Part 6

I was ill on the Monday when I received the letter, and did not arrive at the Talbot Arms, Rugeley, till half-past three on Tuesday afternoon. I saw Cook there, and he expressed himself as very comfortable, but said he had been very ill at Shrewsbury. I examined Cook in Palmer’s presence. His pulse was natural and his tongue was clean. When I remarked upon this to Palmer he said, “You should have seen it before.” I prescribed nothing for Cook at that time. I visited him several times in the course of that afternoon, and he seemed improved in every way. I gave him a little toast and water, which was in the room, and which he vomited. There was no diarrhœa as far as I was aware. Mr. Bamford, who I learned from Palmer had been attending, came about seven o’clock. He expressed his satisfaction with Cook’s improved state of health. Whilst Bamford, Palmer, and I were consulting what we should prescribe for him, Cook objected to the pills he had had the previous night. He said they made him ill. The three of us then withdrew, and Palmer proposed that Mr. Bamford should make up the morphine pills as before, but not to mention what they contained, as Cook objected so much to morphine. Mr. Bamford agreed to it, and went away. Palmer and I went into Cook’s room. I was in and out of the room during the whole evening, and he seemed very comfortable. I observed no more vomiting nor any diarrhœa. There were no bilious symptoms whatever, nor were there any signs of his having recently suffered from a bilious attack. About eight o’clock I went with Palmer over to his house. I returned to Cook’s room in about a quarter of an hour. Palmer came back about eleven o’clock with a box of pills. He opened them in my presence and showed me the directions on a slip of paper round the box. He remarked, “What an excellent hand for an old man upwards of eighty to write.” It was very good writing indeed. Palmer proposed to Cook to take the pills, but he protested, as they had made him so ill the previous night. Ultimately he did take them, and he immediately vomited into the utensil. Both Palmer and I, at his request, searched the utensil for the pills, but we found nothing but the toast and water, so that the pills were retained. After he vomited he lay down very comfortably, and we left him. Before he had taken the pills he had expressed himself stronger, and had got up and sat in a chair. During the evening he had been very jocose, speaking of what he should do during the winter, and of his future plans and prospects. After he had taken those two pills, at eleven o’clock, I went downstairs and had some supper. I returned about twelve to his room, had some conversation with him, and then went to bed, it being arranged that I should sleep in his room, which was a double-bedded one, that night. At the time I last talked to him he seemed rather sleepy, but quite as well as usual, and there was nothing to excite any apprehension in my mind. I had been in bed ten minutes, and had not gone to sleep, when he suddenly started up in bed and called out, “Doctor, get up; I am going to be ill; ring the bell for Mr. Palmer.” I rang the bell, and the chambermaid came to the door. He himself called out to her, “Fetch Mr. Palmer.” He asked me to rub his neck. I rubbed the back part of his neck and supported him with my arm while doing so. There was a stiffening of the muscles; a sort of hardness about the neck. Palmer came very soon indeed; two or three minutes at the most. He made the remark, “I was never so quickly dressed in my life.” I did not observe how he was dressed, as I was so engaged. He gave Cook two pills, which he said were ammonia pills. Directly he swallowed the pills he uttered loud screams, threw himself back in the bed, and was dreadfully convulsed. As the pills had immediately before been taken, it certainly could not have been from their action. He said to me, “Raise me up or I shall be suffocated.” The convulsions lasted five or ten minutes. It was at the commencement of the convulsions that he called out to raise him up or he should be suffocated. All the muscular fibres were convulsed; there was a violent contraction of every muscle of the body, and a stiffening of the limbs. When he called out to me to raise him, I endeavoured to do so with the assistance of Mr. Palmer, but found it was quite impossible owing to the rigidity of the limbs. When he found I could not raise him up he asked me to turn him over, which I did. He was quite sensible. After I had turned him over I listened to the action of his heart. I found it gradually to weaken. I requested Palmer to fetch some spirits of ammonia in the hopes of reviving him. Palmer fetched a bottle from his house. He was not away above a minute. When he returned, Cook’s heart was gradually sinking, and life was almost extinct. He died very quietly. He was not able to take the ammonia, and it was very soon after Palmer returned that he died. From the time when he raised himself in bed and called upon me to go for Palmer to the time when he died would be from ten minutes to a quarter of an hour. In my judgment, as a medical man, he died from tetanus, or, in ordinary English parlance, lockjaw.

Does it involve, ordinarily speaking, a mere locked jaw?--Yes, that is the common term. Locked jaw is one of the symptoms of tetanus. Every muscle in the body was affected in the same manner.

How would you express in ordinary English the general symptoms of what you call tetanus in one word?--Violent spasmodic affection of all the muscles of the body. That effects the immediate cause of death by stopping the action of the heart, and also the breath, from its effect on the diaphragm. It affects the respiratory muscles and stops respiration. It is that spasm of the respiratory muscles which causes the sense of suffocation. When death took place he was still upon his side. He remained in that position after death. I did not turn the body upon its back. The outward appearance of the body after death was very dark. As there was only one candle in the room, I could not make the observation I otherwise should have made. Both his hands, the left hand particularly, which I had in my hand, were clenched. I observed the clenching of the hands immediately the attack took place, when he threw himself back immediately after taking the pills Palmer brought over. When I was rubbing his neck I did not see the hands clenched.

Did you observe either before or at the time of death, or immediately afterwards, anything in the position of the head and neck?--Yes; the head was quite bent back.

When you say bent back, do you mean bent back into an unnatural position?--Yes; by spasmodic action. The body was twisted back like a bow; the backbone was twisted back.

[Sidenote: W. H. Jones]

By LORD CAMPBELL--When did you observe that appearance--immediately after death, or all the time?--Indeed, after throwing himself back, he was immediately drawn back.

Examination resumed--If I had placed the body at that time upon the back, on a level surface, it would have rested upon the head and heels. As his face was turned away from me, I did not observe anything immediately after or at the time of death about the jaw. After death I saw the jaw was not in its natural condition; it was all affected by spasmodic action. I spoke to Palmer about the laying out of the body, and left him alone in the room while I went downstairs to see Miss Bond. I returned in a few minutes and found Palmer with Mr. Cook’s coat in his hand. He remarked that I, being Cook’s nearest friend, should take possession of his effects. I did so, and took possession of his watch and his purse, containing five sovereigns and five shillings. That was all I could find. I did not find any betting book or any papers. After that, before Palmer left, he said something to me upon the subject of affairs as between Cook and himself. He said, as near as I can recollect, “It is a bad thing for me, as I was responsible for £3000 or £4000, and I hope Mr. Cook’s friends will not let me lose it. If they do not assist me, all my horses will be seized.” Nothing was said by him about securities or paper.

By LORD CAMPBELL--In the consultation which we three medical men had on Tuesday night nothing was said about the symptoms, the spasms, which had occurred the night before.

Cross-examined by Mr. SERJEANT SHEE--I know that Mr. Cook had been under treatment by Dr. Savage for some time.

You knew he had treated himself a good deal with mercurial treatment?--No, not a great deal. I know that he had had a sore throat for two or three months. In the summer it was bad. It was slightly ulcerated; not a very extreme case; the back part of the tongue. He could swallow, but it gave him a little pain occasionally. It depended upon what he did swallow. I knew he had found it necessary to apply caustic to his tongue. For two months before his death he had ceased to do it. After that he never complained of occasional pain in his throat or his tongue. I did not see much of him during these two months. He was attending most of the races.

[Sidenote: W. H. Jones]

Was he apprehensive about some spots which appeared upon his body?--I never heard him mention it. I had heard him express apprehensions of his being affected by secondary symptoms of venereal disease. His habits were, generally speaking, correct, though he may occasionally have gone astray, and perhaps was not very particular. I do not know that he had a chancre at the time he died, although I believe he had one twelve months ago. I was not present at either of the post-mortem examinations. I was at Shrewsbury Races with him on the Tuesday, and I knew he was very anxious, as the winning of the race was of great consequence to him. After the race was run he was so excited that for two or three minutes he could not speak to me. He was elated and happy the rest of the day, but he was not at all intoxicated. He was a very temperate man. That night when he was first attacked, and when Palmer came, Cook said, “Palmer, give me the remedy you gave me the night before.” I was rubbing his neck for about five minutes, I should think. After I turned him over on his side to the time of his death three or four minutes would elapse. He died so very quietly that I could hardly tell when he did die. I have seen cases of tetanus before.

You said nothing about tetanus at the inquest?--Yes, I did; convulsions and tetanus.

Did you not say at the time it was from over-excitement that he died?--I could not tell the cause. I was so much taken by surprise. I said I had no idea of the cause of death.

Whatever you said about “violent convulsions,” did you say, “I could not tell the cause; I imagined at the time it was from over-excitement”?--Yes.

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[The deposition of the witness before the coroner was read.]

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You say in your deposition you had been in your bed a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes. Was it not as much as twenty minutes?--I do not think it was. I had not begun to dose. I do not remember ever having stated I thought he died of epilepsy. Mr. Bamford said it was apoplexy; I said it was not. I could not make up my mind what sort of fit it was. I said it was more like an epileptic fit than apoplexy.

Re-examined--There was a partnership between Cook and Palmer about the mare “Pereine,” but it was discontinued some months before Cook’s death, and the mare became the property of Palmer. I have only seen one case of traumatic tetanus.

Was that from a wound?--From a wound in the thumb. It ended in death.

How long was the patient in dying from the time he received the wound?--Three days. The patient died of lockjaw. I have seen cases of epilepsy.

Are there any such symptoms in epileptic fits as those convulsive spasms of the muscles?--No; the consciousness is lost, and there is none of this rigidity of the muscles. In apoplexy consciousness is generally lost too. I am satisfied in my own mind that this case was not apoplexy.

[Sidenote: W. H. Jones]

By LORD CAMPBELL--Supposing he had any secondary symptoms of syphilis, do you think they could have produced the symptoms you saw on the Tuesday night?--No, I say not, decidedly, and for two months before death he was clear of them, and the throat was well.

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[Sidenote: E. Mills]

ELIZABETH MILLS was recalled and said that on the Monday morning Cook told her that during the night he had been disturbed. He said, “I was just mad for two minutes.” She asked him why he did not ring the bell, and he replied he thought we should all be fast asleep, and it passed over. He said he thought he was disturbed by hearing a quarrel in the street.

By LORD CAMPBELL--What did he say about the street?--He thought he was disturbed by hearing a quarrel in the street. He was not sure that it was that which had made him ill; that he might have been asleep, and the quarrel might have disturbed him. I cannot positively recollect whether he said so or not.

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[Sidenote: H. Savage]

HENRY SAVAGE, examined--I am a physician. I have known the deceased man Cook for about four years. He was not a man of robust constitution, but his general health was good. In the spring of 1855 he consulted me about some spots on his skin--one on his arm and one on his forehead. He had two shallow ulcers on the tongue corresponding to bad teeth. He thought these spots and ulcerations were secondary syphilitic symptoms, and had been undergoing a mild mercurial course. I recommended its immediate discontinuance, and prescribed him quinine as a tonic, and an aperient containing cream of tartar, magnesia, and sulphur. I never at any time gave him antimony. He was quite well by the end of May. He still continued to see me, as he was not quite sure about the correctness of my notions of his not having syphilis. I examined him from time to time, and the only thing the matter with his throat was that one of his tonsils was slightly enlarged; it was red and tender. There was nothing of a syphilitic character in the appearance of his throat. I saw him about a fortnight before his death, when I recommended him to go abroad for two years, as I wished to get him away from his turf associations. I examined him thoroughly at that time, and beyond a very shallow scar of some former excoriation, to which he told me he was liable, there was nothing venereal about him. There was no chancre nor any sore on any other part of his body.

Cross-examined--He was a weak man, and apt to take the advice of any person he might be in company with. The last time I saw him he had a redness over one tonsil, showing there was tenderness. He had three or four superficial ulcers on his lips.

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[Sidenote: C. Newton]

CHARLES NEWTON, examined--I am assistant to Mr. Salt, practising surgeon at Rugeley. On Monday, 19th November, about nine o’clock in the evening, Palmer came in to Mr. Salt’s surgery. He asked me for three grains of strychnia, which I gave to him. I do not think he was in the shop above two minutes. Between eleven and twelve on the next day I saw him again in the shop of Mr. Hawkins, a druggist. He was in the shop when I went in. He put his hand between my shoulders and said he wished to speak to me. I went to the door with him and out into the street. He asked me when Mr. Edwin Salt, the son of Mr. Salt, was going up to his farm at Sudbury. Palmer had nothing to do with that at all. While we were talking, a Mr. Brassington came up and entered into conversation with me about some bills for money he had against my employer. Palmer left us and returned to the shop, and came out again while we were still talking. He went in the direction of his own house, which is between 200 and 300 yards away. I went into the shop after my conversation with Mr. Brassington and saw Roberts, who was serving. I know Mr. Thirlby, who deals in drugs. He was formerly an assistant to Palmer, and succeeded to his business. He dispenses all Palmer’s medicines for him. About seven o’clock in the evening of Sunday, the 25th November, I went to Palmer’s house in consequence of being sent for by him. There was no one else there. He asked me what dose of strychnia would kill a dog, and whether it would be found in the stomach. I told him a grain, and that there would be no inflammation, and I did not think it would be found. I think he said, “It is all right,” as if speaking to himself, and snapped his fingers. I heard the next day that the post-mortem examination of Cook’s body was to take place. On my way to the post-mortem, about ten o’clock in the forenoon, I saw Palmer at Bamford’s, and I told him where I was going. He, Dr. Harland, and I went down together to the Talbot Arms for the examination. Palmer and I were left alone together in the entrance to the hall. He remarked it would be a stiff job, and asked me to go over to his house for some brandy. We did so. While we were taking the brandy he said, “You will find this fellow suffering from diseased throat; he has had syphilis.” We then returned to the Talbot Arms. I was examined before the coroner, but I said nothing about giving Palmer the three grains of strychnia on Monday night.

[Sidenote: C. Newton]

Cross-examined--When I was first examined on behalf of the Crown I mentioned the circumstance of the conversation about poisoning the dog. Before that I mentioned it to Mr. Salt, but I cannot remember when. I gave a statement to Mr. Gardner some time after the inquest. I mentioned about the dog, but did not speak about the 3 grains of strychnia. I made no mention about these matters at the inquest. I gave evidence about my conversation with Palmer at the door of Hawkins’ shop. I knew my evidence was with reference to the supposed purchase of strychnia by Palmer at the shop. The first time I informed the Crown with reference to the purchase of the 3 grains on the Monday was on Tuesday last. At the post-mortem examination I did not point out any chancre to the medical men there. It was not mentioned at all, and I did not see one nor the marks of one.

Re-examined--The reason why I did not mention about the purchase of the 3 grains of strychnia before last Tuesday to the Crown was because Mr. Salt was not on speaking terms with Mr. Palmer, and I thought Mr. Salt would be angry at my letting him have it. I communicated the fact of my own accord.

The Court then adjourned.

Third Day, Friday, 16th May, 1856.

The Court met at ten o’clock.

[Sidenote: C. J. Roberts]

CHARLES JOSEPH ROBERTS, examined by Mr. JAMES--In November last I was an apprentice to Mr. Hawkins, a chemist at Rugeley. I remember that between eleven and twelve o’clock on Tuesday, 20th November, Palmer came into the shop and asked me first for 2 drachms of prussic acid. Whilst I was putting it up for him Mr. Newton came in. Palmer said he wanted to speak to him, and the two of them went out of the shop together. I saw Brassington come up and speak to Newton when Palmer left them and came back into the shop. I was putting the prussic acid into the bottle, and he asked me for 6 grains of strychnine and 2 drachms of Batley’s solution of opium. While I was making the things up Palmer stood at the shop door with his back to me, looking into the street. He then took them away and paid for them. After he left Newton came into the shop, and I had some conversation with him. It would be two years before this transaction that Palmer bought drugs in our shop. He always dealt with Thirlby, who previously was his assistant, and is now practising as an apothecary in Palmer’s name.

Cross-examined--I did not make any entry of the transaction in our book. I am not in the habit of doing so when things are sold over the counter.

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[Sidenote: W. V. Stevens]