[208] Evidence of William Tulloch, and the pawnbroker, Robinson, of Mortimer Street, Regent Street.

[209] There is some error in the report, as it was on the 1st December that the prisoner wrote to the deceased that it was too late to come that day; and Mr. Montagu Williams admitted, in his speech, that the prisoner visited Wimbledon, and said he went to the school on the 2nd. It must have been on the 2nd that the witness went with him, the first time, to Wimbledon. In his affidavit in support of the plea of insanity J. L. Tulloch says, that “he saw Dr. Lamson at his brother’s (W. Tulloch) for a few minutes on the 1st, and next day proceeded with him to Wimbledon.”

[210] He had previously, on the 15th November, tried to change a cheque for £15 at the American Exchange, in the Strand, where a parcel had been sent for him.—Evidence of Sidney Harbord, the cashier.

[211] In the cross-examination of Mrs. Bowles, the school-matron, Mr. Williams endeavoured to get from her an admission that the chemicals kept in the house for the purposes of the scientific lectures were unsecurely kept, and within the reach of the boy. Mr. Bedbrook, however, proved that the button of the cupboard in which they were kept was 6 feet 6 inches from the floor It was also proved by the chemical lecturer that the chemicals were only those acids commonly used in the production of gases—acetate of lead, hydrochloric and sulphuric acids.—Evidence of Eastick and Whalley.

[212] In the boy’s box, on the ground floor, five pills mixed with capsules were found. Twenty white powders, which were numbered 1 to 20, were got from a box in the dining-room, marked “J. Littlefield,” six of which—1 to. 6—were large. The tin box with the two pills was handed to the police inspector by Mr. Bedbrook, and a decanter of sherry from the sitting-room, and the remainder of the sugar from the matron. The evidence of Inspector Fuller, and other policemen, proved that after being transferred from various hands, these things were handed to the analyst, the Judge remarking on the want of care in transmitting such important pieces of evidence, most unnecessarily, through so many hands.

[213] The assistant at Messrs. Bell & Co.’s stated the price of atropia to a medical man as 4d. per grain—hence the remark of Mr. Montagu Williams on the entry of “8d.” “C.” in the cash book of that day. The assistants at Messrs. Allen’s altered their minds, on consultation together, within three hours after they had told the police that it was atropia they had sold to the prisoner.

[214] The fact of this poison having been sold by Allen & Hanbury’s assistant to the prisoner, on the faith of finding his name in the Medical Directory, was severely commented on by the Judge. No doubt by 31 Vict. cap. 121, sec. 17, Schedule A. Amendment Act, 32 & 33 Vict. cap. 117, sec. 3, it is not required, in the case of a medical man, that the name of the purchaser, the name and quantity of poison sold, and the purpose for which it is to be used, should be entered, and the signature of the purchaser is not required. The following questions and answers call for publication:—

The Judge.—“Suppose I applied and gave a name out of the Medical Directory, and asked for two grains of aconitia, would you sell it me?”

Answer.—“If I were satisfied at the time you were a medical man I should let you have it.”

The Judge.—“Then anybody of respectable appearance and well dressed might apply? and is there anything by which you can satisfy yourself that the applicant is not an impostor and telling you that which is not true?”

Answer.—“The only thing would be the style of writing—whether it was in the style characteristic of medical men.”

The Judge.—“That hardly seems satisfactory.”

Mr. Poland.—“The Act does not require registration in the case of sale to a medical man.”

The Judge.—“It strikes me that anyone could go, if he had sufficient knowledge to write in the technical style of medical men, and get poison without difficulty; and though the matter is not before us in this case, it may be that the law requires amendment in this particular.”

The jury also appended to their verdict a presentment urging greater restrictions on the sale of poisons, with which the Judge thoroughly agreed, and undertook to forward it to the Home Secretary. During the present Session of Parliament the Government have announced that a “New Poisons Act” is preparing, and that it will deal with patent medicines. It is imperatively required.

[215] Entries in the Register of the New York Bloomingdale Asylum.

[216] Affidavit of Dr. G. H. Boyland, of Baltimore, U.S., a fellow student, and Dr. John Swinborne, of Albany, N.Y., Surgeon-in-Chief of the American Ambulance.

[217] Affidavits of Dr. Charles H. Von Klein, of Hamilton, County Butler, U.S., Surgeon in the Russian army, and Dr. F. P. Carey, of Auburn, N.Y., fellow surgeons with Lamson at Bucharest.

[218] Statutory declarations of about thirty persons—friends, servants, and such as occasionally came in contact with him during his residence at Bournemouth.

[219] Ernest Juch, of 1, New Broad Street, journalist, and formerly a medical practitioner, who met Lamson in New York, August, 1881, and saw him daily for two months.

[220] Mrs. McElroy, when, with Lamson’s consent, taking charge of his medicines, found among other things an unmarked box of “sugar pills,” which Lamson said were either morphia or quinine, he did not know which. On this evidence the following remark is made on the accused’s behalf:—“After he (Lamson) left, and when John was taken ill, several pills were discovered on the table, which were not noticed while Lamson was there. It is believed that as John was suffering from indigestion (he had dined at one, and portions of his dinner were vomited undigested at nine) he determined to take a pill, and try with it one of the capsules just given him. John’s symptoms of poisoning did not begin till about three-quarters of an hour (really twenty-five minutes, see p. 520) after Lamson left, and he lived for about four hours after, whereas if he had taken the poison in the capsule, while Lamson was there, it is almost certain that the symptoms would have set in much earlier, especially considering the enormous quantity of poison said to have been taken. He then, unhappily, selected one containing aconitia. From the foregoing evidence of the way in which Lamson used and prescribed aconitia, taken with what Mrs. McElroy says of his ignorance as to what his own medicaments contained, it might well be that he ignorantly or insanely mixed these pills, and sent them to Percy John without any murderous intent.”

[221] A sample of “English aconitine,” recently obtained from Morson’s, was amorphous, slightly coloured, and gave a red-brown colour, with all acids, even acetic; yet its physiological action was perfect.

[222] In “Unbeaten Tracks in Japan” (Isabella L. Bird, 1880), it is stated that the Ainos, an interesting race inhabiting a part of that country, poison their arrow-heads with a paste prepared from the root of a species of aconite, Aconitum Japonicum.

[223] A servant girl was recently poisoned in New York by repeatedly rubbing tincture of aconite on the gums to relieve pain. She died in three days. (British Medical Journal, Aug. 26, 1882.)

[224] Woodman and Tidy, p. 393, wrongly give this as “one ounce of the tincture.”

[225] The case of Reg. v. McConkey, already referred to (ante, p. 515), furnishes us with an instance of aconite root being administered with criminal intent, and with fatal result.

In Aug., 1882, four boys and a girl suffered severely from chewing dried aconite root, which they had found in the street. The symptoms, tingling and numbness, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, giddiness, muscular weakness, pains in the legs, and coldness of the feet, set in very rapidly, the greatest delay being a quarter of an hour. There was no dyspnœa, and the pupils in all were widely dilated. The treatment adopted was the administration of emetics (sulphate of zinc and vin. ipecac.), coffee and brandy, and castor oil. Recovery in two to seven days. Quantity taken, “a very small piece.” (Brit. Med. Journal, 1882, p. 1039.)

[226] An illustration of the dangerous character of these preparations, and of the serious results which may ensue from the mistake of a person ignorant of medicine, is afforded by the following case, reported in the Medical Times and Gazette, of January 22, 1853. An inquest was held on January 15th, 1853, to inquire into the death of Emma Forty, an inmate of the Roman Catholic Convent of the Good Shepherd at Arnosvale, near Bristol. The deceased suffered from tapeworm, for which the medical attendant of the convent had prescribed a decoction of pomegranate bark and quinine. According to the general custom at the convent, the medicine was prepared by Miss Ryder, the sister-attendant, who unfortunately took a wrong bottle from the dispensary, and gave, instead of the decoction, a drachm of Fleming’s Tincture of Aconite. This mixture was given to the deceased on the Monday preceding the inquest (Jan. 10th); and death occurred in about five hours after the draught had been swallowed. After some remarks by the Coroner as to the imminent danger of unskilled persons being allowed to dispense drugs, the jury returned a verdict that death was occasioned by the administration of aconite by Miss Ryder, and expressed the opinion that much blame was attributable to the authorities of the convent for allowing persons, without the necessary knowledge, to dispense medicines: they hoped that in future such a practice would be discontinued.

[227] A report of the inquest is to be found in the Pharmaceutical Journal, 1872, p. 618. The deceased was the Hon. Gowran Charles Vernon, Recorder of Lincoln, and second son of Lord Lyvedon. According to the evidence of a brother of Mr. Vernon, the latter had for some time past complained of pains in his head, and had been in the habit of using neuraline with the object of relieving these pains. On returning to his residence, after a walk with his wife, the deceased was seized with a fit, and shortly afterwards died. The doctors considered that he was suffering from neuralgia and epileptic fits. Mr. G. Harley, M.D., M.R.C.S., stated that he had analysed neuraline, and found it to be an extract of aconite, mixed with rose-water; it also contained chloroform. The Coroner (Dr. Lankester) said there was no doubt that the deceased had expired from natural causes, and that he had been seized with a fit of convulsions, from the effects of which he died.