
Rees and myself formed from the result of our examination, and
from the description under which the deceased laboured during
the eight days before her death. It is an opinion now equally
shared by the two medical attendants of the deceased. We are
quite prepared to maintain this at the trial.” The letter then
went on to describe the state of Ann Palmer’s body, though not
exhumed until eighteen months after death, and contrasted it
with that of the brother, and concluded with the passage given
in the text. Its effect could not be but prejudicial to the
prisoner.

[51] In this case, stated by Dr. Christison, the patient had
been affected with some complaint for four weeks, and began to
take strychnia; in three hours there was stupor and loss of
speech, and at length violent tetanic convulsions, and death in
three hours and three-quarters.

[52] Probably a mistake of the reporter, as I cannot find any
clue to the meaning of this word.—C. G. S.

[53] An instance of the indestructibility of strychnia was
communicated by Mr. F. Crace Calvert, F.C.S., to the London
journals subsequently to the trial. In 1849 several hounds
of a pack in Cheshire were poisoned and one brought to his
laboratory, from which, by the usual process, strychnia
was obtained. “As the master of the hounds attached great
importance to the case, he requested me,” writes Mr. Calvert,
“to obtain a sufficient amount of poison from the stomachs of
some other of the dead dogs, that I might not only be convinced
of the presence of the poison, but might also bring some of
the extracted strychnia into court. To enable me to do so,
several dogs were disinterred and brought to my laboratory,
and the space of time from the date of death to that when I
submitted them to analysis was at least three weeks, and I
still perfectly succeeded in extracting strychnia from their
stomachs and exhibiting it in the state of crystallised
hydrochlorate.”—_Appendix to Letter to Lord Campbell_, p.
xxix. Another correspondent to the _Times_ called attention to
the practice in Mexico of killing a worn-out mule with _nux
vomica_, leaving its carcase to be eaten by the wolves, which
are thus killed, and that the Turkey buzzards who feed on the
dead wolves also die of the poison.—_Ib._ p. xxv.

[54] See Chapter V.

[55] An error. See Chapter V.

[56] The table of cases of poisoning by strychnia, with their
symptoms and results of the _post-mortem_, given by Mr. Woodman
and Dr. Tidy, shows that the state of the heart varies. In
six cases it was contracted and empty, in some others the
right side only was empty, and in one both sides were filled
with blood.—_Handy Book of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology._
London. 1877.

[57] In a letter to the _Times_ of June 4, Mr. Herapath says:
“I learnt on my return here (Bristol) that Mr. Yates had
visited Bristol with an anonymous letter in his hand (since
acknowledged to have been written by the magistrates’ clerk,
Keynsham), and questioned several gentlemen whom I am in the
habit of meeting, as to whether they heard me say ‘that I had
no doubt strychnia was in Cook’s body, but that Dr. Taylor
could not find it,’ and ‘that a word from me would hang the
man.’ They all said they had heard me speak of the case, but
not in such terms. The mayor said that ‘he could not say
the exact terms, but the impression on his mind was, that I
thought strychnia was there, but that Dr. Taylor could not find
it.’”—_Letter to Lord Campbell_, Appendix, p. xxxi.

[58] “The controversy,” as to the non-discovery of strychnia
by Dr. Taylor, says Mr. Justice Stephen, “was foreign to the
merits of the case, inasmuch as the evidence given for the
prisoner tended to prove, not that there was no strychnia in
Cook’s body, but that Dr. Taylor ought to have found it if it
was there. In other words it was relevant, not so much to the
guilt or innocence of the prisoner, as to whether Mr. Herapath
and Dr. Nunneley were better analytical chemists than Dr.
Taylor. The evidence could not be even considered relevant to
the shaking of Dr. Taylor’s credit, for no part of the case
rested on his evidence except the discovery of the antimony,
as to which he was corroborated by Mr. Brande, and not
contradicted by the prisoner’s witnesses.” (One does not see
how this could have been accomplished, as they were not present
at the analysis.) “His opinion as to the nature of Cook’s
symptoms was shared by many other medical witnesses of the
highest eminence, whose credit was altogether unimpeached. The
prisoner’s counsel was placed in a curious difficulty by this
state of the question. They had to attack, and did attack Dr.
Taylor’s credit vigorously, for the purpose of rebutting his
conclusion that Cook might have been poisoned by strychnia: yet
they had to maintain his credit as a skilful analyst. For if
they destroyed it, the fact that he did not discover strychnia
went for nothing. This dilemma was fatal. To admit his skill
was to admit their client’s guilt; to deny it, was to destroy
the value of nearly all their own evidence. The only possible
way was to admit his skill and deny his good faith; but this
too was useless for the reason just assigned.”—_History of
Criminal Law in England._ Vol. III., 418.

[59] Roberts, Theory and Practice of Medicine, 1877, Vol. II.,
23, gives the following symptoms of angina pectoris:—“Abrupt
suddenness—intense præcordial pain—oppression and constriction
of the chest—suffocation, no cyanosis—tenderness of chest
rare—face pale, sweat—expression of intense anxiety—pulse
mostly feeble, flickering occasionally—vomiting and eructation.
Conscious at first, but, if prolonged, may be syncope.
Spasmodic movements, and even general convulsions may be
observed. Usually several brief paroxysms with intermissions.
Tendency to rave under slight exciting causes.” Dr. Bristow,
Theory and Practice of Medicine, agrees with this, and adds,
“After death various lesions—most important _the calcification
of the coronary vessels_—fatty and other degenerations of
the muscular tissue of the heart. In other cases the heart
perfectly healthy.”

[60] In the _Appendix_, p. xxi., to the _letter to Lord
Campbell_, is a letter from a Mr. Lacy, a hatter of Nottingham,
dated June 2, to the _Morning News_, giving a very unfavourable
account of the earlier years of this witness. He appears to
have got out of the way after the trial, and to have evaded the
search made for him by the prisoner’s friends.

[61] In _cross-examination_, after admitting that he attested
the proposal to the _Prince of Wales_ office for £13,000 on
Walter Palmer’s life, and saying that he did not recollect
attesting another proposal on the same life to the _Universal_,
the proposal to that office was put into his hand, and he was
asked if the “Jeremiah Smith” attesting it was his signature.
“It is very like my signature,” he said, “but I have a doubt
of it.” (After a pause) “I believe it is not my handwriting; I
swear it is not. I think it a very good imitation. I did not
receive the document from Pratt; I might from W. Palmer. I
don’t recollect.” (After some hesitation) “No doubt he did give
it to me. I got it before it was signed.”

_Attorney-General._—“Do you now say it is not your signature?”

_Witness._—“I do.” (He then admitted getting appointed agent to
the Midland County office in order to get a policy for £10,000
on Bate’s life.)

_Attorney-General._—“I will refresh your memory with regard to
these proposals. Look at that, and tell me whether it is your
handwriting?”

_Witness._—“Yes.”

_Attorney-General._—“Now, refreshing your memory with that
document, were you applied to in December, 1854, to attest a
proposal of Walter Palmer to the _Solicitors’ and General_
office for £13,000?”

_Witness._—“That is my signature, certainly.”

_Attorney-General_ repeats the question.

_Witness._—“I don’t recollect.”

_Attorney-General._—“What, with your signature staring you in
the face?”

_Witness._—“I might have been a witness to it. I am speaking
from memory.”

_Attorney-General._—“Have you any doubt, after looking at that
document?”

_Witness._—“I have no doubt.”

_Attorney-General._—“At last we have got at it from you. Now
look to that document, and see if another month afterwards—in
January, 1855—you were asked to attest another proposal for
£13,000 to the _Prince of Wales_ office?”

_Witness_ (hesitating).—“That is my signature. (A pause.)
Perhaps if I saw the paper I could answer.”

_Attorney-General._—“There is the paper.”

_Witness_ (after a pause).—“I might have signed it in blank. I
have some doubt whether I did not sign some of these in blank.
The body of the papers is in the handwriting of William Palmer.”

_Attorney-General._—“Upon your oath, don’t you believe that
William Palmer applied to you to attest the proposal on his
brother’s life for £13,000?”

_Witness._—“He did apply to me.”

_Attorney-General._—“Was it not to attest the proposal for
£13,000 on his brother’s life?” _Witness._—“One of them was for
£13,000. I don’t think I was present when Walter Palmer signed
the assignment. I believe Jeremiah Smith’s (another witness of
that name) handwriting is very like mine.”

After much fencing with the question, the witness saying he
might or he might not have attested Walter Palmer’s signature
to a deed of assignment, the _Attorney-General_ put a cheque
for £5 into the witness’s hand, and asked him if it was William
Palmer’s signature to it.

_Answer._—“It is.”

_Question._—“Did you take that piece of paper to the bank and
get £5 for it, and that for attesting the signature of Walter
Palmer to the deed of assignment?”

_Answer._—“I may have got the £5 at the bank; but upon my
honour I do not know what for. (Laughter.) Cook, with reference
to the £200 bill, gave Palmer £10 for the accommodation, and he
took the money to Shrewsbury races. I cannot say who saw me on
the Monday night when I went up to Cook’s room at the ‘Talbot
Arms.’ I did not notice. I believe that either the chambermaid,
the waitress, or the cook saw me go into the hotel. I don’t
know who drove the fly to Stafford.”

This witness was also severely cross-examined as to his
relations with Mrs. Palmer, replying with the same caution as
to their impropriety, and could not get further than “that
there ought not to be any truth” in the imputation.

Mr. Justice Stephen, who was present at the trial, gives the
following graphic sketch of the demeanour of this witness:—“No
abbreviation can give the effect of this cross-examination. The
witness’s efforts to gain time, and his distress as the various
answers were extorted from him by degrees, may be faintly
traced in the report. His face was covered with sweat, and the
papers put into his hands shook and rattled.”—_Hist. Criminal
Law of England._ Vol. III., p. 399, note. “And yet, after
all,” as the learned judge adds, “he was right as to the time
according to the inspector at Euston. If Smith spoke the truth,
Newton could not have seen Palmer at all that night, and Mills,
if at all, must have seen him in Smith’s company. Mills never
mentioned Smith” (and was never asked by the defence if he came
with Palmer), “and Smith would not swear that she or anyone
else had seen him at the ‘Talbot’ that night.”

[62] Smith (not Jeremiah, subsequently examined, pp. 185-6),
when called for the defence, said that he sent the soup to Cook
by Rowley, but not to Palmer’s on the way.

[63] Palmer’s brother, in the letter to Lord Campbell, states
that Sanders, the trainer, if called (who had been examined
before the coroner), could have proved that Cook excused his
not giving him more than £10 when he came to see him, on the
plea “_that he had given all his money to Palmer to take with
him to London to settle his affairs_,” and that he was in
court at the trial, and when not called by the prosecution,
was sent out of the way to prevent his being called for the
defence.—_Letter to Lord Campbell_, pp. 18, 19.

He was called on his subpœna at the close of the evidence
for the defence (tenth day), and when he did not answer, the
Attorney-General said, “I should be deeply grieved if it could
be possibly thought that the absence of any witness could in
any way prejudice the prisoner’s case, and if my learned friend
makes any application on that ground it shall not be resisted
by me.” _No application was made._

[64] It was an acknowledgment that certain bills, of which the
dates and amounts were set out, were all for Cook’s benefit,
and signed either J.P. or I.P. Cook. Cheshire was under
Palmer’s influence, and a few days after opened Dr. Taylor’s
letter to Mr. Gardner with the account of the results of the
analytical examination, and disclosed them to Palmer, for which
he was prosecuted and punished.

[65] Whilst Palmer was in Stafford jail, inquests were held on
the bodies of his wife and his brother Walter. In the first
case there was no manner of doubt that she had been gradually
dosed to death by antimony. In that of the brother, the
analysis failed to detect any poison, a fact probably accounted
for by the length of time that had elapsed since the death and
the action of the lead coffin, if prussic acid was the poison
used. In both cases, however, verdicts of wilful murder against
Palmer were returned. On the 21st of January Palmer was brought
up from jail as a witness in an action on one of the £2000
bills purported to be signed by his mother, the signature of
which was denied by her; clerks in banks and others who knew
her handwriting well also agreeing that it was a forgery. At
last Palmer was produced in custody. He entered in a perfectly
cool and collected manner, nodded familiarly to his friends in
the crowded court, and gave the following evidence in a low,
yet firm and distinct voice, without a sign of trepidation:—

_Mr. Edwin James_ (putting the disputed bill into his
hand).—“Is the signature of William Palmer, as drawer of this
bill, in your handwriting?”

_Palmer._—“Yes.”

_Mr. James._—“And did you apply to Mr. Padwick to advance you
money on it?”

_Palmer._—“I did.”

_Mr. James._—“Who wrote Sarah Palmer’s acceptance on it?”

_Palmer._—“Anne Palmer.”

_Question._—“Who is she?”

_Palmer._—“She is dead.”

_Question_.—“Do you mean your wife?”

_Palmer._—“Yes.”

_Question._—“Did you see her write it?”

_Palmer._—“Yes.”

The action was, of course, at once abandoned, and no further
proceedings taken on the other bills bearing the mother’s name.

[66] See Lord Campbell’s correction of this.—_Judge’s charge,
post._

[67] _Ante_, pp. 185 and 186, note.

[68] See the suggestion of Dr. Guy, that the death was probably
due to morphia, and the remarks thereon in Chapter V., _post_.

[69] On this point, which was also put very strongly by Lord
Campbell in his charge, the prisoner’s brother, in his letter
to that judge, accuses the prosecution of cunningly keeping
back a witness of the name of Cockayne, who had been examined
before the coroner and whose deposition was before the Court,
who would have explained the use for which the strychnia was
bought. “Had he been, as he ought to have been called, he
would have proved that he kept a gun loaded in the stable, by
order of my brother, to shoot the dogs that worried his brood
mares, and that he also threatened to poison them, and that
the strychnia was purchased for that object, and that he had
missed dogs since then, which had been in the habit of prowling
about the pastures and hunting the mares.” He also accounts
for the non-production of poisoned dogs, by the “medical fact
that they go away to die in secret, concealed and quiet places,
where they die undiscovered, and would be mortally attacked in
so short a time that they could not get to their own home.” He
further accuses them of sending this witness, and Sanders the
trainer, who would have proved that Cook told him he had given
Palmer all his money, out of the way, so that the prisoner’s
solicitor could not call them for the defence.—_Letter to Lord
Campbell_, pp. 17, 19. But see _ante_, p. 188, note.

[70] See _ante_, p. 216, note, on the evidence of a witness,
Cockayne, who was called before the coroner.

[71] The prisoner’s brother, on the contrary, says that he
distinctly, in a most solemn interview, declared his “perfect
guiltlessness of blood.” The same writer unfortunately lessens
the value of his other statements by a coarse attack on Lord
Campbell as a worthy successor of Jeffries, and imputes to him
and Baron Alderson a deliberate intention to force the jury
to a conviction. As I had not the advantage of being present
at the trial, I can only say nothing of this appears in any
of the reports of the trial which I have collated, and whilst
on the contrary we now have the evidence of an experienced
criminal lawyer, who saw and heard all. Still, however, remains
the great difficulty that strychnia, as every analytical
chemist will testify, ought to have been found, if it had been
given, though the failure to discover it does not conclusively
negative the probability of it having been administered. Dr.
Guy has suggested that morphia might have been the cause,
introduced into the pills, a point of which would seem to be
made in Serjeant Shee’s speech, and which would account for
Palmer’s statement that Cook was not killed by strychnia, and
with his wish for a further examination of the body by Mr.
Herapath.—_Hist. of Crim. Law of England._ Vol. III., pp.
423-4. See on this point Chapter V.

[72] For the report of this trial I have relied on the
apparently verbatim report in the _Times_ (probably from the
pen of the late Mr. Campbell Forster), collated with that
in the Annual Register of 1856, and with the Summary by Mr.
Justice Stephen based on the notes of the presiding judge.

[73] Mrs. Mary Wood. Mr. Overend objected to this witness being
asked as to her opinion of Dove’s state of mind, on the ground
that she was not a skilled witness. The objection was allowed
by Mr. Baron Bramwell, but on the suggestion of the judge, not
persevered in by the prosecution.

[74] Charles Harrison.

[75] These strong expressions were not supported by any
specific proof worth reporting. Mr. H. admitted he used to flog
him, but added, “I flogged him till I was satisfied there was
a want of reason, but not after.” He admitted that he flogged
him slightly (perhaps a stroke or two) the day before he
left.—_Stephens’ Summary_. Vol. III., p. 430.

[76] He used to point loaded fire-arms at his servants, and
threaten to shoot unoffending persons: tell strange stories of
being followed by robbers: wander about his fields without an
object.

[77] Evidence of his nurse, Mrs. Wood, Mr. Highley, Mr. C.
Harrison, Mr. Lord, and the servants at Whitwell Farm (James
Shaw, Mary Peek, Robert and William Tomlinson, Emma Spence,
and Emma and Fanny Wilson) called for the defence, and
cross-examination of Elizabeth Fisher, who had been his servant
at Normanton and Leeds, Mrs. Thornhill, charwoman, generally
employed at the house at Leeds, and Mary Hicks.

[78] In his second confession he fixes the date of this as
Sunday, February 24, and that he took then about ten grains.

[79] On the Monday he wrote the following letter to his
mother:—“My dear Mother,—I am sorry to tell you that my wife
is very ill indeed. She came down as I thought this morning
much better, took a nice breakfast for her, and then she
commenced to play (the piano). After that she told Mrs. Fisher
(who is with us) that she would help her to make the beds,
but instead of that she was seized in her limbs and could not
stand, neither could she take anything. I went to Mr. Morley,
and I am sure I did not expect to see her alive when I came
back; but thank God she was alive, and that was all; she was
entirely prostrated. Mother has been to see her. If you would
like to see her you had better come by London for three and
sixpence. Harriet would like to see her, but she thinks of the
expense. My dear wife’s love to you and all at home, and accept
the same from your affectionate son, WILLIAM DOVE. P.S.—I hope
Mary will not make fun of this small bit of paper; it would
be over-heavy if I had not torn it off.” [This was one of
the letters referred to by Baron Bramwell as disproof of his
imputed idiotcy.]

[80] This witness and Mr. Morley, the surgeon, were called in
Palmer’s trial to state the symptoms observed in the course of
Mrs. Dove’s illness and death, without mentioning her name,
and Mr. Morley also related the results of the analytical
examination of her body in conjunction with Mr. Nunneley, who
was called on behalf of Palmer, and maintained that if it had
been given, strychnia must have been found by analysis six days
after death (pp. 124-8).

[81] “He told me,” said Harrison, “that he was afflicted
by devils, but that I had more power over them, and could
send them to frighten his wife from her bed to sleep with
him—believed they were in his house, and attributed thunder
and lightning to them. I attributed this to _delirium
tremens_. Told me he had sold his soul to the devil. I did
not encourage him to think I could rule devils; it was his
own fancy. I told him I would cast his nativity, but when I
saw the state of his mind I did not finish it.”—_Harrison’s
evidence—cross-examination._ But see Dove’s account of Harrison
in his confession, _post_.

[82] In this case Baron Alderson also decided that if the
witnesses were called by the defence, the person calling them
made them his own witnesses, 2 C. & K. p. 520. Baron Parke,
Justice Cresswell, and Lord Campbell agreed with this. See _R._
v. _Cassidy_, F. &. F. p. 79.

[83] To the schoolmaster at Abeford—conjuring tricks!

[84] Should not this be “at _some_ times.”

[85] “That would be _moral_ insanity.”—_Judge’s Notes—Stephen._

[86] I cannot find in the reports to what particular act this
question refers.

[87] “The suggestion of Dr. Williams,” says Judge Stephen,
“that Dove had allowed his mind to dwell on his wife’s death
till at last he became the victim of an uncontrollable
propensity to kill her, if correct, would not prove that his
act was not voluntary. It is setting and keeping the mind in
motion towards an object plainly conceived that constitutes the
mental part of an act. Every act becomes irrevocable before it
is consummated. If a man, for example, strikes another, he may
repent while his arm is falling; but there is a point at which
he can no more deprive his arm of the impetus with which he has
animated it, than he can divert from its course a bullet which
has been fired from a rifle. Suppose he deals with his mind in
this manner at an earlier stage of the proceeding, and so fills
himself with a passionate, intense longing for the forbidden
object or result, that he becomes, as it were, a mere machine
in his own hands. Is not the case precisely similar, and does
not the action continue to be voluntary and wilful, although
the act of volition which made it irrevocable preceded its
completion by a longer interval than usual?

“It must, however, be remembered, that the proof that
Dove’s propensity was uncontrollable was very defective. An
uncontrollable propensity, which accidental difficulties or the
fear of detection constantly control and divert for a time, is
an inconceivable state of mind. Is there the smallest reason
to suppose that, if Mrs. Dove had met with a fatal accident,
and had been lying in bed dying before her husband gave her
any poison, his uncontrollable propensity to kill her would
have induced him to give her poison nevertheless? If not, the
propensity was like any other wicked feeling. It was certainly
uncontrolled, and it may probably have been strong, but that is
different to uncontrollable.”—_History of the Criminal Law of
England_, by Mr. Justice Stephen. Vol. III., p. 435-6.

[88] Baron Bramwell especially called attention to the letter
of the prisoner to his mother of the 25th of February,
describing his wife’s first attack (see _ante_, note p. 237),
and that to the Witchman, Harrison, asking him, in replying
about his nativity, to “write in milk, or lemon, or anything
else that would not show till put to the fire.”

[89] This was proved at the trial by the Fishers.

[90] Mr. Morley’s pupil had shown it to him; proved at the
trial.

[91] That would be February the 23rd, when Fisher’s mother come
to Dove’s to take her daughter’s place, and the first attack
was when Mrs. Dove fell whilst helping to make the beds on
the following Monday. Throughout his statement Dove is very
confused as to dates. The tasting by Mrs. Witham was several
days after this.

[92] Mrs. Witham states (see her evidence) that she gave her
medicine at 3.30 P.M., and she seemed better for it.

[93] In his comments on this extraordinary case, Mr. Justice
Stephen—after noting Dove’s predisposition to madness in his
infancy; the fact that the symptoms of the disease exhibited
themselves at frequent intervals, yet never reached such a
pitch as to induce his friends to treat him as a madman; the
prurience with which he dwelt on the prospect of his wife’s
death; the forming of the design of putting her to death, and
the deliberate contrivance and precaution with which he carried
it out—says:—“In this state of things can he be said to have
known, in the wider sense of the words, that his act was wrong?
He obviously knew that it was wrong in the sense that people
generally consider it so; but was he capable of thinking,
like an ordinary man, of the reasons why murder is wrong, and
of applying these reasons to his conduct? There was evidence
both ways. His irrationality, however, was occasional, and he
appears to have acted rationally enough as a rule, and to have
transacted all the common affairs of life. Did, then, this act
belong to the rational or irrational part of his conduct? Every
circumstance connected with it referred it to the former. It
was a continued series of deliberate and repeated attempts,
fully completed at last.”—_History of the Criminal Law._ Vol.
III., pp. 435-6.

[94] This is probably an error of the reporter—rigid(?)

[95] The pills were produced at the inquest, and seen there by
Dr. Lees, but not submitted for analysis, either to him or Dr.
Bernays.

[96] In this the presence of strychnia was very distinct.

[97] The important evidence of this witness is given very
briefly on the report of the trial. From the notes of the
analyses made at the time in the laboratory I have been enabled
to give it in greater detail.

[98] Morphia gives with nitric acid a deep orange unchanged by
stannous chloride.

[99] See also case of Agnes Sennett, p. 121.

[100] A striking case of cure by chloroform is given in the
_London Med. Gazette_ for 1850, p. 187, quoted from the _Boston
Med. Journal_, July, 1850.

[101] Palmer administered to Cook so few pills, that unless
these consisted of solid morphia, which is impossible, they
could not much affect the above conclusion.

[102] The words “causing to be administered” were struck out on
the objection of Mr. Young that “they were not covered by the
major part of the indictment, and not material in any way.”

[103] This was distinctly denied by Miss Giubilei, who had been
a pupil teacher at the school.

[104] Mr. Minnoch, on the contrary, said, “She accepted me on
the 28th of January, and then she and I arranged it on the 12th
of March. From the 28th of January to the end of March there
was nothing to suggest to my mind a doubt as to the engagement
continuing. I had no idea she was engaged to any other. _When
the marriage was fixed in March it was to take place on the
18th of June._”

[105] “But surely,” said the Lord Justice Clerk, “had such been
the case, she would never have wished to be ‘clasped to the
heart,’ as she expresses it in her letter, of a man whom she
had to inform that she was engaged to another, and that all
relations must be broken off between them.”

[106] On this latter matter and the identification of the
envelopes for the respective letters much time was occupied.
In his charge the Lord Justice Clark said, that “though the
procedure adopted had been loose and slovenly, it did not
appear that the panel had suffered any prejudice from the
want of any of them. As to each letter being in its proper
envelope, in the first part of the correspondence, it did not
much signify whether such were the case; because there was no
doubt that those passionate letters written by the prisoner,
declaring such strong love for L’Angelier, and some of them
expressed in very licentious terms, were written by her at some
time or other.”

[107] “Arsenious oil applied to scalp to cure vermin caused
death on 10th day.”—Taylor, I., 254. “A solution to cure
itch caused death in two years.” _Cours de Med._, Leq.,
p. 121. “Arsenious acid and gum to the head, caused death
in 36 hours.”—_American Journal of Med. Science_, July,
1851. “When used as a face powder it caused poisoning
symptoms.”—Christison, p. 329. “Arsenical soap applied to
scrotum and axillæ produced violent pains in stomach, vomiting,
purging, but patient recovered in fourteen days.”—_Med. Times
and Gazette_, December 10, 1853. And see other similar cases in
list in “Woodman and Tidy.”

[108] See Chapter VII.

[109] Referring to the evidence of Dr. Penny, the Dean, in his
speech for the defence, said: “Here comes again another point
on which the evidence for the Crown is very defective, to say
the least of it. They knew very well when they were examining
the contents of this poor man’s stomach, and his intestines
generally, what was the arsenic that the prisoner had bought.
They knew from her own candid statement that she bought it
partly at _Murdoch’s_ and partly at _Currie’s_. If that arsenic
had been swallowed by the deceased, the colouring-matter could
have been detected in the stomach—there was one means of
connecting the prisoner with this poison which was found in
L’Angelier’s stomach, and a very obvious means. It may be very
well for Professor Penny and Dr. Christison to say now that
their attention was not directed to this matter. Whose fault
was this?—the whole thing was in the hand of the authorities.
They kept it to themselves—they dealt with it exclusively—and
they present this lame and impotent conclusion.”

[110] 14 Vict. c. 13, sec. 3: “Before the sale, the arsenic
shall be mixed with soot or indigo in the proportion of one
ounce of soot or half an ounce of indigo, at least, to one
pound of arsenic, except in cases where, according to the
representation of the purchaser, such mixture would render it
unfit for his purpose, when it may be sold in quantities of not
less than ten pounds.”

[111] In the _Edinburgh Monthly Journal_ of Dec., 1857,
Professor Christison gives the details of a case—not of
suicide—in which 90 to 100 grains were found, and the party
lived seven hours. In the case of _R._ v. _Dodds_, Lincoln
Assizes, December, 1860, 150 grains were found; in that of
_R._ v. _Hewitt_, or _Holt_, Chester Winter Assizes, 1863,
154 grains were found eleven weeks after death. Professor
Christison’s letter will be found in Appendix B., p. 358.

[112] In _Woodman and Tidy_ the following Table, showing the
solubility of arsenic, is given:—

┌────────────────────────────────┬───────────┬───────────┬───────────┐
│ │Transparent│ Opaque │Crystalline│
│ │ Form. │ Form. │ Acid. │
├────────────────────────────────┼───────────┼───────────┼───────────┤
│(1) 1,000 grains of distilled │ │ │ │
│ cold water, after standing │ 1·74 gr. │ 1·16 gr. │ 2·0 gr. │
│ 24 hours─dissolved │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
│(2) 1,000 grains of boiling │ │ │ │
│ water, poured on the acid, │ 10·12 gr. │ 5·4 gr. │ 15·0 gr. │
│ and allowedto stand─24 │ │ │ │
│ hours─dissolved │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │
│(3) 1,000 grains of water, │ │ │ │
│ boiled for one hour, the │ │ │ │
│ quantity being kept uniform │ │ │ │
│ by the addition of boiling │ 64·5 gr. │ 76·5 gr. │ 87·0 gr. │
│ water from time to time, │ │ │ │
│ and filtered │ │ │ │
│ immediately─dissolved │ │ │ │
└────────────────────────────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────┘

[113] As proof that L’Angelier’s first illness could not have
been on the night of the 19th and morning of the 20th, the
Dean referred to the fact that “on the 21st he ordered of his
butcher the largest piece of beef to be found in his pass-book
(7lbs.), and had fresh herrings in such a quantity as to alarm
his landlady, and a still more alarming quantity and variety
of vegetables.” “There’s a dinner for a sick person!” He also
said, “I give my learned friend the option of being impaled
on one of the horns of the dilemma—I care not which. He was
ill from arsenical poisoning on the morning of the 20th, or he
was not. If he was, he received arsenic from other hands than
the prisoner’s. If he was not, the foundation of the case was
shaken.”

[114] “What is the evidence of Mrs. Jenkins on this point?
She says he was in his usual condition on the 21st, when he
made that celebrated dinner, and she thought he was making
himself ill, and on that 21st he told her he should not leave
the house all the following day—the Sunday. He had, therefore,
I maintain, no appointment to keep, else he would never have
made that statement. On the 22nd Mrs. Jenkins says she had no
recollection of his going out. When he did go out at night, and
came in late, what was his habit? Mrs. Jenkins says he never
got into the house on those occasions except in one of two
ways—either he asked her for a check key, and got one, or Thuau
opened the door for him. He did not ask for a key that night,
and Thuau says he certainly did not let him in.”—_Speech of the
Dean of Faculty for the defence._

[115] To the evidence for these statements, the Dean of Faculty
objected that, though the guard of the train from Stirling
was shown the photograph of L’Angelier, and identified him
by it, the photo. was not shown to Ross—that Ross only spoke
of him as a foreigner—that no one at the place where he had
refreshments at Coatbridge was called to identify him—that the
“foreigner” told Ross he had walked from Alloa (eight miles),
and not from the Bridge of Allan, and that on the Friday or
Saturday previous he had walked into Stirling to try and get
a cheque cashed, and yet no attempt was made to show that he
did so. The witnesses for the defence, on the contrary (Adams,
Kirk, Dickson, druggists), were clear (Adams) that at half-past
five on Sunday, the 22nd, a gentleman came to his shop for
25 drops of laudanum; Dickson, of Batherton, two miles from
Coatbridge, that one whom he recognised as extremely like the
photo. of L’Angelier came for a similar dose at 6.30 on a
Sunday at the end of March, suffering from a bowel complaint;
and Miss Kirk, of the Gallowgate, Glasgow, who remembered a
gentleman, “as like as anything I ever saw” to the photo. of
L’Angelier, came about 8 P.M. on a Sunday night at the end of
March for a medicine, and got a white powder. [But it must
be remarked that, weak as this evidence was, it was weakened
by the admission of Adams that his customer did not complain
of illness—by that of Dickson that it might have been in
April, and by the inability of Miss Kirk to fix any date for
the occurrence, or to state what the powder was, though she
identified the purse from which the party took the money for
the payment of it.]

[116] On the question whether this letter brought L’Angelier
to Glasgow, the Dean referred to an expression in one of his
letters to Thuau, that he did not know what “Mr. Mitchell
could want with him,” and inferred that it might be to hear
about this person that he hurried up to Glasgow and called on
M’Alister, who probably might have given some information on
this point had he been called. [If so, why was he not called
for the defence?]

[117] “I have already shown,” said the Dean, “how constantly
she repeated to him her warning that on no account he was
to make the slightest noise of any kind. Therefore, without
previous arrangement, it does not appear to me possible
for these parties to have met on the occasion on which the
prosecutor says they did. If I am right in reading that
letter, she expected him on Saturday evening, and she waited
and waited, as she had upon Thursday, but he did not come. On
the Sunday evening she did not expect him. Why should she?
When he did not come on Thursday evening, when he did not
come on Saturday evening, why should she expect him on the
following evening? Well, then, that is the state in which her
expectations were on that occasion, and her conduct precisely
squares with it. She is at home in the family. They are all at
prayers at nine o’clock. The servants come up to attend prayers
with the family. Mackenzie, the suitor of Haggart, remains
below while the family are at prayers. The servants afterwards
go down stairs to bed, as usual—one after the other. The family
then retire to rest, and the prisoner, with her youngest
sister, goes to her bedroom about half-past ten or eleven. They
both get into bed about the same time; and, so far as human
knowledge can go, that house is undisturbed and unapproached
till the prisoner is lying in the morning side by side with
her sister, as she had fallen asleep. The watchman was on his
beat—he knew L’Angelier well—and he saw nothing.”

[118] Regarding this third charge in the light of
probabilities, the Dean said:—“If you believe the evidence
of the Crown, he suspected the prisoner of having tried to
poison him. But my learned friend says his suspicions were
then lulled—she had become more kind to him before he left
town. I thought my learned friend said he was brooding over
it when in Edinburgh, and spoke of it in a serious tone to
the Towerses. That was on the 16th of March, after which date
he had nothing to change his mind in the shape of kindness
from the prisoner, and therefore if he did once entertain the
suspicion, however unfounded, there was nothing to remove it
from his mind anterior to the 22nd of March. A man, whose
suspicions are excited against a particular person, is not
very likely to take poison at that person’s hand; and yet,
what are we asked to believe that he took from her hand that
night? That he took from her hand a poisoned cup, in which
there lurked such a quantity of arsenic as was sufficient
to leave in his stomach after death 82 grains; such a dose
indicating the administration of at least double—aye, I think
Dr. Christison said the administration of at least half an
ounce (240 grains)—and that he took it that evening from the
hand of the prisoner, with all his previous suspicions that she
was practising on him. It is a dose which, as far as experience
goes, was never successfully administered by a murderer. There
is not a case on record in which it has ever been shown that
a person administering poison to another ever succeeded in
persuading him to swallow such a quantity.” [But note as to
confidence after suspicion, that of Cook in Palmer, after the
suspicious illness at Shrewsbury.—See Palmer’s Case, _ante_;
and as to quantity administered by murderers, note _ante_, p.
319, and Appendix B., p. 358.]

[119] _Christina Haggart_, if she was to be believed, appears
to contradict this assertion. On _re-examination_ she said that
between a month and two before her apprehension Miss Smith
asked her to leave the back gate into the lane open after ten
at night, and stay in the kitchen a little, as she was to see
her friend. When she did so she saw no one in the lane, but as
she went into the kitchen, which was in front of the house, she
met Miss Smith going towards the back door. She heard footsteps
coming through the gate—that she stayed in the kitchen till
she heard Miss Smith go to her own room. She stayed about half
an hour. “_Charlotte Maclean_, the cook, stayed in the kitchen
with me at my request.” In this she was confirmed by Maclean,
but she could not say she heard Miss Smith in the passage,
though she heard her afterwards go to her bedroom. Miss Smith’s
statement to Dr. Meau is true, if the meeting took place only
at the back gate. The Lord Justice Clerk, however, spoke of
this evidence as proving that L’Angelier was in the house in
Blythswood Square.

[120] In a letter with post-mark September 18, 1855, she
alludes to some such threat, “Beloved, you are young, you
ought to desire life.” In another with post-mark October 19,
1855, she writes, “‘Before long,’ you say, ‘I shall rid you
and all the world of my presence.’ God forbid that you should
do this.” “This,” said the Judge, “was a common enough mode of
influencing females; and if such was his design, he seemed to
have succeeded.”

[121] As to the evidence for the defence, that L’Angelier had
on one occasion threatened to throw himself out of the window
at the “Rainbow” Tavern, his lordship observed, “As the witness
was in bed at the time the deceased had ample opportunity to
have thrown himself over, if he had been so inclined, before
the witness could interfere; and the jury would consider
whether, when going about the room in that excited state, he
had only thrown open the window to get air. As to the other
stories that he would drown himself, if jilted, they did not
amount to much, as on one occasion he had been jilted, and
had not drowned himself. You will consider whether all this
is merely the vapouring of a loose, talkative man, fond of
awakening an interest in the minds of others about himself, or
whether it affords any indication that he was likely to commit
suicide. As to the evidence about giving arsenic to horses in
France, which would be useless unless given constantly, he did
not see its importance. If he was in the habit of taking it in
small quantities, he knew its qualities, and therefore this
did not aid the notion that he took an immense quantity on the
22nd to destroy himself. No doubt the prisoner was not bound to
prove that he poisoned himself, but it was a hazardous thing to
set up a defence that L’Angelier went out that night carrying
such a quantity of arsenic in his pocket, and that he swallowed
it, how, when, and where, no human being could conceive.”

[122] “It is very difficult,” said the learned Judge, “to
say what the exasperated feelings of a female placed in such
a situation as this woman was might not lead her to do. And
here it is that the correspondence becomes of the utmost
importance, as shewing what feelings she cherished about
that time, what state and disposition of mind she was in,
and whether there was any trace of moral sense or propriety
to be found in her letters, or whether they did not exhibit
such a degree of ill-regulated, disordered, distempered, and
licentious feelings, as shew that the writer was quite capable
of compassing any end by which she could avoid exposure and
disgrace, and of cherishing any feeling of revenge which such
treatment might excite in her mind, driven nearly to madness
by the thought of what might follow the revelation of this
correspondence. We have heard a good deal said by the Dean
of Faculty as to the character of this person: we have no
evidence on the subject, except what these letters exhibit,
and no witness to character is brought; and certainly these
letters exhibit as extraordinary a frame of mind and of passion
as perhaps ever appeared in a court of justice. Can you be
surprised, that after such letters as those of the 29th April
and 3rd May (inviting him in very plain terms to meet her for
that purpose at the garden gate of the country house), that
on the 6th May, three days afterwards, he got possession of
her person? On the 7th she again writes, and in that letter
is there the slightest appearance of grief, of repentance,
of remorse? It is the letter of a girl rejoicing in what had
passed, and alluding to it particularly in terms which I will
not read, for perhaps they were never previously committed to
paper, as having passed between man and woman. There could be
no doubt of the state of degraded and unholy feeling into which
she had sunk, probably not the less so if it was produced by
his undermining and corruption.”

[123] If this was the use for which the prisoner bought the
arsenic, it is at least curious that she did not buy it until
the 21st of February, 1857, when she was endeavouring to get
her letters back from L’Angelier. The article in _Blackwood_
was in December, 1853. _Johnston’s_ Book was published in 1855,
and of the papers in _Chambers_, the first was in December,
1851, the second in June, 1853, and the third in July, 1856.

[124] Without wishing to fight over again the case of _Eliza
Fenning_, I would refer any one at all curious on this point
to a letter to the _Times_, quoted in the “Annual Register”
for July 29, 1855, from the Rev. J. H. Gurney, the nephew of
the well-known shorthand writer, in which it is stated, on
the authority of an extract from his uncle’s note-book, that
_Eliza Fenning_ did confess the crime to the Rev. James Upton,
a Baptist minister, whose chapel she attended, though she
subsequently maintained her innocence to other visitors.

[125] The learned Judge had previously said, “If this had been
an appointment about business, and it had been shown that a
person came to town for the purpose of seeing another, and he
went out for that purpose, having no other object in coming
to Glasgow, they would probably scout the notion of a person
saying, ‘I never saw or heard of him that day that he came;’
but the inference they were asked to draw was this, that they
met on that night, when the fact of their meeting is the
foundation of the charge of murder. Therefore the jury must
feel that the grounds of drawing an inference in the ordinary
matters of civil business, or the actual appointment of mutual
friends is one thing, and the inference from the fact that he
came to Glasgow, that they did meet, and that, therefore, the
poison was administered to him by her at that time, is another,
and a most enormous jump in the category of inferences.”

[126] Evidence of _Samuel Peckeridge_, his fellow-workman;
_Thomas Denman_, who had seen him near the reservoir on
Stamford Hill, on the 24th, vomiting, and going to the
public-house for brandy; _James Ashby_, another turncock of the
East London Company’s; _Mrs. Gillett_, and _Mr. Toulmin_, of
Clapton.

[127] On Dr. Letheby’s evidence, see remarks in Chapter VII.,
p. 395.

[128] _A. Andrews_ also proved that she had only objected to
the _post-mortem_ because she knew the deceased objected to
it; that she said “Thank God, I am innocent. Poor dear soul, I
loved him too well to injure him;” and had told him that Annie
had eaten the rest of the gruel, and that Mrs. Gillett knew it.

[129] _James Urry_, the secretary of the benefit society,
proved that the deceased had been insured in it nearly two
years—these would not have been completed until February 2nd,
and that, in consequence, she would be entitled to only £7 10s.
instead of £10. When he saw the prisoner she seemed absorbed in
grief.

[130] See on this the remarks in Chapter VII. p. 395.

[131] Tidy (Handbook of Modern Chem., 1878, p. 397) states that
1,000 parts of boiling water, digested for twenty-four hours
with the powder, dissolve—of the opaque form, 5·4 parts; of the
transparent, 10; of the crystalline, 15.

[132] In this case, which was tried before the late Lord
Denman, at the Summer Assizes, 1848, very many of the guests
at a dinner given to celebrate the election of an Independent
minister were seriously affected, and the death of the chairman
(an invalid) hastened, by eating of a blancmange made in the
form of a cucumber, surrounded with leaves—all of the natural
green colour. In colouring this sweet, emerald green, in which,
on analysis, 47½ per cent. of arsenite of copper was found,
had been used to such an extent that the colour was in some
parts half an inch in depth. The pastrycook (Franklin) had
been previously warned, by the chemist who sold it to him, of
its poisonous qualities, and for a time had discontinued its
use for eatables; and the defence was, that in this case his
apprentice (Randall) had used it under the impression that the
sweet was only for ornament. They were both found guilty of
manslaughter, and sentenced to three months’ imprisonment with
hard labour.

[133] According to the _Apotheker Zeitung_, No. 14, April
3, 1879, out of 118 samples of children’s toys officially
examined in 1878, 53, or nearly one-half, were found adorned
with poisonous colours. In the cases of 46 the vendors were
punished. As to dresses, see Chem. News, v. 114.

[134] In the case of _Maria Gage_, tried at the Summer Assizes,
at Ipswich, on the 2nd of August, 1851, for the murder of her
husband, it was proved that she had got a neighbour to purchase
for her a pennyworth of stuff for rats and mice, which was
found to consist of linseed with arsenic enough to kill half a
dozen men.

[135] “Considerable sensation has been excited by the report
that arsenic had been detected in the paper collars, &c.,
manufactured by a Leipzig firm. On a careful examination,
conducted by six of the most eminent chemists, the accusation
was proved to be utterly unfounded.”—_Chemiker Zeitung_, No.
45, 1879.

[136] In this case, which was tried in April, 1835, before
Sir Charles Wetherell, as Recorder of Bristol, a widow lady
of the name of Mary Smith, who had lodged with the prisoner,
was poisoned by her, in October, 1833, for the sake of the
money and other property she had with her. The accused was
proved to have purchased yellow arsenic about six days before
Mrs. Smith’s death, and to have been seen putting some yellow
powder out of a paper from her pocket into a basin of gruel,
after taking which Mrs. Smith was seized with dreadful
convulsions, and died. In consequence of suspicions created
by the prisoner’s subsequent conduct and false statements, a
_post-mortem_ was held of the body, exhumed fourteen months
after death. The report of this examination was very striking.
“A thick, yellow coating, like paint, lay on the mucous
membrane of the stomach, particularly over the pyloric third,
but it extended more or less with some small interjections of
unstained membrane to within two or three inches of the great
cul-de-sac.” The accused was convicted and executed.

[137] Phosphates give _nothing_ with sulphuretted hydrogen, and
a _yellow_ with silver nitrate.

[138] “A curious toxicological case is reported from Hamburg.
The body of a man who died in 1867 was taken for examination.
It was thought necessary to determine arsenic, not merely in
the corpse in question, but in the soil of the churchyard at
different distances from the coffin, and also in the body
of another man who had been subsequently buried in the same
grave. This latter body was perfectly free from arsenic,
which, however, was found in the first corpse in ample fatal
quantity (3·6 grains), whilst in the lid of the coffin and in
the adjacent ground very minute quantities were traced. Hence
the conclusion was fairly drawn that the man in question had
been poisoned with arsenic, and that a portion of the poison
had been gradually transferred from his body to the wood of
the coffin and the adjacent soil.”—_Chemiker Zeitung_, No. 7,
February 13th, 1879.

[139] See also a case in the _Gaz. Médicale_, 1850.

[140] When we bear in mind how small a space even 200 grains
of arsenic would occupy—not more than that of an ordinary
seidlitz powder—the suggestion of L’Angelier carrying this
means of suicide about him, when keeping the supposed
appointment on the Sunday night, is by no means improbable.
And when his evident tendency to attempt self-destruction,
when irritated or depresssed, is remembered, it is within the
range of probability, that, if either the meeting took place
and ended with a quarrel, or he failed to obtain a meeting,
in the excited state of mind which either circumstance would
have created, he in desperation swallowed the drug very shortly
before he returned to his lodgings, only to die. This is a
far more probable suggestion than that set up by the defence,
that he had been dosing himself with arsenic on the road from
Stirling to Glasgow. The difficulty is that purchases of
arsenic by L’Angelier could not be proved. But, looking to the
careless way in which it was exposed in the shops of some of
the firms with which he had relations (evidence of _Fleming_
and _Townsend_), he might have got it from thence, without its
being known, or he might have purchased it in Edinburgh on
his visit there, where he could not be easily recognised. He
certainly had an unwholesome hankering after this drug.—G. L. B.

[141] To the medical profession, for whose use, as well as for
that of their legal brethren, this volume is intended, any but
a detailed report of the medical evidence in this disputed case
would be useless.

[142] For the report of this trial I have relied on that
published in Edinburgh by William Kay, 1865.

[143] Evidence of _James Struthers_. Registrar of Deaths for
the Blythswood district of Glasgow.

[144] According to _Mary Patterson_, Mrs. Taylor was in the
kitchen about 7 P.M., as well as usual, only appearing a little
peevish in consequence of her night-watching. _Mary McLeod_
met her going up stairs from the consulting-room about nine
o’clock, and in a short time her bell rang, and she found her
in her daughter’s bedroom asking for hot water to make her
vomit, when she desired her to go for the doctor.

[145] See evidence, _ante_, p. 414 (note), of _McLeod_ and
_Paterson_, as to her health and actions during the evening
before her seizure.

[146] It was with reference to this visit that _Paterson_
afterwards expressed his opinion, that, but for the accident of
meeting Pritchard, he would not have been asked to visit his
wife. This was severely commented on by Mr. R. Clark as showing
the ill-feeling towards the prisoner which was imputed to the
witness.

[147] It was proved that he kept large quantities of antimony,
poisons, and other drugs in his consulting-room, though no
chlorodyne.—_Evidence of McCall, Dr. Penny, McHattie, Foulger,
and Kerr._

[148] In a letter to his father-in-law on the 3rd of March,
Pritchard wrote: “I am very much fatigued with being up
with dear Mary Jane, who was very much worse yesterday, and
passed a wretched night. Wednesday has been a periodic day
with her during this illness, and she always dreads it. Her
prostration is extreme, and her appetite quite failed. _Dr.
Paterson has recommended Dublin stout and some very simple
medicine._”—_Evidence of Mr. Taylor._ Second day.

[149] On Dr. Paterson’s evident feeling against the prisoner,
the Lord Justice Clerk made the following remarks: “It is
said that he exhibited a strong feeling against the prisoner;
no human being could feel otherwise if he had formed the
impression that Mrs. Pritchard was being poisoned in the hands
of her husband, her medical attendant. It is said that he
exhibited this feeling in a marked unpleasant manner in the
box. That is a matter of manner, and, if the feeling existed,
I do not know that he could have made his evidence really
more valuable if he had concealed the existence of it. It may
be an unpleasant thing to see what is called an _animus_ in
a witness exhibited in the witness-box. If he has a feeling
strong upon him, and that on good ground, he may come into
the box and entirely suppress all appearance of it, because
he has more command of his feeling, or a better manner of
concealing it. The fact remains, that if he takes up the
position I have described, he cannot, as a man of ordinary
feeling, feel otherwise than unfavourably prepossessed against
the prisoner.” Again, on his concealment of his suspicions,
the Judge said: “Now, he thought it consistent with his
professional duty—and I must also add with his duty as a
citizen of this country—to keep this opinion to himself. In
that I cannot say he did right. I should be very sorry to lead
you to think so. I care not for professional etiquette, or
professional rule. There is a rule of life and a consideration
far higher than these—the duty that every citizen of this
country, that every right-minded man owes to his neighbour—to
prevent the destruction of human life in this world, and in
that duty I cannot but say that Dr. Paterson has failed. Now
you will consider what effect that is to have, or whether it
is to have any effect on your minds. It is a very painful
subject—a subject which I would fain avoid, but the exigencies
of this case drive me to its consideration—and I am bound to
say that, because a man is so mistaken in regard to his duty to
his fellow-citizens, and his fellow-creatures, it by no means
follows that he is undeserving of credit as a witness. You may
con sider his evidence always in the light of that failing; if
you can see reason to modify anything that he says, because of
the existence of that failing, it is your bounden duty to do
that.”—_Charge of the Lord Justice Clerk._ Fifth day.

[150] From Western Branch of Glasgow Apothecaries’ Company,
September 19, 1864, 10 grains strychnia; November 4, ½ oz.
tincture conii (Hemlock); November 16, 1 oz. laudanum, 1 oz.
tartar emetic; November 24, 1 oz. tincture aconite; December 8,
1 oz. tincture (Fleming’s) aconite; December 9, 1 oz. tincture
conii. 1865: February 4, 1 oz. tincture conii; February 7, 1
oz. tartarised antimony, 1 oz. tincture of aconite; February
9, 1 oz. tincture of aconite; February 11, 1 oz. tincture
of digitalis; February 18, 2 oz. tincture conii (all sold
by the manager, _J. Campbell_); November 24, 1 oz. tincture
of aconite; December 9, 1 oz. tincture conii; February 4,
1865, 1 oz. tincture conii (sold by the assistant). Fleming’s
tincture of aconite is six times stronger than the ordinary
tincture.—_Evidence of J. Campbell._ From _John Currie_,
chemist in Glasgow:—1865: February 18, 2 oz. solution of
morphia and 1 oz. of Fleming’s tincture of aconite; March 8,
solution of atropine, 1 drachm, with 2 grains of atropia to a
drachm; March 13, ½ oz. of Fleming’s tincture of aconite; March
14, solution of atropine, 1 drachm, with 2 grains to a drachm;
March 16, solution of atropine, 1 drachm, with 5 grains to a
drachm.—_Evidence of John Currie._ Chloroform from July 13 to
December 9, 1864, 132 oz.—_J. Campbell._ This witness said that
2 oz. of tartarised antimony and about 1 to 2 ozs. of Fleming’s
tincture would cover the whole of their sales for a year, and
that the chloroform was also in excess of usual sale to one
person. For the defence it was proved that as much as 80 oz. of
Fleming’s tincture was sold by them within a year.—_Evidence
of John Simpson_, of Duncan, Flockhart & Co., of North Bridge,
Glasgow. And from 2 to 3 oz. of tartar emetic, besides larger
quantities to veterinary surgeons.—_Thomas Fairgreive_,
chemist, of Edinburgh.

[151] Evidence of _Alexander McCall_, superintendent of Glasgow
Police, and _John Murray_, an officer of the Sheriff—third day;
and reports of analyses by _Professor Frederick Penny_, same
day. Another specimen of tapioca, bought direct from Barton and
Henderson, had no antimony in it—Same witness.

[152] In reply to the Judge, the witness said that to take 7
grains of Fleming’s tincture Mrs. Taylor must have taken 100
drops of the poisoned Battley in a single dose, equal to a
teaspoonful; that 100 drops would not be an unusual amount to a
person accustomed to the use of it in moderation, and that many
opium eaters would not thank you for 100 drops. Aconite might
be given in divided doses, and not prove fatal, though the same
quantity was taken, the distressing effect of one dose going
off before the other was taken.

[153] _Dr. Gairdner_ stated that the only time he saw Mrs.
Pritchard was on the night of the 8th of February, and that
at that interview Pritchard told him Dr. Cowan had prescribed
stimulants, which he ordered to be discontinued, and no
medicine till he saw her again. Dr. Cowan said that he did
not see her until the 11th of February, “to the best of his
recollection, stopped all night, saw her again next day, and
left in the evening for Edinburgh.”

[154] _Dr. Paterson_ stated that he was called on the 24th of
February to see Mrs. Taylor, and then noticed the state in
which Mrs. Pritchard was, but not being asked did not prescribe
for her. He was called in to Mrs. Pritchard first on the 2nd
of March, when he prescribed powders containing camomile, blue
or gray powder, ipecacuanha, and aromatic powder, and he never
saw her again until five hours before her death. There is not
a word in his evidence of his having been previously consulted
about the use of Battley’s solution. The only interviews with
the prisoner, other than in the sick-room, were on the 1st of
March, when he met him in the street and he asked him to see
his wife, and on the 5th of March, when Pritchard called on
him, reported that the remedies had had a good effect, and Dr.
Paterson recommended their continuance.

[155] _Mary McLeod_ stated that she was in the bedroom from
the time Dr. Paterson left till Mrs. Pritchard died; that
she lay on the sofa, and that Pritchard told her to get the
mustard-plaster, and that it was applied to Mrs. Pritchard’s
stomach, and as it did not seem to do her good, she was sent
down again for another, and that when she and Mary Patterson
returned with it, Mrs. Pritchard was dead.

[156] From an account sent in to Mr. Taylor after his wife’s
death, the last purchases appeared to be:—18th January, 1865,
2 oz.; 29th January, 2 oz.; and 4th February, 2 oz. _James
Thomson_ stated that the last time he took the bottle to be
filled was on the night before Mrs. Taylor left for Glasgow,
and that for a year or so before her death he took the bottle
to be filled at first only once in every two or three months,
but latterly every two or three weeks.

[157] Evidence of _J. Foulger_ and _George Kerr_.

[158] This had previously been admitted by Dr. Penny.

[159] See remarks of the Lord Justice Clerk on the motive,
_post_, p. 445.

[160] See the argument of the Dean of Faculty imputing the
murder to McLeod, and the Judge’s charge on that point, _post_,
437-440.

[161] “Mr. Clark very properly said,” remarked the Judge
in this charge, “‘it is not his fault that he had abundant
opportunities. The relation existing between him and these
ladies is not his fault, and it was the existence of this
relation that gave him these opportunities.’ Quite true,
gentlemen—a very just observation; but remember, on the other
hand, that as the opportunities did in point of fact exist, he
cannot argue the case as if they did not.”

[162] “His possession of poisonous drugs,” said the Judge in
his charge, “to such an extent is not a suspicious circumstance
in the case of a medical man. They are in some degree
necessary; but the peculiar position of the matter in this
case—the nature of the drugs found in his consulting-room—is
certainly not to be lightly passed over, and still more the
nature of the purchases that he had been making from two
different apothecaries during the period to which our inquiries
particularly refer. In his consulting-room were found some
parcels of tartaric acid—not a very large quantity; some
phials, containing the remains of tincture of aconite and white
powder to the extent of three or four grains, containing a
somewhat strange and unexplained mixture of tartarised antimony
or tartar emetic and aconite. These things were found in his
consulting-room; but what had he been purchasing during the
period to which our inquiry refers? On the 16th of November
he purchased an ounce of tartar emetic, and upon the 7th
of February another ounce of the same poison—very unusual
quantities, as the apothecaries state. He also purchased
no less than 5½ ounces of tincture of aconite. That, the
apothecaries state, is a very unusual quantity for a medical
man to purchase: but I think it was a mistake in some respects
to push this statement to the extent to which the prosecutor
pressed it, because some of the other witnesses of the same
description said that for external application tincture of
aconite is sometimes used in considerable quantities, and if it
were used for that purpose we might account for such a large
quantity being used by the prisoner. But I do not think anybody
said, that two ounces of tartar emetic within a month or two
was a usual quantity for one medical man to use who was not in
the practice of mixing it at home, which the prisoner, in his
conversation with Dr. Paterson, says he was not. Besides, there
were other very strange purchases, which have no immediate
connection with this case—all of them strong poisons. He was,
therefore, undoubtedly possessed of a very large quantity of
different kinds of poisonous substances; but what is most
important is, that he was in possession of that very poison
to which the death of Mrs. Pritchard is undoubtedly to be
traced, and to which, in combination with others, the death of
Mrs. Taylor is to be traced—that is antimony. So that whether
we adopt to the full extent the suggestion of the Crown, it
appears beyond a doubt that some one had been practising a
system of poisoning, and that in the possession of the prisoner
were the agents necessary for carrying it on.”

[163] See, _post_, p. 446, the Judge’s remarks on this attempt
to throw the crime on McLeod.

[164] “It is said,” remarked the Lord Justice Clerk, “that
it would be very difficult that cheese could be poisoned by
antimony—very difficult to make a powder like tartar emetic
adhere to a piece of cheese in sufficient quantity to have any
effect, and that, if it did, it must have been visible to the
naked eye, because the cheese was yellow and the tartar emetic
was white. But we know from the evidence before us that tartar
emetic is easily dissolved, and the poisoned cheese could
easily have been poisoned by dipping it into a solution, quite
as easily as by dipping it into a powder.” _See Chapter IX._

[165] On this argument of the prisoner’s counsel the Lord
Justice Clerk said:—“It is difficult to offer an answer to
that. It is impossible to say what is the precise point to
which a poison of this kind will kill—what is the precise
amount that will at once destroy life as compared with
that which will only inflict suffering and torture. But
that Patterson did suffer these severe vomitings and pains
immediately after having tasted the egg-flip I suppose you
will not disbelieve, looking to the general character of the
evidence which she gave here as a witness.”

[166] With reference to the finding of the bottle of Battley’s
solution the Lord Justice Clerk made the following remarks:—“To
that scene I beg now to call your attention as given by Mary
Patterson. ‘When the bottle was found,’ she says, ‘he expressed
great surprise that she should have taken so much of its
contents in so short a time.’ Now he was quite aware, as you
will see by the evidence, that the old lady was in the habit
of taking a great quantity, and you will consider whether the
surprise was real or feigned. That is but a very small point,
however, in reference to this matter. His expression in regard
to it, seemed to me much more strong. He expressed surprise
at her having sent ‘a girl like that for it’—namely, McLeod.
I cannot see that there is anything so startling in that. Did
he mean to suggest that in sending such a messenger there
might be some mistake as to the contents of the bottle? Why,
what was it, ‘to send a girl like that?’ What was the harm of
sending a girl—an intelligent servant girl? What was wanted was
Battley’s solution, because it was what Mrs. Taylor wanted—was
accustomed to take. But still he thought that it was a very
serious matter—and further, that it was one of those things
that it would not do to have spoken of as having occurred in
his house—a man of his profession.”

[167] Had she survived the wife, would she not have been a most
important witness to aid in the conviction of the prisoner?

[168] For the report of this trial I have used that in the
Sessions Papers, Central Criminal Court, 1859, collated with
that given by Mr. Justice Stephen in his “History of the
Criminal Law of England,” vol. iii., p. 438, and that in the
Annual Register of 1859.

[169] According to her sister she had for some time suffered
from an affection of the uterus requiring the use of an
injection.

[170] The prisoner called on the solicitor on the Saturday
and asked him to come up the next day to draw the will, to
which he consented on the prisoner’s representation of the
state of the lady—but wished a medical man to be present. The
prisoner, however, assured him it was quite unnecessary, as
she was suffering only from diarrhœa, and was quite in her
right mind. “I went,” said the witness, “to the prisoner’s
lodging, and he informed me that they were not married, which
was another reason why he did not wish a medical man to be
present. I then went up to the bedroom of the deceased, and
the prisoner said to her, ‘My dear, this is the gentleman who
has come to make your will.’ She bowed, and handed me the
paper which I had seen on Saturday. I looked at it, and asked
her if that was what she wished, and read it to her, and she
said it was quite correct, except that she wished to leave a
brooch to a friend. I then drew up the will in accordance with
her instructions, in a lower room. The prisoner was with me,
and, when the will had been drawn up, said the daughter of the
landlady could be one of the witnesses, and he supposed I could
say it was some Chancery paper. I told him that would not do.
She must know it was a will, and he replied, ‘Oh, very well.’
Shortly afterwards the deceased executed the will, and I and
Miss Wheatley attested it, and I handed the document to the
prisoner, who paid me my fee. She appeared perfectly competent
to make a will.”—_Evidence of Mr. Senior._ The will was proved
by Smethurst, notwithstanding opposition, after his punishment
for bigamy.

[171] From the sudden and serious illness of one of the jurors,
however, the examination of the witnesses had to be suspended,
and the trial adjourned to the first day of the next Session.
Eventually he was put on his trial, before another jury, on
the 15th of August. As the statement of Serjeant Ballantine
was fully confirmed by the witnesses, the landladies of the
respective lodgings, and the sister, it will be necessary only
to report the medical evidence.

[172] It was apparently with reference to this case that the
name of a _Dr. Barker_, of _Bedford_, was repeatedly mentioned,
but he was not called to confirm or explain the supposed
instance of dysentery in early pregnancy.

[173] It must be borne in mind that there was no error in this
experiment, and that it was never suggested that the arsenic
in this case came from the copper, as it was not destroyed, as
when the bottle of chlorate of potash was afterwards tested
with copper gauze, which was destroyed by it, and the arsenic
in the gauze liberated. Serjeant Parry, of course, said that
the experiments in both cases were the same. So they were so
far as copper was used, but the presence of the chlorate of
potash in the other case made all the difference.—_See_ Chapter
IX.

[174] Had this discovery of arsenic not been erroneous, the
gap in the evidence, as to the possession of the poison by the
prisoner in a form most likely to be administered, would have
been filled up. It in no way, however, militated against the
discovery of arsenic in bottle 2. See _post_, Chap. IX., how
far Mr. Herapath was correct in asserting that more arsenic was
found than could have been released from the copper. In his
statement before the committing magistrates, on the 20th of
May, Serjeant Ballantine stated that bottle 21 had originally
been sent by Dr. Julius with a quinine mixture.

[175] On farther _cross-examination, Professor Brande_ said
that the copper he used in Reinsch’s test was generally rolled
down from a halfpenny, which he considered pure enough for the
purpose.

[176] But see his evidence, Palmer’s trial, p. 175, _ante_.

[177] _Handbuch der Pathologischen Anatomie_, by Baron Carl von
Rokitansky, Vienna, 1842-46, of which a translation by various
English medical men of eminence was published by the _Sydenham
Society_ in 4 vols. 8vo. 1849-54. It is still considered a
valuable book of reference.

[178] Subsequent to the verdict, in a memorial to the Prince
Consort, it was stated that “a lady friend of the deceased
was a witness,” to Miss Bankes’ knowledge, of the fact that
he was married already, and that she wished the ceremony to
be gone through. This lady, the memorial stated, was to have
been called, but Mr. Parry deemed it unnecessary. Upon this,
the Lord Chief Baron, in his report to the Home Secretary,
observed—“I do not believe Mr. Serjeant Parry gave any such
advice; but if it be true that any such evidence was ready,
why is not the lady friend named, and why is not her statement
or declaration now offered and laid before you? Such evidence
would, in my opinion, much alter the complexion of the
case.”—_Judge Stephen’s Hist. of Crim, Law_, iii., 461. [What
need was there of this evidence, when it had been proved that
for weeks together Miss Bankes had been lodging and associating
in the same house with Smethurst and his wife?]

[179] Not quite correct; on the prisoners representations of
the effect of the sister’s prior visit, Dr. Bird had advised
that she should not see her—at any rate at present.—_See his
evidence, ante_, p. 450.

[180] When _Dr. Julius_ was recalled, and stated that at the
first examination before the magistrates the prisoner urged
that it was necessary for him to go back to his wife; that
her death might be occasioned by his absence; and that it was
imperative that he should go; Serjeant Parry asked the witness
“whether the magistrates at that time did not direct or require
him not to interfere further with the patient?” To this he
replied—“I do not think it was addressed to him, but it was
addressed generally—it was in his presence. It might have been
a general direction, but he might have heard it.”

[181] “And not only in the evacuations, where small portions of
both were found?” They also laid great stress on the absence of
certain symptoms generally present in slow poisoning by arsenic
or antimony, or both.

[182] Or he might have added, the results of his experiments on
the evacuations, the correctness of which were proved by the
subsequent 76 tests by Reinsch’s method.

[183] “There were,” says Judge Stephen, “_fourteen_ reasons in
all assigned by Sir B. Brodie, _six_ in favour of the prisoner,
and _eight_ against him, of which only _two_ of the first and
_four_ of the second proceeded on medical or chemical grounds.
Until these are published it is impossible to judge fairly of
Brodie’s opinion.”

[184] _Stephen’s Hist. Crim. Law of Eng._, iii., 465.

[185] _Margaret Higgins_, a servant of Mrs. James, told a very
different story when put into the box for _cross-examination_, her
evidence not being taken for the prosecution. “On the morning of
the 10th I went into Mrs. James’s bedroom, about half-past eight,
and found two or three spoonsful of _warm_sago in a tea-cup by the
bedside, and two cups on the table. I took the cup from the chair by
the bedside down stairs, and ate the sago, which did me no harm.”[As
the prisoner said he took it in about 5 a.m., the sago, being in an
open cup, could not have been _warm_ at 8·30. It was also clear, from
other parts of her evidence, that she was in favour of the prisoner,
and anxious to throw the crime on the Cafferatas.

[186] Evidence of _Mrs. Cafferata_, _Dr. Cameron_, _Mr.
Clarence Pemberton_ (surgeon), _Mr. Tennyson Lloyd_
(solicitor), Inspector _Horne_, and detective _Kehoe_, who
proved the seizure of the medicine bottles, &c., and their safe
delivery to _Dr. Edwards_.

[187] “Free antimony” is what has not been taken up into the
system. “Eliminated,” which has been taken up into the system.

[188] For these acids I have used the systematic nomenclature
corresponding to the phosphates, as in Bernay’s “Notes for
Students,” in preference to Fremy’s original titles.

[189] Sulphuric acid may be freed from arsenic or antimony by
treating it with a few small fragments of charcoal and a little
rock salt, and boiling till the hydrochloric and sulphurous
acids have been expelled.

[190] Solutions of bismuth give with water white precipitates,
which are _not re-dissolved_ by tartaric acid.

[191] But it must be borne in mind that it was late in the
evening when the cheese was taken up to the bedroom, where the
light was not likely to have been strong; probably, on the
contrary, was carefully shaded, so as not to annoy the invalid.

[192] This bottle, according to Serjeant Ballantine’s
statement, had been sent by Dr. Julius to the deceased
containing a quinine mixture.

[193] Arsenic is tasteless. See evidence of _Professor
Christison_, in Madeline Smith’s case, _ante_, p. 322.

[194] This must be an error of the reporter, and must mean
McIntyre, who, with Dr. Bird, took possession of the bottles in
the bedroom. Dr. Bird delivered only bottles 1, 2, 3.

[195] In his evidence at the trial _Dr. Taylor_ said that he
found less than half a grain of arsenic, equal to 2¼ per cent.
in the copper dissolved—an impossibility.

[196] “An attempt,” says Mr. Justice Stephen, “was made to
account for the presence of antimony and arsenic alleged to be
discovered by Dr. Taylor, by the suggestion that it might have
been contained in the medicines administered to Miss Bankes
during her life. Arsenic is generally found in bismuth, and
for three or four days doses of bismuth, containing five or
six grains, were administered to Miss Bankes. Dr. Richardson
put the proportion of arsenic in bismuth at half a grain to
an ounce, and as an ounce contains 480 grains, each dose
would have contained about 1/140 of a grain of arsenic. If,
therefore, Miss Bankes took twelve doses of bismuth, she would
have taken between one-eleventh and one-twelfth of a grain
of arsenic in four days. This seems (for it is not perfectly
clear), from Dr. Bird’s evidence, to have been more than a week
before the day on which he obtained the evacuation analysed by
Dr. Taylor, and in 4 oz. of which he said he found nearly a
quarter of a grain.”—_History of Criminal Law of England_, Vol.
III., 459.

[197] The authorities relied on for this report are—(1) The
Central Criminal Court Sessions Paper, 5th session of 1882;
(2) the report in the _Standard_, in which the evidence is
in many points given more fully and clearly, including the
charge of the learned judge, in which he has kindly made some
corrections; (3) the Summary of Affidavits in support of the
petition to the Home Secretary, and the affidavits themselves,
70 in number, relating to his conduct and state of mind from
his youth to his conviction.

[198] _Dublin Medical Journal_, vol. xix., p. 403.

[199] On the death of Herbert John, in 1879, the prisoner had
received £479 India Stock and £269 Consols as his wife’s share
of that child’s property.—_Evidence of Mr. Chapman, and of Mr.
Ormond, the trustee._

[200] At Blenheim House he had two wheel-chairs—one on the
basement floor, and one on the bedroom floor. From the evidence
of _Mrs. Jolliffe_, at whose house the Chapmans lodged at
Shanklin, in August, 1880, he was then able to get himself up
and down stairs, but with great difficulty—crawling up on his
hands and knees. The spinal-curvature was gradually increasing.

[201] It will be seen later that he went through the form
of going to Wimbledon that evening with Mr. Tulloch, and
pretending to him that he had been to the school.—_See evidence
of John Law Tulloch, post._

[202] It is incorrectly stated, in the Summary of Affidavits,
that symptoms of poisoning did not begin till about
three-quarters of an hour after Lamson had left (p. 5).

[203] According to _Banbury_, a pupil, the boy had gone over
some examination papers with him after tea, and was in good
health and spirits. _Ball_, another pupil, gave the same
account of the boy’s health.

[204] The following is a list of the various articles delivered
to Dr. Stevenson for analysis:—“I received a number of bottles
and things from Mr. Bond. There was a bottle, duly secured
and sealed, and labelled ‘liver, spleen, and kidneys.’ That
was labelled with the letter A. I received a bottle labelled
‘B,’ containing parts of small intestines, cæcum and colon,
and other parts of the intestines handed to Dr. Bond on
December 7. A third bottle was received, containing part of the
stomach. The fourth was a bottle secured, sealed, and labelled
‘stomach,’ handed to Dr. Dupré by Mr. Bond on December 7th,
‘D.’ The fifth was a bottle, sealed and secured as before,
‘urine,’ handed to Dr. Dupré by Mr. Bond on December 7, ‘E.’
The sixth was a bottle, sealed and labelled ‘vomit;’ and on
another label, handed to Dr. Bond by Dr. Berry, December
6, ‘F.’ With this was a broken bottle, unlabelled, and a
gutta-percha wrapper, with two seals upon it, as Mr. Griffin
said. The next, ‘7,’ was a pill-box. It was secured and sealed,
and marked on the tape which secured it ‘C.B.’ That is the
pill-box (identified), and it is sealed in the same manner as
the wrapper of the broken bottle. ‘8’ was a newspaper parcel
sealed; ‘9’ was a brown paper parcel sealed; ‘10’ was a paper
parcel sealed. That was the whole of what I received from Mr.
Bond. ‘11’ I received from Inspector Butcher. That was opened
in the presence of Mr. Bond. It contained a box—(this is the
box)—with capsules in it. These capsules in the bottle were
some of the 107 capsules. There was a paper with some sugar in
it; some loose sugar, sweetmeat sugar. It contained a box of
quinine powders—(box identified)—labelled ‘quinine powders’
in writing, and had the name ‘J. W. Littlefield, Ventnor,’ in
print. There were four pills loose, one large comfit from a
Dundee cake, and one of the capsules contained what appeared to
be a pill, but which was really a similar comfit.”

“I don’t think you said what was in the newspaper parcel?”

“Eight packets.”

“What did the next parcel contain?”

“Nine packets. Packet 11 I received from Inspector Butcher on
December 12, marked ‘1 W. D.’ Inside that there were two little
tinfoil packages. Twelve was received from Butcher on December
14. It was a parcel labelled ‘The remainder of the sugar from
Dr. Bedbrook’s.’ Sherry from the decanter used by Lamson was
handed to me by Butcher on the 14th.”

“Did you later on receive this box and wafers?”

“Yes. It is marked 14.”

[205] See _post_, Chapter XI.

[206] See _post_, Chapter XI.

[207] The only evidence offered of his being at Shanklin on the
29th was an entry, in the “luggage and cloak office” book of
the Shanklin railway station, of a ticket having been issued
for luggage on the 29th August, in the name of “Lamson,” which
Mr. Poland proposed the porter (John Durrant) should use to
refresh his memory. As the witness could not identify the
prisoner as the party; without saying that it was strictly
inadmissible, Mr. Justice Hawkins considered it would have
little effect, and it was not pressed. Neither _Mr. Chapman_
nor _Mrs. Jolliffe_ saw him there on that day.

[208] Evidence of _William Tulloch_, and the pawnbroker,
_Robinson_, of Mortimer Street, Regent Street.

[209] There is some error in the report, as it was on the 1st
December that the prisoner wrote to the deceased that it was
too late to come that day; and Mr. Montagu Williams admitted,
in his speech, that the prisoner visited Wimbledon, and said
he went to the school on the 2nd. It must have been on the 2nd
that the witness went with him, the first time, to Wimbledon.
In his affidavit in support of the plea of insanity J. L.
Tulloch says, that “he saw Dr. Lamson at his brother’s (W.
Tulloch) for a few minutes on the 1st, and next day proceeded
with him to Wimbledon.”

[210] He had previously, on the 15th November, tried to change
a cheque for £15 at the American Exchange, in the Strand, where
a parcel had been sent for him.—_Evidence of Sidney Harbord,
the cashier._

[211] In the _cross-examination_ of _Mrs. Bowles_, the
school-matron, Mr. Williams endeavoured to get from her an
admission that the chemicals kept in the house for the purposes
of the scientific lectures were unsecurely kept, and within
the reach of the boy. _Mr. Bedbrook_, however, proved that
the button of the cupboard in which they were kept was 6 feet
6 inches from the floor It was also proved by the chemical
lecturer that the chemicals were only those acids commonly used
in the production of gases—acetate of lead, hydrochloric and
sulphuric acids.—_Evidence of Eastick and Whalley._

[212] In the boy’s box, on the ground floor, five pills mixed
with capsules were found. Twenty white powders, which were
numbered 1 to 20, were got from a box in the dining-room,
marked “J. Littlefield,” six of which—1 to. 6—were large.
The tin box with the two pills was handed to the police
inspector by Mr. Bedbrook, and a decanter of sherry from the
sitting-room, and the remainder of the sugar from the matron.
The evidence of _Inspector Fuller_, and other policemen, proved
that after being transferred from various hands, these things
were handed to the analyst, the Judge remarking on the want of
care in transmitting such important pieces of evidence, most
unnecessarily, through so many hands.

[213] The assistant at _Messrs. Bell & Co.’s_ stated the price
of atropia to a medical man as 4_d._ per grain—hence the
remark of Mr. Montagu Williams on the entry of “8_d._” “C.” in
the cash book of that day. The assistants at Messrs. Allen’s
altered their minds, on consultation together, within three
hours after they had told the police that it was atropia they
had sold to the prisoner.

[214] The fact of this poison having been sold by Allen &
Hanbury’s assistant to the prisoner, on the faith of finding
his name in the _Medical Directory_, was severely commented
on by the Judge. No doubt by 31 Vict. cap. 121, sec. 17,
Schedule A. Amendment Act, 32 & 33 Vict. cap. 117, sec. 3, it
is not required, in the case of a medical man, that the name
of the purchaser, the name and quantity of poison sold, and
the purpose for which it is to be used, should be entered, and
the signature of the purchaser is not required. The following
questions and answers call for publication:—

_The Judge._—“Suppose I applied and gave a name out of the
Medical Directory, and asked for two grains of aconitia, would
you sell it me?”

_Answer._—“If I were satisfied at the time you were a medical
man I should let you have it.”

_The Judge._—“Then anybody of respectable appearance and well
dressed might apply? and is there anything by which you can
satisfy yourself that the applicant is not an impostor and
telling you that which is not true?”

_Answer._—“The only thing would be the style of writing—whether
it was in the style characteristic of medical men.”

_The Judge._—“That hardly seems satisfactory.”

_Mr. Poland._—“The Act does not require registration in the
case of sale to a medical man.”

_The Judge._—“It strikes me that anyone could go, if he had
sufficient knowledge to write in the technical style of medical
men, and get poison without difficulty; and though the matter
is not before us in this case, it may be that the law requires
amendment in this particular.”

The jury also appended to their verdict a presentment urging
greater restrictions on the sale of poisons, with which the
Judge thoroughly agreed, and undertook to forward it to the
Home Secretary. During the present Session of Parliament
the Government have announced that a “New Poisons Act” is
preparing, and that it will deal with patent medicines. It is
imperatively required.

[215] Entries in the Register of the New York Bloomingdale
Asylum.

[216] Affidavit of Dr. G. H. Boyland, of Baltimore, U.S.,
a fellow student, and Dr. John Swinborne, of Albany, N.Y.,
Surgeon-in-Chief of the American Ambulance.

[217] Affidavits of Dr. Charles H. Von Klein, of Hamilton,
County Butler, U.S., Surgeon in the Russian army, and Dr. F.
P. Carey, of Auburn, N.Y., fellow surgeons with Lamson at
Bucharest.

[218] Statutory declarations of about thirty persons—friends,
servants, and such as occasionally came in contact with him
during his residence at Bournemouth.

[219] Ernest Juch, of 1, New Broad Street, journalist, and
formerly a medical practitioner, who met Lamson in New York,
August, 1881, and saw him daily for two months.

[220] Mrs. McElroy, when, with Lamson’s consent, taking
charge of his medicines, found among other things an unmarked
box of “sugar pills,” which Lamson said were either morphia
or quinine, he did not know which. On this evidence the
following remark is made on the accused’s behalf:—“After he
(Lamson) left, and when John was taken ill, several pills were
discovered on the table, which were not noticed while Lamson
was there. It is believed that as John was suffering from
indigestion (he had dined at one, and portions of his dinner
were vomited undigested at nine) he determined to take a pill,
and try with it one of the capsules just given him. John’s
symptoms of poisoning did not begin till about three-quarters
of an hour (_really twenty-five minutes_, see p. 520) after
Lamson left, and he lived for about four hours after, whereas
if he had taken the poison in the capsule, while Lamson was
there, it is almost certain that the symptoms would have set in
much earlier, especially considering the enormous quantity of
poison said to have been taken. He then, unhappily, selected
one containing aconitia. From the foregoing evidence of the
way in which Lamson used and prescribed aconitia, taken with
what Mrs. McElroy says of his ignorance as to what his own
medicaments contained, it might well be that he ignorantly or
insanely mixed these pills, and sent them to Percy John without
any murderous intent.”

[221] A sample of “English aconitine,” recently obtained
from Morson’s, was amorphous, slightly coloured, and gave
a red-brown colour, with all acids, even acetic; yet its
physiological action was perfect.

[222] In “Unbeaten Tracks in Japan” (Isabella L. Bird, 1880),
it is stated that the Ainos, an interesting race inhabiting a
part of that country, poison their arrow-heads with a paste
prepared from the root of a species of aconite, Aconitum
Japonicum.

[223] A servant girl was recently poisoned in New York by
repeatedly rubbing tincture of aconite on the gums to relieve
pain. She died in three days. (British Medical Journal, Aug.
26, 1882.)

[224] Woodman and Tidy, p. 393, wrongly give this as “one ounce
of the tincture.”

[225] The case of Reg. _v._ McConkey, already referred to
(_ante_, p. 515), furnishes us with an instance of aconite root
being administered with criminal intent, and with fatal result.

In Aug., 1882, four boys and a girl suffered severely from
chewing dried aconite root, which they had found in the street.
The symptoms, tingling and numbness, abdominal pain, nausea,
vomiting, giddiness, muscular weakness, pains in the legs,
and coldness of the feet, set in very rapidly, the greatest
delay being a quarter of an hour. There was no dyspnœa, and
the pupils in all were _widely dilated_. The treatment adopted
was the administration of emetics (sulphate of zinc and vin.
ipecac.), coffee and brandy, and castor oil. Recovery in two to
seven days. Quantity taken, “a very small piece.” (Brit. Med.
Journal, 1882, p. 1039.)

[226] An illustration of the dangerous character of these
preparations, and of the serious results which may ensue from
the mistake of a person ignorant of medicine, is afforded
by the following case, reported in the _Medical Times and
Gazette_, of January 22, 1853. An inquest was held on January
15th, 1853, to inquire into the death of Emma Forty, an
inmate of the Roman Catholic Convent of the Good Shepherd at
Arnosvale, near Bristol. The deceased suffered from tapeworm,
for which the medical attendant of the convent had prescribed
a decoction of pomegranate bark and quinine. According to the
general custom at the convent, the medicine was prepared by
Miss Ryder, the sister-attendant, who unfortunately took a
wrong bottle from the dispensary, and gave, instead of the
decoction, _a drachm of Fleming’s Tincture of Aconite_. This
mixture was given to the deceased on the Monday preceding the
inquest (Jan. 10th); and death occurred in about five hours
after the draught had been swallowed. After some remarks by
the Coroner as to the imminent danger of unskilled persons
being allowed to dispense drugs, the jury returned a verdict
that death was occasioned by the administration of aconite
by Miss Ryder, and expressed the opinion that much blame was
attributable to the authorities of the convent for allowing
persons, without the necessary knowledge, to dispense
medicines: they hoped that in future such a practice would be
discontinued.

[227] A report of the inquest is to be found in the
Pharmaceutical Journal, 1872, p. 618. The deceased was the
Hon. Gowran Charles Vernon, Recorder of Lincoln, and second
son of Lord Lyvedon. According to the evidence of a brother of
Mr. Vernon, the latter had for some time past complained of
pains in his head, and had been in the habit of using neuraline
with the object of relieving these pains. On returning to his
residence, after a walk with his wife, the deceased was seized
with a fit, and shortly afterwards died. The doctors considered
that he was suffering from neuralgia and epileptic fits.
Mr. G. Harley, M.D., M.R.C.S., stated that he had analysed
neuraline, and found it to be an extract of aconite, mixed
with rose-water; it also contained chloroform. The Coroner
(Dr. Lankester) said there was no doubt that the deceased had
expired from natural causes, and that he had been seized with a
fit of convulsions, from the effects of which he died.

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