POISONING BY ACONITIA OR ACONITINE. THE WIMBLEDON POISONING CASE—DR. LAMSON.
Under this head of poisons, there is only one trial to report in full, that of Dr. Lamson for the murder of his brother-in-law, Percy Malcolm John, at Wimbledon, on Saturday, the 3rd of December, 1881, for which he was tried before Mr. Justice Hawkins, at the Central Criminal Court, on the 8th of March, 1882, and the five following days. The especial difficulties in the way of detecting this preparation of aconite, invested the case with more than usual interest to both the medical and legal profession. The subsequent attempt by the convict’s friends to induce the Home Secretary to delay his execution, in order that his mental condition might be inquired into, backed as it was by the American Government, kept alive the public interest to an unusual extent, and bid fair to revive another such controversy as that which followed, but with a different result, on the conviction of Smethurst. By the kindness of Mr. W. A. Mills, Dr. Lamson’s solicitor, I have had the advantage of reading the whole of the very numerous affidavits tendered in support of this application, of which I have given a summary at the close of the trial.[197]
Though the trial now reported is the only one in which aconitia was employed, other forms of aconite have been used in previous cases. In that of Dr. Pritchard it was administered in the form of tincture of aconite, and as far back as 1841, in the case of Reg. v. McConkey, it was administered as powdered aconite root. In this case the reputed poisoner was tried at the Lent Assizes, Monaghan, and the medico-legal investigation was conducted by the late Dr. Geoghegan, of Dublin. As in Pritchard’s and Lamson’s cases, the medical evidence was beset with difficulties, for no trace of the poison could be discovered in the body, and it was only by a close analysis of symptoms and appearances that the charge was brought home to the prisoner. The deceased had eaten at his dinner some greens dressed for him by the prisoner: he complained of their having a sharp taste, and this was perceived also by another person present who tasted them. It was ascertained that the deceased, soon after the meal, had vomited a greenish matter, and suffered from purging, restlessness, incoherence, lockjaw, and clenching of the hands. He died in about three hours after having eaten the greens, but was not seen by a medical man while living. The chief appearance met with was in the stomach, where the mucous membrane was of a light reddish-brown colour. Traces of vegetable matter were found in the intestines, but no poison could be detected, either botanically or chemically. The symptoms suffered by a friend of the deceased, who had accidentally tasted the greens, were very characteristic of poisoning by aconite. In two minutes he felt a burning heat in the mouth, throat, gullet, and stomach; then a sensation of swelling in the face, with a general feeling of numbness and creeping of the skin. Restlessness, dimness of sight, and stupor almost amounting to insensibility, followed; and in about an hour after the meal he was found speechless—frothing at the nose and mouth, the hands and jaws clenched, appearing occasionally as if dead, and then again reviving. Vomiting, purging, tenderness at the pit of the stomach, cramps, tingling of the flesh, and a burning taste in the mouth, followed. This man did not entirely recover until after the lapse of five weeks. The prisoner was convicted, and confessed before his execution that the powdered root of Monkshood (aconite) had been mixed with pepper and sprinkled over the greens.[198]
THE WIMBLEDON POISONING CASE.
Before The Hon. Mr. Justice Hawkins, at the Central Criminal Court, March 9, and five following days, 1882.
For the Prosecution: The Solicitor-General (Sir F. Herschel), Mr. Poland, and Mr. A. L. Smith.
For the Defence: Mr. Montagu Williams, Mr. C. Matthews, Mr. E. Gladstone, and Mr. W. S. Robson.
George Henry Lamson, surgeon, aged 29, was indicted for the murder of his brother-in-law, Percy Malcolm John, at Blenheim House, Wimbledon, on December 3rd, 1881.
HISTORY OF THE CASE.
In the winter of 1881, among the pupils at the school of Mr. Bedbrook, of Blenheim House, Wimbledon, was Percy Malcolm John, the youngest of the five children of a Manchester merchant, a lad of about nineteen years of age, a sad sufferer from paralysis of the lower limbs produced by curvature of the spine, but otherwise in a fair state of health. Since the death of their mother in 1869, the children had been orphan wards in Chancery, and previously to 1881, one brother and one sister had died, under age, another sister had married a Mr. Chapman, and the third the prisoner, a medical practitioner at Bournemouth, who was now indicted for the murder of his brother-in-law. By the wills of their parents, the children, as they came of age or married, were entitled to the family property in equal shares, those of such as died under age passing to the survivors. Hence, at the time of his death, Percy John had property in expectance to the amount of £3,000, which, in the event of his death as a minor, would be equally divided between his two married sisters, and by the settlement made by Mrs. Lamson on her marriage, her share would come into the hands of the prisoner.[199] Though such a sad sufferer from paralysis as to be unable to move about readily except in a wheel-chair, and only able to drag himself backwards up a few stairs,[200] there were no symptoms of serious bodily illness in the lad: his temper was good, and his intelligence fair.
In his brother-in-law’s health Lamson appeared to take great interest, visiting him at the school, having him to stay at his own house, and sending to his master from America some medicines which he stated had been found useful in that country in similar cases. On the 1st of December, the prisoner wrote to the boy that he would come to see him the next evening, before he left for Paris—a promise which he failed to keep.[201] On the 3rd, however, about seven in the evening, he came, bringing with him some sweets, a cake, and a box containing gelatine capsules, which he told the master he had brought for him from America, as convenient for enabling him to administer nauseous medicines to his pupils. At this interview with his brother-in-law, he persuaded Mr. Bedbrook, who was present, to take one of these capsules to try how easily they were swallowed. Whilst doing so, the master noticed that the prisoner was filling another with some powdered sugar, which he had asked for, on the plea of destroying the alcohol in some wine of which he was partaking. When he had put in the sugar, the prisoner, turning to the lad, shook up the capsule, saying, “It has to be shaken in order that the medicine may go to the bottom. You are good at taking medicine; take this.” The boy swallowed the capsule, and within a few minutes after, the prisoner, saying that he wanted to catch the tidal-train for Paris, left the school-house. In about twenty minutes afterwards Percy complained of heartburn, gradually became worse, was carried up to bed, and vomited largely in the closet.[202] “He felt,” he said, “as he had done in the previous August when the prisoner gave him a pill in the Isle of Wight.” He was in great pain, violently restless, and with difficulty kept down by those who were holding him. After more simple remedies had failed to relieve him, the doctors who had been called in injected morphia under the skin, which had a temporary effect. This was subsequently repeated, but with no apparent result, and shortly afterwards he died, within four hours of swallowing the capsule. The post-mortem examination revealed no signs of such a natural form of disease as would account for his sudden death—the only sign of disease being the long-standing curvature of the spine, distressing, but at that time innocuous. A chemical analysis of the stomach and other parts of the body was had, and, so far as the present state of scientific knowledge could decide, it was the firm opinion of the experienced analysts Drs. Stevenson and Dupré, that death was due to an irritant vegetable poison, and that that poison was aconitia, a most highly poisonous vegetable alkaloid, containing the active principle of aconite, the product of the root of monkshood.
Suspicion naturally fell on the prisoner, and was greatly increased when it was discovered that a few days before his last visit to the boy he had purchased aconitia in London, and that previously to the illness of the deceased in the Isle of Wight, the prisoner had also purchased of a druggist at Shanklin some of this deadly poison. In the meantime the prisoner had gone to Paris, whence on the 8th of December he unexpectedly returned, presented himself to the police at Scotland Yard, in consequence, as he said, of the reports he had seen in the papers, and, apparently to his surprise, was taken into custody.
Other incidents in the prisoner’s career and conduct gradually came to light. Whilst in practice as a surgeon at Bournemouth he had been in great pecuniary difficulties, though he had received his share of the property of that one of the children who had died a minor; an execution had been put into his house, and at the time of the murder he was admittedly in straitened circumstances. Again, in the boy’s boxes at school, in addition to some genuine quinine powders purchased of a chemist in the Isle of Wight, and proved to be free from poison, which had been sent to the boy by the prisoner, were three heavily charged with aconitia, and two pills containing this deadly drug. Again, he had written to the boy on the 1st of December that he would call on him on his way to Paris the next day. He went to Wimbledon, however, on the evening of the 2nd, with his friend, a Mr. Tulloch, whom he left at the station, whilst he professed to have gone to the school, and to whom he said that “he had seen his brother-in-law, who was much worse, and that he did not expect he would live long, and that he would not go on to Paris that night, as Mr. Bedbrook, who was a director of a continental line, had told him that there was a bad boat on.” All this was untrue. He had never been to the school, and Mr. Bedbrook had nothing to do with any continental line. He had invented the whole story.
In the trial that followed, the interest centred on the impossibility of detecting vegetable poisons by any chemical tests, and on the necessity, as in Dr. Pritchard’s case, with aconite, of relying on the test of tasting the extract from the various parts of the body. On this test, supported by the effects observed on injecting drops of the extract under the skins of mice, which successively died of the operation, and exhibited the same symptoms before death as resulted from similar injections of pure aconitia, depended the proof that the death resulted from this poison. I proceed therefore to give the medical and analytical evidence in detail.
EVIDENCE OF MEDICAL ATTENDANTS.
Dr. Berry, of Wimbledon, the regular medical attendant at the school, who had known the deceased for a year and a half, and only had occasion to attend him twice during that time, once for vaccination, and another time for an eruption on the skin, his state of health being otherwise good, gave the following account of the symptoms:—
“On Saturday, Dec. 3, I arrived at the school about five minutes to nine p.m., and was taken by Mr. Bedbrook to Percy John’s room.[203] He was in bed, and partly undressed, and in great pain in the stomach. He also complained of the skin of his face being drawn, and that there was a sense of constriction in the throat, in consequence of which he was unable to swallow. He was retching and vomiting; the vomit was a small quantity of dark-coloured fluid. I asked him shortly after the cause of his illness (Mr. Bedbrook had previously made a communication to me), and said to Percy, ‘Did your brother-in-law ever give you quinine pills before?’ He said, ‘Yes, at Shanklin.’ I said, ‘Did it make you like this before?’ ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘but not so bad.’ There is nothing in ordinary quinine pills to produce such symptoms. I did not form an opinion at that time to what the symptoms were due. During an interval of the vomiting I had some white of egg beaten up in water given to him, which he was able to swallow, and had hot linseed poultices placed on his stomach. He was very restless on the bed—violently so, throwing himself backwards and forwards and from side to side. Several people held him to prevent him from injuring himself. He did not improve at all under this treatment. Hearing that Dr. Little, a medical man of Wimbledon, was in the house, I had him sent for, and in about twenty or twenty-five minutes after I had been in the room he came. I consulted him, and we determined to inject some morphia. I left the house to get the morphia and an instrument, being away five to ten minutes. When I returned the deceased was not better, and I injected a quarter of a grain of morphia under the skin, over the region of the stomach. This was done about ten o’clock. The symptoms abated somewhat about half-past ten, but not very much. They were still all present, but in a modified degree, and then they returned again a little before eleven as severely as before the injection of the morphia. A little before eleven the deceased asked to have the morphia injected again. He complained then of pain in his body, but not in any particular part. I then about eleven injected one-sixth of a grain of morphia in the same place as before, but it had no apparent effect. In about ten minutes he became a little unconscious and wandering. That was the first time I noticed it. His breathing became slower and sighing, and the heart’s action weaker and weaker, and he died about twenty minutes after eleven.”
In his account of the symptoms and the progress of the case until the deceased’s death, Dr. Berry was fully confirmed by Dr. Little, who added that at that time they were of opinion that the death was due to an irritant poison. Dr. Berry then gave the results of
THE POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION.
“After his death Dr. Little and I collected some of the vomit which had been caught in a basin in the bedroom. (He had previously vomited in the closet.) I also collected some from the floor of the bedroom and the closet, and the whole was put into a cup together, and thence into a clean bottle, which was sealed with my own seal, and given to Mr. Bond on the day of the post-mortem examination.
“On Tuesday, Dec. 6th, Mr. Bond, Dr. Little, and myself, made a post-mortem examination. I made some notes at the time which I have here. With the exception of the paralysis of the lower limbs, he was a particularly well-developed, muscular lad. The brain was slightly congested superficially, as well as the substance of the brain itself. By superficially, I mean the membranes. There was no fluid in the ventricles of the brain, nor under the membranes. The pupils of the eyes were dilated; the lips pale and the tongue bleached; in the right lung were some old adhesions at the apex, between the lung and the chest wall, the result of inflammation at some previous time. Both lungs were healthy, but considerably congested in the lower part. The heart was healthy muscularly, the valves also healthy; it was almost entirely empty and flaccid. There was a small quantity of fluid in the pericardium. The liver was normal in size, but intensely congested. The kidneys were also normal in size, but much congested, and the spleen was also congested but normal in size. The stomach had the mucous membrane congested throughout. Under the surface, near the large end of the stomach, were six or eight small yellowish-grey patches, slightly raised, about the size of a small bean. Towards the smaller end of the stomach were two or three similar smaller spots. I believe that they were the result of inflammation, caused recently before death. The stomach contained three or four ounces of dark fluid, which was carefully preserved, and of which Mr. Bond took charge. I examined the duodenum, the first part of which was greatly congested, and there were patches of congestion on other parts of the small intestines. Portions of the intestines were taken care of by Mr. Bond, who also took possession of the stomach itself and portions of the liver, with the gall bladder, both of the kidneys and the spleen. The bladder contained three or four ounces of urine, which was drawn off and taken possession of by Mr. Bond. There were no traces of inflammation in the peritoneum. The membranes of the spinal cord were greatly congested. Except the appearance of the lungs and the curvature of the spine, these were all the appearances I noted in the post-mortem examination. There was nothing in the post-mortem examination to account for death from natural causes. I should say that he died from the effect of some irritant poison, the administration of which would, I believe, account for all the appearances. Aconitia is a vegetable alkaloid poison, and the appearances would be consistent with a fatal dose of that poison, but I have no special knowledge on the subject.”
On cross-examination, the witness repeated, in several forms, that he had no special knowledge of aconitia, but some of aconite as used internally for cancer, erysipelas, and other complaints, and was unable to say whether a grain of aconitia blended into 20 pills would be good for curvature of the spine, and that the remedies he applied were for the violent irritation of the stomach from which up to the time of his death he believed the deceased was suffering.
“At the post-mortem I examined the spinal cord and the spinal curvature. The cord was healthy, but congested. The existence of paralysis is consistent with a healthy spinal cord, but not with healthy bone and healthy intervertebral cartilages. I did not examine the condition of the arteries in the neighbourhood of the curvature.”
Mr. Williams.—“Are you not aware that there are many cases on record of death having resulted from the effects of pressure on the arteries in the regions of these curvatures?”
Witness.—“No; but I am not prepared to say that there are not such cases.”
Mr. Williams.—“Will you undertake to say that death did not result from such a cause as that?”
Witness.—“I cannot undertake to say. I did not examine to see the effect of the spinal curvature on the position of the lungs.”
Mr. Williams.—“Nor what its effect was on the heart?”
Witness.—“No.”
Mr. Williams.—“Do you not know that the lungs are very much displaced in some cases of spinal curvature?”
Witness.—“Yes, they are.”
Mr. Williams.—“Is not the heart very much displaced?”
Witness.—“Yes.”
Mr. Williams.—“You say this irritation of the stomach was consistent with poisoning with vegetable alkaloids, and yet you have never seen a case of such poisoning?”
Witness.—“I have not; I did not take means to ascertain whether the appearances were post-mortem. I know—only from Taylor’s ‘Medical Jurisprudence’—that vegetable alkaloids have produced these symptoms.”
On re-examination, the witness said that “he could not think that the death was caused by anything he saw in the curvature of the spine; that if death had been caused by pressure on the arteries, he should not have expected to find the symptoms of irritation in the stomach which existed after death; that displacement of the lungs and heart had not been, in this case, produced by the curvature of the spine, and, if there had been much displacement of either, he could not have failed to observe it.” Dr. Little was equally inexperienced with Dr. Berry in cases of poisoning, but agreed with him that the curvature of the spine in the lumbar region had not displaced either the lungs, the stomach, or the heart, and that the patches on the surface of the stomach were of recent date—“might have existed for days, but not for weeks, but not without the patient suffering.”
Mr. Bond, the Lecturer on Forensic Medicine at the Westminster Hospital, detailed the various portions of the body which he put aside for chemical analysis and delivered to Dr. Dupré; the receipt of two pills given to him by Dr. Berry, one of which was taken out of one of the capsule boxes after the boy’s death, and the other brought to Dr. Berry whilst he was in attendance on the deceased, and two packets of sweets, and part of a cake. He further confirmed the evidence of Dr. Berry as to the results of the post-mortem examination, with the exception, that Dr. Berry had omitted to state that “the whole of the lungs were somewhat congested, and the anterior part of them exceedingly so, and that the body was not decomposed.” In his opinion there was nothing to account for death from natural causes, and he attributed it to poisoning by some vegetable alkaloid, such as aconitia, a fatal dose of which could be given in one of the capsules. The appearances on the post-mortem examination were, he considered, such as he should expect to find in death by aconitia. He agreed also with the other medical men that the grey patches on the stomach were recent, due to intense irritation, and would cause the deceased great pain, and induce vomiting. On the question of the probable effect of the curvature of the spine, he gave the following most material evidence:—
“The principal curvature was in the lower part of the body; in the upper part of the spine there was slight anti-posterior or forward curvature, but it was not enough to affect the position of the heart or lungs relatively to each other. The cavities of the chest appeared to me to be deeper from before backward than usual. The heart was in its right position, except perhaps that it was higher up in the body than is normal. In the lower region there was a good deal of lateral curvature. I examined the spinal cord down to the end of the dorsal vertebræ, and I found the membranes very much congested, but otherwise it was quite healthy, to all appearance. I did not examine it with a microscope. In the lower lumbar region I did not open the canal, for it was very twisted, and I had difficulty in getting it open. No disease there could have caused sudden death. The curvature appeared to be of long standing; the bones were very hard, and there was no active disease there. I think it impossible that death could have been caused by pressure produced by the curvature on one of the arteries.”
The cross-examination of Mr. Bond by Mr. Williams was directed, first, to whether the time at which after taking the dose the symptoms might be expected to show, depended on its amount. Of this the witness had no knowledge, but considered that that would be determined by the fulness or emptiness of the stomach; and secondly, whether he would expect to find in the stomach the amount of poison that would cause death. On this last point the following questions and answers must be reported:—
Mr. Williams.—“Would you, supposing death had been occasioned by aconitia, expect to find the amount of poison that had caused death, or would it have disappeared?”
Mr. Bond.—“I believe it would be possible to use so small a dose that it could not be found in the stomach.”
Mr. Williams.—“Supposing death caused by aconitia, would you expect to find the actual amount that caused death?”
Mr. Bond.—“That would depend on the amount. My opinion is that if death was caused by an ordinary amount, traces would be found.”
Mr. Williams.—“Of the amount that caused death?”
Mr. Bond.—“Not of all.”
Mr. Williams.—“And you say aconitia enough to cause death might leave no trace in the stomach?”
Mr. Bond.—“Not of aconitia in the stomach.”
Mr. Williams.—“Do you agree with this: ‘that the poison found on analysis would be over and above that used up in causing death?’”
Mr. Bond.—“No; I should not agree to that, unless it means that so small a quantity had been absorbed, causing death, leaving a larger amount which did not cause death. What I mean is, that the poison which may have caused death has been removed from the stomach to other organs, and it is quite possible that a larger amount may be left behind in the stomach than the portion which has been removed, and caused death.”
Mr. Williams.—“Do you mean that it would be decomposed in causing death?”
Mr. Bond.—“I do not know whether it would or not. I think not. I will not give a decided answer one way or the other. I have no idea.”
Mr. Williams.—“‘Guy and Ferrier on Forensic Medicine’ is one of the first authorities, is it not?”
Mr. Bond.—“Yes, I think so.”
Mr. Williams.—“Do you agree with this, in regard to aconitia, ‘that the commencement of the symptoms may be in a few minutes or in one or two hours’?”
Mr. Bond.—“I do not know anything about poisoning by the alkaloid aconitia, so I cannot say one way or other.”
Mr. Williams.—“I understood you to say, that the ventricles of the heart were both empty?”
Mr. Bond.—“The ventricles and auricles were both empty.”
Mr. Williams.—“Can you produce any case on record where such a symptom as that has appeared in poisoning by aconitia?”
Mr. Bond.—“No, I cannot produce any case on record of poisoning by aconitia.”
On re-examination, the witness declined to speak more positively on this point, on the ground that he was a surgeon, and therefore had not had experience in the pathology of such cases. His only experience in poisoning by alkaloids had been in a case of strychnia. In reply to the Judge, he admitted “that other vegetable poisons, even a strong solution of oil of mustard, would produce the same congestion of the stomach, and the same yellow marks as had been found; that a vegetable alkaloid would pass within a minute from the stomach into the blood, and that it would be more likely to be found in the liver, kidneys, and urine, than in the heart; he did not know whether strychnia had been found in the heart when not discoverable in the blood and the urine.”
ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE.
Dr. Thomas Stevenson, Lecturer on Medical Jurisprudence and Chemistry at Guy’s Hospital, and Examiner in Forensic Medicine at the London University, after enumerating the various matters handed to him and Dr. Dupré by Mr. Bond for analysis,[204] and stating that the methods of it were arranged with his colleague, the manual operations carried out by both of them, and the results of those performed by Dr. Dupré examined by himself, gave the following evidence, which must be reported in full.
“The bottle marked ‘A’ contained portions of the liver, spleen, and kidney. To that was applied Stas’s process. I obtained an alkaloidal extract which contained a trace of morphia, and which, placed on the tongue, gave a faint sensation like that produced by aconitia. I reserved that for experiments. To the bottle ‘2,’ which contained part of the bowels, large and small, I applied the same process. I obtained an extract which I have done nothing further with—that is to say, I have not tested the extract. No. 3 contained a fluid, the contents of the stomach, 3½ ozs. This was treated in a somewhat similar way. The fluid contained a raisin and a piece of fruit like the top of a carrot or an apple. From that fluid I obtained, by Stas’s process, an alkaloidal extract, which was distinctive, and produced a very faint sensation, like that of aconitia. When placed on the tongue, burning of the lips was produced, though the extract did not touch the lips. Burning, tingling—a kind of numbness peculiar but difficult to define; a salivation creating a desire to expectorate, a sensation at the back of the throat of swelling up, and this was followed by a peculiar seared sensation of the tongue, as if a hot iron had been drawn over it, or some strong caustic placed on it. I reserved that alkaloidal extract also for physiological experiments. No. 4 D contained a human stomach, and 7 ozs. of spirits added to preserve the stomach. I observed that the stomach was reddened, I think from congestion, in the region of the greater curvature, and posteriorly. At one part there was a little pit as if a blister or inflammatory effusion of lymph had broken. From the stomach and liquid in the bottle I made an extract by Stas’s process, and obtained an alkaloidal extract. That I reserved; but I tasted it, and it had no particular taste that I could recognize. Next was No. 5 E, containing the urine, 6 ozs. I opened it in Dr. Dupré’s presence. He found that 4 ozs. of urine had had 2 ozs. of spirit added to preserve it. I made an extract from a portion of that liquid—three-fourths. I obtained an alkaloidal extract which contained a trace of morphia. By a further process I obtained more morphia, but the first alkaloid I referred to was more than could be accounted for by the morphia I obtained. Some of this extract was placed upon my tongue. It produced the effects of aconitia, which I have already described, in a marked degree, and a peculiar burning sensation extending downwards towards the stomach.”
By the Judge.—“I have 50 or 80 alkaloids in my possession, and I have tasted most of them.”
The Solicitor-General.—“How long did the effects last?”
Witness.—“About four hours—not all the effects, but the burning on the tongue did. I made an experiment on about one-third of the urine. I injected it beneath the skin of a mouse. The animal was obviously affected in two minutes. From that time it exhibited symptoms of poisoning, and died in 30 minutes. I made some experiments on mice from Morson’s aconitia, which I procured for the purpose. I injected some of that, after dissolving it, under the skins of several mice. It operated on the mice in a manner which was undistinguishable from the effect of the urine. The effects of the two I might say were ridiculously alike. Tartaric acid was previously used on a mouse in the same quantities and was found inoperative. I retained portions of the extract made from the liver, spleen, and kidneys, from the stomach, and from the contents of the stomach. All contained an alkaloid; two giving a slight taste of aconitia, and the third no taste. I then mixed together the alkaloidal extracts, Nos. 1, 3, and 4, and I injected it under the skin of a mouse, in the same manner, and it produced effects on the mouse, in nine minutes from that time, of severe symptoms of poisoning, and the animal died in 22 minutes. These symptoms were precisely similar to those produced by Morson’s aconitia. No. 6, the vomit, contained nearly ten ounces, or half a pint, of thick, pasty fluid stuff, with which also were spirits of wine. Dr. Dupré pointed out marks showing that to 5oz. of vomit 5oz. of spirit had been added. There was a good deal of solid matter in the vomit, which must have been of a solid character. I examined the solid portion and found it consisted of pieces of fat, a very small portion of the muscular fibre of some animal, pieces of onion, a little starch, probably that of wheat, a slice of candied peel like that put on the top of cake, a piece of apple pulp, raisins, and some pineapple, with just the odour of pineapple drops. I subsequently examined with the microscope the vomit again, the solid portions, to see if I could find anything corresponding to the root of aconite or the root of horseradish. I found neither. I made an extract from the vomit, and obtained an alkaloidal extract. The extract had no trace of morphia or of quinine. I applied it to the tongue with a very powerful result, such as that of aconitia. The severe forms of attack lasted for 6½ hours; it lasted for that time, though the effects did not then cease. I took 1-24th part for experiment on a mouse. I injected it into the back of a mouse. It was severely affected in 2½ minutes, the symptoms continuing till the time of its death, 15½ minutes after. Those symptoms were parallel with those of aconitia. In my judgment the vomit submitted to me contained a considerable quantity of aconitia.”
Question.—“Can you fix what quantity?”
Answer.—“Approximately it was not less than one-seventh, and not more than one-fourth of a grain.”
Question.—“What would be a fatal dose of aconitia to a human being?”
Answer.—“There is only one fatal case I know of, and in that death was caused by about one-sixteenth of a grain. What is known to have caused death was not less than one-twenty-first of a grain, and not more than one-thirteenth. Each of the boxes produced contained capsules. There were only two pills in them. They were gelatine-coated pills, like those in the bottle. I examined those pills, or rather I saw Dr. Dupré do so. They were simply five-grain quinine pills.”
Question.—“The packet of sweetmeats, No. 8. Did they contain any traces of poison?”
Answer.—“No.”
Question.—“No. 9, the cake?”
Answer.—“That contained no traces of poison of any kind.”
Question.—“No. 10, the capsules, did you examine them?”
Answer.—“They are simply gelatine capsules.”
Question.—“You have told us there were some pills loose?”
Answer.—“Yes; there were four, and they were similar to those I have just referred to, quinine, gelatine-coated pills. There was some sugar in a paper. Some of the powders were in larger papers than others; six were in large. They contained 1½ grains of disulphate of quinine. There were 14 smaller papers containing powders. They were tied together in a bundle numbering from 7 to 20. They varied considerably in weight, the lowest weighed 6-10ths of a grain, the highest 1⅛ grains. Three of the powders differed in appearance. The average weight of those which were quinine were 9-10ths of a grain. I examined those powders, and I found they consisted, eleven of them, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, and 20, of disulphate of quinine simply, the ordinary quinine powders, but varying considerably in weight, from 3-10ths of a grain up to 1¼ grains. Of the other three, my attention was drawn to No. 16 by Dr. Dupré; it was a different colour, as also were Nos. 17 and 19. No. 16 was an obvious mixture; there were two substances clearly to a chemist, who would have noticed the mixture at once. It was a very pale fawn, the mixture; the other was a pure white. No. 16 weighed 18/10 grs. or 1·79 grs. No. 17 weighed ·88 of a grain; No. 19 weighed 1·26, or about 1¼ grs. In the No. 16, which appeared to be a mixture, it looked as if the quinine had been damaged. I tasted it, and in about three minutes a startling sensation came on. The sensation was severe for three hours, and then gradually went away after dinner.”
Question.—“Did you make a special examination of the pills?”
Answer.—“Yes.”
Question.—“What amount of aconitia was in the pills?”
Answer.—“Decimal 83. In the quinine pills there was ·96. I tested the action of this quinine on a mouse. In three and a half minutes after I had administered it the effect was the same as before. In No. 17 there was aconitia, and in 19 there was aconitia; I cannot tell you how much. In 17 and 19 I noticed the difference in colouring between the ordinary quinine powders. The proportion of aconitia was considerably less in 16 as compared with 19.”
Question.—“Is it usual to wrap pills in tinfoil?”
Answer.—“No.”
Question.—“Or to put them in boxes of this description?”
Answer.—“Oh, no.”
Question.—“Were these two pills examined by yourself and Dr. Dupré?”
Answer.—“Yes; one weighed 3 grs. and another 2¾. There was nothing particular in the appearance. There was a little bitterness at first with the 2¾ grain pill. I cut out a small piece with a penknife. We all took a little piece, I only took the 22nd part of a grain. Part of it was used for the microscope. It caused intense burning. The bitterness of quinine was followed by intense burning, and the same symptoms I have already described, but of a more severe kind. I injected some of that into the back of a mouse. It exhibited symptoms of poisoning, was very ill in two minutes, and it died in 4½ minutes. I came to the conclusion that there was ·45 of a grain of aconitia in that pill, or nearly half a grain. No. 12 was the sherry. I found no trace of poison in that, nor in the wafers. I have said the urine contained aconitia, showing that the poison had been absorbed into the blood, had passed through the tissues of the body, and had become excreted. I have said I found in the extracts traces of morphia. I have heard of the injection of morphia by Dr. Little and Dr. Berry during the last hour of the boy’s illness. The traces I found were such as I should have expected to find from that, both in the urine and probably in the liver too.”
Question.—“Could a fatal dose of aconitia be administered in such a capsule as this?”
Answer.—“Oh, yes. Many times a fatal dose. I have put into one a grain of aconitia, and into another a half-grain.”
[Capsules produced by Witness, and shown to Judge and Jury, to show how little space in the capsule was occupied even by the grain of aconitia.]
Witness continued.—“The symptoms lasted after tasting the pill 7½ hours, notwithstanding having taken a meal.”
Question.—“Supposing aconitia taken in a capsule of this description, would it prevent a taste on the tongue?”
Answer.—“Oh, yes.”
Question.—“I believe there is no test of aconitia?”
Answer.—“No specific or characteristic chemical test.”
Question.—“What are the tests?”
Answer.—“We can tell chemically that it is an alkaloid. Then there is the physiological test, the effect on the tongue and the neighbouring parts, and its general effect on the system if taken in any quantity. Then the other physiological test is that it will kill, after a definite course of symptoms, as shown in my experiments with the mice.”
Question.—“Have you any doubt that you did find aconitia in the portions of the body you examined and in the vomit?”
Answer.—“Not the least. I have heard the description of the deceased boy. He had symptoms such as would arise from poisoning by aconite. His symptoms approached more nearly to those caused by that than any other poison. Judging from the symptoms discovered at the post-mortem examination, I should say that he died from poisoning by aconitia.”
Question.—“Is aconitia a medicine commonly used for spinal diseases in this country?”
Answer.—“No.”
Question.—“I do not know if you are aware of its use here by medical men?”
Answer.—“No; the British Pharmacopœia orders it for external use, but makes no mention of any dose for internal use. It was formerly tried a quarter of a century ago, or thirty years ago, but it was given up because it was too dangerous.”
On cross-examination by Mr. Williams, after he had stated that he had never seen an acknowledged death from aconitia, but founded his opinion not only from tasting, testing, and the experiments on mice, but from his reading, and that he knew that it was used in France and Germany, but not that it was sold at the French chemist’s in the Haymarket as a patent medicine, the examination proceeded as follows:—
Question.—“Do you know Guibert’s French book on chemistry?”
Answer.—“Yes; I know the book. I have it in my possession.”
Question.—“Would you look at that book—is that it?”
Answer.—“Yes; that is the book.”
Question.—“Do you there find a formula for pills with aconitia in them?”
Answer.—“Yes.”
Question.—“And drops?”
Answer.—“Yes.”
Question.—“For internal use?”
Answer.—“No. The drops are for dropping in the ear; the pills are for internal use.”
Question.—“Also for ointment?”
Answer.—“Yes.”
Question.—“And in the British Pharmacopœia you will find ‘Unguentum Aconitiæ,’ 8 grains of aconitia to 1 ounce of lard?”
Answer.—“Yes.”
Question.—“Is Sidney Ringer an acknowledged authority on therapeutics?”
Answer.—“Yes.”
Question.—“Do you know his books?”
Answer.—“Yes.”
Question.—“Do you agree with this:—‘Aconite is used externally in the form of liniment or ointment to relieve pain?”
Answer.—“Yes.”
Question.—“The ‘Unguentum Aconitiæ’ alludes to aconitia, does it not?”
Answer.—“Yes, the ointment does.”
Question.—“Is that applied in neuralgic cases?”
Answer.—“Yes, it is used in neuralgia and rheumatism.”
Question.—“Do you agree with the statement, ‘That a piece of ointment the size of a bean or nut should be applied with friction, which enhances its efficacy?’”
Answer.—“Yes, to the skin.”
Question.—“A piece the size of a bean would contain half a grain of aconitia, would it not?”
Answer.—“Yes.”
Question.—“Do you agree that the application in such a case will cut short pain?”
Answer.—“Yes.”
Question.—“And prevent sickness?”
Answer.—“I do not know about that. Sickness is not a usual symptom in neuralgia and rheumatism.”
Question.—“Do you agree with this, that ‘Aconite diminishes sensibility, and it has been used internally in various painful diseases?’”
Answer.—“Yes, aconite.”
Question.—“Have you heard of the use of aconitia in typhoid fever?”
Answer.—“No; I have heard of its use in fevers generally, but not in typhoid.”
Question.—“In the Journal of Medicine, No. 27, March, 1882, by Dr. Phipson——“[205]
The Solicitor-General objected that that was something written within a few days.
Mr. M. Williams.—“Then I will put this question generally. Have you heard of its use internally in severe cases of fever?”
Answer.—“Yes, I have heard of its use in fever, but not in typhoid.”
Question.—“Have you heard of its use in pleuro-pneumonia?”
Answer.—“Yes, in very minute doses; it is recommended in a journal of medicine which is edited by a man who is not a medical man.”
Question.—“Your collaborateur, Dr. Dupré, is not a medical man, is he?”
Answer.—“No.”
Question.—“With regard to the symptoms—the dilated pupils—are they not invariably dilated three days after death?”
Answer.—“After a natural death. The surface of the tongue being rough is no sure sign of aconitia poisoning. Congestion of the brain has been observed in aconite poisoning, but is no sure sign.”
Question.—“Has bloody fluid in the bag of the heart been met with in aconitia poisoning?”
Answer.—“Yes.”
Question.—“Would you expect to find the ventricles and auricles empty?”
Answer.—“It has been observed in poisoning by preparations of aconitia; but in the only case of aconitia poisoning I know of the state of the heart is not mentioned. You will find it in the Philadelphia Journal of Medicine of November last.”[206]
Question.—“Is congested liver a sign of aconitia poisoning?”
Answer.—“The congestion of the internal viscera is an important sign of poisoning by aconitia. The congestion could be caused by various means. The kidneys being congested was consistent with aconite poisoning, but not dependent on it. The same could be said of congestion of the spleen. I am prepared to admit that cases may have occurred in which congestion has been caused without poison. The patches in the stomach may have existed days before death, but not without causing pain. I commenced the analysis of the contents of the stomach on the 10th of December. I commenced the analysis of the vomit the same day. I commenced to examine the urine the same day.”
Question.—“You say the bottle C, No. 3, contained matter from which you extracted an alkaloidal extract. Would you expect to find an alkaloid from morphia in the contents of the stomach?”
Answer.—“No; but I should expect to find it in the urine, and I found in that more alkaloid than was consistent with morphia. That requires the most delicate test. By a further extraction I got a little more morphia.”
Question.—“The precise process I ask you for in testing the alkaloidal extract.”
Answer.—“I took half the contents of the stomach. I mixed it with such a quantity of rectified spirit as, with the spirit previously added by Dr. Dupré, made the proportion of spirit two volumes of spirit to one volume of matter. The liquid I took was acid in reaction. The liquid stood over from Sunday to Monday. It was then filtered. The insoluble part was well washed with rectified spirit. The clear liquid was then evaporated at a temperature below that of the human body, till it was almost solid. The portion I had not dissolved in spirit was then treated with an additional quantity of spirit, to which a little quantity of tartaric acid was added. The mixture was then warmed to 140 deg. Fahr. It was then cooled. The insoluble part was well washed with spirit, and the clear liquid evaporated at a temperature below that of the human body. A fairly solid residue was obtained. I now obtained two alcoholic extracts, each of which was treated in a precisely similar manner, but separately, by digesting them with warm absolute alcohol, or rather tepid, till the alcohol would take up and dissolve nothing more. The solutions in absolute alcohol were filtered and evaporated nearly to dryness. They were then treated with a little water. They were found to be acid in reaction, and the two solutions—that is to say, that from the plain spirit, and the other from the tartaric acid spirit—were mixed. Care was taken that they remained just faintly acid, and the solution was then agitated with washed ether. The ether was allowed to separate; it was drawn off, and replaced by fresh ether. This operation was carried out five times. The ether was set apart, and allowed to evaporate at a temperature below boiling point; that was reserved as not containing any alkaloid. The residue was oily and partially dissoluble with water; it was of a brownish colour. It was not weighed, but was a very appreciable quantity.”
Question.—“Were these tests conducted for aconitia only?”
Answer.—“Oh, no; I tested for other poisons. The aqueous liquid which separated from the ether was made alkaline by carbonate of soda, and it was then agitated with a mixture of washed ether and washed chloroform. The ether-chloroform solution was then allowed to separate, drawn off, replaced by washed ether, the ether again drawn off, and again replaced by ether, which was again drawn off. These chloroform-ether mixtures were mixed and evaporated, and finally dried in vacuo over oil of vitriol. Before it was placed in the vacuum, I examined it to see if there were any volatile alkaloids, which would be distinguished by their peculiar odour. There were none. I then weighed it, after drying, and found its weight ·108 of a grain, or rather more than 1-10th of a grain. It was slightly crystalline in appearance. I tasted it, putting a little on my tongue. That was one of my taste tests.”
Question.—“That was afterwards dissolved, and part of it was applied to the mouse?”
Answer.—“Yes, but I had previously tested it for an alkaloid. I went through the same operation with the vomit and the urine, with only minor differences of details here and there as occasion required.”
Question.—“You say that the effect on the tongue was characteristic of aconitia. Was it characteristic of nothing else?”
Answer.—“Nothing else that I know of.”
Question.—“Not of veratria?”
Answer.—“No; I have tried that on the tongue, and its effect is different. I do not recollect that delphinia is like aconitia. Morphia has no marked bitterness. I know that the taste is very different from other substances. Pepperine has an immediate burning effect.”
Question.—“Is not phosphoric acid a test for aconitia?”
Answer.—“No; it is given as a test, except by those who have studied it recently. I have made experiments with pure aconitia with no results. The book produced is written by an authority. Fluckijer, in his work on the subject, gives the reaction of aconitia, but it is German aconitia he refers to; it is very different to English aconitia. I see no reference to English aconitia in Fluckijer.”
The book was handed back to counsel, and Mr. Montagu Williams said the date was 1879.
Witness, cross-examined further.—“The solution injected into the mouse was measured on each occasion. About three minims of liquid altogether was injected. With the exception of the urine and one of the vomits, the injections were unmixed. He believed, of course, that too much reliance must not be placed on experiments on animals.”
Question.—“Is it not a recognised fact that alkaloids are found in the human body after death, irrespective of poisons?”
Answer.—“It is a question still sub judice. It has been asserted that such is the case where the stomach or other viscera has been much decomposed.”
Question.—“What are called cadaveric alkaloids, utterly irrespective of the administration of poison?”
Answer.—“It is so asserted.”
Question.—“Is not Stas’s test a mode of extracting cadaveric alkaloids?”
Answer.—“Cadaveric as well as natural alkaloids.”
Question.—“Would these cadaveric alkaloids produce the same effects as the natural alkaloids?”
Answer.—“They have been described as producing the same effects; but I have seen no description of one producing the effects of aconitia. There is a test distinguishing these cadaveric alkaloids from all natural alkaloids, except morphia and veratria, and certainly from aconitia. That test was applied to these extracts when no morphia was present,—the reduction of the ferricyanide to the ferro-cyanide of potassium. There is an authority for the method of obtaining and distinguishing these cadaveric alkaloids. I was one of the first to point out that alkaloidal extracts from the stomachs of the dead would kill frogs if injected under the skin. I have read most of the foreign writers on this subject. I have not read Peschi, and cannot say whether they produce pricking of the tongue. I do not remember any of them describing sensations produced on the tongue from cadaveric alkaloids, similar to those from aconitia. Many things would produce prickings on the tongue.”
Question.—“Have you found the ordinary residue of the stomach from the dead poison the lower animals?”
Answer.—“I have never known it to do so. I will not say it is not so.”
Question.—“How long after the administration of aconitia would you expect the symptoms to appear?”
Answer.—“From a few minutes to an hour and a half.”
Question.—“Would the time of action depend upon the dose?”
Answer.—“The probabilities are that a large dose would soonest produce effect. The smallest dose that has produced death has been between 1-21 gr. and 1-13 gr., or about 1-16 gr.”
On re-examination by the Solicitor-General, the Witness explained that it was when corpses were putrefying that the cadaveric alkaloids were produced. He had procured alkaloidal extracts from the urine, viscera and stomach, and ascertained the effects of them upon mice: had made twenty-two experiments this year: there were two cases of heart disease, and four of the liver, kidneys, spleen, vomit, and six from the urine. He had also, in six instances, taken from the urine of living persons, and in three from that of healthy dead persons. Those extracts had no effect on his tongue. He had had many years’ experience, and certainly never tasted anything like aconitia, and he had tried these alkaloidal extracts on the same number of mice without the animals suffering except from the puncture. One of these mice, he added, he had killed with the three-thousandths of a grain, and two-thousandths of a grain was always fatal to a mouse. To a question by the judge, he said “it would make a great difference in the time when the severe symptoms appeared, whether the poison was swallowed directly and whether it came into direct contact with the tongue.” Dr. Dupré confirmed in every detail the statements of his colleague. “In his case the effects of tasting the alkaloid from the urine continued over four hours, and that from the vomit over six hours, though he took lunch and dinner during that time. In the vomit he did not find any trace of quinine which he should have expected had aconitia been given in conjunction with quinine.”
THE PREVIOUS ACTS OF THE PRISONER.
Soon after his marriage in 1879, the prisoner set up in practice at Bournemouth, whence in April, 1880, he went for a six months’ trip to America. Early in 1881, he was in great pecuniary difficulties, and had to part with his furniture to pay an execution out of his house, and again went to America on the 30th of August. Three days before he sailed, whilst staying with his mother at Ventnor, he visited Percy John at Shanklin, where the boy was staying with the Chapmans, and promised to return on the Monday, the 29th, before he left England. It was supposed that he did so, and it was then, according to the boy’s statement before reported, that he gave him a pill, after which he was taken ill in much the same way as at Blenheim House in the December following.[207] From America he returned on the 17th of October, and after a visit to Ventnor, where he got a cheque, which was subsequently dishonoured, cashed by a tradesman (Price Owen), he was in London on the 1st of December, staying at the Nelson Hotel, Portland-road. His actions are now taken up by the following witness, to whom, and to whose brother, the prisoner had from time to time advanced money, in the case of the brother pawning his surgical instruments and watch, on the 24th of November, in order to lend him five pounds.[208]
John Law Tulloch, a student of medicine living in Alma Square, St. John’s Wood, said:—
“I have known the prisoner for some time. I did not see him till December of last year from the previous April. I saw him on the 1st of last December, a Thursday night, at my house. He said he was staying at Nelson’s Hotel, and was going to Paris the next night. He had dinner at my house. I went with him to Nelson’s Hotel, and assisted in packing his luggage. I went with him from the hotel to Waterloo Station. We had with us a leather case, a handbag, and a rug. He said he thought he would go first of all to see his brother-in-law at Wimbledon. We went to Wimbledon together at about six in the evening.[209] He said he was going up to the school, at Mr. Bedbrook’s. I waited for him in the public-house opposite. He came back to me in about twenty minutes. He said that he had seen his brother-in-law, who was very much worse. He added that he did not expect him to live long. He said he had seen Mr. Bedbrook, who was a director of one of the Continental lines, and that gentleman had told him that it was as well that he should not go that night, as there was a bad boat on the service. We returned to town, and went together to the Comedy Theatre in Panton-street. After that we went to Stone’s, a public-house opposite the theatre, and while we were there he wrote the cheque produced, on the Wilts and Dorset Bank, dated December 2, 1881, for 12l. 10s., payable to J. L. Tulloch. He asked me to try and obtain the cash for it. We went first to the Adelphi Hotel in Adam-street, but could not get it cashed there. We then drove to the Eyre Arms, St. John’s-wood, which is close to where I reside. Mr. Perrot, the landlord, cashed the cheque, and I gave the money to the prisoner. I then parted from him, and arranged to meet him on the following day at the Adelphi Hotel. I saw him there about three or four in the afternoon. I was to meet him at half-past one, to see him off by a train at 2.50, but I do not know from what station. He said that he was too late for the mid-day train, and could not go until night. I went with him to the Horseshoe to have some refreshment. When there we found that one of the bags received from the Eyre Arms contained coppers. We returned to the house and obtained a 5l. note in exchange. He left me there about six. I did not hear of him again till he was in custody. The cheque was dishonoured. On the 13th of December he wrote saying the amount would be in my hands very soon, and he was surprised at my attitude towards, or, rather against him.”[210]
On cross-examination, the witness said:—
“I have said to-day the prisoner said on December 2, ‘the boy is very much worse, and I don’t think he will last long.’ I do not think he said anything about his having passed his examination that day. I was quite sober. I do not owe him money.”
At five minutes to seven, on the evening of the 3rd of December, he was at Blenheim House telling Mr. Bedbrook he wished to see his brother-in-law. The boy was brought into the dining-room, some wine got for the prisoner, and some powdered white sugar to cure, as he said, the alcohol in it. He then had with him a leather bag from which he took some Dundee cakes and sweets, of which the boy and the master partook.
Mr. Bedbrook deposed:—