Part 15

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 on 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 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. [The witness gave the technical names of the poisons he referred to.] 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.--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 so remarkably 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 referred to in the work that has been referred to was that of a game-keeper, who was found dead; his head was thrown back, his hands were clinched, 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 him of the existence of strychnia. There was a substance in the body of an intense bitter, which was tested by the colour test, and it succeeded in one instance, but failed in another. I have no doubt that colour-tests are not to be relied on.

The trial was then again adjourned at six o’clock, until the following (Tuesday) morning, at ten o’clock. The jury were taken, as on the former occasions, to the London Coffee-house, in the charge of the officers of the court.

SIXTH DAY, MAY 20.

The trial of William Palmer on the charge of poisoning John Parsons Cook was resumed this morning. The court was quite as much crowded as during the previous days. Among the gentlemen upon the bench were Mr. Horsman, M.P., Sir J. Ramsden, M.P., and Sir John Wilson, Governor of Chelsea Hospital.

The learned Judges, Lord Chief Justice Campbell, Mr. Baron Alderson, and Mr. Justice Cresswell, accompanied by the Recorder, the Sheriffs, Under-Sheriffs, and several members of the Court of Aldermen, came into court shortly before 10 o’clock, and took their seats upon the bench.

The prisoner was immediately placed in the dock. His appearance and demeanour were in no respect changed.

JOHN JACKSON, examined by Mr. JAMES: I am a member of the College of Physicians. I have recently returned from India, where I have practised for twenty-five years. During that practice I have had my attention directed to cases of idiopathic and traumatic tetanus. In England idiopathic tetanus appears to be rare. In India it is comparatively frequent. The proportion of cases of idiopathic to traumatic tetanus is about one-third. I have seen not less than forty cases in the hospital at Calcutta. That disease is not considered to be so fatal as traumatic tetanus, but I have found that it is equally so. It is commonly found in children--both native and European. It takes place about the third day after birth. It will also be occasioned by cold in the climate of India. In infants there is a more marked symptom of lockjaw than in traumatic tetanus. In adults there is no difference between the symptoms of the two diseases. I have always seen idiopathic tetanus preceded by premonitory symptoms. Those are a peculiar expression of the countenance and stiffness in the muscles of the throat and of the jaw. The period which usually elapses between the attack of idiopathic tetanus and the fatal termination of the disease is in infants forty-eight hours; in adults, if the disease arises from cold, it is longer, and may continue many days, going through the same grades as the traumatic form of the disease. I have not heard the evidence of the attacks of the deceased Cook.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE: In idiopathic tetanus the patient is always uncomfortable for some time before the attack. The appetite is not much affected. He complains more of the muscles of his neck. He may within twelve hours of a serious attack preserve his relish for food. I never heard a patient complain of want of appetite. I have known cases of idiopathic tetanus in which the first paroxysm occurred in bed. I have known this disease occur to women after confinement or miscarriage. Sometimes one of the premonitory symptoms is a difficulty in swallowing.

Re-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: In an infant not more than six hours will elapse between the premonitory symptoms and the commencement of the tetanic paroxysm; in an adult the interval will be from twelve to twenty-four, sometimes more than that. The interval from the commencement of the tetanic convulsions to death will vary from three to ten days. Sometimes death may occur in two days, but that is an early termination. When the disease sets in the course of the symptoms is alike in both forms of tetanus. Both forms are much more common in India than in England. The symptoms in India are the same as in England. I have never seen a case in which the disease ended in death in twenty minutes or half an hour.

DANIEL SCULLY BERGEN, examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I am the chief superintendent of police in Stafford. I attended the coroner’s inquest on the body of Cook. After the verdict had been returned, I, on the night of Saturday, December 15, searched the house of the prisoner Palmer. I found a quantity of papers, the greater portion in the surgery and drawing-room, but some in Palmer’s bedroom. I put them all into the drawing-room, locked the door, and put the key into my pocket. On the following day (Sunday) I endeavoured to make a selection of them in the presence of Mr. George Palmer, the prisoner’s brother, an attorney at Rugeley. Assisted by Inspector Crisp and Mr. Woollaston, I went through all the papers. Eventually, on the Tuesday morning, I gave up the idea of selection, and tied up all the papers, took them away in a black leather bag, and conveyed them to Stafford, where I delivered them to Mr. Hatton, the chief constable. Some days afterwards, I believe on the 24th December, the bag was opened in my presence, and the papers were gone through minutely by Mr. Deane, solicitor, acting for the prosecution. He classified them, and they were again tied up. Mr. Deane copied a portion of them, but he kept none. They were all left at the office of the chief constable. When I examined the papers I saw what they were. I did not find a cheque on Messrs. Weatherby, purporting to bear the signature of Cook, nor any paper purporting to bear his signature respecting bills of exchange. Some of the papers were afterwards returned to Mr. George Palmer. Mr. Deane selected a large number of letters and documents, private accounts, private letters, which were delivered to Inspector Crisp, with instructions to give them to Mr. George Palmer. William Palmer was arrested on the night of the 15th December.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE: The inquest was held at the Talbot Arms. It continued several days. The first meeting was merely to empannel the jury. The inquest lasted more than a fortnight. The prisoner was arrested by the sheriff on a civil process a day or two before the verdict was delivered. From the commencement of the inquest until that time he was at his house at Rugeley. He was never present at the inquest, nor did any one act professionally for him. Some time before the death of Cook I heard of an Inspector Field, who I believe is not now a police-officer, being at Rugeley. I know that there are such persons as the Duttons, but do not know anything about them, or their mother.

HENRY AUGUSTUS DEANE, examined by Mr. JAMES: I am an attorney, and a member of the firm of Chubb, Deane, and Chubb, Gray’s-inn. I attended the inquest on the body of Walter Palmer, but not that on the body of Cook. On the 24th of December I saw Palmer’s papers at Stafford. They were in the custody of the last witness. The papers were in a black bag, which was unsealed in my presence. Bergen, Mr. Hatton, the chief-constable, and myself were the persons present. I carefully examined all the papers, for the purpose of selecting those which it was necessary should be kept. I returned a considerable number of immaterial papers to George Palmer. Among the papers I found no check upon Messrs. Weatherby, purporting to be signed by the deceased Cook, nor any paper like that which the witness Cheshire stated that Palmer asked him to attest--an acknowledgment purporting to be signed by Cook that bills to the amount of some thousands had been accepted by Palmer for Cook’s benefit. I saw George Palmer, the solicitor, after the papers which I had selected were returned to him.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE: I know Field, the detective officer. We were solicitors to the Prince of Wales Insurance-office. It was in our employment that Field went to Rugeley. He was at Rugeley only a part of one day. He was at Stafford for three or four days altogether. He did not see the prisoner Palmer. His visit had been preceded by that of another officer, named Simpson. Simpson went from Stafford to Rugeley with myself and Field. He told me he had seen Palmer. I think he went into Staffordshire in the first week in October.

Re-examined by Mr. JAMES.--Field was sent down to make inquiries as to the habits of life of Mr. Walter Palmer, of whose death the office had shortly before received notice, and also to inquire into the circumstances of a person named Bates, with reference to a proposal for an insurance of £25,000 upon his life.

JOHN ESPIN, examined by MR. JAMES.--I am a solicitor practising in Davies-street, Berkeley-square. I am solicitor to Mr. Padwick. I produce a bill for £2,000 which was placed in my hands to enforce payment from the prisoner.

MR. STRAWBRIDGE, manager of the bank at Rugeley, was called and proved that the drawing and endorsement of this bill--a bill at three months for £2,000, drawn by William Palmer, and purporting to be accepted by Sarah Palmer--were in the handwriting of the prisoner, and that the acceptance was not in that of his mother.

JOHN ESPIN continued.--This bill would be due on the 6th of October, 1854. £1,000 had been paid off it. Judgment was signed on the 12th of December, and I had then had the bill only a day or two. The execution was issued on the 12th of December. I have here a letter from William Palmer addressed to Mr. Padwick on the 12th of November, and enclosing a cheque, and requesting that it should not be presented until the 28th of November. I produce the cheque for £1,000 enclosed in this letter of the 12th. The cheque is dated the 28th. That cheque was not paid. I produce another cheque, dated the 8th of December, 1855, payable to Mr. Padwick or bearer, for the sum of £600. [Mr. Strawbridge proved that the signature to this cheque was in the handwriting of the prisoner.] That was not paid. It was received a few days after the check for £1,000 was dishonoured. £1,000 still remained due. We issued a ca. sa. against the prisoner’s person. Upon that Palmer was arrested.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE.--I believe all the documents were placed in my hands together about the 12th of December.

WILLIAM BAMFORD, examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I am a surgeon and apothecary at Rugeley, in Staffordshire. I first saw the deceased, John Parsons Cook, on Saturday, the 17th of November. Palmer, the prisoner, asked me to visit him. Palmer said that Cook had been dining with him the day before, and had taken too much champagne. I went with Palmer to see Cook. I asked if he had taken too much wine the day before, and he assured me that he took but two glasses. I found no appearance of bile about Cook, but there was constant vomiting. I prescribed for him a saline effervescing draught, and a six-ounce mixture. I never saw Cook take any of the pills which I had prescribed. After I had prepared the pills on the Monday evening I took them to the Talbot Arms, and gave them to a servant maid, who took them upstairs. On the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, I prepared the same pills. I saw Palmer on the Tuesday morning. I was going to see Cook when he met me. I asked him if he had seen Cook the night before. He said that he saw him between nine and ten o’clock, and was with him for half an hour. He requested that I would not disturb Cook, and I went home without seeing him. Between twelve and one o’clock Palmer met me again. I was going to see Cook, and Palmer begged I would not go, because he was still and quiet, and he did not wish him to be disturbed. At seven o’clock in the evening Palmer came to my house, and requested me to go and see Cook again. I went and saw him. Having seen Cook, I left the room with Jones and Palmer. Palmer said he rather wished Cook to have his pills again, and that he would walk up with me for them. He did so, and stood by while I prepared them in my surgery. I had strychnia in a cupboard in my own private room. I put the pills in a box, and addressed it, “Night pills. John Parsons Cook, Esq.” I wrote that direction on all the four nights. On the Tuesday night Palmer requested that I would put on a direction. After that I did not again see Cook alive. Palmer took away the pills between seven and eight o’clock. I had wrapped the box up in paper, and had sealed it. There was no impression of a seal upon it. The direction was upon a separate paper, which I placed under the box, and between it and the outside paper. Nothing was written on the box or on the outside paper. 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 to me, and I could not have been more than five or ten minutes in going up. 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 were clinched. I filled up the certificate, and gave it as my opinion that he died from apoplexy. Palmer asked me to fill up the certificate. I had forms of certificates in my possession. When Palmer asked me to fill up the certificate I told him that, as Cook was his patient, it was his place to fill up the certificate. He said he had much rather I did it, and I did so. I was present at the _post-mortem_ examination. After it was over, Palmer said, “We ought not to have let that jar go.” That was all he said.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE: My house is about 200 yards from that of the prisoner.

THOMAS PRATT, examined by Mr. JAMES: I am a solicitor, and practise in Queen-street, Mayfair. I know the prisoner Palmer. My acquaintance with him commenced at the end of November, 1853. I obtained for him a loan of £1,000. That was repaid. In October, 1854. I was employed by him to make a claim for two policies upon the life of Ann Palmer. I received, upon the prisoner’s account, £5,000 from the Sun office, and £3,000 from the Norwich Union. The money was applied in payment of, I think, three bills, amounting to £3,500 or £4,000, which were due, and of loans obtained after I had made the claims upon the policies. There was £1,500 not so applied. That was paid to Palmer, or applied to other purposes under his direction. In April, 1855, Palmer applied to me for a loan of £2,000. He did not state the purpose for which he required the loan. I obtained it upon a bill for £2,000 drawn by himself, and purporting to be accepted by Sarah Palmer. On the 28th of November of that year there were eight bills held by clients of mine or by myself. [These bills were produced and read; the total amount for which they were drawn was £12,500.] Two bills, dated July 22 and July 24, for £2,000 each, were the only bills which were overdue in November, 1855. Two bills, for £500 and £1,000 were held over from month to month. [These were bills dated June 5 and August 2, 1854.] The interest was paid monthly. With two exceptions, these bills were discounted at the rate of 60 per cent. On the 9th of November the interest for holding over the two bills, dated in 1854, was due. I remember the death of Walter Palmer. That occurred in August, 1855. I was instructed by William Palmer to claim from the Prince of Wales insurance office £13,000 due upon a policy upon his life. The Sarah Palmer by whom these bills purport to be accepted is the mother of the prisoner. While holding these bills I from time to time addressed letters to her. I wrote to Palmer as follows:--

“If you are quite settled on your return from Doncaster, do pray think about your three bills, so shortly coming due. If I do not get a positive appointment from the office to pay, which I do not expect, you must be prepared to meet them as agreed. You told me your mother was coming up this month, and would settle them.”

About a week afterwards I wrote to him [This letter had no date, but bore a postmark, Sept. 24]:--

“You are aware there are three bills, of £2,000 each, accepted by your mother, Mrs. Sarah Palmer, falling due in a day or two. Now, as the £13,000 cannot be received from the Prince of Wales Insurance Office for three months, it will be necessary that those bills should be renewed; I will therefore thank you to send me up three new acceptances to meet those coming due, and which, when they fall due, I presume the money will be ready to meet, which will amount to £1,500 more than your mother has given acceptances for.”

On the 2nd of October I wrote:--

“This, you will observe, quite alters arrangements, and I therefore must request that you make preparations for meeting the two bills due at the end of this month.... In any event, bear in mind that you must be prepared to cover your mother’s acceptances for the £4,000, due at the end of the month.”

On the 6th of October I wrote to him another letter, containing this passage:--

“I have your note acknowledging receipt by your mother of the £2,000 acceptance, due the 2d October. Why not let her acknowledge it herself? You must really not fail to come up at once, if it be for the purpose of arranging for the payment of the two bills at the end of the month. Remember, I can make no terms for their renewal, and they must be paid.”