Part 27

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 seen opium bring on epileptic convulsions. If this were a case of poisoning by strychnia, I should suppose that as both opium and strychnia produce congestion of the brain, the two would act together, and would have a more speedy effect. If congestion of the brain was coming on when morphia was given to Cook on the Sunday and Monday nights, it might have increased rather than allayed it.

But the gentlemen who examined the body say that there was no congestion after death?--But Dr. Bamford says there was.

You stick to Dr. Bamford?--Yes, I do; because he was a man of experience--could judge much better than younger men, and was not so likely to be mistaken.

But Dr. Bamford said that Cook died of apoplexy; do you think this was apoplexy?--No, it was not.

What, then, do you think of Dr. Bamford, who certified that it was?--That was a matter of opinion; but the existence of congestion in the brain he saw.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: The other medical men said there was none.

Lord CAMPBELL: That is rather a matter of reasoning than of evidence.

Re-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE: I have seen a great many children asleep, and can tell whether they are so without seeing their faces. In the case of the child who died of tetanus the mother had told me that it was asleep. Dr. Mason Good is a well known author upon convulsions. From my reading of his work and others I have learnt that there are convulsions which are not, strictly speaking, epilepsy, although they resemble it in some of its features. I also know the works of M. Esquirolle. From reading those and other works I know that epileptic convulsions sufficiently violent to cause death frequently occur without the patient entirely losing his consciousness. Epilepsy, properly so called, is sudden in its attack. The patient falls down at once with a shriek. That disease occurs very often at night, and in bed. It sometimes happens that its existence is known to a young man’s family without his knowing anything about it. Convulsions of an epileptic character are sometimes preceded by premonitory symptoms. It sometimes happens that during such convulsions actual epilepsy comes on, and the patient dies of an internal spasm. It often happens that if a patient has suffered from epilepsy and convulsions of an epileptic kind during the night, he may be as well next day as if nothing had happened, more especially when an adult is seized for the first time. In such cases it often happens that such fits succeed each other within a short period. I heard the deposition of Dr. Bamford. If it were true that the mind of the deceased was distressed and irritable the night before his death, I should say that he was suffering from depression. From what Cook said about his madness in the middle of the Sunday night I should infer that he had been seized by some sudden cramp or spasm. Supposing that there was no such cramp, I should refer what he said to nervous and mental excitement. There might be some disturbance of the brain. I do not believe that inflammation can be absent while spots on the stomach be present. About eighteen months ago I examined the stomach of a person who had died from fever, in which I found white spots. I consulted various authors. In an essay on the stomach by Dr. Sprodboyne, a medical man who practised in Edinburgh, I found mention of similar spots in the stomach of a young woman who had died suddenly.

Dr. BAINBRIDGE, examined by Mr. GROVE: I am a doctor of medicine, and medical officer to the St. Martin’s workhouse. I have had much experience of convulsive disorders. Such disorders present great variety of symptoms. They vary as to the frequency of the occurrence and as to the muscles affected. Periodicity, or recurrence at the same hours, days, or months, is common. I had a case in which a patient had an attack on one Christmas night, and on the following Christmas night, at the same hour, he had a similar attack. The various forms of convulsions so run into each other that it is almost impossible for the most experienced medical men to state where one terminates and the other begins. In both males and females hysteria is frequently attended by tetanic convulsions. Epileptic attacks are frequently accompanied by tetanic complications.

Cross-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Hysteric convulsions very rarely end in death. I have known one case in which they have done so. That occurred within the last three months. It was the case of a male. It occurred in St. Martin’s workhouse. The man had for years been subject to this complaint. On the occasion on which he died he was ill only a few minutes. I did not make a _post-mortem_ examination. I was told he was seized with sudden convulsions, fell down on the ground, and in five minutes was dead. There was slight clinching of the hands, but I think no locking of the jaw. The man was about thirty-five years of age. He was the brother of the celebrated æronaut, Lieutenant Gale. In many cases of this description consciousness is destroyed. It is not so in all. I have met with violent cases in which it has been preserved. I never knew a case in which during the paroxysm the patient spoke. Epilepsy is sometimes attended with opisthotonos. I have seen cases of traumatic tetanus. In such cases the patient retains his consciousness. I have known many cases of epilepsy ending in death. Loss of consciousness--not universally, but generally--accompanies epilepsy. I never knew a case of death from that disease where consciousness was not destroyed. I have known ten or twelve such fatal cases.

Re-examined by Mr. GROVE: Persons almost invariably fall asleep after an epileptic attack.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: And after taking opium?--Yes.

EDWARD AUSTIN STEDDY, examined by Mr. GRAY: I am a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, and am in practice at Chatham. In June, 1854, I attended a person named Sarah Ann Taylor, for trismus and pleuro-tothonos. When I first saw the patient she was bent to one side. The convulsions came on in paroxysms. The pleuro-tothonos and trismus lasted about a fortnight. The patient then so far recovered as to be able to walk about. About a twelve-month afterwards, on the 3rd of March, 1855, she was again seized. That seizure lasted about a week. She is still alive. The friends of the patient said that the disease was brought on by depression, arising from a quarrel with her husband.

Cross-examined by Mr. JAMES: I do not know how long before the attack this quarrel occurred. During it the woman received a blow on her side from her husband. During the whole fortnight the lockjaw or trismus continued. In March, 1855, she was under my care about a week, during the whole of which the trismus continued.

Dr. GEORGE ROBINSON, examined by Mr. KENEALY: I am a licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians, and Physician to the Newcastle-on-Tyne Dispensary and Fever Hospital. I have devoted considerable attention to the subject of pathology. I have practised as a physician for ten years. I have heard the whole of the medical evidence in this case. From the symptoms described, I should say that Cook died of tetanic convulsions, by which I mean, not the convulsions of tetanus, but convulsions similar to those witnessed in that disease. The convulsions of epilepsy sometimes assume a tetanic appearance. I know no department of pathology more obscure than that of convulsive diseases. I have witnessed _post-mortem_ examinations after death from convulsive diseases, and have sometimes seen no morbid appearances whatever; and in other cases the symptoms were applicable to a great variety of diseases. Convulsive diseases are always connected with the condition of the nerves. The brain has a good deal to do with the production of convulsive diseases, but the spinal cord has more. I believe that gritty granules in the region of the spinal cord would be very likely to produce convulsions, and I think they would be likely to be very similar to those described in the present case. I think that from what I have heard described of the mode of life of the deceased, it would have predisposed him to epilepsy. I have witnessed some experiments with strychnia, and have performed a few. I have also prescribed it in cases of paralysis.

By the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I have seen twenty cases where epilepsy has been attended by convulsions of a tetanic character. I have never seen the symptoms of epilepsy proceed to anything like the extent of the symptoms in Cook’s case. I never saw a body in a case of epilepsy so stiff as to rest upon the head and the heels. I never knew such symptoms to arise in any case except tetanus. When epilepsy presents any of these extreme forms it is always accompanied by unconsciousness. In almost every case of epilepsy the patient is unconscious at the time of the attack. In cases of epilepsy I have found gritty granules on the brain; and any disturbing cause in the system, I think, would be likely to produce convulsions. I believe that the granules in this case were very likely to have irritated the spinal cord, and yet that no indication of that irritation would have remained after death. I think that these granules might have produced the death of Mr. Cook.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Do you think that they did so?

Witness: Putting aside the assumption of death by strychnia, I should say so.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Are not all the symptoms spoken to by Mr. Jones indicative of death by strychnia?

Witness: They certainly are.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Then it comes to this--that if there were no other cause of death suggested, you would say that the death in this case arose from epilepsy?

Witness: Yes.

By Serjeant SHEE: Epilepsy is a well-known form of disease which includes many others.

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

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

By Mr. Serjeant SHEE: There are cases of angina pectoris in which the patient has recovered and appeared perfectly well for a period of 24 hours, and then the attack has returned. I am of opinion that the fact of the recurrence of the second fit in Cook’s case is more the symptom of angina pectoris than of strychnia poison.

Dr. WRIGHTSON was re-called, and in answer to a question put by Serjeant SHEE, he said it was his opinion that when the strychnia poison was absorbed in the system it was diffused throughout the entire system.

By the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: The longer time that elapsed before the death would render the absorption more complete. If a minimum dose to destroy life were given, and a long interval elapsed to the death, the more complete would be the absorption and the less the chance of finding it in the stomach.

By Serjeant SHEE: I should expect still to find it in the spleen, and liver, and blood.

CATHERINE WATSON said: I live at Garnkirk, near Glasgow. I was attacked with a fit in October of last year. I had no wound of any kind on my body when I was attacked. I did not take any poison.

By the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I was taken ill at night. I had felt heavy all day from the morning, but had no pain till night. The first pain I felt was in my stomach, and then I had cramp in my arms, and after that I was quite insensible. I have no recollection of anything after I was first attacked, except that I was bled.

Serjeant SHEE then said, that he was now about to enter into another part of the case for the defence, and, probably, the Court would think it a convenient period to adjourn.

The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE said that the Court had no objection to adjourn if the learned Serjeant thought it would be a convenient time to do so.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL requested that before the Court was formally adjourned a witness named Saunders, whose name was upon the back of the bill, and who was not in attendance, and who, he believed, had not made his appearance during the trial, should be called upon his recognizances. He added that he believed this witness was also subpœned on behalf of the prisoner, but he (the Attorney-General) intended to have called him for the Crown.

The COURT directed that the witness should be called upon his recognizances, and this was done, but he did not appear.

The Court then adjourned until ten o’clock on Saturday morning.

TENTH DAY, MAY 24.

The Lord Chief Justice Campbell, Mr. Baron Alderson, and Mr. Justice Cresswell took their seats at ten o’clock.

The interest felt in this extraordinary trial was by no means diminished, notwithstanding the tedious length, to which the proceedings have extended. The interior of the court was crowded in every part, crowds were collected outside, and numbers of persons who had considered themselves fortunate in obtaining orders of admission from the Sheriff, were ranged in long rows along the passages leading to the court, anxiously awaiting the only chance of admission, which was afforded them by some more fortunate brother spectator vacating his position.

The counsel for the Crown were, as on previous days, the Attorney-General, Mr. James, Q.C., Mr. Bodkin, Q.C., Mr. Welsby, and Mr. Huddlestone. Counsel for the prisoner, Mr. Serjeant Shee, Mr. Grove, Q.C., Mr. Gray, and Mr. Kenealy.

CLOSE OF THE MEDICAL EVIDENCE.

The names of the jurors having been called over.

Mr. OLIVER PEMBERTON, lecturer on anatomy, of Queen’s College, Birmingham, and surgeon to the General Hospital of that town, was sworn and examined by Mr. Grove, Q.C. Witness said--I was present at the examination of the body of Cook after its exhumation in January, and closely examined the condition of the spinal cord. It was not, however; in such a condition as to enable me to say confidently in what state it was immediately after death. The upper part, where the brain had been separated, was green in colour from the effects of decomposition. The remaining portion, though fairly preserved, for the body had been buried two months, was so soft as to prevent my drawing any opinion of its state immediately after death.

Cross-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I saw the body the day after the bony canal had been opened. The opening of that canal would, to a certain extent, expose the cord, but the outer covering or dura mater was not opened, to the best of my recollection, until I arrived. I attended the examination on the part of the prisoner. Mr. Bolton, professor of Queen’s College, Birmingham, was also present on the occasion on the part of Palmer.

By Mr. Serjeant SHEE: Was there any difference of opinion expressed on that occasion by the medical men?

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL objected to the question.

Lord Campbell decided that it could not be put.

Mr. Serjeant SHEE said that this witness brought to a conclusion the medical evidence on the part of Palmer.

GENERAL EVIDENCE.

HENRY MATTHEWS, examined by Mr. GROVE: I am inspector of police at the Euston-square Railway Station. I was stationed there on Monday, 19th November last. At two o’clock in the afternoon of that day a train left London which would stop at Rugeley. No train after that hour stops at Rugeley. The express train left at five in the afternoon; it is due at Stafford at 8.42 p.m.; it did not arrive till 8.45. The distance from Stafford to Rugeley by railway is nine miles. I do not know the distance by road. The shortest and quickest mode of getting to Rugeley after the two o’clock train, would be by the five o’clock express to Stafford, and thence by road to Rugeley.

JOSEPH FOSTER, examined by Mr. GRAY: I am a farmer and grazier at Sibbertoft, in Northamptonshire. I kept the George Hotel, at Welford, in that county, up to Lady-day last. I knew the late John Parsons Cook for many years previous to his death. I have met him at various places, in the hunting field, at dinners, and elsewhere. I have had opportunities of judging of his health. I think he was of a very weak constitution. I form that judgment from having been with him on several occasions when he suffered from bilious attacks. Those are the only circumstances upon which I formed that opinion.

Cross-examined by Mr. JAMES: I knew Mr. Cook for ten years; he hunted regularly for the last two years in Nottinghamshire. He kept sometimes two and sometimes three horses. I have known him to hunt three days a week when he was well. I knew Mr. George Pell. There is a cricket club at Welford. I do not know whether Cook was a member of the club. I have seen him there. I saw Cook for the last time at Lutterworth, about the middle of October last. I last knew him to have a bilious sick headache about a year and a half ago [laughter].

Lord Chief Justice CAMPBELL: I most strongly implore that there will be no expression of any sensation evinced at the answers given by any of the witnesses.

By Mr. JAMES: I saw Cook at my own house when he complained of suffering. He did not hunt on that day. He came to my house to meet the hounds, but did not go. He was dressed in his hunting dress. I could not swear I did not see him next within a week afterwards in the hunting-field.

By Lord CAMPBELL: I never saw Cook sick on any other occasion, except about seven years previous at Market Harborough, at the cricket match, after dinner.