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    31 at 24, 1856.] T H E L, E A B E B. 437

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    Trial Of William Palmer. »—The First "Wi...

    say it is traumatic , that is , arising from external injury-It had been attempted to show that the disease of which Cooke w as said to have died was not traumatic tetanus , and therefore that it was strychnine tetanus . He ( Mr . Serjeant Shee ) thought it was not clear that it was tetanus at all . That Cooke died from convulsions he believed ; but what pretence was there for saying that they were tetanic at all ? The Court here adjourned for a short time , in order t o get some refreshment ; and , on its return , jfr > Serjeant Shee argued that the state of Mr . Cooke ' s health at the time in question , his constitutional derangements , and the excitement into which lie was thrown by the success of his horse at the

    Shrewsbury raees—an excitement which was so great as to render him speechless for three minutes , and which was natural , considering that , but for his success , he was a ruined man—may , very possibly , have brought on convulsions . Detailing the circumstances attending and preceding the death of Cooke , the learned counsel contended that there was a great deal which was presumptive of Palmer ' s innocence . The accused sent for Mr . Jones ( an intimate friend and medical attendant of Mr . Cooke ) ; the patient did not mention to Mr . Jones the serious attack he had had after the races , and the suspicions he felt ; Palmer gave Cooke two pills in the presence of Mr . Jones , of the same nature as those which he had before administered , though , had they

    contained strychnine , the patient would have died in convulsions in-a quarter of an hour , with Mr . Jones for a witness ; the deceased himself , in the course of his last attack , asked for Palmer to be sent for ; and Mr . Jones , after death , seemed very uncertain as to how to characterize the complaint . Hospital surgeons were not the most qualified for pronouncing on such cases ; and he should call the most eminent private physicians to show that the symptoms attending Cooke ' s death were not those resulting from strychnine . A person poisoned by strychnine objects to be touched ; but Cooke asked to have his ne ' ck rubbed . The heart , in these cases , was always

    found full ; but in Cooke ' 3 case it was found empty—a fact which the prosecution attempted to account for by saying that the post-mortem examination was clumsily performed , and that the blood had thus escaped . In the testimony of Elizabeth' Mills there was a discrepancy . She said before the coroner that the broth she had taken , and which was originally intended for Cooke , had not had any ill effects on her ; but on the triaF she said it had . She also stated in that court , in opposition to her former account , that Palmer , on a specified morning , had given Cooke the coffee he afterwards vomited . That was not alL The case for the Crown was that Cooke was

    reluctant to take the pills , and that Palmer overruled him . According to her statement before the coroner , Cooke said it was the pills that Palmer made him take at half-past eleven o ' clock that made him ill :- when she came here , she said the time was half-past ten o ' clock , thereby fixing the fact that Palmer gave the pills . Persons in that condition of life , sometimes make mistakes not intending to deceive ; and it ia the misfortune attending all falsehoods , that it is almost impossible to retract without disgrace . She had , he believed , told a falsehood , and then had not the moral courage to set it right . It was said that the prisoner pushed the parties who were making the post-mortem examination ; but it was admitted that nothing was lost , and he was sure that they

    would attach no importance to that small circumstance . Then it was said that the jar was removed to a corner of the room . That a man knowing himself to be innocent should be anxious to have the jar placed in the hands of persons in whom he could rely , was natural . There were some persons , recollect , who did not want to pay the 18 , 000 £ There were some persons who had been undermining the prisoner ' s character for a considerable time , imputing to him improper conduct towards a near relative , and propagating suspicion . He knew there were persons so prejudiced against him ; and his removing the jar was only to prevent persons having the opportunity of tampering with it . His whole conduct was consistent with that theory . Ilia objection to the

    jars going to Mr . Frere was to bo accounted for in the same wav . He would now call attention to the . state ment of Myatt , the post-boy . It should be recollected that Mr . Stevens hod come down from London ; that Ins conduct had been harah towards the prisoner ; that he had almost insulted , and hud very much irritated , him ; and ho ( Mr . Serjeant Shee ) thought that the prisoner s offer to Myatt to g ive him 10 / . to upset the vehicle in which the jar was to be ? conveyed along with Mr . Stevens to Stafford , was an oiler dictated by the irritation which ho felt at Stevens'a conduct towards him . From the answers given in crofis- oxaniination by Myatt ,

    it appeared that all Palmer aaid wan — " I should not mind giving 10 / . to upset Mr . Stevens "—not " to break the j « r . " The evidence of Charles Newton , th « assistant at Mr . Salt ' s surgery , was of no worth . Ho suppressed tf . at the inquoat ; and it was moat improbable that Palmer should go to tbo house of a inuu with whom ho had quarrelled , to inquire , ubout the oil'oots of atryehiiinc , and to buy that drug , or that ho , a medical man educated in London , would scok for information from such a person aa tho witness Newton . Uosiden , ho wua in London on Monday , whoro n medical man would huvo no difllculty u buying utrycluiine ; and , in addition to thia , it

    could be proved that the prisoner could not have been at Rugeley at nine o ' clock on Monday night . Suspicion was attached to the circumstance of Palmer having ordered the coffin ; he could not see why , inasmuch as it was requisite that some one should order it . The learned counsel then referred to Stevens ' s evidence in detail , and contended that the non-finding of the betting-book was not a circumstance to warrant suspicion against the prisoner . An entry in a medical book had been alluded to , to show that the prisoner had a knowledge of strychnine . Why , it was a book that he had used , as a student , at the lectures , and when he loved that young woman , his wife , in a way that was sanctioned by God's ordinance that young men should love

    their wives . " For , " said the learned Serjeant , " his was a marriage of affection . He loved her as he now loves her first-born , who is waiting with trembling anxiety for your verdict . A man who so loves his wife is not likely to commit atrocious crimes . His being the loving husband of a virtuous woman is the best protection against crime . There is positive evidence that such a man was William Palmer , when he was only seven years younger than he is now . Here is a letter which he then sent to her who was afterwards his vife : — ' My dear Annie , —I snatch a moment from my studies to write to your dear , dear little self . I need scarcely say that the principal inducement I have to work is the desire of getting my studies finished , so as to be able to press your dear little

    form in my arms . With best , best love , believe me , dearest Annie , your own William . ' This is not one of the kind of letters that are generally read in courts of justice . It was no part of my instructions to read it , but an attempt has been made to . show that this man was a heartless desperado , and I have read this letter to show you what that man was seven years ago . Upon the evidence before you I cannot believe him to be guilty . Do not suppose that he is not supported by some of his family in this his hour of trial ; he is supported by an aged mother , who cannot approve of some part of his conduct , but who still waits with dreadful anxiety for your verdict . A dear sister also can scarcely repress herself in

    her desire to serve him , and a brave and gallant brother stands by to give him his aid . I call upon you to raise your minds to a capacity to estimate the high duty you have to perform . You have to stand the brunt of prejudice ; you have to vindicate the honour and the character of your country ; you have , no doubt , with fearless courage , to do your duty , and to find a verdict for the Crown if you believe that guilt is proved ; but if , you have a doubt upon that point , you will rejoice to find him innocent ; and depend upon it that the time will come when the innocence of this man will be made apparent , and when you will deeply regret any want of due and calm consideration of the case which it has been my duty to lay before you . " which

    At the conclusion of Serjeant Shoe ' s address , lasted nearly eight hours , the court adjourned at twenty minutes past six o ' clock till Thursday morning . The court was again densely crowded on Thursday , and , among the distinguished persons accommodated with seats on the bench , was the Duke of Cambridge . Mr . Thomas Nunnelcy , Fellow of the College of Surgeons , and Professor of Surgery at the Leeds School of Medicine , was examined as to the opinion he had formed of Cooke's death . He said that , judging from the symptoms he had heard described , he was of opinion that death was caused by some convulsive disease . He thought that Cooke must have been a man of delicate constitution ; that he had suffered from certain disea . ses ; sub

    that he had led an irregular life ; and that he was - ject to mental excitement and depression . His father and mother died young . It is stated that there are forms of epilepsy in which the patient retains consciousness . In answer to Lord Campbell , tho witness said , " I cannot mention a case in which consciousness has been retained during the fit . No such case lias come under my notice . " He had read , however , that such is sometimes the case . Granules between the dura mater and the nrnohnoid are not common at any nge . He could not draw nny particular inference from their appearance . They might or might not lead to a conjecture us to their cuuno and effect . He did not form any opinion upon these points . They might product ) un effect upon tho apinal cord . There arc three preparations in museums where granules nre exhibited in the

    apinal cord , in which the patients are said to have UioU from tetanus . Those arc at . St . Thomas's Hospital . Tho spinal cord in such casea ought to bo examined immediately after death . Not the most remote opinion could be formed from an examination made two months after death , more especially if the bruin had been previously opened . The witness described n great number of cases of death from strychnine which he had Heuii , including animals ho had poisoned ; and he found that , in all these cases , without an exception , the muscles become quite soft , powerless , and flaccid in the interval before death . Tho rigidity which before prevailed ceases at that time . He hud also observed that the paroxysms of convulsion are intermittent , and tiiat , after death , the heart is found full of blood Cooke s symptoms did not , in hia opinion , reaonible those ol n person poiaoned by strychnine . He had more power « voluntary motion than he ( Mr . Nunneley ) hud observed in animals under tho influence of the poison in question .

    Other reasons for believing that the convulsions were not produced by strychnine were , their sudden accession without the usual premonitory symptoms , the length of time which had elapsed between their commencement and the taking of the pills which are supposed to have contained poison , and the screaming and vomiting . He never knew an animal which had been poisoned with strychnine to vomit or [ scream voluntaril y . He apprehended that where there is so much spasm of the heart , there must be inability to vomit . If the strychnine be pure , it will almost be detected by a post-mortem examination , even though the body be putrid . The position of the stomach in the jar , and its removal to London , would give a little more trouble , but would not otherwise affect the result . If tbe deceased had died from strychnine poison , it ought to feave been found in the liver , spleen , and kidneys .

    The witness was then cross-examined by the Attorney-General . With reference to the contraction of a body after death from strychnine , -he said : — " When I spoke of the feet being arched by muscular contraction in my report upon the case at Leeds , I only referred to the ordinary rigidity after death , the ordinary rigor mortis . I do not agree with Mr . Morley that the rigidity after death in the case of poisoning by strychnine is much greater than in ordinary cases . I have never observed it . The fact of the emptiness of the heart , among other things , convinces me that the deceased did not die of poison by strychnine . I have heard the evidence in the cases at Basingstoke and Glasgow , and that it was stated that in both cases the heart was perfectly

    empty . I cannot account for the emptiness of the heart in Cooke ' s case . The lungs of the deceased were congested . The state of the heart , the lungs , and the brain were the points upon which I form my opinion that Cooke did not die from the administration of strychnine . I do not ascribe the convulsions of which the deceased died to any particular symptom of delicate health . I admit that he died of convulsions , and I consider those convulsions were caused by the delicate state of his health and the circumstances in which he was at the time . The excitement occasioned by winning the race might have operated with other causes to create the convulsions of which the deceased died . I infer from Dr . Bamford ' s evidence that the brain was not healthy . "

    The Attorney-General : " Then you set up the opinion of this old gentleman , who certified that the deceased died of apoplexy , against the evidence of Dr . Harland and Dr . Jones ?"—Having read the evidence of the latter gentleman as to the symptoms exhibited by Cooke , the Attorney-General asked Mr . Nunneley to point out any one distinction between those symptoms and the symptoms of tetanus , either traumatic or idiopathic . The witness said he could not do so . He founded his opinion that Cooke ' s death was not a case of strychnine on the fact of the deceased being able to speak up to the last moment , which went quite against his experience .

    The Attorney-General : " Did you not hear it proved in the melancholy case of Mrs . Smythe that she asked for water to be thrown over her , and to be turned on her side just before she died ? " — " I did not hear that . But , if it be true , and you say so , it would shake my opinion . " Mr . Nunneley proceeded to say that Cooke asked to be rubbed , and that , as far as his experience went with regard to animals The Attorney-General here interrupted him , and caused some laughter by observing , " They can ' t ask to have their ears rubbed , of course . " The witness went on to stnte that in no single instance could the animals boar to be touched . In the Leeds case , certainly , the lady asked to be rubbed before the convulsions came on , but afterwards she could not bear it and begged that she might not be touched . Part of the experiments that he had made on animals for the present case were conducted conjointly with Mr . Morley , who was called for the prosecution .

    Mr William Ilerapnth , Professor of Chemistry and Toxicology at the Bristol Medical School , was next examined Ilia evidence was similar to that of Mr . Nunneloy He believed that strychnine would have been found on the examination of Mr . Cooke's body , even if n very small quantity had been administered . The 50 , 000 th part of a grain , lie thought could bo discovered if the strychnine wore pure Ho had placed two ( Trains in a gallon of water , winch j * one in 70 , 000 parts , and fS ,. n one-tenth part of a drop of the water the presence of the strychnine was ascertained . " Have you not said , " asked the Attorney-General , " that you had no doubt atryolmine hud been taken bu tha ) r . Tay lor had not gone the right way to and it ?» - ! nw . y have said ho . I hud a Btronjr opinion from reading various newspaper reports—ainoii « others the / Z ;^ r » , « « -tl . « t strychnine had been given , I hav expressed that inion no doubt ,, ireely . of at St

    e op , Mr Ko ^ rs Professor Chemistry . George ' ,, School of Medicine at London , then gave evidence , and wTof opinion that strychnine should have been dia-Tovored in the body of Cooko , if it had been administered U > him , even though tho body waa partly docoraiVo " . I when the examination wua m ade . The shaking Sptilo contents of the stomach would give a little more trouble but , would not aflect tho result . To next witnesa w « a Dr . Henry Lethoby , Professor of Chomi-try and Toxicology in tho L ondon Hospital of

    31 At 24, 1856.] T H E L, E A B E B. 437

    31 at 24 , 1856 . ] T H E L , E A B E B . 437

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 24, 1856, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24051856/page/7/