The Most Extraordinary Trial of William Palmer, for the Rugeley Poisonings, which lasted Twelve Days

ELIZABETH MILLS examined by Mr. JAMES: In November last I was chambermaid at the Talbot Arms, Rugeley. I had been so about two years. I knew the prisoner Palmer, who was in the...

GEORGE MYATT, saddler, examined by Mr. GRAY: I was at Shrewsbury races on the day when Polestar won. I was at the Raven Hotel on the evening of that day, Wednesday. I saw Cook a...

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...

Examination resumed: On that day (Monday) I was very unwell. On the next day I went to Rugeley. I arrived at the Talbot Arms about half-past three o’clock in the afternoon, and...

J. BURDON, examined by Mr. JAMES: This manuscript book I found in the prisoner’s house on the 16th or 17th of December. I am an inspector of police in Staffordshire.

The court was quite as full at the commencement of the proceedings this morning as it had been on either of the preceding days. The Earl of Derby, Earl Grey, and other noble lor...

Well, then, if that document bears the signature of Walter Palmer, and was given to you by William Palmer, cannot you tell whether it bears your own signature or not?--Mr. Attor...

Re-examined by Mr. GROVE: What is the smallest quantity of strychnia that your process is capable of detecting?--I am perfectly sure I could detect the 50,000th part of a grain...

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 th...

There is a postscript, which I will read, but upon which I will at present make no observation--“I am much better.” What is the fair inference from these letters? I submit that...

On this point, however, Palmer offered no explanation. He was himself a defaulter, and could not show at Tattersall’s. He produced a piece of paper which he said contained a lis...

The jury came into Court shortly before ten o’clock, and were soon followed by Lord Campbell and Mr. Justice Cresswell, accompanied by the Recorder, the Sheriffs and Under-Sheri...

Cross-examination continued: I did not tell the coroner that Mr. Cook was beating the bedclothes on the Monday night. I did say that he sometimes threw his head back, and then w...

The other medical authority to whom I said I should refer is Dr. Christison. He says that the symptoms produced by strychnine are very uncommon and striking--the animal begins t...

My learned friend says that Cook was the best friend of the prisoner, and that Cook was the only person to whom he could look for assistance in his embarrassments. But Cook had...

Mr. SAMUEL SOLLY, surgeon of St. Thomas’s Hospital, examined by Mr. WELSBY: I have been connected with St. Thomas’s Hospital, as lecturer and surgeon, for 28 years, and during t...

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...

I had received from Palmer a letter, dated October 5, acknowledging, on the part of his mother, the receipt of a bill of exchange for £2,000. On the 10th I wrote to Palmer a let...

It was not intended by Palmer that those proceeds should fall into Cook’s hands, and accordingly he forged the name of John Parsons Cook on the back of that cheque. Cook never r...

But the case does not stop here. The jar was delivered to Mr. Boycott, the clerk to Mr. Gardner, the solicitor. Palmer, finding that it was to be sent to London for chymical ana...

How, if Palmer is the murderer they represent him, are you to account for his summoning Jones to the bedside of the sick man? If Cook really suspected--which we are assured he d...

Hideous though may be the crime of taking away life by poison, it is probably not so horrible to contemplate as the motive of a judicial murder effected by a false witness again...

Cross-examination continued: Do you not know that very lately there was a case in the London Hospital, a case in which tetanus came on so rapidly and so unaccountably, that it w...

Could it be detected, under those circumstances, in the coats of the stomach?--Not knowing the dose administered, and the power of absorption, I cannot say that it could certain...

“My dear Sir,--Should any of Cook’s friends call upon you to know what money Cook ever had from you, pray don’t answer that question or any other about money matters until I hav...

Without going into unnecessary details, I will now state what I intend to prove upon this part of the case. I shall call a great number of most respectable medical practitioners...

Now, Dr. Copland, I apprehend, would stand higher as an authority than the man who quotes him. Dr. Copland might have been called, but was not called, notwithstanding the challe...

Palmer says in that letter that he had seen it in black and white. Cheshire states that he had not shown him the letter. However that might be, there can be no question that thi...

THOMAS KNIGHT, of Leytonstone. RICHD. DUMBRELL, Fore Street. WM. MAVOR, Park Street. WM. NEWMAN, Coleshill Street. GEORGE MILLER, Duke Street, Grosvenor Square. GEORGE OAKSHOTT,...

As to the effect of the poison would they not?--I think a rabbit is quite as good as any animal. The poison is retained and its operation is shown. At the inquest I saw Mr. Gard...

Mr. Serjeant SHEE then rose to open the defence. He said: In rising to perform the task which it now becomes my duty to discharge, I feel, gentlemen of the jury, an almost overw...

There was the pinch. The office would not pay, and bills for £4,000 were coming due. If anything occurred to increase the suspicions of the office--which was very very unwilling...

Picture to yourself 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 that a...

What quantity?--A grain and a half. From my experience, I think that if morphia had been given a day or two before it would have accelerated the action of the strychnia. I have...

His lordship next read the evidence of Dr. Guy, who spoke to a case of tetanus in a child of eight years of age, supervening from an injury to the great toe, and expressed his o...