Murder of Sir T. Overbury—Mary Blandy—Katherine Nairn
Murder of Sir T. Overbury—Mary Blandy—Katherine Nairn
Merely to mention the word “poisoner” calls up a long succession of notorious crimes of the past, not to speak of the still more frequent cases where poisoning was suspected, though probably, often enough, with but little justification. Less than three centuries ago the fact that illness and death had come suddenly to any well-known person, was often sufficient to raise the whisper of suspicion; and any disease that did not yield to the favourite treatment of bleeding, and for which the physicians were for the moment unable even to find a name, was sure to be attributed by popular gossip to the action of poison or witchcraft, or of both.
The mysterious effect of certain substances upon the animal system and the fact that a knowledge of the nature of poisonous herbs was part of the lore of the old women who dealt in love-philtres, fully explains this association of poison with black magic.
In one of the earliest trials for poisoning of which we have any detailed account—that of Richard Weston in 1615—this belief in the miraculous power of the poisoner was present in the mind of the Lord Chief Justice (Coke) when in his charge to the grand jury he said that “The devil had taught divers to be cunning in poisoning so that they can poison in what distance of space they please by consuming thecalidumorhumidum radicalein one month, two, orthree or more as they list; which they four manners of ways do execute (1)gustu; (2)haustu; (3)odore; (4)contactu.”
Again, in the trial of Anne Turner, also for the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury (1615), evidence was given that she was in possession of parchments, some of which contained the names of the blessed Trinity; others on which were written + B + C + D + E; and another with a figure in which was inscribed the word “corpus,” and to which was fastened a little piece of the skin of a man. “In some of these parchments were the names of devils who were conjured to torment the Lord Somerset and Sir A. Mainwaring if their loves should not continue—the one to the Countess and the other to Mrs. Turner.”
Reading over the evidence of this trial one can hardly doubt but that this alleged sorcery had considerable weight in the conviction of Anne Turner; for, as will be shown presently, there was no conclusive evidence of poison having been given at all.
The widespread hatred of witchcraft and the readiness with which any evidence of this description was accepted as a proof of poisoning, must have rendered it almost impossible for an unpopular character to be acquitted when accused of poisoning anyone.
The belief in witchcraft was very general in the seventeenth century, and medical men were even called in to give their expert opinion on behalf of the prosecution in the trials of those charged with being witches.
The most striking instance of this kind was at the trial of the Suffolk witches in 1665, before Sir MatthewHale, Baron of Exchequer. It was alleged that the two women, Rose Cullender and Amy Duny, of Lowestoft, had bewitched a number of children with whose parents they had had disputes. The children, according to the evidence of various witnesses, had been afflicted in different ways, being sometimes blind, or deaf, or lame, and then suddenly recovering. And, in particular, it was stated that they would go into fits and after every fit would vomit crooked pins or twopenny nails with broad heads.
ANNE TURNER
Mr. Sergeant Keeling, who was present, was not satisfied with this evidence and considered that it was not sufficient to convict the prisoners.
Dr. Browne, of Norwich (the Sir Thomas Browne whose fame rests upon hisReligio Medici), was then asked to state what he thought of the evidence, and said that he was clearly of opinion that the persons were bewitched.
He said further “That in Denmark there had been lately a great discovery of witches, who used the very same way of afflicting persons by conveying pins into them, and crooked as these pins were, with needles and nails. And his opinion was that the devil in such cases did work upon the bodies of men and women, upon a natural foundation (that is) to stir up and excite such humours super-abounding in their bodies to a great excess, whereby he did in an extraordinary manner afflict them with such distempers as their bodies were most subject to, as particularly appeared in these children; for he conceived that these swooning fits were natural, and nothing else, but only heightened to a great excess by the subtlety of the devil,co-operating with the witches, at whose instance he doth these villainies.”
This evidence is quoted at length, as showing the opinion of scientific men of that time upon the subject of witchcraft. It had great weight with the jury, and helped to make up for the lack of any real evidence against the poor women.
Further evidence was given “that at the least touch of one of these supposed witches, Rose Cullender by name, the children would shriek out, opening their hands, which accident would not happen by the touch of any other person.”
A test was therefore applied in court, and a number of those present were directed by the judge “to attend one of the distempered persons in the further part of the hall, while she was in her fits, and then to send for one of the witches to try what would happen, which they did accordingly: and Amy Duny was conveyed from the bar and brought to the maid: they put an apron before her eyes, and then one other person touched her hand, which produced the same effect as the touch of the witch did in the court. Whereupon the gentlemen returned openly protesting that they did believe the whole transaction of this business was a mere imposture.”
But even this test, which was plain proof of imposture, was distorted into evidence against the witches, and Mr. Pacy, the father of one of the children, declared “That possibly the maid might be deceived by a suspicion, that the witch touched her when she did not,” and that she apprehended that the person who had done her this wrong was near.
Additional evidence was afterwards brought to prove other acts of witchcraft by the prisoners. The judge, in giving his direction to the jury, did not attempt to deal with the evidence “lest by so doing he should wrong the evidence on one side or other,” but contented himself with pointing out that there were such creatures as witches, as was shown by the Scriptures and the laws made by all nations against such persons.
The jury retired, and after deliberating for about half an hour, found both prisoners guilty, and the judge sentenced them to be hanged. They were repeatedly urged to make a confession, but were executed without having done so.
Campbell writing of this trial says: “Hale’s motives were most laudable; but he furnishes a memorable instance of the mischiefs originating from superstition. He was afraid of an acquittal or a pardon, lest countenance should be given to a disbelief in witchcraft, which he considered tantamount to a disbelief in Christianity. The following Sunday he wrote a ‘Meditation concerning the mercy of God in preserving us from the malice and power of Evil Angels’ in which he refers with complacency to the trial over which he had presided at Bury St. Edmunds.”
Towards the end of the seventeenth century the belief in witchcraft became less general, and the last trial in this country took place in 1712 at the Hertford Assizes, when the prisoner was convicted but not executed. It was not until 1821, however, that the statute with regard to witchcraft was repealed in Ireland.
After the beginning of the eighteenth century there does not appear to have been any attempt made to prove the use of the powers of witchcraft in poisoning trials, and the evidence as to poisoning gradually became of a more convincing character than it was, for instance, in the series of trials of the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury in 1615 in the Tower of London, to which reference has already been made.
The prisoners in these trials included Anne Turner, Richard Weston, Franklyn, Sir Thomas Elwes (the Lieutenant of the Tower), and the Countess of Somerset.
It was alleged that the Countess of Somerset resented the interference of Sir Thomas Overbury, then a prisoner in the Tower, in her matrimonial schemes, or as Franklyn put it in his evidence: The Countess had told him that Sir Thomas Overbury “would pry so far into their affairs that it would overthrow them all.”
Richard Weston, who had been an apothecary’s man but had afterwards become under-keeper to the Lieutenant of the Tower, was arraigned on the charge that “he did obtain at the Tower of London certain poison of green and yellow colour called rosalgar (knowing the same to be deadly poison), and the same did feloniously and maliciously mingle and compound in a kind of broth which he did deliver to the said Sir T. Overbury with intent to kill and poison.”
He was also accused of giving on other occasions poisons called “white arsenick” and mercury sublimate, which he “put and mingled” in tarts and jellies.
Weston refused to answer, and stood “mute onGod,” until it was pointed out by the Lord Chief Justice (Coke) that refusing to speak was punishable by the rack, exposure and starvation, and would have the same consequence as a conviction by a verdict or by confession.
Anne Turner, who was tried as one of the accomplices, was the widow of a physician, and a friend of the Countess. She pleaded “Not guilty” to the charge.
The evidence as to sorcery used by her has already been mentioned, but the chief witness against her was James Franklyn, who made the following confession:—
“Mrs. Turner came to me from the Countess and wished me from her to get the strongest poison I could for Sir T. Overbury. Accordingly I bought seven, viz.: Aqua fortis, white arsenick, mercury, powder of diamonds, lapis costitus, great spiders, and cantharides. All these were given to Sir T. Overbury, and the Lieutenant knew of these poisons.
“Sir T. Overbury never eat white salt but there was white arsenick put into it. Once he desired pig, and Mrs. Turner put into it lapis costitus. At another time he had two partridges sent him from the Court, and water and onions being the sauce, Mrs. Turner put in cantharides instead of pepper, so that there was scarce anything that he did eat, but there was some poison mixed. For these poisons the Countess sent me reward. She afterwards wrote unto me to buy her more poisons.”
It is obvious from this confession that the poisons supplied had no power, and it would seem thatFranklyn was making an income for himself by supplying harmless preparations for the poisons for which he was being paid.
As far as it is possible to judge by reading the evidence there was proof that attempts had been made to poison Sir Thomas Overbury, but no proof that any poison was ever given to him.
However, the evidence appears to have been quite sufficient to convict the prisoners. In passing sentence upon Anne Turner the Lord Chief Justice informed her that she had been guilty of the seven deadly sins, and that as she was the inventor of that horrid garb, the yellow tiffany ruffs and cuffs, he hoped she would be the last by whom they would be worn.
To this end he ordered that she should be hanged in that garb she had made so fashionable. This was duly done, while as a further condemnation of the fashion to which the judge had taken exception the hangman wore yellow bands and cuffs.
It is said that the fashion of wearing yellow starched linen died with her.
After the execution of Mrs. Turner and Weston came the trial of Franklyn, who confessed that poison had not been the cause of Overbury’s death.
Weldon, who in 1755, published a history of the Kings of England describes how Franklyn and Weston “came into Overbury’s chamber and found him in infinite torment with the contention between the state of nature and working of the poison, and it had been very like that nature had got the better in that contention ... but they, fearing it might come to light by the judgment of physicians that foul play hadbeen offered him, consented to stifle him with bed-clothes, which accordingly was performed. And so ended his miserable life, with the assurance of the conspirators that he died of poison, none thinking otherwise but these two murtherers.”
The account given by Weldon of the manner in which the Lord Chief Justice received this confession is well worth quoting: “And now poor Mrs. Turner, Weston and Franklyn began the tragedy. Mrs. Turner’s day of mourning being better than her life, for she died very penitently and showed much modesty in her last act. After that died Weston, and then was Franklyn arraigned, who confessed that Overbury was smothered to death not poisoned to death, though he had poison given him.
“Here was Coke glad to cast about to bring both ends together, Mrs. Turner and Weston being already hanged for killing Overbury by poison, but he being the very quintessence of the law presently informed the jury that if a man be done to death with pistol, poinard, sword, halter, poison, etc., so he be done to death, the indictment holds good, if but indicted for one of those ways; but the good lawyers of those times were not of that opinion, but did believe that Mrs. Turner was directly murthered by Lord Coke’s law as Overbury was without any law.”
After the trial and execution of the minor prisoners came the trial of the Countess of Somerset, the instigator of the crime, before the House of Peers.
The Clerk of the Crown asked her, “Frances Countess of Somerset, art thou guilty of the felony and murder, or not guilty?”
And she, making obeisance to the Lord High Steward, answered “Guilty,” in a low timid voice.
The Attorney-General, Sir Francis Bacon, then praised King James in a fulsome manner, and held out hopes of pardon to the prisoner. The Lord Chief Justice Coke also talked in servile terms of the king, whose instructions for the investigation of the murder, he declared, “deserved to be written in a sunbeam.”
The Clerk of the Crown now asked the Countess “if she had any cause to allege why sentence of death should not be passed upon her.”
To this the prisoner replied in a low voice, which only the Attorney-General heard, “I can much aggravate, but cannot extenuate my fault. I desire mercy and that the lords will intercede for me to the king.”
An officer of the Crown then presented the white staff to the Lord High Steward, and sentence of death was passed.
The Lord High Steward (Chancellor Ellesmere) now addressed the weeping prisoner in the following words: “Since the lords have heard with what humility and grief you have confessed the fact, I do not doubt they will signify so much to the king, and mediate for his grace towards you.”
The next day the Earl was tried and was found guilty, but both he and the Countess received only nominal punishment. It was alleged that this leniency to the Earl and Countess was due to King James himself having been cognisant of the plot to kill Overbury.
The trial of Mary Blandy, in 1752, at the Oxford Assizes for the murder of her father is remarkable as being the first one of which there is any detailed record, in which convincing scientific proof of poisoning was given.
Mr. Blandy, who was an attorney at Henley-on-Thames, was extremely fond of Mary, his only daughter, and according to the story told by the prosecuting counsel at the trial, “had pretended that he could give her £10,000 for her marriage portion in hopes that neighbouring gentlemen would pay their addresses. But this pious fraud, which was intended for her promotion, proved his death and her destruction.”
A Captain Cranstoun, who was recruiting at Henley, hearing she was to have £10,000 fell in love, not with her, but with her fortune, and concealed from her the fact that he already had a wife.
The father having heard rumours of the bad character of Cranstoun, refused to let his daughter have anything to do with him. She continued to see him, however, and listened to his proposal to get the father out of the way as soon as possible, so that he might get possession of the £10,000 of which the poor man had unfortunately said he was possessed.
In August, 1750, Mary Blandy began to prepare people for the death of her father by giving out that she had heard music in the house, this being looked upon as a certain portent of death.
Then Captain Cranstoun sent her a present of Scotch pebbles and enclosed with them a packet of a white powder which she was to put into her father’s food.
She gave him some of this, which made him very ill, but as he recovered, Captain Cranstoun sent her more powder, and some of this she put into his gruel with the result that he again became violently ill, and died with symptoms suggestive of arsenical poisoning.
Before his death he was told that Mary had been putting poison into his food, and only said, “Poor love-sick girl. What won’t a girl do for a man she loves? I forgive her: I always thought there was mischief in these cursed Scotch pebbles!”
The scientific evidence at this trial was given in a very convincing manner by a Dr. Addington, who had attended the poisoned man and had examined the body and tested the white powder that had been sent by Captain Cranstoun. He stated that this was arsenic, and that he had found the same poison in Mr. Blandy’s gruel.
When asked in cross-examination why he believed this to be white arsenic he described the different tests he had applied to this powder and to a sample of pure white arsenic that he had purchased, and showed how the same results were obtained in each case, and concluded with the remark: “I never saw any two things in nature more alike than the decoction made with the powder found in Mr. Blandy’s gruel and that made with white arsenic.”
The judge in his summing up to the jury remarked that the case was one which was to be made out by circumstances. A great part of the evidence rested upon presumption, and if the jury regarded the presumption as a violent one, that is to say, one where the circumstances spoke so strongly that tosuppose the contrary would be absurd, that amounted in law to full proof.
The jury, after deliberating for five minutes, found the prisoner guilty. She was executed on April 6th, and left a written confession in which she stated that she had not been aware that the powder she had given to her father was in any way noxious or poisonous.
Cranstoun was subsequently prosecuted and outlawed for his share in the murder.
If the scientific evidence in this early trial was a model of what such evidence should be, the same can hardly be said of that given at the trial of Katharine Nairn and Patrick Ogilvie at the High Court of Edinburgh in August, 1765, for the murder of Thomas Ogilvie, the husband of Katharine. They had only been married in January of that year, and it was at about the same time that Patrick Ogilvie, who was a lieutenant in the army, had returned from abroad. Almost immediately he supplanted his brother in the affections of his wife, and, a quarrel taking place between the two men, Patrick was forbidden to come to the house. Shortly afterwards the husband died, having shown symptoms of irritant poisoning.
According to the story of the prosecution, Katharine told a woman named Clark, who lived in the house with them, that Patrick had undertaken to procure poison for her, and that she was going to give it to her husband.
An unsigned letter to Patrick Ogilvie, alleged to be in the writing of Katharine, with reference to the poison, was put in as evidence.
Testimony was also given by a surgeon of Brechinthat Lieutenant Ogilvie had obtained from him a small phial of laudanum which he said he required for his own health, and also half an ounce of powdered arsenic for the alleged purpose of killing some dogs that destroyed his game.
These he had sent to Katharine, who was believed to have put the arsenic in her husband’s tea.
The defence was that the deceased had died a natural death, and that Katharine Nairn was in the habit of taking small doses of laudanum and of salts for her health. Expert evidence was given on her behalf by a Dr. J. Scott to the effect that “he had made experiments upon arsenic and knew well that it would not dissolve in warm water.”
The evidence, which by the way is incorrect, went to prove that even if arsenic had been introduced into the tea it could not have caused death by poisoning.
A surgeon also gave evidence that the symptoms might have arisen from natural causes.
For the prosecution no proof of the powder being arsenic or that the husband had really died of arsenical poisoning was given, and no post-mortem examination was made.
The counsel for the defence put the position in the following form: “The incest is supposed to be certain because the husband is supposed to have been poisoned; and, on the other hand, the man is believed to have been poisoned, because there is supposed proof of incest.”
Both prisoners were found guilty and sentenced to death, but the execution was delayed pending an appeal to the Privy Council in London. The sentenceswere confirmed and Patrick Ogilvie was executed in November, but Mrs. Ogilvie, who was expecting the birth of a child, was kept in prison. A daughter was born early in 1766, and Katharine Nairn managed to escape from prison in March of that year.
The trial curiously foreshadowed the trial of Mrs. Maybrick a century later in many of its features, and, as in the modern case, convincing proof of guilt was wanting.
The question whether a particular substance is or is not a poison has frequently been raised in a court of justice, and on several occasions a prisoner has owed his acquittal to a conflict of scientific opinion upon the point.
This was the case in a trial that took place in 1836, at the Norwich Assizes, when two farm labourers were charged with having attempted to poison a fellow farm servant, by putting “a deadly poison,” blue vitriol (copper sulphate), into a glass of milk. The man noticed that the milk had a metallic taste and only drank a portion of it; but this was sufficient to make him ill for a short time. On the milk being examined it was found to contain copper sulphate, and suspicion pointed to its having been doctored by the prisoners.
The counsel for the defence raised the objection that the accused were indicted for having administered a “deadly” poison, and that medical opinion did not hold that blue vitriol was a deadly poison.
A medical witness called on behalf of the prosecution stated that he considered that copper sulphate was a deadly poison, but at the same time admittedthat he had no experience of any case of poisoning in which that salt had been taken.
On the other hand, another doctor asserted that in his opinion the substance was not poisonous, and pointed out that it was not sold as a poison.
The judge, taking into account this conflict of opinion, decided that the matter was doubtful and the prisoners were acquitted.
In the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861 it is provided that any attempt to administer any poison or other destructive thing to any person whether bodily injury be effected or not is guilty of a felony.
As copper sulphate, when taken in quantity, will certainly cause bodily injury, the case tried in 1836 at Norwich, would now probably be decided differently, even though no bodily harm had actually been caused.
This is borne out by the trial of Cluderay, on the charge of attempted poisoning by administering pods ofcoculus indicus.
No harm had resulted to the intended victim owing to the fact that although the berries themselves are poisonous, the pod in which they are contained is insoluble when swallowed, and this prevents the berries from producing their toxic effects upon the system.
It was decided by the judge, however, that the giving of the entire pod was an administration of poison within the meaning of the Act.
It is not an easy matter to find a suitable definition for a poison. According to Taylor it is “a substance which, when taken into the mouth or stomach, orwhen absorbed into the blood is capable of seriously affecting health or of destroying life by its action on the tissues with which it immediately, or after absorption, comes into contact.”
As applied to criminal cases this definition is obviously open to criticism, for it is applicable to a substance such as coffee which, when taken in excess, will “seriously affect the health.” Some reference to the quantity is therefore needed. A drug, such as morphia, may be of benefit when given in small doses, but becomes a poison when given in large quantity. In the case of Cluderay, however, it could hardly be contended that the administration of entire coculus pods, although not producing injurious results, could in any way be beneficial.
The trial of Tawell at the Aylesbury Assizes in 1845, on the charge of murdering Sarah Hart at Slough, presented several points of scientific interest.
The manner in which the electric telegraph was employed in effecting his capture has been described in another place.
At the trial Tawell denied that he had ever been to Slough at all, but the woman who had heard the screams of the victim had seen and spoken with him, and swore positively to his identity.
It was proved that on the day of the murder Tawell had bought some Scheele’s prussic acid in London, but he accounted for this by the fact that he was constantly in the habit of buying the poison for external use.
In the cottage, where the woman was found lying dead when the doctor arrived, were two empty tumblersand a bottle of porter, while a small amount of prussic acid was found in the stomach of the woman.
The counsel for the defence urged that there was no proof that the woman had died from the effects of prussic acid and that some sudden emotion might have been the cause of death.
As to the prussic acid found in the body, he suggested that it might have been derived from apple-pips eaten by the deceased.
Chemical evidence, however, was brought forward to prove that prussic acid could not have been formed as suggested in the process of digestion, and the only result of this novel defence was that for long afterwards the barrister was known as “Apple-pip Kelly.”
In his summing up of the evidence the judge, Baron Parker, said with reference to one of the contentions of the prisoner’s counsel: “If the evidence satisfies you that the death was occasioned by poison, and that poison was administered by the prisoner it is not necessary to give direct and positive proof of what is the quantity which would destroy life, nor is it necessary to prove that such quantity was found in the body of the deceased, if the other facts lead you to the conclusion that the death was occasioned by poison and that it was knowingly administered by the prisoner.”
Referring to the argument that there was no proof that the deceased might not have died from the effect of a sudden emotion he pointed out that they were not to have recourse to mere conjecture; that where the result of the evidence gave them the existence of a cause to which the death might be rationally attributedthey were not to suppose without a reason for doing so, that it was to be attributed to any other cause.
As has already been mentioned, the evidence convinced the jury of the guilt of the prisoner, and he was sentenced to death.
NOTABLE POISONING TRIALS
Use of Poisons—Arsenic and Antimony—Chapman Case—Strychnine in Palmer Trial—Physiological Tests—Case of Freeman—Error from Quantitative Deductions—Poisonous Food Given to Animals—Mary Higgins—Negative Result of Physiological Tests—Hyoscyamus Poisons—Crippen Case—Experiment on Cats—Time Limit for Action of Arsenic—French Case.
Use of Poisons—Arsenic and Antimony—Chapman Case—Strychnine in Palmer Trial—Physiological Tests—Case of Freeman—Error from Quantitative Deductions—Poisonous Food Given to Animals—Mary Higgins—Negative Result of Physiological Tests—Hyoscyamus Poisons—Crippen Case—Experiment on Cats—Time Limit for Action of Arsenic—French Case.
The use of poisons but little known at the time has generally been due to a special knowledge of their properties on the part of the poisoner, who has hoped in this way to escape detection, and, in fact, has often done so.
Arsenic, which has always been a favourite with ignorant poisoners, is cumulative in its action, and remains in the system for a long time after it has been taken. It has a remarkable preservative effect upon the tissues, which it will keep for an indefinite length of time from decomposition. There is, therefore, little difficulty in detecting and identifying it in a body years after a crime has been committed.
The effect of antimony is very similar, and it was owing to this fact that it was possible in the Chapman poisoning case to prove that some of the victims had been poisoned with antimony.
Organic poisons such as prussic acid and vegetable alkaloids are much less stable in character, thoughthey are not so fugitive as some poisoners have supposed, and the presence of alkaloidal poisons in the system has been proved months after death.
In the celebrated Palmer case, to which reference has already been made, Palmer, who was a doctor, made use of strychnine, and, although he was convicted upon the medical and other evidence, Taylor, the official analyst, was unable to detect the poison in the remains. On these grounds and the evidence of other chemists who asserted that they could detect the slightest trace of strychnine, and that had that poison been given it must have passed into the system, the defence was set up that no strychnine had been given, and that the prisoner was entitled to an acquittal.
All that can be fairly deduced from the chemical evidence, however, is that no very large amount of strychnine was present, and that the method of separating alkaloids used by Taylor half a century ago was not capable of detecting traces of strychnine. So far, then, as regards chemical analysis, Palmer had succeeded in administering a poison in sufficient quantity to kill, but to escape detection.
With the more delicate methods of analysis now at the disposal of the chemist this would no longer be possible, for it has been repeatedly proved that it is possible to detect a minute trace of that alkaloid in the body many months after death.
The other details of this case are interesting as forming a very complete chain of evidence.
Palmer, as has been mentioned, was a medical man living at Rugeley, where he had formerly had apractice. For some time prior to the trial he had given up medicine and devoted himself to horse-racing, with the result that he had lost heavily, and by the summer of 1855 owed about £20,000, which he had borrowed at an exorbitant rate of interest from different moneylenders.
As security for these amounts he had given promissory notes, in which he had forged the signature of his mother. It was his intention to have paid the most pressing of his creditors out of the proceeds of an insurance upon the life of his brother, who died in August of the same year.
The insurance company, however, from certain circumstances that had reached their ears, had a suspicion of fraud in connection with this policy, and refused to pay the sum insured.
The holders of the bills, therefore, prepared writs against Palmer and his mother, which were to be issued unless they received the promised money, and it was, therefore, a matter of urgency for Palmer to find a means of satisfying them.
Early in November he went to some races at Shrewsbury in company with a young man named Cook, and the latter won between £2,000 and £3,000, some £800 of which he received upon the race-course, leaving the balance to be paid in London.
To celebrate the occasion, Cook asked a number of his friends to dine with him at the hotel in Shrewsbury. That evening Palmer was observed holding a tumbler up to the light outside his bedroom, and he then went into the other room where Cook was talking to his friends.
After drinking some brandy, Cook became violently ill, and a doctor was sent for. Cook said he had been given something by Palmer, and gave his money into the charge of one of his friends, who next day returned it to him.
Notwithstanding his suspicions, Cook returned with Palmer to Rugeley, and put up at an inn there near Palmer’s house. He was there visited several times by Palmer, who gave him coffee and broth, both of which made him violently sick. He was attended by a local medical man, who was very old, and, acting on Palmer’s suggestion, this doctor prescribed morphine pills for the sick man.
Palmer went with the doctor to his surgery, helped him in the preparation of the pills, and undertook to see that the patient took them. Accordingly he went round to the inn the same night, and persuaded Cook, who was unwilling to have anything to do with them, to take the pills. Within fifteen minutes he had died, after showing all the symptoms of strychnine poisoning.
After Cook’s death, his stepfather came to Rugeley, and made inquiries as to the cause of death. Certain circumstances drew suspicion upon Palmer, and this was strengthened when it was found that on several occasions he had bought strychnine, and that immediately after Cook’s death he had been seen examining his pockets and searching under the pillow of the bed.
When asked whether there were not some sporting debts due to Cook, he denied that there were any, and it was significant that the betting book of the deceased man had disappeared.
It was further discovered that Palmer had since the death paid over considerable sums of money to his creditors, and that he had induced the old doctor who had been in attendance upon Cook to sign a certificate giving apoplexy as the cause of death.
A post-mortem examination was held, at which Palmer, although under suspicion, was allowed to be present. When the portion of the stomach was sealed up in a bottle, Palmer removed it to another part of the room while the attention of the doctors was otherwise occupied, and it was found that he had cut two slits in the parchment cover, and had attempted to get rid of the contents. Subsequently he offered a bribe of £10 to the driver who was to take the doctors to the station if he would upset the carriage and break the jar.
The evidence of the doctors called by the Crown left little doubt as to death having been caused by strychnine poison, and although a number of medical men gave evidence on behalf of Palmer, their opinions were conflicting and inconsistent, and, as the judge pointed out, were obviously aiming at an acquittal at all cost.
After a trial lasting twelve days, the judge (Lord Campbell) summed up the evidence, and dwelt in strong terms upon the scientific witnesses for the defence (seeante,p. 19). With reference to the fact that no strychnine had been detected in the body, he remarked that “there was no rule of law according to which the poison must be found in the body of the deceased, and all they knew respecting the poison not being found in the body was that in that part ofthe body that was analysed by the witnesses no strychnia had been found.”
Since physiological tests are, in many cases, much more sensitive than chemical tests, they have often been used for the identification of traces of poison isolated from a body. Thus a small quantity of a particular alkaloid will produce certain characteristic physiological results when injected into the circulatory system of a small animal, and should precisely the same results be obtained by the injection of the unknown substance, the obvious inference to be drawn is that the two substances are identical.
At the same time it has been shown on more than one occasion that it is not justifiable to draw a comparison between the quantitative action of a particular poison upon an animal and upon man.
As an instance of the danger of relying too exclusively upon the results of experiments upon an animal, the interesting case of Freeman, who was tried at Leicester in 1829, may be mentioned. A young woman, the servant of a chemist in the town, was found dead in bed. She had evidently died from the effects of prussic acid, and from the fact that the one ounce bottle from which the poison had been taken still contained three and a half drachms, it was inferred that she had taken four and a half drachms.
Owing to the facts that the arms of the dead woman were crossed upon her breast, and that the clothes had been pulled up neatly over them, while the bottle containing the remainder of the poison hadbeen re-corked and was lying by her side, it was thought that it was not a case of suicide, but that the poison must have been given to her.
Suspicion fell upon a young man named Freeman, who was an assistant of the chemist, and he was charged with having murdered the woman.
The point urged by the prosecution was that the action of prussic acid was so rapid, that it was impossible for the woman to have had the time to take the amount which had apparently been taken, and subsequently to have arranged the bed-clothes and corked the bottle.
Expert evidence upon this question was given by five doctors, four of whom gave as their opinion that these things could not have been done by the woman herself. In support of their view, one of them stated that the same quantity of prussic acid had killed a dog in three seconds.
Fortunately for the prisoner he was able to produce conclusive evidence of his innocence, and the jury, therefore, very rightly refused to accept the medical opinion.
Cases in which scientific evidence has been given to prove that a particular portion of food or drink is of a poisonous nature, as shown by its effects upon animals, have frequently been before the Courts, and the evidence is not so open to criticism as in Freeman’s case, although, at best, such a proof is far less satisfactory than the separation and identification of the poison by chemical means.
In one trial, however, described by Taylor, which took place in the early part of last century in theWest of England, the evidence supplied by the accidental poisoning of some animals was so convincing as to prove the prisoner guilty, although chemical evidence of the presence of poisoning was wanting.
A farmer’s wife was accused of having poisoned her husband by putting arsenic into his soup while they were dining together. Then, in order to get rid of all signs of her guilt, she had thrown the remainder of the soup into the farmyard, where the pigs and the fowls had devoured it. The husband had died with all the symptoms and appearances of arsenical poisoning, but no arsenic was found in the body by the imperfect methods of analysis then available.
All the animals in the farmyard had also died, apparently from the effects of an irritant poison, and in the bodies of some of them, probably owing to its quantity being greater, arsenic was found.
The evidence as to these facts, which was put forward at the trial, was regarded by the jury as conclusive proof that poison had been given to the man, notwithstanding the objections pressed by the defence that the poison had not been found in his body, and that, since none of the soup was left for examination, it had not been proved that the soup was poisonous.
With the more refined methods of analysis now available, such evidence would probably have been corroborated, seeing that the tests are capable of detecting arsenic even in the minute proportion of one part in sixty millions.
In a remarkable trial that took place, in 1831, at the Warwick Assizes, expert evidence that an animal had not been poisoned supplied the proofrequired to establish the guilt of the prisoner. A woman named Mary Higgins was accused of having poisoned her uncle with arsenic. It was proved that he had died from an irritant poison, and there was also abundant proof that the niece had bought arsenic. Her explanation of this was that she had wanted it to destroy vermin, and by way of adding conviction to her story she actually produced a dead mouse, which, she alleged, had been killed by the poison. This proved a fatal blunder on her part, for an examination of the mouse showed that there was no arsenic whatever in its body. The defence was therefore discredited, and the prisoner was found guilty of murder.
The most valuable applications of physiological tests have been in cases where narcotic poisons have been used, and especially in the early days of chemical analyses, when the methods then known were incapable of identifying these poisons.
For example, in the year 1838 a woman was tried at Liverpool on a charge of having sent a poisoned pudding to another woman with the intention of poisoning her. The two children who were sent with the pudding tasted it on the way, and finding that it was bitter, mentioned the fact to the woman to whom they were taking it. She had other reasons for being suspicious, and, therefore, sent the pudding to a doctor to be examined. He applied various tests, but was unable to detect the presence of any poison, although from the taste he suspected that some narcotic poison was present.
Accordingly, he gave a small portion of the puddingto a dog, with the result that the animal died within three hours with all the symptoms of poisoning produced by a narcotic poison. On the strength of this evidence, the prisoner was found guilty.
A French poisoning trial which took place in the early part of last century is especially interesting from the fact that it is apparently the only recorded instance, prior to the recent notorious Crippen case, in which the deadly plant, henbane, was the original source of the poison.
In the French case a child had been poisoned by some broth, and the symptoms had suggested the presence of a narcotic poison. The chemical analysis of alkaloidal poisons was at that time in its infancy, and in order to obtain proof of the poisonous character of the broth, some of the meat remaining in it was given to a cat. The animal died in about five hours, and the symptoms produced and the appearance of its body after death were all similar to those observed in the child.
The evidence was therefore regarded as corroborative proof that the plant henbane had been introduced into the broth.
In the present state of chemical analysis proof would have been expected of the presence of the active principles of henbane (hyoscine and hyoscyamine) in the broth and in the body of the victim, and physiological tests would probably only have been accepted as supplying additional proof of the identity of the poison.
A striking example of the way in which the scientific evidence may succeed in establishing the innocence ofa person accused of murder is seen in the following case, which was tried in 1835:—A woman, who had a violent disposition and was subject to attacks of hysteria, accused her husband of having attempted to poison her, and in proof of her charge produced a white powder, which, as she alleged, he had put into her food. The powder was found to be white arsenic, and the food on examination was found to contain a fatal quantity of that poison. The husband was therefore immediately arrested and kept in prison pending the investigation.
The woman was perfectly well for eight days, but on the ninth day became very violent, and did many eccentric things, and on the next day she died. Examination of the body showed that arsenic had been the cause of death. Her husband denied that he had ever put any arsenic into her food, but had it not been for the scientific evidence he would probably have been unable to prove that he was innocent.
Undoubtedly he owed his escape to his having been in prison for the eight days between the accusation brought by his wife and her death, for the medical witnesses proved that it was not possible for him to have given the dose of arsenic which caused the death of the woman, since the effects of arsenic could not have remained latent in the system for that length of time.
Circumstances, therefore, indicated that the woman had committed suicide, and on the strength of this evidence the prisoner was immediately set at liberty.
To come to more recent times, the most notabletrial in which the results of experiments upon animals have formed one of the strongest links in the evidence against the prisoner, was that of George Henry Lamson, in 1881, who was convicted of poisoning his brother-in-law.
Here again the accused was a medical man, who was able by reason of his specialised knowledge to use a poison that at the time would not readily be identified in the body after death. In fact, in the opinion of Montagu Williams, who defended him at the trial, there could be but little doubt but that he had previously poisoned a brother of his victim in the same manner, without incurring any suspicion.
He was a young man twenty-nine years of age, in practice in a small way at Bournemouth. He was not well off and had been in pecuniary straits, and, as it was known at the trial, would have benefited materially by the death of his brother-in-law, Percy John, a lad of nineteen, who was at a school in Wimbledon.
Percy was a cripple, and had to be carried up and down-stairs, and to be wheeled about in a chair, but there was no reason why he should not have lived to old age.
The story told by the prosecution was that Dr. Lamson wrote to his brother-in-law, telling him he was coming to see him at the school on his way over to Paris, and the boy was disappointed on receiving a message that he could not come till the next day. On December 3rd, however, Lamson called at the school, and said that he had only time to pay a flying visit before catching the night train to Paris.
He produced some gelatine capsules, and also a cake. Taking one of these he remarked to the schoolmaster, who was present throughout the interview, that he would leave them with him, so that he might give nasty medicines to his pupils without difficulty. He then filled one of the capsules from a basin of sugar that was on the table, and turning to the boy, said: “Here, Percy, you’re a swell pill-taker; take this, and show Mr. Bedbrook how easily it may be swallowed.”
Dr. Lamson had also brought with him some sweets and a cake, and he gave slices of this to the schoolmaster and to his young brother-in-law, and also ate a piece himself.
Immediately after the lad had swallowed the capsule Lamson observed: “That’s soon gone, my boy,” and then remarked, “I must be going now.”
He then left with the intention of catching the evening boat-train to Paris. Very shortly afterwards Percy became ill and told the schoolmaster that he felt exactly as he did four months before when his brother-in-law had given him a pill. Doctors were summoned, but in spite of everything that was done the poor boy died the same evening. A medical examination of the body showed no appearance of any disease that could have resulted in such sudden death, but a chemical examination of the stomach, which was made by Dr. Stevenson and Dr. Dupré, proved that a vegetable irritant poison must have been the cause of death.
Investigations showed that on several occasionsDr. Lamson had purchased small quantities of aconitine from different chemists, and this strengthened the suspicions already attaching to him.
A few days later Lamson returned from Paris and voluntarily went to Scotland Yard, saying that as his name had been mentioned in connection with the case he had thought it best to call and see what was to be done about it. He was then arrested and formally charged with causing the death.
The trial was memorable for the conclusive nature of the scientific evidence. The cake and sweets had been analysed and found to be quite free from aconite and the gelatine capsules were also proved to be innocuous. At the bottom of the boy’s box a pill-box had been discovered containing pills in which aconitine was present, but although the point was suggested by the defence, there was no evidence to show that the boy had secretly taken one of these.
The presence of morphia and aconitine in the body was proved, the latter being identified by its general chemical reactions as an alkaloid, by the burning sensation produced upon the tongue, and by its characteristic action upon mice, as compared with that of a standard solution of pure aconitine. In each case the animals died, the symptoms being the same and characteristic of aconitine poisoning.
For the defence it was urged by Montagu Williams that it was admitted by the scientific witnesses for the prosecution that they had no other proof of the identity of aconitine than these physiological tests upon mice; that their conclusions were a leap in the dark; and that mice had so delicate a constitutionthat even an injection of pure water would kill them. How then could it fairly be argued that because these little animals had been killed by an injection of a substance extracted from the body, that substance must be aconitine? Apart from that, bodies of the nature of alkaloids were formed in the body by decomposition, and the effects upon the mice attributed to aconitine might very well have been caused by one of these alkaloids.
It was further pointed out that there had been no opportunity of giving the boy a pill without the knowledge of the schoolmaster, and that the prisoner could not have charged the capsule with aconitine without having been observed.
The evidence put forward by the prosecution carried conviction to the jury, and the prisoner was found guilty and sentenced to death.
With reference to the more important points raised by the defence it may be mentioned that no known ptomaine (i.e., alkaloid formed by decomposition in the body after death) produces the same physiological effects as aconitine, and that the conclusions of Dr. Stevenson and Dr. Dupré were based upon the results of comparative tests, which showed that as little as1⁄2000grain of aconitine could be recognised in this way.
The probable solution of the mystery of how the prisoner managed to give the poison to the boy is suggested in the reminiscences of Lord Brampton, who, as Sir Henry Hawkins, was the presiding judge at the trial. He points out that Lamson was far too clever a man to attempt such a clumsy plan as to charge the capsule with aconitine, and thus drawsuspicion upon himself. The much more plausible theory is that the capsules had nothing whatever to do with the poisoning but that Lamson had previously put the aconitine into a raisin in the cake, and had taken care that his young brother-in-law should get the slice containing that raisin, while he and the schoolmaster had eaten other portions of the otherwise harmless cake.
After sentence of death had been passed, Lamson stood with his arms folded and in a loud voice proclaimed his innocence before God. Before his execution, however, it is stated that he confessed that he had not only poisoned Percy John, but also his other brother-in-law Herbert.
THE MAYBRICK CASE
Few trials in this country have aroused so much controversy as that of Mrs. Maybrick, in 1889, on the charge of having poisoned her husband with arsenic.
James Maybrick, who was a cotton merchant, fifty years of age, had married the accused in America in 1881, she being then eighteen years old. Four years later they had made their home in Liverpool, and apparently got on well together. In 1889, however, Mrs. Maybrick became friendly with a man named Brierley, and on the pretence of paying a visit to a relative, went to London, where she stayed with him for several days. At the end of March the Maybricks went to the Grand National Race, and the husband then became jealous of Brierley, who was also present. Following this incident came a violent quarrel, which resulted in Mrs. Maybrick’s threatening to leave him.
Shortly afterwards, Mr. Maybrick paid a visit to his brother in London, and while there complained of the extravagance and the behaviour of his wife.
He also consulted a specialist, who diagnosed his illness as acute dyspepsia, and prescribed for him certain medicines, in which, however, there was no arsenic.
After his return to Liverpool early in April, Mrs. Maybrick bought a dozen fly-papers from a chemist, and afterwards two dozen more from another chemist,stating that the flies were troublesome in the house. In each case she paid for these, although she had an account with the chemist. It was found that each of these papers contained from two to three grains of arsenic, or more than the fatal dose for a man. Evidence was given that they were subsequently discovered soaking in water in Mrs. Maybrick’s room, but that they had not been used to kill the flies.
At the end of April Mr. Maybrick became very ill, and a doctor was called in. The patient was frequently given food and medicine by his wife, and arsenic was afterwards found in a bottle of meat juice. The prisoner alleged that at her husband’s own request she had put a white powder into this bottle.
On the 9th of May the doctor concluded that Mr. Maybrick was suffering from the effects of some irritant poison, and Mrs. Maybrick from that time was not allowed to come near him. On May the 11th he died.
During the illness, letters between Mrs. Maybrick and Brierley had been intercepted, and in one of these occurred the expression that her husband was “sick unto death.” At the inquest a verdict of “Wilful murder” against Mrs. Maybrick was returned, and she was committed for trial at the Liverpool Assizes.
The trial took place before Mr. Justice Stephen, who, by the way, died insane a year later, and the prisoner was defended by Sir Charles Russell, who subsequently became Lord Chief Justice.
The case for the prosecution was based upon thepresence of a strong motive for the crime, the quarrel between the husband and wife, the possession of arsenic (from the fly-papers) by the accused, the presence of arsenic in various foods and medicines alleged by witnesses to have been given to the deceased by his wife, and the discovery of arsenic in the body after death. In addition to this, evidence was given by the nurses that they had seen the prisoner manipulating the medicines, and by doctors and relations of Mr. Maybrick that he was not in the habit of taking arsenic.
For the defence it was urged that death was due to acute gastritis, which was the result of a chill or improper food, and that arsenical poisoning was not the cause; that the fly-papers had been purchased by the prisoner for the preparation of a cosmetic for the face; and that the presence of traces of arsenic in the body was fully accounted for by the fact that Mr. Maybrick was an arsenic eater.
Several medical men expressed opinions strongly opposed to the views of the prosecution, and it was pointed out by these that many of the symptoms characteristic of poisoning by arsenic had not been observed in this case. At the same time it was admitted that the effects produced by arsenic were often erratic, and, as Dr. Stevenson stated in his evidence for the prosecution, “There is no distinctive diagnostic symptom of arsenical poisoning. The diagnostic thing is finding the arsenic.”
The medical experts who gave evidence upon behalf of the prisoner were Dr. Tidy (who, like Dr. Stevenson, was an official analyst to the Home Office),Dr. Macnamara, and Professor Paul; and their view, which was strongly expressed, was that all the symptoms which had been described to them in the evidence pointed against arsenic having been the cause of death.
The judge, in his summing up of the medical evidence, pointed out that expert witnesses were liable at times to take up the position of advocates with regard to scientific matters, and he warned the jury to take this into consideration in forming their conclusions.
The analytical evidence as to the presence of arsenic in the body and in the food and medicine was given by Dr. Stevenson and by Mr. Davis.
Davis had found no arsenic in the stomach, but it was discovered in the liver and intestines. In the bottle of the meat juice he had found half a grain in solution. Arsenic was present in the glass of the bottle, but to a less extent than in the glass of another bottle of the meat juice, in the contents of which no arsenic was present. Hence the glass could not have been the source of the arsenic found in the other bottle.
He had also found arsenic in a glass of milk in the house, in a vessel in which luncheon had been sent to the office of Mr. Maybrick, in a medicine bottle, and in a bottle of glycerine in the lavatory. In fact, one of the most remarkable features of this case was the number of articles in which arsenic had been discovered. Dr. Stevenson had also found no arsenic in the stomach, but had detected a small quantity in the kidney and the intestines. In a portion of theliver he found an amount which he calculated to amount to one-third of a grain for the whole liver, and he gave as his opinion that “the body at the time of death probably contained approximately a fatal dose of arsenic.”
Dr. Tidy, in giving evidence on behalf of the accused, criticised this evidence of Stevenson on the grounds that it did not necessarily follow that because one portion of the liver contained so much arsenic, the same proportion must be present in the remainder. In his experience the amounts of arsenic retained might vary in different parts of the same organ. He calculated from the results of Stevenson’s analyses that the total amount of arsenic was 0·082 grains.
If we examine this evidence more closely it is difficult to see upon what basis Tidy calculated his total. Stevenson had examined approximately one quarter of the liver, and had extracted from two portions a total quantity of 0·076 grains, so that, according to Tidy, the remaining three-quarters could only have contained 0·006 grains of arsenic. On the face of it this seems an absurd conclusion.
The evidence of Professor Paul went to prove that arsenic was present in the material of earthenware vessels similar to that in which the lunch was sent to Mr. Maybrick’s office, and that it could be liberated by the action of an acid, so that the arsenic found in the particular vessel might have originated from the action of acids in the food itself upon the interior of the vessel.
As has been mentioned, one of the points broughtas evidence against the prisoner was that a bottle of glycerine had been found in the lavatory, and that this contained arsenic. There was no evidence that the prisoner had ever had this bottle in her hand, and, apart from that, arsenic is a very usual impurity in ordinary commercial glycerine.
Having regard to the conflict of the scientific testimony, and to the evidence of Mr. Maybrick having acquired the habit of taking arsenic while resident in America, it was generally expected that the prisoner would be acquitted. The judge, however, evidently believing her guilty, summed up strongly against her, and put the point to be decided in the following form: The prosecution said that arsenic was the producing cause of the gastro-enteritis which was the immediate cause of death; arsenic was found in the body, and strong proof was given that arsenic was administered. The terrible question was: By whose hand was it administered? The deceased might have taken it himself, and if there was any reasonable doubt upon that point it was the duty of the jury to acquit the prisoner; but if a crime was committed, no other person but the prisoner was suggested as having committed it.
The jury were so influenced by the remarks of the judge that, after a retirement of a little over thirty minutes, they found the prisoner “Guilty.”
The feeling was very widely expressed that the prosecution had failed to establish beyond all reasonable doubt that the deceased had died from arsenic, and that arsenic had been given to him by the prisoner, and that, therefore, she was entitled to the“benefit of the doubt,” which the judge’s directions to the jury had not allowed to her.
It may be mentioned here that the judge himself, in the second edition of hisCriminal Laws of England, published in 1890, states that out of 979 cases tried before him up to September, 1889, “the case of Mrs. Maybrick was the only case in which there could be any doubt about the facts.”
In consequence of this feeling that a terrible mistake might have been made, memorials for the respite of Mrs. Maybrick were signed by the physicians of Liverpool, by members of Bars of Liverpool and London, and by the citizens of Liverpool, in all of which stress was laid upon the conflict of medical testimony. Memorials were also sent in from other parts of the country, and in all 5,000 petitions, containing upwards of half a million signatures, were received by the Home Secretary.
The feeling was too strong to be ignored, and the Home Secretary, therefore, announced that he had advised the commutation of the death penalty to one of penal servitude for life, on the ground that: “Inasmuch as, although the evidence leads to the conclusion that the prisoner administered and attempted to administer arsenic to her husband with intent to murder him, yet it does not wholly exclude a reasonable doubt whether his death was in fact caused by the administration of arsenic.”
Persistent efforts were made to obtain the liberation of the prisoner, and Lord Russell of Killowen, who had defended her at the trial, and whose belief in her innocence had never wavered, brought thematter under the notice of each succeeding Home Secretary, but always without avail. It was not until after the lapse of fifteen years that she was liberated at the ordinary termination of a sentence shortened by the good behaviour of the prisoner.
The course followed by the Home Secretary (Matthews) and endorsed by his successors is impossible to defend from a logical point of view.
If the prisoner was guilty of murder, there was no justification for yielding to the popular demand. If, on the other hand, there was “a reasonable doubt” as to whether the man died from the effects of arsenic, she ought to have been set at liberty. But to commute the sentence for the reason given was to convict the prisoner of attempted murder, a charge upon which she had never been tried, and for which, if found guilty, she would not have received penal servitude for life.
At the present time a case of this kind would be brought before the Court of Criminal Appeal, and the prisoner would have the opportunity of having the alleged misdirections of the presiding judge investigated, and of putting forward additional evidence—advantages that were not available to the accused in this trial.