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The Most Extraordinary Trial of William Palmer, for the Rugeley Poisonings, which lasted Twelve Days

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Title: The Most Extraordinary Trial of William Palmer, for the Rugeley Poisonings, which lasted Twelve Days

Author: Anonymous


        
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY TRIAL OF WILLIAM PALMER, FOR THE RUGELEY POISONINGS, WHICH LASTED TWELVE DAYS ***

                        THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY

                                 TRIAL

                                  OF

                            WILLIAM PALMER,

                                FOR THE

                          RUGELEY POISONINGS,

                       WHICH LASTED TWELVE DAYS.

                            [Illustration]

                                LONDON:
          W. M. CLARK, 16 & 17, WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW
                     AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS.




        COUNSEL FOR THE CROWN.


          The ATTORNEY-GENERAL,
          Mr. JAMES, Q.C.,
          Mr. BODKIN,
          Mr. WELSBY, and
          Mr. HUDDLESTON.


        COUNSEL FOR THE PRISONER.

          Mr. Serjeant SHEE,
          Mr. GROVE, Q.C.,
          Mr. GRAY, and
          Mr. KINNEALY.


        The following Gentlemen were sworn on

        THE JURY.

          THOMAS KNIGHT, of Leytonstone.
          RICHD. DUMBRELL, Fore Street.
          WM. MAVOR, Park Street.
          WM. NEWMAN, Coleshill Street.
          GEORGE MILLER, Duke Street, Grosvenor Square.
          GEORGE OAKSHOTT, Ham Lane, West Ham.
          CHARLES BATES, Borough Road.
          WM. ECCLESTONE, HAM LANE.
          SAMUEL MULLETT, Great Portland Street.
          JOHN OVER, Grosvenor Road, Pimlico.
          WM. NASH, Conduit Street.
          WM. FLETCHER, Fore Street.


The prisoner, WILLIAM PALMER, Surgeon, of Rugeley, aged 31, was indicted
for having at Rugeley, county of Stafford, on November 21st, 1855,
feloniously, wilfully, and with malice aforethought, committed murder on
the person of JOHN PARSONS COOK.




                                MEMOIR

                                  OF

                            WILLIAM PALMER.


William Palmer is a member of a wealthy family, and is thirty-one years
of age. He was educated for the medical profession, was a pupil at St.
Bartholemew’s Hospital, London, received the diploma of the Royal
College of Surgeons in 1846, and shortly afterwards settled at Rugeley,
his native place. He seems, however, to have paid more attention to the
“turf,” and what are commonly called sporting pursuits, than to his
profession, and to have confined his practice to his own family and
friends.

His name appears in the “London and Provincial Medical Directory” of
1851, and again in 1855, as that of one of the persons who had neglected
to inform the editor of that work of the nature of their qualifications.
He married, in 1847, Anne, the natural daughter of Col. William Brookes
and Mary Thornton, his housekeeper. Col. Brookes, who, after quitting
the East India service, took up his residence at Stafford, died in 1834,
leaving considerable property, and more than one natural child.

To Anne Thornton he bequeathed, by a will dated July 27, 1833, nine
houses at Stafford, besides land, and the interest of 20,000 sicca
rupees, for herself and her children, and appointed Dr. Edward Knight, a
physician of Stafford, and Mr. Dawson, her guardians and trustees. To
Mary Thornton, the mother of Anne, the colonel bequeathed certain
property, which was to pass to her daughter at the decease of the
mother. Mary Thornton departed this life--it is said, while a guest at
Mr. Palmer’s house,--in 1848 or 1849.

Now, although the will of Colonel Brookes would seem clear enough to
anyone who was ignorant of law, and although, in the present state of
the law, as we are informed, it would be sufficient, yet it was
discovered by the legal fraternity, some years since, that the language
conveying the bequest to Anne Thornton was not sufficiently forcible to
convey it to her absolutely, but only to give her a life interest in it,
insomuch as, at her decease, it was liable to be claimed by the
heir-at-law to Colonel Brookes.

Under these circumstances, there was nothing unnatural or unusual in the
idea that Palmer should insure his wife’s life, in order to protect
himself from the inevitable loss which must ensue in case of her
decease; and since her property consisted of seventeen acres of land,
valued at between £300 and £400 per acre, besides nine houses, and the
interest of the sicca rupees--probably altogether worth at least £400
per annum, upon which he had borrowed largely from his mother--there
could be no doubt of his having such an interest in his wife’s life as
would justify insurance.

Accordingly, in January, 1854, he insured her life for £3,000 in the
Norwich Union, and in March in the Sun for £5,000; there was also an
insurance in the Scottish Equitable for £5,000. Mrs. Palmer died on
September 29, 1854, leaving only one surviving child, a boy of seven
years; and, as if to justify the husband in effecting an insurance, an
action was brought within a month by Colonel Brookes’s heir-at-law, to
obtain possession of Mrs. Palmer’s property.

Palmer brought up the life policies on the Sun and Norwich Union on the
16th of October, 1854, and employed Mr. Pratt, the solicitor, to obtain
the money from the offices. Mr. Pratt, who seems to have acted with
entire _bona fides_, and the caution usual among lawyers, required to be
furnished with evidence of the husband’s pecuniary interest in his
wife’s life, took counsel’s opinion on every step, and obtained the
£8,000 from the offices on the 6th of February, 1855; strangely enough,
the £5,000 from the Scottish Equitable was paid through a banker unknown
to Pratt.

Great excitement prevailed in reference to the trial, and large bodies
of persons who could have no possible chance of admission crowded the
avenues of the court. Day after day notices have appeared in the papers,
that only those who had obtained tickets of admission from the Sheriffs
would be admitted; and the under-sheriffs very wisely adhered to that
determination. In consequence of their very excellent arrangements, the
Court was at no time inconveniently crowded. At ten o’clock the judges
appointed to try the case entered the Court, and took their seats on the
bench. They were Lord Campbell, the Lord Chief Justice of the Queen’s
Bench, Mr. Baron Alderson, and Mr. Justice Cresswell.




                        TRIAL OF WILLIAM PALMER

                                  FOR

                        THE RUGELEY POISONINGS.




CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT, MAY 14, 1856.


The long-deferred trial of William Palmer, which, owing to the necessity
of passing a special act of Parliament to enable it to take place in
this court, has been delayed for a period of several months since the
finding of a true bill by the Grand Jury of Staffordshire, commenced
to-day at the Old Bailey; and, notwithstanding the interval which has
elapsed since this extraordinary case was first brought under the notice
of the public, the intense interest and excitement which it then
occasioned seem in no degree to have abated. Indeed, if the applications
for admission to the court which were made so soon as the trial was
appointed, and the eager endeavours of large crowds to gain an entrance
to-day, may be regarded as a criterion of the public anxiety upon the
progress and issue of the trial, the interest would seem to have
augmented rather than diminished.

At a very early hour every entrance to the court was besieged by persons
of respectable appearance, who were favoured with cards giving them a
right of entrance. Without such cards no admittance could on any
pretence be obtained, and even the fortunate holders of them found that
they had many difficulties to overcome, and many stern janitors to
encounter, before an entrance to the much-coveted precincts could be
obtained. On the whole, however, the arrangements of the Under-Sheriffs
Stone and Ross were excellent, and, although there may be individual
cases of complaint, as there always will be when delicate and important
functions have to be performed with firmness, it is but justice to
testify to the general completeness and propriety of the regulations
which the Sheriffs had laid down.

Among the distinguished persons who were present at the opening of the
Court were the Earl of Derby, Earl Grey, the Marquis of Anglesea, Lord
Lucan, Lord Denbigh, Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, Lord W. Lennox, Lord
G. G. Lennox, and Lord H. Lennox. The Lord Advocate of Scotland sat by
the side of the Attorney-General during the trial.

At five minutes to ten o’clock the learned Judges, Lord Chief Justice
Campbell, Mr. Baron Alderson, and Mr. Justice Cresswell, accompanied by
the Lord Mayor, and Aldermen Sir G. Carroll, Humphrey, Sir R. W. Carden,
Finnis, Sir F. G. Moon, and Sidney, Mr. Sheriff Kennedy, Mr. Sheriff
Rose, Mr. Under-Sheriff Stone, and Mr. Under-Sheriff Rose, took their
seats on the bench.

The prisoner, William Palmer, was immediately placed in the dock; and to
the indictment which charged him with the wilful murder of John Parsons
Cook, who died at Rugeley upon the 21st of November last, he pleaded, in
a clear, low, but perfectly audible and distinct tone, “Not guilty.” The
prisoner is described in the calendar as “William Palmer, 31, surgeon,
of superior degree of instruction.” In appearance Palmer is much older,
and, although there are no marks of care about his face, there are the
set expression and rounded frame which belong to the man of forty or
forty-five. His countenance is clear and open, the forehead high, the
complexion ruddy, and the general impression which one would form from
his appearance would be rather favourable than otherwise, although his
features are of a common and somewhat mean cast. There is certainly
nothing to indicate to the ordinary observer the presence either of
ferocity or cunning, and one would expect to find in him more of the
boon companion than the subtle adversary. His manner was remarkably calm
and collected throughout the whole of the day. It was altogether devoid
of bravado, but was respectful and attentive, and was calculated to
create a favourable impression. He frequently conversed with Mr. Smith,
his professional adviser, and remained standing until the close of the
speech for the prosecution, when at his request his counsel asked that
he might be permitted to sit--an application which was at once acceded
to by Lord Campbell.

The counsel engaged in the case were:--The Attorney-General, Mr. E.
James, Q.C., Mr. Bodkin, Mr. Welsby, and Mr. Huddleston, for the Crown;
and Mr. Serjeant Shee, Mr. Grove, Q.C., Mr. Gray, and Mr. Kenealy, for
the prisoner.

A most respectable jury having been empanelled, and all the witnesses,
with the exception of the medical men, having been ordered out of court,


THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL

proceeded, amid breathless silence, to open the case on the part of the
prosecution. He said: Gentlemen of the jury, the duty you are called
upon to discharge is the most solemn which a man can by possibility have
to perform--it is to sit in judgment and to decide an issue on which
depends the life of a fellow human being who stands charged with the
highest crime for which a man can be arraigned before a worldly
tribunal. I am sure that I need not ask your most anxious and earnest
attention to such a case; but there is one thing I feel it incumbent on
me to urge upon you. The peculiar circumstances of this case have given
it a profound and painful interest throughout the whole country. There
is scarcely a man, perhaps, who has not come to some conclusion on the
issue which you are now to decide. All the details have been seized on
with eager avidity, and there is, perhaps, no one who is not more or
less acquainted with those details. Standing here as a minister of
justice; with no interest and no desire save that justice shall be done
impartially, I feel it incumbent on me to warn you not to allow any
preconceived opinion to operate on your judgment this day. Your
duty--your bounden duty--is to try this case according to the evidence
which shall be brought before you, and according to that alone. You must
discard from your minds anything that you may have read or heard, or any
opinion that you may have formed. If the evidence shall satisfy you of
the prisoner’s guilt, you will discharge your duty to society, to your
consciences, and to the oaths which you have taken, by fearlessly
pronouncing your verdict accordingly; but if the evidence fail to
produce a reasonable conviction of guilt in your minds, God forbid that
the scale of justice should be inclined against the prisoner by anything
of prejudice or preconceived opinion. My duty, gentlemen, will be a
simple one. It will be to lay before you the facts on which the
prosecution is based, and in doing so I must ask for your most patient
attention. They are of a somewhat complicated character, and they range
over a considerable period of time, so that it will be necessary not
merely to look to circumstances which are immediately connected with the
accusation, but to go back to matters of an antecedent date. I may
safely say, however, that, in my conscience, I believe there is not a
fact to which I am about to ask your patient attention which has not an
immediate and most important bearing on this case. The prisoner at the
bar, William Palmer, was by profession a medical practitioner, and he
carried on that profession in the town of Rugeley, in Staffordshire, for
several years. In later years, however, he became addicted to turf
pursuits, which gradually drew off his attention and weaned him from his
profession. Within the last two or three years he made over his business
to a person named Thirlby, formerly his assistant, who now carries it
on. In the course of his pursuits connected with the turf, Palmer became
intimate with the man whose death forms the subject of this inquiry--Mr.
John Parsons Cook.

Now, Mr. Cook was a young man of decent family, who originally had been
intended for the profession of the law. He was articled to a solicitor;
but after a time, inheriting some property, to the extent, I think, of
some £12,000 or £15,000, he abandoned the laborious profession of the
law, and betook himself also to the turf. He kept racehorses and betted
considerably; and in the course of his operations he became much
connected and familiarly intimate with the prisoner William Palmer. It
is for the murder of that Mr. John Parsons Cook that the prisoner stands
indicted to-day, the charge against him being that he took away that
man’s life by poison. It will be necessary to show you the circumstances
in which the prisoner Palmer was then placed, and the position in which
he stood relatively to the deceased Cook. It will be impossible
thoroughly to understand this case in all its bearings without those
circumstances being laid before you, and it will be necessary,
therefore, that I should go into them particularly. The case which, on
the part of the prosecution, I have to urge against Palmer is
this--that, being in desperate circumstances, with ruin, disgrace, and
punishment staring him in the face, which could only be averted by means
of money, he took advantage of his intimacy with Cook, when Cook had
become the winner of a considerable sum, to destroy him, in order to
obtain possession of his money. Out of the circumstances of Palmer at
that time arose, as we say, the motive which induced him to commit this
crime. If I show you upon evidence which can leave no reasonable doubt
in your minds that he committed that crime, motives become a matter of
secondary importance. Nevertheless, in inquiries of this kind, it is
natural and right to look to see what may have been the motives by which
a man has been induced to commit the crime charged against him; and if
we find strong motives, the more readily shall we be led to believe in
the probability of the crime having been committed; but if we find an
absence of motive the probability is the other way. In this case, the
motive will be matter for serious consideration; and inasmuch as the
circumstances out of which we say that the motive arose come first in
order of time, I will deal with them before I come to that which is the
more immediate subject matter of our inquiry. It seems to me that it
would be most convenient that I should follow the chronological order of
events, and I will therefore pursue that course. It appears that as
early as the year 1853 Palmer had got into difficulties, and that he
began to raise money upon bills. In 1854 his circumstances became worse,
and he was at that time indebted to different persons in a large sum of
money. He then had recourse to an expedient which it is important that I
should bring before you; but, as it will become necessary for me to
detail to you transactions involving fraud, and, what is worse, forgery,
I wish to make a few observations to you before I detail those
transactions.

Although I am anxious, where I feel it to be absolutely necessary for
the elucidation of the truth, that those circumstances should be brought
before you, I wish that they should not have more than their fair and
legitimate weight. You must not allow them to prejudice your minds
against the prisoner with reference to that which is the real matter of
inquiry. I cannot avoid bringing them forward; but I would anxiously
caution you and pray you not to allow any prejudice by reason of those
transactions to operate against the prisoner; for, though a man may be
guilty of fraud and forgery, it does not follow, therefore, that he is
guilty of murder.

Among the bills on which Palmer raised money in 1853 was one for £2,000,
which he had discounted by a person named Padwick. That bill bore the
acceptance of Sarah Palmer, the mother of the prisoner. She was, and is,
a woman of considerable property, and her acceptance being believed to
be genuine, was a security upon which money could readily be raised. The
prisoner forged that acceptance, and that was, if not the first, at all
events one of the earliest transactions of that nature by means of which
for a long period of time money was obtained by him upon bills, with his
mother’s acceptance forged by him. This shows how, when things came to a
climax and he found himself involved in a position of great peril and
emergency, he had recourse to a desperate expedient to avoid the
consequences which seemed inevitably to press upon him. He owed in 1854
a very large sum of money. On the 29th of September in that year his
wife died. He had effected an insurance upon her life for £13,000, and
the proceeds of that insurance were realised, and by means of them he
discharged some of his most pressing liabilities. In dealing with a
portion of these liabilities he employed a gentleman named Pratt, a
solicitor in London, who was in the habit of discounting bills. Mr.
Pratt received from him £8,000, and Mr. Wright, a solicitor of
Birmingham, received £5,000; and with those two sums £13,000 of debt was
disposed of; but that still left Palmer with considerable liabilities,
and among other things, the bill of £2,000, which was discounted by
Padwick, remained unpaid. In the course of the same year he effected an
insurance on his brother’s life, and upon the strength of that policy
Palmer proceeded to issue fresh bills, which were discounted by Pratt at
the rate of 60 per cent., who kept the policy as collateral security.
The bills which were discounted in the course of that year amounted in
the whole to £12,500. I find that there were two bills discounted as
early as June, 1854, which were held over from month to month. In March,
1855, two bills were discounted for £2,000 each, with the proceeds of
which Palmer bought two race-horses, called Nettle and Chicken. Those
bills were renewed in June, and one became due on the 28th of September,
and the other on the 2nd of October, when they were again renewed. The
result of the bill proceedings of the year was that in November, when
the Shrewsbury races took place, there were in Pratt’s hands one bill
for £2,000, due the 25th of October; another for £2,000, due the 27th of
October; two for the joint sum of £1,500, due on the 9th of November;
one for £1,000, due on the 30th of September; one for £2,000, due on the
1st January; one for £2,000, due on the 5th of January; and another for
£2,000, due on the 15th of January; making altogether £12,500. £1,000 of
this sum, however, he had contrived to pay off, so that there was due in
November, 1855, no less than £11,500, upon bills, every one of which
bore the forged acceptance of the prisoner’s mother.

Under these circumstances, a pressure naturally arose--the pressure of
£11,500 of liabilities, with not a shilling in the world to meet them,
and the still greater pressure resulting from a consciousness that the
moment when he could no longer go on and his mother was resorted to for
payment, the fact of those forgeries would at once become manifest, and
would bring upon him the peril of the law for the crime of forgery. The
prisoner’s brother died in August, 1855. His life had been insured, and
the policy for £13,000 had been assigned to the prisoner, who, of
course, expected that the proceeds of that insurance would pay off his
liabilities; but the office in which the insurance was effected declined
to pay, and consequently there was no assistance to be derived from that
source. Now, in these transactions to which I have referred, the
deceased John Parsons Cook had been to a certain extent concerned. It
seems that in May, 1855, Palmer was pressed to pay £500 to a person
named Serjeant. He had at that time in the hands of Palmer a balance
upon bill transactions of £310 to his credit, and he wanted Pratt to
advance the £190 necessary to make up £500. Pratt declined to do that,
except upon security; upon which Palmer offered him the acceptance of
Cook, representing him to be a man of substance. Accordingly the
acceptance of Cook for £200 was sent up, and upon that Pratt advanced
the money. When that bill for £200 became due, Palmer failed to provide
for it, and Cook had to meet it himself. In August of the same year, an
occurrence took place to which I must call your particular attention.
Palmer wrote to Pratt to say that he must have £1,000 by a day named.
Pratt declined to advance it without security; upon which Palmer offered
the security of Cook’s acceptance for £500. Pratt still declined to
advance the money without some more tangible security. Now Palmer
represented this as a transaction in which Cook required the money, and
it may be that such was the fact. I have no means of ascertaining how
that was; but I will give him the credit of supposing it to be true.
Pratt still declining to advance the money, Palmer proposed an
assignment by Cook of two racehorses, one called Polestar, which won the
Shrewsbury races, and another called Sirius. That assignment was
afterwards executed by Cook in favour of Pratt, and Cook, therefore, was
clearly entitled to the money which was raised upon that security, which
realised £375 in cash, and a wine warrant for £65. Palmer contrived,
however, that the money and wine warrant should be sent to him, and not
to Cook. Mr. Pratt sent down his cheque to Palmer in the country on a
stamp as the Act of Parliament required, and he availed himself of the
opportunity now offered by law of striking out the word “bearer” and
writing “order,” the effect of which was to necessitate the endorsement
of Cook on the back of the cheque.

It was not intended by Palmer that those proceeds should fall into
Cook’s hands, and accordingly he forged the name of John Parsons Cook on
the back of that cheque. Cook never received the money, and you will see
that, within ten days from the period when he came to his end, the bill
in respect to that transaction, which was at three months, would have
fallen due, when it must have become apparent that Palmer received the
money; and that, in order to obtain it, he had forged the endorsement of
Cook. I wish these were the only transactions in which Cook had been at
all mixed up with the prisoner Palmer; but there is another to which it
is necessary to refer. In September, 1855, Palmer’s brother having died,
and the proceeds of the insurance not having been realised, Palmer
induced a person named Bates to propose his life for insurance. Palmer
had succeeded in raising money upon previous policies, and I have no
doubt that he persuaded Cook to assist him in that transaction, so that,
by representing Bates as a man of wealth and substance, they might get a
policy on his life, by which policy, deposited as a collateral security,
they might obtain advances of money. Bates had been somewhat better off
in the world, but he had fallen into decay, and he had accepted
employment from Palmer as a sort of hanger-on in his stables. He was a
healthy young man; and, being in the company of Palmer and Cook at
Rugeley on the 5th of September, Palmer asked him to insure his life,
and produced the form of proposal to the office. Bates declined, but
Palmer pressed him, and Cook interposed and said, “You had better do it;
it will be for your benefit, and you’ll be quite safe with Palmer.” At
length they succeeded in persuading him to sign the proposal for no less
a sum than £25,000, Cook attesting the proposal, which Palmer filled in,
Palmer being referred to as medical attendant, and his former assistant,
Thirlby, as general referee. That proposal was sent up to the Solicitors
and General Insurance Office, and in the ensuing month--that office not
being disposed to effect the insurance--they sent up another for £10,000
to the Midland Office--on that same life. That proposal also failed, and
no money, therefore, could be obtained from that source. All these
circumstances are important, because they show the desperate straits in
which the prisoner at that time found himself.

The learned counsel then read a series of letters from Mr. Pratt to the
prisoner, all pressing upon the prisoner the importance of his meeting
the numerous bills which Pratt held, bearing the acceptance of Mrs.
Sarah Palmer; and these letters appeared to become more urgent when the
writer found that the insurance office refused to pay the £13,000 upon
the policy effected on the life of the prisoner’s brother, and which
Pratt held as collateral security. The letters were dated at intervals
between the 10th of September and the 18th of October, 1855.

On the 6th of November, two writs were issued by Pratt for £4,000, one
against Palmer and the other against his mother; and Pratt wrote on the
same day to say that he had sent the writs to Mr. Crabbe, but that they
were not to be served until he sent further instructions, and he
strongly urged Palmer to make immediate arrangements for meeting them,
and also to arrange for the bills for £1,500 due on the 9th of November.
Between the 10th and the 13th of November, Palmer succeeded in paying
£600; but on that day Pratt again wrote to him, urging him to raise
£1,000, at all events, to meet the bills due on the 9th. That being the
state of things at that time, we now come to the events connected with
Shrewsbury Races. Cook was the owner of a mare called Polestar, which
was entered for the Shrewsbury Handicap. She had been advantageously
weighted, and Cook, believing that the mare would win, betted largely
upon the event. The race was run upon the 13th of November--the very day
on which that last letter was written by Pratt, which would reach Palmer
on the 14th. The result of the race was that Polestar won, and that Cook
was entitled, in the first place, to the stakes, which amounted to £424,
_minus_ certain deductions, which left a net sum of £381 19s. His bets
had also been successful, and he won, upon the whole, a total sum of
£2,050. He had won also in the previous week, at Worcester, and I shall
show that at Shrewsbury he had in his pocket, besides the stakes and
the money which he would be entitled to receive at Tattersall’s, between
£700 and £800. The stakes he would receive through Mr. Weatherby, a
great racing agent in London, with whom he kept an account, and upon
whom he would draw; and, the race being run on a Tuesday, he would be
entitled on the ensuing Monday to receive his bets at Tattersall’s,
which amounted to £1,020.

Within a week from that time Mr. Cook died, and the important inquiry
which we have now to make is how he came by his death--whether by
natural causes or by the hand of man? and if the latter, by whose hand?
It is important, in the first place, that I should show you what was his
state of health when he went down to Shrewsbury. He was a young man, but
twenty-eight when he died. He was slightly disposed to a pulmonary
complaint, and, although delicate in that respect, he was in all other
respects a hale and hearty young man. He had been in the habit, from
time to time, especially with reference to his chest, of consulting a
physician in London--Dr. Savage, who saw him a fortnight before his
death. For four years he had occasionally consulted Dr. Savage, being at
that time a little anxious about the state of his throat, in which there
happened to be one or two slight eruptions. He had been taking mercury
for these eruptions, having mistaken the character of the complaint. Dr.
Savage at once saw that he had made a mistake, and desired him to
discontinue the use of mercury, substituting for it a course of tonics.
Mr. Cook’s health immediately began to improve; but, inasmuch as the new
course of treatment might have involved serious consequences in case Dr.
Savage had been mistaken in the diagnosis of the disease, he asked Cook
to look in upon him from time to time, and Cook had, as recently as
within a fortnight of his death, gone to call upon Dr. Savage. Dr.
Savage then examined his throat and whole system carefully, and he will
be prepared to tell you that at that time he had nothing on earth the
matter with him except a certain degree of thickening of the tonsils, or
some of the glands of the throat, to which anyone is liable, and there
was no symptom whatever of ulcerated sore-throat or anything of the
sort. Having then seen Dr. Savage, he went down to Shrewsbury Races, and
his horse won. After that he was somewhat excited, as a man might
naturally be under the circumstances of having won a considerable sum of
money, and he asked several friends to dine with him to celebrate the
event. They dined together at the Raven, the hotel where he was staying,
and had two or three bottles of wine, but there was no excess of any
sort, and no foundation for saying that Cook was the worse for liquor.
Indeed he was not addicted to excesses, but was, on the contrary, an
abstemious man on all occasions. He went to bed that night, and there
was nothing the matter with him. He got up the next day, and went again
on the course, as usual.

That night, Wednesday, the 14th November, a remarkable incident
happened, to which I beg to draw your attention. A friend of his, a Mr.
Fisher, and a Mr. Herring, were at Shrewsbury Races, and Fisher, who,
besides being a sporting man, was an agent for receiving winnings, and
who received Cook’s bets at the settling day at Tattersall’s, occupied
the room next to that occupied by Cook. Late in the evening Fisher went
into a room in which he found Palmer and Cook drinking brandy-and-water.
Cook gave him something to drink, and said to Palmer, “You’ll have some
more, won’t you?” Palmer replied, “Not unless you finish your glass.”
Cook said, “I’ll soon do that;” and he finished it at a gulp, leaving
only about a teaspoonful at the bottom of the glass. He had hardly
swallowed it, when he exclaimed, “Good God! there’s something in it, it
burns my throat.” Palmer immediately took up the glass, and drinking
what remained, said, “Nonsense, there’s nothing in it;” and then pushing
the glass to Fisher and another person who had come in, said, “Cook
fancies there is something in the brandy-and-water--there’s nothing in
it--taste it.” On which one of them replied, “How can we taste it?
you’ve drank it all.” Cook suddenly rose and left the room, and called
Fisher out, saying that he was taken seriously ill. He was seized with
most violent vomiting, and became so bad that after a little while it
was necessary to take him to bed. He vomited there again and again in
the most violent way, and as the sickness continued after the lapse of a
couple of hours a medical man was sent for. He came and proposed an
emetic and other means for making the sick man eject what he had taken.
After that, medicine was given him--at first some stimulant of a
comforting nature, and then a pill as a purgative dose. After two or
three hours he became more tranquil, and about 2 o’clock he fell asleep
and slept till next morning. Such was the state of the man’s feelings
all that time that I cannot tell what passed; but he gave Fisher the
money which he had about him, desiring him to take care of it, and Mr.
Fisher will tell you that that money amounted to between £800 and £900
in notes.

The next morning, having passed a quiet night, as I have said, and
feeling better, he went out on the course; and he saw Fisher, who gave
him back his notes. That was the Thursday. He still looked very ill, and
felt very ill; but the vomiting had ceased. On that day Palmer’s horse,
the Chicken, ran at Shrewsbury. He had backed his mare heavily, but she
lost. When Palmer went to Shrewsbury he had no money, and was obliged to
borrow £25 to take him there. His horse lost, and he lost bets upon the
race. He and Cook then left Shrewsbury, and returned to Rugeley, Cook
going to the Talbot Arms Hotel, directly opposite the prisoner’s house.
There is an incident however, connected with the occurrence at
Shrewsbury, which I must mention. About 11 o’clock that night, a Mrs.
Brooks, who betted on commission and had an establishment of jockeys,
went to speak to the deceased upon some racing business, and in the
lobby she saw Palmer holding up a tumbler to the light; and, having
looked at it through the gas, he withdrew to an outer room and presently
returned with the glass in his hand, and went into the room where Cook
was, and in which room he drank the brandy and water from which I
suppose you will infer that the sickness came on. I do not charge that
by anything which caused that sickness Cook’s death was occasioned; but
I shall show you that throughout the ensuing days at Rugeley he
constantly received things from the prisoner, and that during those days
that sickness was continued. I shall show you that after he died
antimony was found in the tissues of his body and in his blood--antimony
administered in the form of tartar emetic, which, if continued to be
applied, will maintain sickness.

It was not that, however, of which this man died. The charge is, that
having been prepared by antimony, he was killed by strychnine. You have,
no doubt, heard of the vegetable product known as nux vomica. In that
nut or bean there resides a subtle and fatal poison which is capable of
being extracted from it by the skill of the operative chemist, and of
which the most minute quantity is fatal to animal life. From half to a
quarter of a grain will destroy life--you may imagine, therefore, how
minute is the dose. In the human organization the nervous system may be
divided into two main parts--the nerves of sensation, by which a
consciousness of all external sensations is conveyed to the brain; and
the nerves of motion, which are, as it were, the agents between the
intellectual power of man and the physical action which arises from his
organization. Those are the two main branches having their origin in the
immediate vicinity of the seat of man’s intellectual existence. They are
entirely distinct in their allocations, and one set of nerves may be
affected while the other is left undisturbed. You may paralyse the
nerves of sensation and may leave the nerves which act upon the
voluntary muscles of movement wholly unaffected; or you may reverse that
state of things, and may affect the nerves and muscles of volition,
leaving the nerves of sensation wholly unaffected. Strychnine affects
the nerves which act on the voluntary muscles, and it leaves wholly
unaffected the nerves on which human consciousness depends; and it is
important to bear this in mind--some poisons produce a total absence of
consciousness, but the poison to which I refer affects the voluntary
action of the muscles of the body, and leaves unimpaired the power of
consciousness. Now, the way in which strychnine acting upon the
voluntary muscles is fatal to life is, that it produces the most intense
excitement of all those muscles, violent convulsions take place--spasms
which affect the whole body and which end in rigidity--all the muscles
become fixed, and the respiratory muscles in which the lungs have play
are fixed with an immovable rigidity, respiration consequently is
suspended, and death ensues. These symptoms are known to medical men
under the term of tetanus. There are other forms of tetanus which
produce death, and which arise from other causes than the taking of
strychnine, but there is a wide difference between the various forms of
the same disease, which prevents the possibility of mistake.

The learned counsel then explained the different symptoms which
characterise traumatic tetanus and idiopathic tetanus, which latter is
of comparatively rare occurrence in this country; but, as this is a
matter which will be hereafter dwelt upon with great detail in the
medical testimony, it is unnecessary to burden our report with it at any
length here:--(He then continued.) I have reason to believe that an
attempt will be made to confound those different classes of disease, and
it will be necessary therefore for the jury to watch with great
minuteness the medical evidence upon this point. It will show that both
in traumatic and idiopathic tetanus the disease commences with the
milder symptoms, which gradually progress towards the development and
final completion of the attack. When once the disease has commenced, it
continues without intermission, although, as in every other form of
malady, the paroxysms will be from time to time more or less intense. In
the case of tetanus from strychnine it is not so. It commences with
paroxysms which may subside for a time, but are renewed again; and,
whereas other forms of tetanus almost always last during a certain
number of hours or days, when we deal with strychnine we deal with cases
not of hours but of minutes--in which we have no beginning of the
disease, and then a gradual development to the climax; but in which the
paroxysms commence with all their power at the very first, and
terminate, after a few short minutes of fearful agony and struggles, in
the dissolution of the victim. Palmer was a medical man, and it is clear
that the effect of strychnine had not escaped his attention; for I have
a book before me which was found in his house after his arrest, called
_Manual for Students Preparing for Examination at Apothecaries’ Hall_;
and on the first page, in his handwriting, I observe this remark,
“Strychnine kills by causing tetanic fixing of the respiratory muscles.”
I don’t wish to attach more importance to that circumstance than it
deserves, because nothing is more natural than that, in a book of this
kind belonging to a professional man, such notes should be made; but I
refer to it to show that the effect of poison on human life had come
within his notice.

I now revert to what took place after the arrival of these people at
Rugeley. They arrived on the night of Thursday, the 15th of November,
between ten and eleven o’clock, when Mr. Cook took some refreshment and
went to bed. He rose next morning and went out, and dined that day with
Palmer. He returned to the inn about ten o’clock that evening, perfectly
well and sober, and went to bed. The next morning, at an early hour,
Palmer was with him, and from that time throughout the whole of Saturday
and Sunday he was constantly in attendance on him. He ordered him coffee
on Saturday morning. It was brought in by the chambermaid, Elizabeth
Mills, and given to the prisoner, who had an opportunity of tampering
with it before giving it to Cook. Immediately after taking it the same
symptoms set in which had occurred at Shrewsbury. Throughout the whole
of that day and the next, the prisoner constantly administered various
things to Cook, who continued to be tormented with that incessant and
troublesome sickness. Again, toast-and-water was brought over from the
prisoner’s house, instead of being made at the inn, as it might have
been, and again the sickness ensued. It seems also that Palmer desired a
woman named Roney to procure some broth for Cook from the Albion. She
obtained it and gave it to Palmer to warm, and when Palmer had done so
he told her to take it to the Talbot for Mr. Cook, and to say that Mr.
Smith had sent it--there being a Mr. Jeremiah Smith, an intimate friend
of Cook. Cook tried to swallow a spoonful of the broth, but it
immediately made him sick, and he brought it off his stomach. The broth
was then taken down stairs, and after a little while the prisoner came
across and asked if Mr. Cook had had his broth. He was told, “No; that
he had tried to take it, but that it had made him sick, and that he
could not retain it on his stomach.” Palmer said that he must take it,
and desired that the broth should be brought upstairs. Cook tried to
take it again, but again he began to vomit and throw the whole off his
stomach. It was then taken down stairs, and a woman at the inn, thinking
that it looked nice, took a couple of tablespoonfuls of it; within half
an hour she also was taken severely ill. Vomiting came on, and continued
almost incessantly for five or six hours. She was obliged to go to bed,
and she had exactly the same symptoms which manifested themselves in
Cook’s person after he drank the brandy and water at Shrewsbury. On that
Saturday, about three o’clock, Dr. Bamford, a medical man at Rugeley,
was called in, and Palmer told him that Cook had a bilious attack--that
he had dined with him on the day before, and had drunk too freely of
champagne, which had disordered his stomach.

Now, I shall show to you, by the evidence of medical men, both at
Shrewsbury and Rugeley, that although Palmer had on one or two occasions
represented Cook as suffering under bilious diarrhœa, there was not,
during the continuance of the violent vomiting which I have mentioned, a
single bilious symptom of any sort whatever. Dr. Bamford visited him at
half-past 3, and when he found Mr. Cook suffering from violent vomiting,
and the stomach in so irritable a state that it would not retain a
tablespoonful of anything, he naturally tried to see what the symptoms
were which could lead him to form a notion as to the cause of that state
of things. He found to his surprise that the pulse of the patient was
perfectly natural--that his tongue was quite clean, his skin quite
moist, and that there was not the slightest trace of fever, or, in
short, of any of those symptoms which might be expected in the case of a
bilious man. Having heard from Palmer that he ascribed his illness to an
excess of wine on the previous day, he informed Cook of it, and Cook
then said, “Well, I suppose I must have taken too much, but it’s very
odd, for I only took three glasses.” The representation, therefore, made
by Palmer, that Cook had taken an excess of champagne, was not correct.
Coffee was brought up to Cook at 4 o’clock when Palmer was there, and he
vomited immediately. At 6 some barley-water was taken to him when Palmer
was not there, and the barley-water did not produce vomiting. At 8 some
arrowroot was given him, Palmer was present, and vomiting took place
again. These may, no doubt, be mere coincidences, but they are facts,
which, of whatever interpretation they may be susceptible, are well
deserving of attention, that during the whole of that Saturday Palmer
was continually in and out of the house in which Cook was sojourning;
that he gave him a variety of things, and that whenever he gave him
anything sickness invariably ensued. That evening Dr. Bamford called
again, and finding that the sickness still continued he prepared for the
patient two pills containing half a grain of calomel, half a grain of
morphia, and four grains of rhubarb.

On the following day, Sunday, between 7 and 8 o’clock in the morning,
Dr. Bamford is again summoned to Cook’s bedside, and finds the sickness
still recurring, but fails to detect any symptoms of bile. He visited
him repeatedly in the course of that day, and on leaving him in the
evening found, that though the sickness continued, the tongue was clean,
and there was not the slightest indication of bile or fever. And so
Sunday ended. On Monday, the 19th, Palmer left Rugeley for London--on
what business I shall presently explain. Before starting, however, he
called in the morning to see Cook, and ordered him a cup of coffee. He
took it up himself, and after drinking it Cook, as usual, vomited. After
that Palmer took his departure. Presently Dr. Bamford called, and,
finding Cook still suffering from sickness of the stomach, gave him some
medicine. Whether from the effect of that medicine, or from whatever
other cause, I know not; but it is admitted that from that time a great
improvement was observed in Cook. Palmer was not present, and during the
whole of the day Cook was better. Between 12 and 1 o’clock he is visited
by Dr. Bamford, who, perceiving the improvement, advised him to get up.
He does so, washes, dresses, recovers his spirits, and sits up for
several hours. Two of his jockies and his trainer called to see him,
are admitted to his room, enter into conversation with him, and perceive
that he is in a state of comparative ease and comfort, and so he
continued till a late hour. I will now interrupt for a moment the
consecutive narration of what passed afterwards at Rugeley to follow
Palmer through the events in which he was concerned in London. He had
written to a person named Herring to meet him at Beaufort-buildings,
where a boarding-house was kept by a lady named Hawks. Herring was a man
on the turf, and had been to Shrewsbury Races. Immediately on seeing
Palmer he inquired after Cook’s health. “Oh,” said Palmer, “he is all
right; his medical man has given him a dose of calomel and recommended
him not to come out, and what I want to see you about is the settling of
his accounts.” Monday, it appears, was settling-day at Tattersall’s, and
it was necessary that all accounts should be squared. Cook’s usual agent
for effecting that arrangement was a person named Fisher, and it seems
not a little singular that Cook should not have told Palmer why Fisher
should not have been employed on this as on all similar occasions.

On this point, however, Palmer offered no explanation. He was himself a
defaulter, and could not show at Tattersall’s. He produced a piece of
paper which he said contained a list of the sums which Cook was entitled
to receive, and he mentioned the names of the different persons who were
indebted to Cook, and the amounts for which they were respectively
liable. Herring held out his hand to take the paper, but Palmer said,
“No, I will keep this document; here is another piece of paper, write
down what I read to you, and what I have here I will retain, as it will
be a check against you.” He then dictated the names of the various
persons, with the sums for which they were liable. Herring observed that
it amounted to £1,020. “Very well,” said Palmer, “pay yourself £6,
Shelly, £30, and if you see Bull, tell him Cook will pay him on Thursday
or Friday. And now,” he added, “how much do you make the balance?”
Herring replied that he made it £984. Palmer replied that the tot was
right, and then went on to say, “I will give you £16, which will make it
£1,000. Pay yourself the £200 that I owe you for my bill; pay Padwick
£350, and Pratt £450.” So we have it here established, beyond all
controversy, that Palmer did not hesitate to apply Cook’s money to the
payment of his own debts. With regard to the debt due to Mr. Padwick, I
am assured that it represents moneys won by that gentleman, partly from
Cook, and partly from Palmer, but that Mr. Padwick held Palmer to be the
responsible party, and looked to him for payment. The debt to Pratt was
Palmer’s own affair. Such is the state of things as regards the
disposition of the money. Palmer desired Herring to send cheques to
Pratt and Padwick at once, and without waiting to draw the money from
Tattersall’s. To this Herring objected, observing that it would be most
injudicious to send the cheques before he was sure of getting the money.
“Ah, well,” said Palmer, “never mind--it is all right; but come what
will, Pratt must be paid, for his claim is on account of a bill of sale
for a mare.” Finding it impossible to overcome Herring’s objection to
send the cheques until he had got the money at Tattersall’s, Palmer then
proceeded to settle some small betting transactions between himself and
that gentleman amounting to £5, or thereabouts. He pulled out a £50
note, and Herring, not having full change, gave him a cheque for £20.
They then parted, Palmer directing him to send down word of his
proceedings either to him (Palmer) or to Cook. With this injunction
Herring complied, and I shall prove in the course of the trial that the
letters he wrote to Cook were intercepted by the postmaster at Rugeley.
Not having received as much as he expected at Tattersall’s, Herring was
unable to pay Padwick the £350; but it is not disputed that he paid £450
to Pratt.

On the same day, Palmer went himself to the latter gentleman, and paid
him other moneys, consisting of £30 in notes, and the cheque for £20
which he had received from Herring, and a memorandum was drawn, and to
which I shall hereafter have occasion to call attention. So much for
Palmer’s proceedings in London. On the evening of that same day (Monday)
he returned home. Arriving at Rugeley about nine o’clock at night, he at
once proceeded to visit Cook, at the Talbot Arms; and from that time
till ten or eleven o’clock he was continually in and out of Cook’s room.
In the course of the evening he went to a man named Newton, assistant to
a surgeon named Salt, and applied for three grains of strychnine, which
Newton, knowing Palmer to be a medical practitioner, did not hesitate to
give him. Dr. Bamford had sent on this day the same kind of pills that
he had sent on Saturday and Sunday. I believe it was the doctor’s habit
to take the pills himself to the Talbot Arms, and intrust them to the
care of the housekeeper, who carried them upstairs; but it was Palmer’s
practice to come in afterwards, and evening after evening, to administer
medicine to the patient. There is no doubt that Cook took pills on
Monday night. Whether he took the pills prepared for him by Dr. Bamford,
and similar to those which he had taken on Saturday and Sunday, or
whether Palmer substituted for Dr. Bamford’s pills some of his own
concoction, consisting in some measure of strychnine, I must leave for
the jury to determine. Certain it is, that when he left Cook at eleven
o’clock at night, the latter was still comparatively well and
comfortable, and cheerful as in the morning. But he was not long to
continue so. About twelve o’clock the female servants in the lower part
of the house were alarmed by violent screams, proceeding from Cook’s
room. They rushed up, and found him in great agony, shrieking
dreadfully, shouting “Murder!” and calling on Christ to save his soul.
He was in intense pain. The eyes were starting out of his head. He was
flinging his arms wildly about him, and his whole body was convulsed. He
was perfectly conscious, however, and desired that Palmer should be sent
for without delay. One of the women ran to fetch him, and he attended in
a few minutes. He found Cook still screaming, gasping for breath, and
hardly able to speak. He ran back again to procure some medicine; and on
his return Cook exclaimed, “Oh dear, doctor, I shall die!” “No, my lad,
you shall not,” replied Palmer; and he then gave him some more medicine.
The sick man vomited almost immediately, but there was no appearance of
the pills in the utensil.

Shortly afterwards he became more calm, and called on the women to rub
his limbs. They did so, and found them cold and rigid. Presently the
symptoms became still more tranquil, and he grew better; but the medical
men will depose that the tetanus that afflicted him was that occasioned
by strychnine. His frame, exhausted by the terrible agony it had
endured, now fell gradually into repose; nature asserted her claim to
rest, and he began to dose. So matters remained till the morrow, Tuesday
the 20th, the day of his death. On the morning of that day, Cook was
found comparatively comfortable, though still retaining a vivid
impression of the horrors he had suffered the night before. He was quite
collected, and conversed rationally with the chambermaid. Palmer meeting
Dr. Bamford that same day, told him that he did not want to have Cook
disturbed, for that he was now at his ease, though he had had a fit the
night before. This same morning, between the hours of eleven and twelve
o’clock, there occurred a very remarkable incident. About that time
Palmer went to the shop of a certain Mr. Hawkings, a druggist, at
Rugeley. He had not dealt with him for two years before, it being his
practice during that period to purchase such drugs as he required from
Mr. Thirlby, a former assistant of Mr. Hawkings, who had set up in
business for himself. But on this day Palmer went to Mr. Hawkings’s
shop, and, producing a bottle, informed the assistant that he wanted two
drachms of prussic acid. While it was being prepared for him, Mr.
Newton, the same man from whom he had on a former occasion obtained
strychnine, came into the shop, whereupon Palmer seized him by the arm,
and observing that he had something particular to say to him, hurried
him into the street, where he kept talking to him on a matter of the
smallest possible importance, relating to the precise period at which
his employer’s son meant to repair to a farm he had taken in the
country. They continued to converse on this trivial topic until a
gentleman named Brassington (or Grassington) came up, whereupon Mr.
Newton turned aside to say a few words to him. Palmer, relieved by this
accident, went back into the shop, and asked, in addition, for six
grains of strychnine and a certain quantity of Batley’s liquor of opium.
He obtained them, paid for them, and went away. Presently Mr. Newton
returned, and being struck with the fact of Palmer’s dealing with
Hawkings, asked out of passing curiosity what he had come for, and was
informed.

And here I must mention a fact of some importance respecting Mr. Newton.
When examined before the coroner, that gentleman only deposed to one
purchase of strychnine by Palmer at Mr. Salt’s surgery, and it was only
as recently as yesterday that with many expressions of contrition for
not having been more explicit, he communicated to the Crown the fact
that Palmer had also bought strychnine on Monday night. It is for you,
gentlemen, to decide the amount of credit to be attached to this
evidence; but you will bear in mind that whatever you may think of Mr.
Newton’s testimony, that of Mr. Roberts, on whom there is no taint or
shadow of suspicion, is decisive with respect to the purchases which the
prisoner made on Tuesday at the shop of Mr. Hawkings. I now resume the
story of Tuesday’s proceedings with the observation that Cook was
entitled to receive the stakes he had won at Shrewsbury. On that day
Palmer sent for Mr. Cheshire, the postmaster of Rugeley. He owed
Cheshire £7 odd, and the latter, supposing that he was about to be paid,
came with a stamped receipt in his hand. Palmer produced a paper, and
remarking “that Cook was too ill to write himself,” told Cheshire to
draw a cheque on Weatherby’s in his (Palmer’s) favour for £350. Cheshire
thereupon filled up a piece of paper purporting to be the body of a
cheque, addressed in the manner indicated to the Messrs. Weatherby, and
concluding with the words, “and place the same to my account.” Palmer
then took the document away, for the purpose, as he averred, of getting
Cook’s signature to it. What became of it I do not undertake to assert;
but of this there is no question, that by that night’s post Palmer sent
up to Weatherby’s a cheque which was returned dishonoured. Whether it
was genuine, or like so many other papers with which Palmer had to do,
forged, is a question which you will have to determine. And now,
returning to Cook, it may be observed that in the course of that morning
coffee and broth were sent him by Palmer, and, as usual, vomiting ensued
and continued through the whole of the afternoon.

And now a new person makes his appearance on the stage. You must know
that on Sunday, Palmer wrote to Mr. W. H. Jones, a surgeon, of
Lutterworth, desiring him to come over to see Cook. Cook was a personal
friend of Mr. Jones, and had occasionally been in the habit of residing
at his house. It is deserving of remark that Palmer, in his letter to
Jones, describes Cook as “suffering from a severe bilious attack
accompanied with diarrhœa,” adding, “it is desirable for you to come
and see him as soon as possible.” Whether this communication is to be
interpreted in a sense favourable to the prisoner, or whether it is to
be taken as indicating a deep design to give colour to the idea that
Cook died a natural death, it is at least certain that the statement
that Cook had been “suffering from a bilious attack attended with
diarrhœa,” was utterly untrue. Mr. Jones being himself unwell, did
not come to Rugeley till Tuesday. He arrived at about three o’clock on
that day, and immediately proceeded to see his sick friend. Palmer came
in at the same moment, and they both examined the patient. Mr. Jones
paid particular attention to the state of his tongue; remarked, “That is
not the tongue of bilious fever.”

About seven o’clock that same evening Dr. Bamford called, and found the
patient pretty well. Subsequently the three medical men (Palmer,
Bamford, and Jones) held a consultation, but before leaving the bedroom
for that purpose, Cook beckoned to Palmer, and said, “Mind, I will have
no more pills or medicine to-night.” They then withdrew and consulted.
Palmer insisted on his taking pills, but added, “Let us not tell him
what they contain, as he fears the same results that have already given
him such pain.” It was agreed that Dr. Bamford should make up the pills,
which were to be composed of the same ingredients as those that had been
administered on the three preceding evenings. The doctor repaired to his
surgery, and made them up accordingly. He was followed by Palmer, who
asked him to write the directions how they were to be taken. Dr.
Bamford, though unable to understand the necessity of his doing so,
under the circumstances, complied with Palmer’s request, and wrote on
the box that the pills were to be taken at “bed-time.” Palmer then took
them away, and gave either those pills or some others to Cook that
night. It is remarkable, however, that half or three-quarters of an hour
elapsed from the time he left Dr. Bamford’s surgery until he brought the
pills to Cook. When, at length, he came, he produced two pills, but
before giving them to Cook he took especial care to call Mr. Jones’s
attention to the directions on the lid, observing that the writing was
singularly distinct and vigorous for a man upwards of eighty. If the
prisoner be guilty, it is a natural presumption that he made this
observation with the view of identifying the pill-box as having come
from Dr. Bamford, and so averting suspicion from himself. This was about
half-past ten at night. The pills were then offered to Cook, who
strongly objected to take them, remarking that they had made him ill the
night before. Palmer insisted, and the sick man at last consented to
take them. He vomited immediately after, but did not bring up the pills.
Jones then went down and took his supper, and he will tell you that up
to the period when the pills were administered, Cook had been easy and
cheerful, and presented no symptom of the approach of disease, much less
of death. It was arranged that Jones should sleep in the same room with
Cook, and he did so; but he had not been more than fifteen or twenty
minutes in bed when he was aroused by a sudden exclamation, and a
frightful scream from Cook, who, starting up, said, “Send for the doctor
immediately; I am going to be ill, as I was last night.” The chambermaid
ran across the road, and rang the bell of Palmer’s house, and in a
moment Palmer was at the window. He was told that Cook was again ill. In
two minutes he was by the bedside of the sick man, and, strangely,
volunteered the observation, “I never dressed so quickly in my life.” It
is for you, gentlemen, to say whether you think he had time to dress at
all. Cook was found in the same condition, and with the same symptoms as
the night before, gasping for breath, screaming violently, his body
convulsed with cramps and spasms, and his neck rigid. Jones raised him
and rubbed his neck. When Palmer entered the room, Cook asked him for
the same remedy that had relieved him the night before. “I will run back
and fetch it,” said Palmer, and he darted out of the room. In the
passage he met two female servants, who remarked that Cook was as “bad”
as he had been last night. “He is not within fifty times as bad as he
was last night; and what a game is this to be at every night!” was
Palmer’s reply. In a few minutes he returned with two pills, which he
told Jones were ammonia, though I am assured that it is a drug that
requires much time in the preparation, and can with difficulty be made
into pills. The sick man swallowed these pills, but brought them up
again immediately.

And now ensued a terrible scene. He was instantly seized with violent
convulsions; by degrees his body began to stiffen out; then suffocation
commenced. Agonised with pain, he repeatedly entreated to be raised.
They tried to raise him, but it was not possible. The body had become
rigid as iron, and it could not be done. He then said, “Pray, turn me
over.” They did turn him over on the right side. He gasped for breath,
but could utter no more. In a few moments all was tranquil--the tide of
life was ebbing fast. Jones leant over him to listen to the action of
the heart. Gradually the pulse ceased--all was over--he was dead.
(Sensation.) I will show you that his was a death referable in its
symptoms to the tetanus produced by strychnine, and not to any other
possible form of tetanus. Scarcely was the breath out of his body when
Palmer begins to think of what is to be done. He engages two women to
lay out the corpse, and these women, on entering the room, find him
searching the pockets of a coat which, no doubt, belonged to Cook, and
hunting under the pillows and bolsters. They saw some letters in the
mantel-shelf, which, in all probability, had been taken out of the dead
man’s pocket; and, what is very remarkable is, that from that day to
this, nothing has been seen or heard either of the betting-book or of
any of the papers connected with Cook’s money affairs. On a subsequent
day (Thursday) he returned, and, on the pretence of looking for some
books, and a paper knife, rummaged again through the documents of the
deceased. On the 25th of November he sent for Cheshire, and, producing a
paper purporting to bear the signature of Cook, asked him to attest it.
Cheshire glanced over it. It was a document in which Cook acknowledged
that certain bills, to the amount of £4,000 or thereabouts, were bills
that had been negotiated for his (Cook’s) benefit, and in respect of
which Palmer had received no consideration. Such was the paper to which,
forty-eight hours after the death of the man whose name it bore, Palmer
did not hesitate to ask Cheshire to be an attesting witness. Cheshire,
though unfortunately for himself, too much the slave of Palmer,
peremptorily refused to comply with this request; whereupon Palmer
carelessly observed, “It is of no consequence; I dare say the signature
will not be disputed, but it occurred to me that it would look more
regular if it were attested.”

On Friday Mr. Stevens, Cook’s father-in-law, came down to Rugeley, and,
after viewing the body of his relative, to whom he had been tenderly
attached, asked Palmer about his affairs. Palmer assured him that he
held a paper drawn up by a lawyer, and signed by Cook, stating that, in
respect of £4,000 worth of bills, he (Cook) was alone liable, and that
Palmer had a claim to that amount against his estate. Mr. Stevens
expressed his amazement, and replied that there would not be 4,000
shillings for the holders of the bills. Subsequently Palmer displayed an
eager officiousness in the matter of the funeral, taking upon himself to
order a shell and an oak coffin without any directions to that effect
from the relatives of the deceased, who were anxious to have the
arrangements in their own hands. Mr. Stevens ordered dinner at the hotel
for Bamford, Jones, and himself, and, finding Palmer still hanging about
him, thought it but civil to extend the invitation to him. Accordingly
they all sat down together. After dinner, Mr. Stevens asked Jones to
step upstairs and bring down all books and papers belonging to Cook.
Jones left the room to do so, and Palmer followed him. They were absent
about ten minutes, and on their return Jones observed that they were
unable to find the betting-book or any of the papers belonging to the
deceased. Palmer added, “The betting-book would be of no use to you if
you found it, for the bets are void by his death.” Mr. Stevens replied,
“The book must be found;” and then Palmer, changing his tone, said, “Oh,
I dare say it will turn up.” Mr. Stevens then rang the bell, and told
the housekeeper to take charge of whatever books and papers had belonged
to Cook, and to be sure not to allow any one to meddle with them until
he came back from London, which he would soon do, with his solicitor. He
then departed, but, returning to Rugeley after a brief interval,
declared his intention to have a _post mortem_ examination. Palmer
volunteered to nominate the surgeons who should conduct it, but Mr.
Stevens refused to employ any one whom he should recommend. On Sunday,
the 26th, Palmer called on Dr. Bamford, and asked him for a certificate
attesting the cause of Cook’s death. The doctor expressed his surprise,
and observed, “Why, he was your patient?” But Palmer importuned him, and
Bamford taking the pen filled up the certificate, and entered the cause
of death as “apoplexy.” Dr. Bamford is upwards of 80, and I hope that it
is to some infirmity connected with his great age that this most
unjustifiable act is to be attributed. However, he shall be produced in
court, and he will tell you that apoplexy has never been known to
produce tetanus. In the course of the day Palmer sent for Newton, and
after they had had some brandy-and-water, asked him how much strychnine
he would use to kill a dog. Newton replied, “from half-a-grain to a
grain.” “And how much,” inquired Palmer, “would be found in the tissues
and intestines after death?” “None at all,” was Newton’s reply; but that
is a point on which I will produce important evidence.

The _post mortem_ examination took place the next day, and on that
occasion Palmer assured the medical men, of whom there were many
present, that Cook had had epileptic fits on Monday and Tuesday, and
that they would find old disease in the heart and head. He added that
the poor fellow was “full of disease,” and had “all kinds of
complaints.” These statements were completely disproved by the _post
mortem_ examinations. At the first of them, conducted by Dr. Devonshire,
the liver, lungs, and kidneys were all found healthy. It was said that
there were some slight indications of congestion of the kidneys, whether
due to decomposition or to what other cause was not certain; but it was
admitted on all hands that they did not impair the general health of the
system, or at all account for death. The stomach and intestines were
examined, and they exhibited a few white spots at the large end of the
stomach, but these marks were wholly insufficient to explain the cause
of dissolution. Dr. Bamford contended that there was some slight
congestion of the brain, but all the other medical men concurred in
thinking that there was none at all. In the ensuing month of January the
body was exhumed with a view to more accurate examination, and the body
was then found to be in a perfectly normal and healthy condition. Palmer
seemed rejoiced at the discovery, and, turning to Dr. Bamford,
exclaimed, “Doctor, they won’t hang us yet!” The stomach and intestines
were taken out and placed in a jar, and it was observed that Palmer
pushed against the medical man who was engaged in the operation, and the
jar was in danger of being upset. It escaped, however, and was covered
with skins, tied down, and sealed. Presently one of the medical men
turned round, and finding that the jar had disappeared, asked what had
become of it. It was found at a distance, near a different door from
that through which people usually passed in and out, and Palmer
exclaimed, “It’s all right. It was I who removed it. I thought it would
be more convenient for you to have it here, that you might lay your
hands readily on it as you went out.” When the jar was recovered it was
found that two slits had been cut in the skins with a knife. The slits,
however, were clean, so that, whatever his object may have been in
making the incisions, it is certain that nothing was taken out of the
jar. He goes to Dr. Bamford, and remonstrates against the removal of the
jars. He says, “I do not think we ought to allow them to be taken away.”
Now, if he had been an ignorant person, not familiar with the course
likely to be pursued by medical men under such circumstances, there
might be some excuse for this; but it is for you to ask yourselves
whether Palmer, himself a medical man, knowing that the contents of the
jars were to be submitted to an analysis, might not have relied with
confidence on the honour and integrity of the profession to which he
belonged. You must say whether his anxiety to prevent the removal of the
jars was not a sign of a guilty conscience. Dr. Bamford was a most
respectable physician, and his character and position were well known to
Palmer.

But the case does not stop here. The jar was delivered to Mr. Boycott,
the clerk to Mr. Gardner, the solicitor. Palmer, finding that it was to
be sent to London for chymical analysis, was extremely anxious that it
should not reach its destination. It was going to be conveyed by Mr.
Boycott to the Stafford station in a fly, driven by a post-boy. Palmer
goes to this post-boy, and asks him whether it is the fact that he is
going to drive Boycott to Stafford? He is answered in the affirmative.
He then asks, “Are the jars there?” He is told that they are. He says,
“They have no business to take them; one does not know what they may put
in them. Can’t you manage to upset the fly and break them? I will give
you £10, and make it all right for you.” The man said, “I shall do no
such thing. I must go and look after my fly.” That man will be called
before you, and he will have no interest to state anything but the
truth. I have now gone through the painful history, yet there are some
points of minor importance which I ought not altogether to pass over, as
nothing connected with the conduct of a man conscious that an imputation
of this kind rests upon him can be immaterial. After the _post mortem_
examination it was thought right to hold a coroner’s inquest. On two or
three occasions in the course of that inquiry, Palmer sent presents to
the coroner. The stomach of the deceased and its contents were sent to
Dr. Taylor, and Dr. Rees, at Guy’s Hospital, who were known to be in
communication with Mr. Gardner. A letter was sent by Dr. Taylor to Mr.
Gardner, stating the result of the investigation; that letter was
betrayed to Palmer by the postmaster, Cheshire, and Palmer then wrote to
the coroner, telling him that Dr. Taylor and Dr. Rees had failed in
finding traces of poison, and asking him to take a certain course with
respect to the evidence. Why should he have done this if there had not
been a feeling of uneasiness upon his mind? These matters must not be
wholly overlooked, although I will not ask you to give them any undue
importance. I should have told you, in addition, that the prisoner had
no money prior to Shrewsbury races, while afterwards he was flush of
cash. Sums of £100 and £150 were paid by him into the bank at Rugeley,
two or three persons received sums of £10 each, and he seemed, in fact,
to be giving away money right and left. I think I shall be able to show
that he had something like £400 in his possession. Now, Cook had £700 or
£800 when he left Shrewsbury on the Thursday morning. None is found. It
may be that Cook, who, whatever his faults, was a kind-hearted creature,
compassionating Palmer’s condition, and influenced by his
representations, assisted him with money. That I do not know. I do not
wish to strain the point too far, but one cannot imagine that Cook, who
had no money but what he took with him to Shrewsbury, should have given
Palmer everything and left himself destitute.

The case then stands thus:--Here is a man overwhelmed with pecuniary
difficulties, obliged to resort to the desperate expedient of forging
acceptances to raise money, hoping to meet them by the proceeds of the
insurances he had effected upon a life. Disappointed in that expectation
by the board; told by the gentleman through whom the bills had been
discounted, “You must trifle with me no longer--if you cannot find
money, writs will be served on you;” Cook’s name forged to an
endorsement for £375; ruin staring him in the face--you, gentlemen, must
say whether he had not sufficient inducement to commit the crime. He
seems to have had a further object. No sooner is the breath out of the
dead man’s body than he says to Jones, “I had a claim of £3,000 or
£4,000 against him on account of bills.” Besides, he believed that Cook
had more property than it turns out he really had. The valuable mare,
Pole Star, belonged to him when the assignment had been paid off, and
Palmer would have been glad to obtain possession of her. The fact, too,
that Cook was mixed up in the insurance of Bates may lead one to surmise
that he was in possession of secrets relating to the desperate
expedients to which this man has resorted to obtain money. I will leave
you to say whether this combination of motives may not have led to the
crime with which he is charged. This you will only have to consider,
supposing the case to be balanced between probabilities; but if you
believe the evidence that will be given as to what took place on the
Monday and the Tuesday--if you believe the paroxysms of the Monday, the
mortal agony of the Tuesday--I shall show that things were administered,
on both those days, by the hand of Palmer, by a degree of evidence
almost amounting to certainty.

The body was submitted to a careful analysis, and I am bound to say that
no trace of strychnine was found. But I am told that, although the
presence of strychnine may be detected by certain tests, and although
indications of its presence lead irresistibly to the conclusion that it
has been administered, the converse of that proposition does not hold.
Sometimes it is found, at other times it is not. It depends upon
circumstances. A most minute dose will destroy life, from half to
three-quarters of a grain will lay the strongest man prostrate. But in
order to produce that fatal effect it must be absorbed into the system,
and the absorption takes place in a greater or less period according to
the manner in which the poison is presented to the surfaces with which
it comes in contact. If it is in a fluid form it is rapidly taken up and
soon produces the effect; if not, it requires to be absorbed, and the
effects are a longer time in showing themselves. But in either case
there is a difficulty in discovering its presence. If it acts only on
the nervous system through the circulation, an almost infinitesimal dose
will be present. And, as it is a vegetable poison, the tests which alone
can be employed are infinitely more delicate and difficult than those
which are applied to other poisons. It is unlike a mineral poison, which
can soon be detected and reproduced. If the dose has been a large one
death ensues before the whole has been absorbed, and a portion is left
in the intestines; but if a _minimum_ dose has been administered a
different consequence follows, and the whole is absorbed. Practical
experience bears out the theory that I am enunciating. Experiments have
been tried which show that where the same amount of poison has been
administered to animals of the same species death will ensue in the same
number of minutes, accompanied by precisely the same kinds of symptoms;
while in the analysis afterwards made, the presence of poison will be
detected in one case and not in another. It has been repeated over and
over again that the scientific men employed in this case had come to the
conclusion that the presence of strychnine cannot be detected by any
tests known to science. They have been grievously misunderstood. They
never made any such assertion. What they have asserted is this--the
detection of its presence, where its administration is a matter of
certainty, is a matter of the greatest uncertainty. It would, indeed, be
a fatal thing to sanction the notion that strychnine, administered for
the purpose of taking away life, cannot afterwards be detected!
Lamentable enough is the uncertainty of detection! Happily, Providence,
which has placed this fatal agent at the disposition of man, has marked
its effects with characteristic symptoms distinguishable from those of
all other agents by the eye of science.

It will be for you to say whether the testimony that will be laid before
you with regard to those symptoms does not lead your mind to the
conclusion that the deceased came to his death by poison administered to
him by the prisoner. There is a circumstance which throws great light
upon this part of the case. Some days before his death the man was
constantly vomiting. The analysis made of his body failed to produce
evidence of the presence of strychnine, but did not fail to produce
evidence of the presence of antimony. Now, antimony was not administered
by the medical men, and unless taken in a considerable quantity it
produces no effect and is perfectly soluble. It is an irritant, which
produces exactly the symptoms which were produced in this case. The man
was sick for a week, and antimony was found in his body afterwards. For
what purpose can it have been administered? It may be that the original
intention was to destroy him by means of antimony--it may be that the
only object was to bring about an appearance of disease so as to account
for death. One is lost in speculation. But the question is whether you
have any doubt that strychnine was administered on the Monday, and still
more on the Tuesday when death ensued? And if you are satisfied with the
evidence that will be adduced on that point, you must then determine
whether it was not administered by the prisoner’s hand. I shall produce
testimony before you in proof of the statements I have made, which I am
afraid must occupy some considerable portion of your time; but in such
an inquiry time cannot be wasted, and I am sure you will give it your
most patient attention. I have the satisfaction of knowing that the
prisoner will be defended by one of the most eloquent and able men who
ever adorned the bar of this country or any other forum, and that
everything will be done for him that can be done. If in the end all
should fail in satisfying you of his guilt, in God’s name let not the
innocent suffer! If, on the other hand, the facts that will be presented
to you should lead you to the conclusion that he is guilty, the best
interests of society demand his conviction.

The opening address of the Attorney-General occupied upwards of four
hours in its delivery. At its conclusion (at a quarter past 2 o’clock)
the jury retired for a short time for refreshment, and upon their return
the following witnesses were called in support of the prosecution:--

ISMAEL FISHER, examined by Mr. E. JAMES: I am a wine merchant at 4
Victoria-street, City. I am in the habit of attending races and betting.
I knew John Parsons Cook. I had known him for about two years before his
death. I was at Shrewsbury races in November, 1855. I remember the
Shrewsbury Handicap. It was won by the mare called Polestar, the
property of Cook. It took place on Tuesday, November the 13th. I saw
Cook upon the course. He looked as well as he had looked at any time
since I had known him. I was stopping at the Raven Hotel at Shrewsbury.
I know Palmer (the prisoner) very well. I have known him rather more
than two years. Cook and Palmer were stopping at the same hotel, and
occupied a room separated from mine only by a wooden partition. It was a
sitting room, and they occupied it jointly. On the Wednesday night,
between 11 and 12 o’clock, I went into the sitting-room. I found there
Cook, Palmer, and Mr. Myatt, a saddler at Rugeley, a friend of Palmer’s.
They had grog before them. I was asked to sit down by Cook, and I sat
down. Cook asked Palmer to have some more brandy-and-water. Palmer said,
“I will not have any more till you have drunk yours.” Cook said, “Then I
will drink mine.” He took up his glass and drank the grog off
immediately. He said within a minute afterwards, “There is something in
it; it burns my throat dreadfully.” Palmer then got up, took the glass,
sipped up what was left in it, and said, “There is nothing in it.” There
was not more than a teaspoonful in the glass when he emptied it. In the
mean time Mr. Read had come in. Palmer handed the glass to Read and to
me, and asked if we thought there was anything in it. We both said the
glass was so empty that we could not recognise anything. I said I
thought there was rather a strong scent upon it, but I could not say it
arose from anything but brandy.

Lord CAMPBELL: Did you put your lips to it?

WITNESS: I did not. It was completely drained. Within ten minutes I
retired. Cook had left the room, and then came back and called me from
it. We went to my own sitting room. He there told me he was very ill and
very sick, and asked me to take his money.

Mr. E. JAMES: Did he state what he was suffering from?

Mr. Serjeant SHEE objected to this question.

Lord CAMPBELL: Surely his statement of the effect produced on him by
what he had just swallowed is admissible.

Witness: He said he was very sick, and he thought “that d---- Palmer”
had dosed him. He handed me over some money, between £700 and £800, in
bank notes, to take care of. He did not sleep in the same room with
Palmer. He was seized with vomiting after he had given me the money, and
left the room. He afterwards came back to my room, and again complained
of what he had been suffering. He asked me to go to his bedroom. I went
with him. Mr. Jones, a law-stationer, went with me. He then vomited
again violently, and was so ill that I sent for a doctor--Mr. Gibson,
who came about half-past twelve or a quarter to one. I remained with
Cook till two o’clock. I sent for Mr. Gibson a second time, and he sent
some medicine, which Cook took. After seeing the doctor and taking the
medicine he became more composed. Mr. Jones and I gave him the medicine.
Next morning, about ten o’clock, I saw Palmer. I found him in my
sitting-room when I came down stairs; he said, “Cook has been stating
that I gave him something in his brandy. I never play such tricks with
people. But I can tell you what he was. He was d----d drunk.” I should
say Cook was certainly not drunk.

Lord CAMPBELL: Was he affected by liquor?

Witness: Not at all approaching drunkenness, my lord. Cook came into my
bedroom before I was up the same morning. He was much better, but still
looked ill. I gave him back his money. About three o’clock on that day
(Thursday) I saw Cook on the race-course. He looked very ill. I had
always settled Cook’s bets for him when he did not settle them himself.
I saw his betting-book in his hand. It was dark in colour, and about
half the size of this. (The witness here produced a small black
pocketbook). On the 17th of November (Saturday), by Cook’s request, I
paid Pratt £200. His account, in the ordinary course, would have been
settled at Tattersall’s on Monday, the 19th. I advanced the £200 to pay
Pratt. I knew that Cook had won at Shrewsbury, and I should have been
entitled to deduct that £200 from his winnings, if I had settled his
account at Tattersall’s. I did not settle that account, and I have not
been paid my advance.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE.--I had known Cook about two years,
and Palmer longer. They were a good deal connected in racing
transactions.

Do you know that they were partners?--I don’t remember settling any
transactions in which they were jointly interested, and I don’t know
that they owned horses jointly. They appeared very intimate and were
much together, generally staying at the same hotels. I was not at the
Worcester meeting. I don’t know whether Palmer won at Shrewsbury as well
as Cook. The races began on the Tuesday about 2 o’clock. Polestar ran
about an hour afterwards, but I cannot tell the exact time. I saw Cook
on the course after the race, and he appeared much elated. Polestar won
easily. In the evening, when I went into the sitting-room, there was a
candle on the table. A glass was ordered for me when I sat down. I don’t
remember drinking anything, but I cannot swear that I did not. I am a
good judge of brandy by the smell. I said there was nothing particular
in the smell, but the glass was so completely drained, that there was
very little to smell. I counted the money Cook gave me. I had been at
the Unicorn that evening quite an hour before. I dined at the Raven
about 6 o’clock. I did not see Cook after the race on the Wednesday,
till I saw him at the Unicorn, between 9 and 10 o’clock in the evening.
I merely looked into the room. I saw Sandars, the trainer, Cook, Palmer,
and a lady. I can’t say whether they were drinking.

Did it happen that a good many people were ill on that Wednesday at
Shrewsbury--I mean people connected with the races? No. I don’t know
that there were. On the Wednesday it was damp underfoot, but I forget
whether it rained. I saw Cook several times on the course. On the
Thursday the weather was cold and damp. I don’t know that Cook and
Palmer breakfasted together on the Thursday morning. On the 17th of
November I received a letter from Cook. [The letter was read. It was
dated, “Rugeley, Nov. the 16th,” and in it Cook said it was of very
great importance to Palmer and to himself that £500 should be paid to
Pratt on the next day, that £300 should be sent, and he would be greatly
obliged if Fisher would pay the other £200 immediately on receipt of the
letter, promising to give it him back on the following Monday at
Tattersall’s. He added that he was much better.]

Re-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I never intended to say that Cook
and Palmer were partners.

Did you notice any change of feeling on the part of Cook towards
Palmer?--He never had any great respect for Palmer, but I did notice a
change in him. It was a handicap race that Polestar won. Palmer had a
horse called Chicken, which ran on the Thursday and lost. He had betted
upon the race. Cook was not more elated at winning than people usually
are. I am not sure that I drank any brandy-and-water while I was staying
at the Raven.

Thomas Jones, examined by Mr. WELSBY, said: I am a law stationer in
Carey-street, London. I was at Shrewsbury races last November, and I
lodged at the Raven. I arrived there on a Monday night. I supped with
Cook, Herring, Fisher and Gravatt. Cook appeared well. I saw him on the
Tuesday and Wednesday, and he then also seemed quite well. Fisher and I
went to the Raven between eleven and twelve o’clock on Wednesday night.
Read was there, and he invited Cook into my room. Palmer was also there.
After the party broke up, Fisher came and told me something about Cook,
in consequence of which I went with him to Cook’s bedroom. He complained
of something burning at his throat and of vomiting. Some medicine was
brought,--pills and a draught. Cook refused to take the pills. I then
went to the doctor’s and got some liquid medicine, and gave him a small
quantity in a wineglass. He was in bed. About a quarter of an hour
afterwards he took the pills also, and I left him. Between six and seven
o’clock next morning I saw him again. He said he felt easier and better.
He looked pale.

This witness was not cross-examined.

George Read, examined by Mr. BODKIN: I live in Victoria-street, near
Farringdon-market. I keep a house frequented by sporting characters. I
am acquainted with Palmer. I saw him at Shrewsbury races on Tuesday, as
well as Cook. He appeared to be in his usual health. I saw him also the
next day, and he was apparently in the same health. I stayed at the
Raven. On the Wednesday night I went between eleven and twelve into the
room in which were Palmer and Cook. There was more than one gentleman in
the room. I had some brandy-and-water there. I saw that Cook was in pain
almost immediately after I entered. He said to us there is something in
the brandy-and-water. Palmer handed me the glass after it had been
emptied. I said, “What is the use of examining a glass which is empty?”
I believe Cook left the room. I did not see him again. I saw him on the
following morning at eleven o’clock. He was in his sitting-room. He said
in my hearing that he was very ill.

Cross-examined: On Tuesday he was as well as usual. He never looked a
strong man, but one having delicate health. He was not in the habit of
complaining of ill-health.

By the COURT: I had some of the brandy-and-water, and it did not make me
ill.

Re-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: My brandy was taken from another
decanter, which was sent for when I went in. Cook appeared to be a
delicate man, but I never knew anything to be the matter with him. He
frequented races everywhere. I never knew him prevented by illness from
going to races.

WILLIAM SCAIFE GIBSON: I am assistant to Mr. Heathcote, surgeon, of
Shrewsbury. On the 14th of November last I was sent for, and went to the
Railway Hotel, Shrewsbury, between twelve and one o’clock at night. I
saw Mr Cook there. He was in his bedroom, but not in bed. He complained
of pain in his stomach, and heat in his throat. He also said he thought
he had been poisoned. I felt his pulse and looked at his tongue, which
was perfectly clean. He appeared much distended about the abdomen. I
recommended an emetic. He said that he could make himself sick with warm
water. I sent the waitress for some. She brought about a pint. I
recommended him to use a feather. He said he could do it with the handle
of a toothbrush. He drank all the warm water. Having used the toothbrush
he was sick. I examined the vomit; it was perfectly clear. I then told
him I would send him some medicine. I sent him two pills and a draught.
The pills were a compound rhubarb pill and a three-grain calomel pill.
They were ordered to be taken immediately, and the draught, which was
sennica--a compound of senna, magnesia, and aromatic spirit--was to be
taken twenty minutes afterwards. It was what is called a black draught.
Half an hour afterwards I gave to Jones, for Cook, an anodyne draught. I
did not see Cook afterwards.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE: Did you form any opinion as to what
was the matter with Cook?--I treated it as a case of poisoning.

Did you observe anything in the vomit which led you to believe he had
been poisoned?--Nothing at all.

Did he appear to have been drinking?--He appeared to be a little
excited, but he was quite sensible what he was doing and saying.

By “excited” do you mean to say he was tipsy?--No; but his brain had
been stimulated with brandy-and-water. The idea of having taken poison
would have some effect upon it.

In your judgment, was what you had prescribed a good thing, supposing
Cook had taken poison?--According to the symptoms, I should say it was.

Would it not have been better to get the poison up at once, if
possible?--He threw up the warm water.

Lord CAMPBELL: Did that cleanse the stomach?--Yes.

Cross-examination continued: Yet you thought calomel necessary?--Yes; on
account of the distended state of the bowels.

Did you see anything like bile in the basin?--There was some on the edge
of the basin, but it must have been thrown up before he took the warm
water.

Re-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: The piece of bile was about the
size of a pea? The water thrown up was perfectly clean. Cook’s tongue
was quite clean.

Is that usual in the case of a bilious attack?--If the stomach had been
wrong any length of time the tongue would have been discoloured.

ELIZABETH MILLS examined by Mr. JAMES: In November last I was
chambermaid at the Talbot Arms, Rugeley. I had been so about two years.
I knew the prisoner Palmer, who was in the habit of coming to the Talbot
Arms. I also knew Cook, the deceased. On Thursday, the 15th of November,
he came to the Talbot Arms. He came between nine and ten o’clock at
night. The prisoner was with him. They came in a fly. Cook went to bed
at half-past ten o’clock. When Cook arrived he said he had been poorly,
and was poorly then. I don’t remember seeing Palmer after he got out of
the fly. About twelve o’clock on the following day I took Cook some hot
water, and he went out about one o’clock. He then appeared poorly. He
said he felt no worse, but was not well. He returned about ten o’clock
in the evening. In about half an hour he went to bed. I asked him if he
felt any worse than when he went out in the morning. He said he did not.
He said that he had been dining with Palmer. He was perfectly sober. He
asked me for an extra piece of candle to read by. I saw no more of him
that night. On Saturday morning, about eight o’clock, I saw Palmer at
the Talbot Arms. I do not know whether Cook had sent for him. Palmer
ordered from me a cup of coffee for Cook. I gave it to Cook in the
bedroom. I believe Palmer was then in the room. I left the coffee in
Cook’s hands, but did not see him drink it. Afterwards I went upstairs,
and found the coffee in the chamber utensil. That might be an hour, or
it might be a couple of hours after I had taken up the coffee. The
utensil was on the table by the side of the bed. I do not remember that
I spoke to Palmer, nor he to me, about this. I did not see any toast and
water in the bed-room; but a jug, not belonging to the inn, was about
ten o’clock in the evening sent down for some fresh toast-and-water. The
waitress, Lavinia Barnes, brought it down. I am sure the jug, which was
brought down from Cook’s room, did not belong to the Talbot Arms. I saw
Palmer go in and out of Cook’s room, perhaps, four or five times on that
Saturday. I heard Palmer tell Cook that he would send him over some
broth. I saw some broth in the kitchen, which some person had brought
there ready made. After Barnes had taken some broth up, ten minutes or a
quarter of an hour after the broth came over, I met Palmer going
upstairs towards Cook’s room. He asked if Mr. Cook had had his broth? I
told him I was not aware that any had come for him. While I was
speaking, Lavinia Barnes came out of the commercial-room, and said she
had taken the broth up to Cook when it came, but that he refused to take
it, saying it would not stay on his stomach. Palmer said that I must go
and fetch the broth; he (Cook) must have it. I fetched the broth and
took it into Cook’s room. Palmer was there. I cannot say whether it was
to him or Cook that I gave the broth, but I left it there. I am sure
that this was some of the broth which had been sent in. Some time
afterwards (about an hour or two), I went up to Cook’s room again, and
found that the broth had been vomited. About six o’clock in the evening,
some barley-water was made for Cook. I took it up to him. I cannot say
whether Palmer was with him. I cannot say whether or not that
barley-water stayed upon Cook’s stomach. At eight o’clock in the evening
some arrowroot was made in the kitchen. I took it up to Cook. I cannot
say whether Palmer was there, nor can I remember whether the arrowroot
remained on Cook’s stomach.

On Saturday, about three o’clock in the afternoon, I saw Mr. Bamford,
the surgeon. On Sunday morning I went to Mr. Cook’s room, about seven or
eight o’clock. Mr. Smith, called “Jerry Smith,” slept in Mr. Cook’s room
during Saturday night. He is a friend of the prisoner Palmer. I asked
Cook if he was any worse? He said he felt pretty comfortable, and had
slept well since twelve o’clock. On Sunday more broth, a large
breakfast-cup full, was brought over for Cook. That was between twelve
and one o’clock. I believe Charles Horley brought it. I took some of
that broth up to Cook’s room in the same cup in which it was brought. It
was hot. I tasted it. I drank about two tablespoonfuls. In about
half-an-hour or an hour I was sick. I vomited violently during the whole
afternoon till about 5 o’clock. I was obliged to go to bed. I vomited a
great many times. During the morning I had felt perfectly well, and had
not taken anything that could disagree with me. It was before dinner
that I took the broth. I went down to work again about a quarter before
6 o’clock. On the Sunday evening I saw Mr. Cook; he did not appear to be
any worse. He seemed to be in good spirits. The illness seemed to be
confined to vomitings after taking food. On Sunday night I saw Cook last
about 10 o’clock. On Monday morning I saw him between 7 and 8 o’clock,
when I took up to him a cup of coffee. I did not remain to see him drink
it. He did not vomit it. Palmer was coming down stairs, as though from
Cook’s room, about 7 o’clock. To my knowledge Palmer was not there, on
Monday. Cook got up about 1 o’clock, and appeared to be a great deal
better. He shaved, washed, and dressed himself. He said he felt better,
only exceedingly weak. He dressed as if he was going out. Ashmall the
jockey, and his brother, and Saunders the trainer, came to see him. As
soon as he got up I gave him some arrowroot, which remained on his
stomach. He sat up until about 4 o’clock, when he returned to bed.
Between 9 and 10 o’clock at night I saw Palmer. He was sitting down in
Cook’s room. I saw Cook about half-past 10 o’clock, and not again until
about a quarter before 12 o’clock. On the Monday night, about 8 o’clock,
a pill-box wrapped in white paper was brought from Mr. Bamford’s. It was
given to me by Miss Bond, the housekeeper, to take up to Cook’s room. I
took it up and placed the box on the dressing-table. That was before
Palmer came. When I saw Palmer he was sitting by the fire in Cook’s
room. I went to bed between 10 and 11 o’clock. About eight or ten
minutes before 12 o’clock the waitress, Lavinia Barnes, called me up.
While I was dressing I twice heard screams from Cook’s room. My room is
above, but not immediately over Cook’s. I went down to Cook’s room. As
soon as I entered the room I saw him sitting up in bed. He desired me to
fetch Palmer directly. I told him Palmer was sent for, and walked to his
bedside. I found the pillow upon the floor. There was one mould candle
burning in the room. I picked up the pillow, and asked Cook if he would
lay his head down. He was sitting up, beating the bedclothes with both
his hands and arms, which were stretched out. When I asked him to lay
his head down, he said, “I can’t lie down; I shall be suffocated if I
lie down. Oh, fetch Mr. Palmer!” The last words he said very loud. I did
not observe his legs, but there was a sort of jumping or jerking about
his head and neck, and his body. Sometimes he would throw back his head
upon the pillow, and then raise it up again. He had much difficulty in
breathing. The balls of his eyes projected very much. He screamed again
three or four times while I was in the room. He was moving and knocking
about all the time. Twice he called aloud, “Murder!” He asked me to rub
one hand. I found it stiff. It was the left hand.

By the COURT.--It was stretched out. It did not move. The hand was about
half shut. All the upper part seemed to be stiff.

Examination resumed.--I did not rub it long. As soon as he thought I had
rubbed it sufficiently he thanked me, and I left off. Palmer was there
while I was rubbing the hand. While I was rubbing it the arm and also
the body seemed to twitch. Cook was perfectly conscious. When Palmer
came in he recognized him. He was throwing himself about the bed, and
said to Palmer, “Oh, doctor, I shall die.” Palmer replied, “Oh, my lad,
you won’t!” Palmer just looked at Cook, and then left the room, asking
me to stay by the bedside. In about two or three minutes he returned. He
brought with him some pills. He gave Cook a draught in a wineglass, but
I cannot say whether he brought that with him. He first gave the pills,
and then the draught. Cook said the pills stuck in his throat, and he
could not swallow them. Palmer desired me to give him a teaspoonful of
toast-and-water, and I did so. His body was still jerking and jumping.
When I put the spoon to his mouth he snapped at it and got it fast
between his teeth, and seemed to bite it very hard. In snapping at the
spoon he threw forward his head and neck. He swallowed the
toast-and-water, and with it the pills. Palmer then handed him a draught
in a wineglass, which was about three parts full. It was a dark, thick,
heavy-looking liquid. Cook drank this. He snapped at the glass as he had
done at the spoon. He seemed as though he could not exactly control
himself. He swallowed the draught, but vomited it immediately into the
chamber utensil. I supported his forehead. The vomit smelt like opium.
Palmer said he hoped either that the pills had stayed on his stomach or
had not returned. He searched for the pills in the vomit with a quill.
He said, “I can’t find the pills,” and he then desired me to take the
utensil away, and pour the contents out carefully to see if I could find
the pills. I did so, and brought back the utensil, and told him I could
not see the pills at all. Cook afterwards seemed to be more easy. That
was about half an hour or more after I had first gone into the room.
During the whole of that time he appeared to be quite conscious. When
Cook was lying more quiet he desired Palmer to come and feel how his
heart beat, or something of that sort. Palmer went to the bedside, and
pressed his hand, I cannot say whether to the heart or to the side of
the face, but he said it was all right. I left Cook about 3 o’clock in
the morning. He was not asleep, but appeared to be dozing. Palmer was
sitting in the easy chair, and I believe he was asleep. I went into the
next room and laid down. About 6 o’clock I saw Cook again. I asked if
Palmer had gone, and Cook said he left at a quarter before 5 o’clock. I
asked if he felt any worse, and he said, no, he had been no worse since
I left him. I said, “You were asleep when I left.” He replied, “No, I
heard you go.” He asked me if I had ever seen any one suffer such agony
as he did last night? I said, no, I never had. He said he should think I
should not like to see any one like it again. I said, “What do you think
was the cause of all that agony?” He said, “The pills which Palmer gave
me at half-past 10.” I do not think anything more was said. I asked him
if he would take anything, and he said, “No.”

I do not remember seeing Palmer on that day (Tuesday) until he was sent
for. On that morning Cook seemed quite composed and quiet, but his eyes
looked wild. There was no motion about the body. About twelve o’clock at
noon he rang his bell, and desired me to send the “boots” over to Palmer
to ask if he might have a cup of coffee. Boots returned and said he
might, and Palmer would be over immediately. I took the coffee up to
Cook a little after twelve o’clock. Palmer was then in Cook’s room. I
gave the coffee to Palmer. He tasted it to see whether it was too
strong, and I left the room. Mr. Jones arrived by the three o’clock
train from Lutterworth. I saw him in Cook’s room. About four o’clock I
took Cook another cup of coffee. I cannot say whether Palmer was there.
Afterwards I saw Palmer. He opened the bed-room door and gave me the
chamber utensil, saying that Cook had vomited the coffee. There was
coffee in the utensil. I saw Cook several times before I went to bed. He
appeared to be in very good spirits, and talked about getting up next
morning. He said he would have the barber sent for to shave him. I
believe I gave him some arrowroot. I did not see him later than
half-past ten. Palmer was with him when I last saw him. I gave Palmer
some toast-and-water for Cook at the door. Palmer then said to Cook,
“Can this good girl do anything more for you to-night?” Cook said, “No;
I shall want nothing more till morning.” He spoke in a composed and
cheerful manner. I remained in the kitchen all night, to see how Cook
went on, and did not go to sleep. About ten minutes before twelve
o’clock the bell of Cook’s room was rung violently. Jones was sleeping
in a second bed in the same room. On hearing the bell I went up to
Cook’s room. Cook was sitting up. I think Jones was supporting him, with
his arms round his shoulders. Cook said, “Oh, Mary, fetch Mr. Palmer
directly.” I went to Palmer’s, and rang the surgery bell. As soon as I
had rung I stepped off the steps to look at Palmer’s bed-room window,
where I expected him to appear, and he was there. He did not lift up the
sash, but opened a small casement and spoke to me. I could not see
whether he was dressed, but I heard and knew his voice. I asked him to
come over to Mr. Cook directly, as he was much the same as he had been
the night before. I don’t remember what he replied. I went back to the
hotel, and in two or three minutes Palmer came. I was then in the
bed-room. Jones was there supporting Cook. Palmer said he had never
dressed so quickly in his life.

The question which elicited this answer was, “Did Palmer make any remark
about his dress?” After the answer had been given,

Mr. Serjeant SHEE objected to the form in which the question had been
put.

Lord CAMPBELL: It seems to me that the examination is conducted with
perfect fairness. No leading question, nor any one which could be
considered doubtful, has been put to the witness.

Examination continued: I left the room, but remained on the landing.
After I had been waiting there a short time (about a minute or two)
Palmer came out. I said, “He is much the same as last night.” Palmer
said, “Oh, he is not so ill by a fiftieth part.” He then went down
stairs as though going to his own house. He was absent but a very short
time, and then returned to Cook’s room. I also went in. I believe Cook
said, “Turn me over on my right side.” I was then outside, but the door
was open. I do not think that I was in the room at the time he died. I
went in just before, but came out again. Jones was there at the time,
and had his right arm under Cook’s head. Palmer was then feeling Cook’s
pulse, and said to Jones, “His pulse is gone.” Jones pressed the side
of his face to Cook’s heart, lifted up his hands, but did not speak.
Palmer asked me to fetch Mr. Bamford, and I went for him. Cook’s death
occurred about three-quarters of an hour after I had been called up. Mr.
Bamford came over. I did not return to Cook’s room. When Mr. Bamford
came down stairs he said, “He is dead: he was dead when I arrived.”
After Mr. Bamford had gone I went up to the landing, and sat upon the
stairs. I had sat there about ten minutes when Jones came out of the
room, and said, “Mr. Palmer wants you,” or “Will you go into the room?”
I went into the room where Cook was lying dead. Palmer was there. I said
to him, “It is not possible that Mr. Cook is dead?” He said, “Oh yes, he
is dead.” He asked me who I thought would come and lay him out. I
mentioned two women whom I thought Palmer knew. He said, “Those are just
the women.” I said, “Shall I fetch them?” and he said, “Yes.” I had seen
a betting-book in Cook’s room. It was a dark book, with gold bands round
the edges. It was not a very large book, rather more long than square,
and had a clasp at one end. I saw Cook have this book when he stopped at
Talbot Arms, as he went to the Liverpool races, some months before.
There was a case at the one side containing a pencil. I saw the book in
Cook’s room on Monday night. I took it off the dressing-table and gave
it to him in bed. He asked me to give him the book, pen, and ink, and
some paper. I gave him all. That was between seven and eight o’clock. He
took a postage stamp from a pocket at one end of the book. I replaced
the book on the frame of the looking-glass on the dressing-table. Palmer
was in the room after that time. To my knowledge I never saw the book
afterwards. I afterwards searched the room for it, but could not find
it. When I went into the room after Cook’s death, the clothes he had
worn were lying on a chair. I saw Palmer searching the pockets of the
coat. That was about ten minutes after the death. When I went into the
room Palmer had in his hand, searching the pockets, the coat which I had
seen Cook wear. Palmer also searched under the pillow and bolster. I saw
two or three letters lying upon the chimney-piece. I never saw them
again, but I was not much in the room afterwards. I had not seen the
letters before Cook’s death.

The examination in chief of this witness being concluded, the Court
adjourned, at twenty minutes past six o’clock, till next morning, when
it met at ten o’clock.




SECOND DAY, MAY 15.


Among the distinguished persons present were the Earl of Derby, Earl
Grey, Lord W. Lennox, Lord G. G. Lennox, Lord H. Lennox, &c.

The learned judges, Lord Chief Justice Campbell and Mr. Baron Alderson,
accompanied by the Recorder, the Sheriffs, the Under-Sheriffs, and
several members of the Court of Aldermen, took their seats on the bench
at 10 o’clock.

The prisoner was then placed at the bar. The expression of his
countenance was sadder and more subdued than on the preceding day. He
maintained his usual tranquillity of demeanour, seldom changing his
position, and gazing steadfastly at the witnesses.

The same counsel were again in attendance:--The Attorney-General, Mr. E.
James, Q.C., Mr. Bodkin, Mr. Welsby, and Mr. Huddleston, for the Crown;
and Mr. Serjeant Shee, Mr. Grove, Q.C., Mr. Gray, and Mr. Kenealy, for
the prisoner.

The Jury, who had been all night at the London Coffee-house, were
conducted into court by the officer who had them in charge.

Elizabeth Mills, who was under examination the previous evening, was
again placed in the witness-box. She deposed as follows:--I had been
engaged at the Talbot Arms for about three years previous to Cook’s
death. Cook first came to that inn in the month of May, 1855, and was
off and on for some months. I never heard him complain of any illness
during that time except of an affection in his throat. I heard him
complain of a sore throat two or three months before his death. He said
it resulted from cold. He took a gargle for it. I believe he had it from
Mr. Thirlby. I did not observe any sores about his mouth. I never heard
him complain of a difficulty in swallowing. I have seen him with a
“loaded” tongue occasionally, but I never heard him complain of a sore
tongue, nor have I heard of caustic being applied to his tongue. It was
a month, if not more, before his death that I heard him say he had a
sore throat. I never knew him to take medicine before his last illness.
He had a slight cough through cold, but never to my knowledge a violent
one. He had not been ailing just before he went to Shrewsbury. On his
return from Shrewsbury he complained of being poorly. I left my
situation at Christmas, and went to my home in the Potteries. Since then
I have been in another situation, which I left in February. I have seen
Mr. Stevens, Mr. Cook’s father-in-law, since I have been in London. I
cannot say how many times I have seen him, but it is not more than six
or seven times. Sometimes we conversed together in a private room. He
only came to see whether I liked the place or whether I liked London. We
used to converse together about Mr. Cook’s death. I have talked to him
about Mr. Cook’s death at Rugeley. I cannot remember anything else that
we talked about except the death. He has never given me a farthing of
money or promised to get me a place. I saw Mr. Stevens last Tuesday at
Dolly’s Hotel, where I had been in service. Lavinia Barnes was with us.
She was the waitress at the Talbot Arms when Mr. Cook died. Two other
persons were present, Mr. Hatton, the chief officer of Rugeley, and Mr.
Gardner, an attorney at the same place. Mr. Cook’s death may have been
mentioned at this meeting. Other things were talked of which I do not
wish to mention.

Serjeant SHEE: But you must mention them.

Witness: I cannot remember what they were. I don’t know whether we
talked about the trial. They did not ask me what I could prove. My
deposition was not read over to me, and Mr. Stevens did not talk to me
about the symptoms that were exhibited by Mr. Cook before his death. I
had seen Mr. Hatton a few times before. I once saw him at Dolly’s. He
merely dined there. I cannot remember whether he spoke to me about
Cook’s death. He might have done so. I cannot remember whether he did or
not. I know he asked me how I did. (A laugh.) I saw Mr. Gardner once at
Dolly’s, and once in the street, and I swear these were the only
occasions I ever saw him. I never went with him to a solicitor’s office.
At present I am living with my mother at Rugeley. Before that I had been
living among my friends. I know a man named Dutton. He is a friend of
mine. I have been staying at his house. His mother lives in the same
house. He is a labouring man. I used to sleep with Dutton’s mother. I
swear that I slept with his mother. I have also been staying with a
cousin of mine in the Potteries. I left Dolly’s of my own accord,
because I did not like the place. I can read, and I read the newspapers.
I have heard of the case of a person named Dove, who was supposed to
have murdered his wife at Leeds. I merely heard that it was another
strychnine case, but the symptoms of strychnine were not mentioned. I
will swear that I mentioned “twitching” to the coroner. If I did not use
the exact word, I said something to the same effect. I will swear that I
have used the word “twitching” before I came to London. The words
“twitching” and “jerking” were not first suggested to me. I did not say
anything about the broth having made me sick before the coroner, because
it did not occur to me. I did tell the coroner that I tasted the broth,
and that I did not observe anything particular about it. I was examined
several times, and I was questioned particularly upon the subject of the
broth, and I said on one occasion that I thought the broth was very
good. I did not at the time think it was the broth that had caused the
sickness. I was so ill that I was obliged to go to bed; but I could not
at all account for it. I only took two table-spoonfuls, and the sickness
came on in about half an hour. I never knew of Mr. Cook taking coffee in
bed before those occasions. If I have said that Mr. Palmer ordered
coffee for Cook, I have no doubt that it is correct. I cannot remember
so well to day as I did yesterday. I cannot remember whether I told the
coroner that I had not seen Mr. Palmer when I gave the deceased the
coffee. I don’t remember whether I said anything before the coroner
about seeing a box of pills in the deceased’s bedroom on the Monday
night, and that Palmer was in the room at the time. Perhaps I was not
asked the question. I did nothing but answer questions that were put to
me. I am sure that Palmer was in the room on that night. I remember that
he brought a jar of jelly, and I opened it. I swear that the deceased
told me that the pills Palmer had given him had made him ill. I did not
say this before the coroner. I was asked some questions by Dr. Collier
with regard to what I had stated to the coroner, and I said that my
evidence had been altered, as some things had occurred to me since, and
I had made another statement to a gentleman. I gave this additional
statement to a gentleman at Dolly’s. I don’t know who the gentleman was.
I did not ask him, and he did not tell me. He did not ask me many
questions. He put a few to me and wrote down my answers. He mentioned
Mr. Stevens’ name. Mr. Stevens was there.

Serjeant SHEE: Why did not you tell me that?--Because you did not ask
me. (A laugh.)

Cross-examination continued: I did not tell the coroner that Mr. Cook
was beating the bedclothes on the Monday night. I did say that he
sometimes threw his head back, and then would raise himself up again,
and I believe I also said that he could hardly speak for shortness of
breath. I did not say that he called “Murder!” twice, and I do not
remember saying that he “twitched” while I was rubbing his hands. I did
not say anything about toast-and-water being given to Mr. Cook, by order
of Palmer, in a spoon; or that he snapped at the spoon and bit it so
hard that it was difficult to get it out of his mouth.

The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE here interposed and intimated his opinion that it
would be a fairer course to read the witness’s depositions.

The other judges concurred.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said, he should have interposed, but it was his
intention to adduce evidence to show the manner in which the case was
conducted by the coroner, and that he was expostulated with upon
omitting to put proper questions, and also omitting to take down the
answers that were given.

Cross-examination continued: I should have answered all those questions
if they had been put to me. I was not purposely recalled to state the
symptoms of the deceased in the presence of Dr. Taylor. When the
prisoner came to the Talbot on the Tuesday night he had a plaid
dressing-gown on, but I cannot say whether he had a cap or not. I did
not observe that the prisoner appeared at all confused at the time he
was examining the clothes and the bed of the deceased.

A model of the prisoner’s house and of the hotel was here produced. The
deposition of the witness was put in and read, for the purpose of
showing that the statements made by her in her examination on Wednesday
were omitted when she was examined by the coroner.

The witness was re-examined by Mr. E. JAMES: I was examined on a great
many different days by the coroner. I was not asked to describe all the
symptoms I saw. The coroner himself put the questions to me, and his
clerk took down the answers. I merely answered the questions, and I was
not told to describe all I saw. The coroner asked me if the broth had
any effect upon me; and I said, “Not that I was aware of.” I don’t know
what brought the sickness to my mind afterwards, but I think that some
one else in the house brought the fact to my memory. I certainly did
vomit after I took the broth, and was obliged to go to bed. I am quite
sure the deceased told me that it was the pills Palmer had given him
that had made him ill. When Mr. Collier came to me he said that he was
for the Crown, and he then asked me questions about the inquest and the
death of Mr. Cook. I answered all the questions he put to me, and he
took them down in writing and carried the statement away with him. Two
other persons waited outside the house. I am engaged to be married to
one of the Duttons.

Serjeant SHEE: Did not Dr. Collier tell you that he was neither for the
Crown nor for the defence, but for the truth?

Witness: No; what he said was that he was for the Crown; but what he
desired above all things was to know the truth, and that he asked me to
tell him without fear, favour, or affection.

Mr. GARDNER, examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I am a member of the firm
of Gardner and Co., of Rugeley. I acted in this matter for the firm of
Cookson and Co., the solicitors of Mr. Stevens, the father-in-law of
Cook. I attended the inquest on the body of Cook, and occasionally put
questions to the witnesses. Mr. Ward, an attorney, was the coroner. He
put questions to the witnesses, and his clerk took down the answers. The
inquest lasted five days, and several times upon each day I expostulated
with the coroner on account of his omitting to put questions.

Mr. Serjeant SHEE submitted that what was said by the coroner was no
evidence against the prisoner.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: It is not intended as evidence against the
prisoner, but to rebut the effect of evidence that you have put in. I
will ask--had you occasion to expostulate with the coroner as to the
omission of his clerk to take down the answers of witnesses?

Mr. Serjeant SHEE: I object to the question being put in that form.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Did you observe that the clerk omitted to take
down the answers of Elizabeth Mills?--Not in reference to that
particular case.

Mr. Baron ALDERSON: Her account of the matter is that the questions were
not put.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Did Dr. Taylor object that questions were not put
which ought to have been put?--I do not recollect it.

Lord CAMPBELL: It is not suggested, as I understand, that the coroner
refused to correct any mistakes that were made.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I am prepared to show that there was such
misconduct on the part of the coroner as led to expostulation.

Mr. Serjeant SHEE: Don’t state that unless you are going to prove it.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: It is suggested that a witness has given evidence
here which she did not give before the coroner; my object is to show,
first, that questions were not put to her which might and ought to have
been put; secondly, that her answers to other questions were not taken
down.

Lord CAMPBELL held that the evidence was not admissible.

Witness, cross-examined by Serjeant SHEE: The jury put a great many
questions.

Re-examined: The jury made very strong observations as to the necessity
of putting questions.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: Did they assign any reason for interfering when
they put questions?

Mr. Serjeant SHEE objected to this question, on the ground that it did
not arise out of his cross-examination.

Lord CAMPBELL: My learned brethren think that evidence upon this point
is not admissible.

Mr. Justice CRESSWELL said the depositions which had been put in did not
show that any questions had been put by the jurymen. If they had
contained such questions they would have shown the motive of the jury in
putting them. But the Court was left totally in the dark as to whether
questions had been put by the coroner or any other person. For anything
that appeared to the contrary, the witnesses might have made a voluntary
statement, without any questions at all being put to them. No foundation
was laid, therefore, for the Attorney-General’s question.

Mr. Baron ALDERSON concurred.

Mrs. ANN BROOKS, examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I live at Manchester.
I am in the habit of attending races. I was at Shrewsbury Races in
November, 1855. I saw Palmer there. On the 14th (Wednesday), about eight
o’clock in the evening, I met him in the street, and asked him whether
he thought his horse Chicken would win? He desired me, if I heard
anything further about a horse belonging to Lord Derby, which was also
to run, to call and tell him on the following day. I went to the Raven
to see him at half-past ten o’clock on the Thursday evening. Some
friends waited for me in the road. I went upstairs, and asked a servant
to tell Palmer that I wished to speak to him. The servant said he was
there. At the top of the stairs there are two passages, one facing the
other, to the left. I saw Palmer standing by a small table in the
passage. He had a tumbler-glass in his hand, in which there appeared to
be a small quantity of water. I did not see him put anything into it.
There was a light between him and me, and he held it up to the light. He
said to me, “I will be with you presently.” He saw me the moment I got
to the top of the stairs. He stood at the table a minute or two longer
with the glass in his hand, holding it up to the light once or twice,
and now and then shaking it. I made an observation about the fineness of
the weather. The door of a sitting-room, which I supposed was
unoccupied, was partially open, and he went into it, taking the glass
with him. In two or three minutes he came out again with the glass. What
was in the glass was still the colour of water. He then carried it into
his own sitting-room, the door of which was shut. He afterwards came
out, and brought me a glass with brandy-and-water in it. It might have
been the same glass. I had some of the brandy-and-water. It produced no
unpleasant consequences. We had some conversation about the races. In
the course of it he said he should back his own horse, Chicken. I was
present at the race, when Chicken ran and lost.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE.--I am married. Brooks is the name
of my husband. He never goes with me to races. I live with him. I don’t
attend many races in the course of a year. My husband has a high
appointment, and does not sanction my going to races. A great number of
racing men were ill at Shrewsbury on the Wednesday. There was a wonder
as to what had caused their illness, and something was said about the
water being poisoned. People were affected by sickness and purging. I
knew some persons who were so affected. The passage in which I saw
Palmer holding the glass led to a good many rooms. I think it was
lighted by gas. I supposed that he was mixing some cooling drink.

Re-examined: I was not examined before the Coroner. The brandy-and-water
which Palmer gave me was cold. I had been on friendly terms with him. I
had known him a number of years as a racing man.

LAVINIA BARNES, examined by Mr. E. JAMES: In November, 1855, I was a
waitress at the Talbot Arms. I knew Palmer and Cook. Cook called there
on the 12th (Monday) as he was going to the races. He did not complain
of illness. I saw him when he returned on the 15th. On the Friday he
came between nine and ten o’clock in the evening, after dining with
Palmer. He spoke to me. He was sober. On the Saturday I saw him twice.
Some broth was sent over and taken up to him by me. He could not take
it; he was too sick. I carried it down and put it into the kitchen. I
afterwards saw Palmer, and told him Cook was too sick to take it. Palmer
said he must have it. Elizabeth Mills afterwards took it up again. She
was taken ill with violent vomiting on the Sunday, between twelve and
one o’clock. She went to bed, and did not come down stairs till four or
five o’clock. I saw some broth on that day in the kitchen. It was in a
“sick-cup,” with two handles, not belonging to the house. I did not see
it brought. The cup went back to Palmer’s. On the Monday morning,
between seven and eight o’clock, I saw Palmer. He told Mills he was
going to London. I also saw Cook during the day. Sandars came to see
him, and I took him up some brandy-and-water. I slept that night in the
next room to Cook’s. Palmer came between eight and nine o’clock in the
evening, and went up-stairs, but I did not see whether he went into
Cook’s room. About twelve o’clock I was in the kitchen, when Cook’s bell
rang violently. I went up-stairs. Cook was very ill, and asked me to
send for Palmer. He screamed out “Murder!” He exclaimed that he was in
violent pain--that he was suffocating. His eyes were wild-looking,
standing a great way out of his head. He was beating the bed with his
arms. He cried out, “Christ, have mercy on my soul!” I never saw a
person in such a state. Having called up Mills, I left to send “Boots”
for Palmer. Palmer came, and I again went into the room. Cook was then
more composed. He said, “Oh, doctor, I shall die.” Palmer replied,
“Don’t be alarmed, my lad.” I saw Cook drink a darkish mixture out of a
glass. I don’t know who gave it to him. I both saw and heard him snap at
the glass. He brought up the draft. I left him between twelve and one
o’clock, when he was much more composed. On the Tuesday he seemed a
little better. At night, a little before twelve o’clock, the bell rang
again. I was in the kitchen. Mills went up stairs. I followed her, and
heard Cook screaming, but did not go into the room. I stood outside the
door and saw Palmer come. He had been fetched. I said as he passed me:
“Mr. Cook is ill again.” He said, “Oh, is he?” and went into the room.
He was dressed in his usual manner, and wore a black coat and a cap. I
remained on the landing when Palmer came out. As he went down stairs,
Mills asked him how Cook was? He said to her and to me, “He is not so
bad by fifty parts as he was last night.” I heard Cook ask to be turned
over before I went in, while Palmer was there. I went in after Palmer
had left, but I came out before Cook died.

After he died on the Tuesday I went into the room and found Palmer with
a coat in his hand. He was clearing out the pockets of the coat and
looking under the bolster. I said, “Oh! Mr. Cook can’t be dead!” Palmer
said, “He is. I knew he would be,” and then left the room. I saw him on
the Thursday following. He came into the body of the hall, and asked for
the key of Mr. Cook’s bedroom, in which the body was lying. The key was
in the bar. He said he wanted some books and papers and a paperknife,
for they were to go back to the stationer’s, or else he would have to
pay for them. I went with him into the room. He then requested me to go
to Miss Bond for some books. I went downstairs and fetched the books.
When I returned he was still in the room looking for the paperknife on
the top of the chest of drawers among books, papers, and clothes. He
said, “I can’t find the knife anywhere.” Miss Bond, the housekeeper,
afterwards came up, and I left. On the Friday, between 3 and 4 o’clock,
I saw Mr. Jones with Palmer. Jones said he thought Palmer knew where the
betting-book was. Palmer asked me to go and look for it, and said it was
sure to be found, but it was not worth anything to any one but Cook.
Mills and I went up to look for it, but we could not find it. We
searched everywhere, in the bed and all round the room, but not in the
drawers. We went down and told Palmer and Jones that we could not find
it. Palmer said, “Oh, it will be found somewhere. I’ll go with you and
look myself.” He did not go with us, but left the house. I did not see
him come out of the room on the Thursday. There was no reason for our
not looking in the drawers. Some people were in the room at the time
nailing the coffin.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE.--Cook had some coffee on the
Saturday between 12 and 1. I did not pay any particular attention to the
time when Palmer went up on the Monday. I am not sure it was before
half-past 9, but I am sure it was before 10. I don’t remember whether
Cook touched the glass from which he drank the mixture. I think some one
else was holding it. There was some of Cook’s linen in several of the
drawers. There was a portmanteau containing other things besides those
in the drawers. There were dress clothes, an overcoat, and morning
clothes. The door was locked on the night of the death. The women were
sent for to lay out the corpse before it was light. The undertaker went
on the following morning, and the door was locked after they left. They
came again on the Thursday night, had the key, and went up by
themselves. The body was put into the coffin the day Stevens was there.
The women were in the room with the undertakers when I looked for the
book.

Re-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL.--The chamber-maid and I were in and
out of the room while the women were laying out the body, but they were
sometimes left alone. I saw nothing of the book at that time. I had seen
it before in Cook’s hand, but I don’t remember seeing it in the room.

ANN ROWLEY, examined by Mr. WELSBY.--I live at Rugeley, and have
frequently been employed as charwoman by Palmer. On the Saturday before
Cook died Palmer sent me to Mr. Robinson’s, at the Albion Inn, for a
little broth for Cook. I fetched the broth, took it to Palmer’s house,
and put it to the fire in the back kitchen to warm. After doing so, I
went about my work in other parts of the house. When the broth was hot,
Palmer brought it to me in the kitchen, and poured it into a cup. He
told me to take it to the Talbot arms for Cook, to ask if he would take
a little bread or toast with it, and to say that Smith had sent it.

By Lord CAMPBELL.--He did not say why I was to say that.

Examination resumed.--There is a Mr. Jeremiah Smith in Rugeley. He is
called “Jerry Smith.” He is a friend of Palmer’s. I took the broth to
the Talbot Arms, and gave it to Lavinia Barnes.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE.--Mr. Smith was in the habit of
putting up at the Albion. He was friendly with Cook. Cook was to have
dined with Smith that day, but was not able to go. Mrs. Robinson, the
landlady of the Albion, made the broth, but I don’t know by whose
orders.

By Lord CAMPBELL.--The broth was at the fire in Palmer’s kitchen about
five minutes.

CHARLES HORLEY, examined by Mr. BODKIN.--I am a gardener living at
Rugeley, and was occasionally employed by the prisoner in his garden. On
the Sunday before Cook died, Palmer asked me to take some broth to Cook.
That was at Palmer’s house, where I was in the habit of going. It was
between 12 and 1 o’clock. He gave me the broth in a small cup with a
cover over it, and told me to take it to the Talbot Arms for Cook. I did
so. I cannot say whether or not the broth was hot. I gave it to one of
the servant girls at the Talbot Arms, but which I cannot say.

The witness was not cross-examined.

SARAH BOND, examined by Mr. HUDDLESTON: In November last I was
housekeeper at the Talbot Arms. I knew Cook. He stayed at the Talbot
Arms. I remember his going to Shrewsbury races on the 12th of November.
He returned on the Thursday. I heard him say that he was very poorly. I
did not see him on the Friday or Saturday. On Sunday I saw him about
eight o’clock in the evening. He was in bed. He said that he had been
very poorly, but was better. Very soon afterwards I saw Palmer. I asked
him what he thought of Cook, and he replied that he was better. On
Saturday night Smith had slept in the room with Cook. On the Sunday
evening I asked Palmer if Cook would not want somebody with him that
night, and Palmer replied that he was so much better, that it would not
be necessary that any one should be with him. I asked if Daniel Jenkins,
the boots, should sleep in the room. Palmer said, that Cook was so much
better he had much rather he did not. On the Monday morning, a little
before seven o’clock, I saw Palmer again. He came into the kitchen to
me. I asked him how Cook was. He said he was better, and requested me to
make him a cup of coffee. He did not say anything about its strength. He
remained in the kitchen, and I made the coffee and gave it to him. He
told me that he was going to London, and that he had written for Mr.
Jones to come to see Cook. On the Monday night, hearing from the
waitress that Cook was ill, I went up to his room between eleven and
twelve o’clock. When I went into the room Cook was alone. He was sitting
up in bed, resting on his elbow. He seemed disappointed, and said he did
not want to see me, but Palmer. I went out on to the landing, and soon
afterwards Palmer came. Palmer went into the room. I could not see what
was done in the room. Palmer came out, went away for a few minutes, and
then returned. After he came back, I heard that Cook had vomited. Cook
said, he thought he should die. Palmer cheered him up, and said, that he
would do all he could to prevent it. When Palmer came out of the room
again, I asked him if Cook had any relatives, and he said that he had
only a step-father. I saw Cook again between three and four o’clock on
Tuesday. That was when Mr. Jones came. A little after six o’clock I took
some jelly up to Cook. He seemed very anxious for it, and said that he
thought he should die. I thought he seemed better. I did not see him
again alive. Between eight and nine o’clock on Wednesday morning, I
locked the door of the room in which Cook’s body lay. About nine o’clock
I gave the key to Mr. Tolly the barber, when he came to shave the
corpse. On Thursday I gave it to Lavinia Barnes. After that I went up to
the room and met Palmer coming out of it. After I came out the door was
locked, and I had the key. On Friday, when Mr. Stevens came, I gave the
key to the undertaker.

Cross-examined by Mr. GROVE: The passengers by the express train from
London arrived at Rugeley about ten o’clock in the evening. They come by
fly from Stafford.

WILLIAM HENRY JONES, examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I am a surgeon,
living at Lutterworth. I have been in practice fifteen years. I was
acquainted with Cook, who from time to time resided at my house. I had
been on terms of intimacy with him nearly five years. He was
twenty-eight years of age when he died, and unmarried. He was originally
educated for the law, but of late years had devoted himself to
agriculture and the turf. The last year or two he had no farm. He kept
race-horses and betted. I had known Palmer about twelve months. Lately
Cook considered my house at Lutterworth as his home. I have attended him
professionally. His health was generally good, but he was not very
robust. He was a man of active habits. He both hunted and played
cricket. In November last he invited me to go to Shrewsbury to see his
horse run, and I went. I spent Tuesday, the 13th, with him there. That
was the day on which Polestar ran and won. I dined with Cook and other
friends at the Raven Hotel, where he was staying. The horse having won,
there was a little extra champagne drunk. We dined between six and seven
o’clock, and the party broke up between eight and nine. Cook afterwards
accompanied me round the town. We went to Mr. Fraill’s, who is clerk of
the course. I saw Cook produce his betting-book to Whitehouse, the
jockey. He calculated his winnings on Polestar. There were figures in
the book. Cook made a statement as to his winnings.

Mr. Serjeant SHEE objected to this statement being given in evidence,
and the Attorney-General, therefore, did not ask any questions as to its
purport.

Examination resumed: I left the Raven Hotel at ten o’clock. Cook was
then at the door. He was not at all the worse for liquor. He was in his
usual health. On the following Monday I received a letter from Palmer.

This letter, which was put in and read, was as follows:--

“My dear Sir,--Mr. Cook was taken ill at Shrewsbury, and obliged to call
in a medical man. Since then he has been confined to his bed here with a
very severe bilious attack, combined with diarrhœa. I think it
desirable for you to come and see him as soon as possible.

“Nov. 18, 1855.

WILLIAM PALMER.”

Examination resumed: On that day (Monday) I was very unwell. On the next
day I went to Rugeley. I arrived at the Talbot Arms about half-past
three o’clock in the afternoon, and immediately went up to Cook’s room.
He said that he was very comfortable, but he had been very ill at
Shrewsbury. He did not detail the symptoms, but said that he was obliged
to call in a medical man. Palmer came in. I examined Cook in Palmer’s
presence. He had a natural pulse. I looked at his tongue, which was
clean. I said it was hardly the tongue of a bilious diarrhœa attack.
Palmer replied--“You should have seen it before.” I did not then
prescribe for Cook. In the course of the afternoon I visited him several
times. He changed for the better. His spirits and pulse both improved. I
gave him, at his request, some toast-and-water, and he vomited. There
was no diarrhœa. The toast-and-water was in the room. Mr. Bamford
came in the evening about seven o’clock. Palmer had told me that Mr.
Bamford had been called in. Mr. Bamford expressed his opinion that Cook
was going on very satisfactorily. We were talking about what he was to
have, and Cook objected to the pills of the previous night. Palmer was
there all the time. Cook said the pills made him ill. I do not remember
to whom he addressed this observation. We three (Palmer, Bamford, and
myself) went out upon the landing. Palmer proposed that Mr. Bamford
should make up some morphine pills as before, at the same time
requesting me not to mention to Cook what they contained, as he objected
to the morphine so much. Mr. Bamford agreed to this, and he went away. I
went back to Cook’s room, and Palmer went with me. During the evening I
was several times in Cook’s room. He seemed very comfortable all the
evening. There was no more vomiting nor any diarrhœa, but there was a
natural motion of the bowels. I observed no bilious symptoms about Cook.

By Lord CAMPBELL: Did he appear to have recently suffered from a bilious
attack?--No.

Examination resumed: Palmer and I went to his house about eight o’clock.
I remained there about half-an-hour, and then returned to Cook. I next
saw Palmer in Cook’s room at nearly eleven o’clock. He had brought with
him a box of pills. He opened the paper, on which the direction was
written in my presence. That paper was round the box. He called my
attention to the paper, saying, “What an excellent handwriting for an
old man!” I did not read the direction, but looked at the writing, which
was very good. Palmer proposed to Cook that he should take the pills.
Cook protested very much against it, because they had made him so ill
the previous night. Palmer repeated the request several times, and at
last Cook complied with it, and took the pills. The moment he took them
he vomited into the utensil. Palmer and myself (at Palmer’s request)
searched in it for the pills, to see whether they were returned. We
found nothing but toast-and-water. I do not know when Cook had drank the
toast-and-water, but it was standing by the bedside all the evening. The
vomiting could not have been caused by the contents of the pills, nor by
the act of swallowing. After vomiting, Cook laid down and appeared
quiet. Before Palmer came, Cook had got up and sat in a chair. His
spirits were very good; he was laughing and joking, talking of what he
should do with himself during the winter. After he had taken the pills I
went downstairs to my supper, and returned to his room at nearly twelve
o’clock. His room was double-bedded, and it had been arranged that I
should sleep in it that night. I talked to Cook for a few minutes, and
then went to bed. When I last talked to him he was rather sleepy, but
quite as well as he had been during the evening. There was nothing about
him to excite any apprehensions. I had been in bed about 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, and
send for Palmer.” I rang the bell. The chambermaid came, and Cook called
out to her, “Fetch Mr. Palmer.” He asked me to give him something; I
declined, and said, “Palmer will be here directly.” Cook was then
sitting up in bed. The room was rather dark, and I did not observe
anything particular in his countenance. He asked me to rub the back of
his neck. I did so. I supported him with my arm. There was a stiffness
about the muscles of his neck.

Palmer came very soon (two or three minutes at the utmost) after the
chambermaid went for him. He said, “I never dressed so quickly in my
life.” I did not observe how he was dressed. He gave Cook two pills,
which he told me were ammonia pills. Cook swallowed them. Directly he
did so he uttered loud screams, threw himself back in the bed, and was
dreadfully convulsed. That could not have been the result of the action
of the pills last taken. Cook said, “Raise me up! I shall be
suffocated.” That was at the commencement of the convulsions, which
lasted five or ten minutes. The convulsions affected every muscle of the
body, and were accompanied by stiffening of the limbs. I endeavoured to
raise Cook, with the assistance of Palmer, but found it quite
impossible, owing to the rigidity of the limbs. When Cook found we could
not raise him up, he asked me to turn him over. He was then quite
sensible. I turned him on to his side. I listened to the action of his
heart. I found that it gradually weakened, and asked Palmer to fetch
some spirits of ammonia, to be used as a stimulant. Palmer went to his
house and fetched the bottle. He was away a very short time. When he
returned the pulsations of the heart were gradually ceasing, and life
was almost extinct. Cook died very quietly a very short time afterwards.
From the time he called to me to that of his death there elapsed about
ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. He died of tetanus, which is a
spasmodic affection of the muscles of the whole body. It causes death by
stopping the action of the heart. The sense of suffocation is caused by
the contraction of the respiratory muscles. The room was so dark that I
could not observe what was the outward appearance of Cook’s body after
death. When he threw himself back in bed he clinched his hands, and they
remained clinched after death. When I was rubbing his neck, his head and
neck were unnaturally bent back by the spasmodic action of the muscles.
After death his body was so twisted or bowed that if I had placed it
upon the back it would have rested upon the head and the feet.

By Lord CAMPBELL: When did you first observe that twisting or
bowing?--When Cook threw himself back in bed.

Examination resumed: The jaw was effected by the spasmodic action.
Palmer remained half-an-hour or an hour after Cook’s death. I suggested
that we should have some women to lay Cook out. I left the room to speak
to the housekeeper about this. Seeing two maids on the landing, I sent
them into the room where Palmer was with Cook’s body. I went downstairs
and spoke to the housekeeper, and then returned to the bedroom. When I
went back, Palmer had Cook’s coat in his hand. He said to me, “You, as
his nearest friend, had better take possession of his effects.” I took
Cook’s watch and his purse, containing five sovereigns and five
shillings, which was all I could find. I saw no betting-book, nor any
papers or letters belonging to Cook. I found no bank notes.

Before Palmer left, did he say anything to you on the subject of affairs
between himself and Cook?--He did. Soon after Cook’s death, he said, “It
is a bad thing for me that Mr. Cook is dead, as I am responsible for
£3,000 or £4,000, 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.” He said nothing
about securities or papers. I was present when Mr. Stevens, Cook’s
stepfather, came. Palmer said that if Mr. Stevens did not bury Cook he
should. I do not recollect that there was any question about burying
him. Mr. Stevens, Palmer, Mr. Bamford, and myself, dined together. After
dinner, Mr. Stevens, in Palmer’s presence, asked me to go and look for
Cook’s betting-book. I went to look for it, and Palmer followed me. The
night that Cook died the betting-book was mentioned.

What was said about it?--Palmer said that it would be of use to no one.

What led to this?--My taking possession of the effects.

Did you make any observation about the book?--I cannot recollect.

Did you find it?--No.

Did you make any remark?--No particular remark.

Did Palmer know what you were looking for?--Yes.

How?--I said, “Where is the betting-book?” Upon that he said, “It is of
no use to anyone.”

You are sure he said that?--Yes. When I went to look for the book, at
Mr. Stevens’ request, Palmer followed me. I looked for the book for two
or three minutes, but did not find it. I told the maidservants that I
could not find it. Palmer returned with me to the dining-room, and I
told Mr. Stevens that I could not find the book.

By Lord CAMPBELL: When Palmer, Mr. Bamford, and myself, held the
consultation on the landing on the Tuesday night, nothing was said about
the spasms of the night before.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE: I am a regular medical
practitioner, and have for 15 years practised medicine as a means of
gaining a living. I am a licentiate of the Apothecaries Company, and
have endeavoured, both as a young man and since, to qualify myself for
my profession. When I saw Cook his throat was slightly ulcerated, but he
could swallow very well, although with a little pain. I know that he had
applied caustic to his tongue, but he had ceased to do so for two
months. He did not after that continue to complain of pain in his throat
or tongue. I saw him frequently during the races, and never heard him
express any apprehension about spots which appeared upon his body,
although he did express apprehensions of secondary symptoms resulting
from syphilis. I am not aware that at the time he died he was suffering
from the venereal disease, but I know that he had it about a twelvemonth
ago. He had been reduced in circumstances some time before he died, but
he was redeeming them. I do not know that he was frequently in want of
small sums of money. I believe that he owned a mare, in conjunction with
Palmer, named Pyrrhine, which was under the care of Sandars, the
trainer. The race which Polestar won was a matter of very great
importance to the deceased. He was much excited at the race, and more
particularly so after it. Deceased was a very temperate man, and did not
exceed in wine on the evening of the race. The next I heard of him was
through the letter from Palmer. Palmer knew perfectly well who I was,
and that I was in practice as a surgeon at Lutterworth. When I saw
deceased he objected to take morphia pills, because they had made him
ill the night before. He did not say that Dr. Savage had forbidden him
to take the morphia, but he said that he had been directed not to take
mercury or opium. The effect of morphia would be to soothe and to cause
slight constipation. When I saw him and he roused up a little, he said,
“Palmer, give me the remedy you gave me last night.” I rubbed the
deceased’s neck for about five minutes. He died very quietly. I had seen
cases of tetanus before. I think I mentioned tetanus at the inquest. I
am sure if you refer to my depositions, you will find that I mentioned
tetanus and convulsions both. (The depositions were referred to, and
there was no mention of tetanus in them.) Witness continued, however, “I
am sure that I mentioned tetanus.”

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I must set this right. I have here the original
deposition, and I find that the matter stands thus:--“There were strong
symptoms of”--then there is the word “compression” struck out; and then
there is the word “tetinus” also struck out--it is evident that the
clerk did not know the meaning of what he was writing--and then the
words “violent convulsions” are added; so that the sentence stands,
“There were strong symptoms of violent convulsions.”

By Mr. Serjeant SHEE: I also said before the coroner that I could not
tell the cause of death, and that I imagined at the time that it was
from over excitement.

The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE said, that the learned counsel must not read
detached portions of the depositions--the whole must be read. (The
depositions were accordingly read by the Clerk of the Arraigns.)

Cross-examination continued: I do not recollect that I ever said that
deceased died of epilepsy. Dr. Bamford said that he died in an
apoplectic fit, and I said that I thought he did not. I said that I
thought it was more like an epileptic than an apoplectic fit. I do not
know Mr. Pratt, but I took a letter from him to Cook. Cook did not open
it, but said, “I know the contents of it--let it be till to-morrow
morning.” I have seen Palmer’s racing establishment at Rugeley. I saw a
number of mares in foal, and others in the paddock, and some very
valuable horses. The stables were good, and the establishment appeared
to be a large and expensive one.

Re-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I am not a good judge of the value
of racing horses, but I understand other horses very well. I have only
seen one case of tetanus, and that case resulted from a wound. The
patient in that case lasted three days before death ensued. I am
satisfied that the death of Mr. Cook did not arise from epilepsy. In
epilepsy consciousness is lost, but there is no rigidity or convulsive
spasm of the muscles. The symptoms are quite different. I am equally
certain that death was not the result of apoplexy.

LAVINIA BARNES was recalled, at the instance of Mr. Serjeant SHEE, and
in answer to the learned Serjeant, she said: On Monday morning Mr. Cook
said to me that he had been very ill on Sunday night, just before twelve
o’clock, and that he had rung the bell for some one to come to him; but
he thought that they had all gone to bed.

ELIZABETH MILLS, recalled by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL, and examined on the
same point: I remember on Monday morning asking Mr. Cook how he was, and
he said that he had been disturbed in the night, adding, “I was just mad
for two minutes.” I said, “Why did you not ring the bell?” and he
replied, “I thought you would be all fast asleep, and would not hear me.
The illness passed away, and I managed to get over it without.” He also
said that he thought he had been disturbed by the noise of a quarrel in
the street.

Dr. HENRY SAVAGE, physician, of 7, Gloucester-place, examined by the
ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I knew John Parsons Cook. He had been in the habit of
consulting me professionally during the last four years. He was a man,
not of robust constitution; but his general health was good. He came to
me in May, 1855, but I saw him about November of the year before, and
early in the spring of 1855. In the spring of 1855 the old
affair--indigestion--was one cause of his visiting me, and he had some
spots upon his body, about which he was uneasy. He had also two shallow
ulcers on his tongue, which corresponded with two bad teeth. He said
that he had been under a mild mercurial course, and he imagined that
those spots were syphilitic. I thought they were not, and I recommended
the discontinuance of mercury. I gave him quinine as a tonic, and an
aperient composed of cream of tartar, magnesia, and sulphur. I never at
any time gave him antimony. Under the treatment which I prescribed the
sores gradually disappeared, and they were quite well by the end of May.
I saw him, however, frequently in June, as he still felt some little
anxiety about the accuracy of my opinion. If any little spot made its
appearance he came to me, and I also was anxious on the subject, as my
opinion differed from that of another medical man in London. Every time
he came to me I examined him carefully. There were no indications of a
syphilitic character about the sores, and there was no ulceration of the
throat, but one of the tonsils was slightly enlarged and tender. I saw
him last alive, and carefully examined him, either on the 3rd or 5th of
November. There was in my judgment no venereal taint about him at the
time.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE: I do not think that the deceased
was fond of taking mercury before I advised him against it; but he was
timid on the subject of his throat, and was apt to take the advice of
any one. No; I don’t think that he would take quack medicines. I don’t
think he was so foolish as that.

CHARLES NEWTON, called and examined by Mr. JAMES, Q.C.--I am assistant
to Mr. Salt, a surgeon at Rugeley. I know the prisoner, William Palmer.
I remember Monday, the 19th of November. I saw Palmer that evening at
Mr. Salt’s surgery about nine o’clock. I was alone when he came there.
He asked me for three grains of strychnine, and I weighed it accurately
and gave it to him, enclosed in a piece of paper. He said nothing
further, but “Good night,” and took it away with him. I knew him to be a
medical man, and gave it him,--made no charge for it. The whole
transaction did not occupy more than two or three minutes. I again saw
Palmer on the following day, between eleven and twelve o’clock. He was
then at the shop of Mr. Hawkins, a druggist. He asked me how I was, and
put his hand upon my shoulder, and said he wished to speak with me.
Accordingly I went out into the street with him, and he then asked me
when Mr. Edwin Salt was going to his farm. The farm in question was at a
place about fourteen miles distant from Rugeley. Palmer had nothing
whatever to do with that farm; but Mr. Salt’s going there was a rumour
of the town. While we were talking, a Mr. Brassington came up and spoke
to me, and during our conversation Palmer went into Hawkins’ shop again.
Palmer came out of the shop a second time, while I was still talking to
Brassington. I am not sure whether Palmer spoke to me at that time; but
he went past me in the direction of his own house, which is about 200
yards from Hawkins’. I then went into Hawkins’ shop, where I saw
Roberts, Mr. Hawkins’ apprentice, and I had some conversation with him
about Palmer. I knew a man named Thirlby, who had been an assistant and
a partner of Palmer. Palmer usually dealt with Thirlby for his drugs--in
fact, Thirlby dispensed Palmer’s medicine. On Sunday, the 25th of
November, about seven o’clock in the evening, I was sent for and went to
Palmer’s house. I found Palmer, when I got there, in his kitchen. He was
sitting by the fire, reading. He asked me how I was, and to have some
brandy-and-water. No one else was present. He asked me what was the dose
of strychnine to give to kill a dog? I told him a grain. He asked me
what would be the appearance of the stomach after death? I told him that
there would be no inflammation, and that I did not think it could be
found. Upon that he snapped his finger and thumb in a quiet way, and
exclaimed, as if communing with himself, “That’s all right.”
(Sensation.) He made some other remarks of a commonplace character,
which I do not recollect. I was with him altogether about five minutes.

On the following day, Monday, the 26th of November, I heard that a _post
mortem_ examination was to take place. I went to Dr. Bamford’s house,
intending to accompany him to the _post mortem_, and I found Palmer
there in the study. That was about ten o’clock in the day. Palmer asked
me what I wanted? I told him that I had come to attend the _post
mortem_. He asked whether I thought Mr. Salt was going; and I replied
that he was engaged, and could not go. I took the necessary instruments
with me, and went down to the Talbot Arms. Dr. Harland, and Mr. Frere, a
surgeon, practising at Rugeley, were both there. They went away,
however, for a short time, and left Palmer and me together in the
entrance to the hall at the Talbot Arms. He spoke to me. He said--“It
will be a dirty job; I will go and have some brandy.” I went with him to
his house, which was just opposite. He gave me two wine glasses of neat
brandy, and he took the same quantity himself. He said, “You’ll find
this fellow suffering from a diseased throat--he has had syphilis, and
has taken a great deal of mercury.” I afterwards went over with Palmer
to the _post mortem_, and found the other doctors there. During the
_post mortem_, Palmer stood near to Dr. Bamford, against the fire. I was
examined before the coroner, and did not state before that functionary
that I had given Palmer three grains of strychnine on the night of the
19th of November. The first person that I told of it was Cheshire, the
postmaster.

Mr. Sergeant SHEE objected to anything that this witness had said to
Cheshire being admitted as evidence against the prisoner.

The COURT ruled in favour of the objection.

Cross-examined by Mr. GROVE, Q.C.: It might have been a week or two or
three days after I gave Palmer the strychnine that I first mentioned the
occurrence to any one. I think I may undertake to say that it was not a
fortnight afterwards. Subsequently to the inquest I was examined for the
purpose of giving evidence on the part of the Crown. I cannot say how
long after the inquest that was. When I was first examined on behalf of
the Crown, I did not mention the three grains of strychnine, but I did
mention the conversation about the poisoning of the dog. That was not
the first time that I had mentioned that conversation; for I had
mentioned it before to Mr. Salt; but I cannot tell how long before. I
was examined twice for the purpose of the prosecution by the Crown. I
did not mention Cook’s suffering from sore throat at the inquest, but I
did mention the conversation which took place at Hawkins’s shop. At that
time I knew it had been alleged that Palmer had purchased strychnine at
Hawkins’s, and I presumed that my evidence was required with reference
to that point. I first stated on Tuesday last, for the purposes of this
prosecution, the fact of my having given Palmer three grains of
strychnine. I cannot say whether in that examination I said that Palmer
said, “You will find this ‘poor’ fellow suffering from a diseased
throat.” I don’t know whether I said “poor fellow” or “rich fellow.”

Do you not know that there is a difference in the expression “fellow”
and “poor fellow?”--I know that there is a difference between poor and
rich. It is impossible to recollect all that I said upon every occasion.

Re-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I did not mention the circumstance
of my having given the strychnine to Palmer, because Mr. Salt, my
employer, and Palmer were not friends, and I thought it would displease
Mr. Salt if he knew that I had let Palmer have anything. I first
mentioned it to Boycott, the clerk of Mr. Gardner, the solicitor, at the
Rugeley station, where I and a number of other witnesses were assembled
for the purpose of coming to London. As soon as I arrived in London,
Boycott took me to Mr. Gardner’s. I communicated to him what I had to
say; and I was then taken to the Solicitor of the Treasury, and I made
the same statement to him.

Mr. Serjeant SHEE: Have you not given another reason for not mentioning
the occurrence about the three grains of strychnine before--that reason
being that you were afraid you could be indicted for perjury?--No, I did
not give that as a reason, but I stated to a gentleman that a young man
at Wolverhampton had been threatened to be indicted for perjury by
George Palmer because he had said at the inquest upon Walter Palmer that
he had sold the prisoner prussic acid, and he had not entered it in the
book and could not prove it. I stated at the same time that George
Palmer said he could be transported for it. I did not enter the gift of
the three grains of strychnine from Mr. Salt’s surgery in a book. The
inquest upon Walter Palmer did not take place till five or six weeks
after the inquest upon Cook.

The COURT then adjourned at twenty-five minutes past six o’clock until
the next day, the jury being conducted, as on the previous evening, to
the London Coffeehouse in charge of the officers of the Court.




THIRD DAY, MAY 16.


The court was quite as full at the commencement of the proceedings this
morning as it had been on either of the preceding days. The Earl of
Derby, Earl Grey, and other noble lords were again present.

The jury took their seats shortly before ten o’clock. The learned
judges, Lord Chief Justice Campbell, Mr. Baron Alderson, and Mr. Justice
Cresswell, soon afterwards entered the court, accompanied by the
Recorder and Sheriffs, and the prisoner was then placed at the bar. He
appeared rather more anxious than on the two previous days, but was
still calm and collected, and paid the greatest attention to the
evidence.

Counsel for the Crown: The Attorney-General, Mr. E. James, Q.C., Mr.
Bodkin, Mr. Welsby, and Mr. Huddleston. For the prisoner:--Mr. Serjeant
Shee, Mr. Grove, Q.C., Mr. Gray, and Mr. Kenealy.

The next witness for the prosecution was CHARLES JOSEPH ROBERTS,
examined by Mr. E. JAMES: In November last I was apprentice to Mr.
Hawkins, a druggist, at Rugeley. I know Palmer. On Tuesday, November the
20th, between eleven and twelve in the day, he came into Mr. Hawkins’s
shop. He first asked for two drachms of prussic acid, for which he had
brought a bottle. I was putting it up when Newton, the assistant of
Salt, came in. Palmer told him he wanted to speak to him, and they went
out of the shop together. I then saw Brassington, the cooper, take
Newton away from Palmer, and enter into conversation with him. Palmer
then came back into the shop and asked me for six grains of strychnine
and two drachms of Batley’s solution of opium (commonly called Batley’s
sedative). I had put up the prussic acid, which was lying upon the
counter. He stood at the counter when he ordered the things, and while I
was preparing them behind the counter he stood at the shop door, with
his back to me, looking into the street. I was about five minutes
preparing them. He stood at the door till they were ready, when I
delivered them to him--the prussic acid in the bottle he had brought,
the strychnine in a paper, and the opium in a bottle. He paid me for
them and took them away. No one else was in the shop from the time when
Palmer and Newton went out till I delivered the things to him. When
Palmer had left, Newton came in, and we had some conversation. I had at
that time been six years in Mr. Hawkins’s employment. Palmer had not
bought any drugs at the shop for about two years. I know Thirlby,
Palmer’s assistant. He had started a shop about two years before.

By Lord CAMPBELL: Thirlby was carrying on business as a druggist at the
time.

Cross-examined by Mr. Sergeant SHEE.--I did not make entries of any of
these things in the books.

Re-examined: When articles are paid for across the counter I am not in
the habit of making entries of them in the books.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL stated that Dr. Bamford was seriously ill, and
unable to attend, but his depositions would be read.

Mr. William STEVENS, examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I have been a
merchant in the city, but am now out of business. Was stepfather to the
deceased Mr. Cook. I married his father’s widow 15 (or 18) years ago,
and have known him intimately ever since. I was made executor to his
grandfather’s will. I was always on friendly terms with him, and
constantly had the care of him. He had property worth altogether about
£12,000. He was articled to a solicitor at Worthing, in Sussex, but he
did not follow the profession. He had been connected with the turf about
three or four years--perhaps not so much. I did everything in my power
to withdraw him from that pursuit.

Lord CAMPBELL: But you still remained on friendly terms?

Witness: On affectionate terms. The last time I saw him alive was at the
station at Euston-square, about two o’clock on the afternoon of the 5th
of November. I think he told me he was going to Rugeley, but I am not
quite sure; he looked better than I had seen him for a very long time. I
was so gratified that I said, “My boy, you look very well now; you don’t
look anything of an invalid.” He said he was quite well, and struck
himself on the chest. I think he added he would be quite right if he was
happy. In point of appearance he was not a robust man. His complexion
was pale. During the previous winter he had had a sore throat for some
months. I first heard of his death on the evening of Wednesday, November
21. Mr. Jones, of Lutterworth, called at my house and informed me of it.
The next day I went down to Lutterworth with Mr. Jones for the purpose
of searching for the will and papers. The day after I went to Rugeley. I
arrived between twelve and one. I asked to see the body when I got to
the inn. I met Palmer in the passage. I had seen him once before, and
Mr. Jones introduced me to him. He followed us upstairs to see the body,
and removed the sheet from it to rather below the waist. I was much
struck with its appearance. I first noticed the tightness of the muscles
across the face. There did not appear to me to be any emaciation or
disease. We all went down stairs to one of the sitting-rooms. In a short
time I said to Palmer, “I hear from Mr. Jones that you know something of
my son’s affairs. Can you tell me anything about them?” He replied,
“Yes; there are £4,000 worth of bills out of his, and I am sorry to say
my name is to them; but I have got a paper drawn up by a lawyer, and
signed by him, to show that I never had any money from them.” I
expressed great surprise at this, and said, “I fear there won’t be 4000
shillings to pay you.” “But,” I asked, “had he no horses, no property?”
Palmer replied, “Yes, he has some horses, but they are mortgaged.” I
said, “Has he no sporting bets, nor anything of that sort?” He mentioned
one debt of £300. I would rather not state the name of the person who
owed it. It is a relation of his, not a sporting gentleman. (The witness
wrote down the name and handed it to the counsel on both sides and the
Judges).

Lord CAMPBELL: The name is immaterial.

Palmer said he did not know of any other debt. I said I thought his
sporting creditors would have to take his sporting effects, as I should
have nothing to do with them. I added, “Well, whether he has left
anything or not, poor fellow, he must be buried.” Palmer immediately
said, “Oh! I’ll bury him myself, if that’s all.” I said, “I certainly
can’t think of your doing that; I shall do it.” Cook’s brother-in-law,
who had come to meet me, was then present, and expressed a great wish to
bury him. I said, “No; as his executor, I shall take care of that. I
cannot have the funeral immediately, as I intend to bury him in London,
in his mother’s grave. I shall be sorry to inconvenience the people here
at the inn, but I will get it done as soon as possible.” Palmer said,
“Oh! that’s of no consequence, but the body ought to be fastened up at
once.” He repeated that observation--“So long as the body is fastened
up, it is of no consequence.” While I was talking to Cook’s
brother-in-law, Palmer and Jones left the room. They returned in about
half an hour. I then asked Palmer for the name of some respectable
undertaker in Rugeley, that I might at once order a coffin and give
directions. He said, “I have been and done that. I have ordered a shell
and strong oak coffin.” I expressed my surprise. I said, “I did not
give you any authority to do so, but I must see the undertaker to let
him have my instructions.” I think he told me the name of the
undertaker. I ordered dinner for myself, my son-in-law, and Jones, and I
asked Palmer to come in. We all dined together at the inn, about 3. I
was going back to London that afternoon. After dinner, Palmer being
still present, I desired Mr. Jones to be so good as to go upstairs and
get me Mr. Cook’s betting-book, or pocket-book, or books or papers that
might be there. I had seen him with a betting-book--a small one with
clasps. Mr. Jones then left the room, and Palmer followed him. They were
away 10 minutes. Mr. Jones said, on their return, “I am very sorry to
say I can’t find any betting-book or papers.” I exclaimed, “No
betting-book, Mr. Jones?” Turning towards Palmer, I said, “How is this?”
Palmer said, “Oh, it is of no manner of use if you find it.” I said, “No
use, Sir! I am the best judge of that.” He replied, “It is of no use.” I
said, “I am told it is of use. I understand my son won a great deal of
money at Shrewsbury, and I ought to know something about it.” He
replied, “It is of no use, I assure you. When a man dies his bets are
done with. Besides, Cook received the greater part of his money on the
course at Shrewsbury.” I said, “Very well, the book ought to be found,
and must be found.” Palmer then said, in a quieter tone, “It will no
doubt be found.” I again said, “Sir, it shall be found.”

I then went to the door, and calling to the housekeeper, I desired that
everything in the bedroom should be locked up, and nothing touched until
I returned or sent some one. Before leaving I went up stairs to take a
last look at the body. Some servants were in the room, turning over the
bed-clothes, and also the undertaker. I had given him instructions
before dinner to place the body in the coffin. He was standing by the
side of the shell. The body was in it, uncovered. I knelt down by the
side of the shell, and, taking the right hand of the corpse I found it
clinched. I looked across the body and saw that the left hand was
clinched in the same manner. I returned to town and communicated next
morning with my solicitor, who gave me a letter to Mr. Gardner of
Rugeley. I returned to Rugeley, where I arrived at eight o’clock next
evening (Saturday). I started from Euston square at two o’clock, and on
the platform I met Palmer. He said he had received a telegraphic message
summoning him to London after I had left Rugeley. I asked him where
Cook’s horses were kept. He told me at Eddisford, near Rugeley, and said
he would drive me out there if I wished. When I got to Wolverton, where
the train stops, I saw him again in the refreshment room. I said, “Mr.
Palmer, this is a very melancholy thing, the death of my poor son
happening so suddenly; I think for the sake of his brother and sister,
who are somewhat delicate, it might be desirable for his medical friends
to know what his complaints were.” Cook had a sister and half-brother.
Palmer replied, “That can be done very well.” The bell then rang, and we
went to our seats. He travelled in a different carriage till we reached
Rugby, where I saw him again in the refreshment-room. I said, “Mr.
Palmer, as I live at a distance I think I ought to ask a solicitor at
Rugeley to look after my interest.” He said, “Oh, yes, you might do
that.” “Do you know any solicitor?” I said, “No.” I then got some
refreshment, and went back to my carriage; I found Palmer sitting there.
I had no conversation with him before we reached Rugeley, but continued
talking to a lady and gentleman with whom I had been conversing since I
left town.

After we arrived at Rugeley, Palmer said, “Do you know any solicitor,
here?” I said, “No, I don’t, I am a perfect stranger.” He said, “I know
them all intimately, and I can introduce you to one. When I get home I
must have a cup of coffee, and I will then come over, and take you all
about.” I thanked him, as I had done once or twice before, and said I
wouldn’t trouble him. He repeated his offer. Altering my tone and
manner, I said, “Mr. Palmer, if I should call in a solicitor to give me
advice, I suppose you will have no objection to answer any question he
may put to you.” I altered my tone purposely; I looked steadily at him,
but, although the moon was shining, I could not see his features
distinctly. He said, with a spasmodic convulsion of the throat, which
was perfectly apparent, “Oh no, certainly not.” At Wolverton, I had
purposely mentioned my desire that there should be a _post-mortem_
examination, and I ought to say that he was quite calm when I mentioned
it. After I asked him that question there was a pause for three or four
minutes. He then again proposed to come over to me after he had had his
coffee, and I again begged he would not trouble himself. I went to Mr.
Gardner, and then came back to the inn. Palmer came to me, and began to
talk about the bills. He said, “It’s a very unpleasant affair for me.” I
said, “I think it right to tell you, that since I saw you I have had
rather a different account of Mr. Cook’s affairs.” He said, “Oh, indeed!
I hope, at any rate, they will be settled pleasantly.” I said, “His
affairs can only be settled in a Court of Chancery.” He asked me what
friends Mr. Cook visited in the neighbourhood of London. I said,
“Several.” The next day (Sunday) I saw him again, between five and six
in the evening. He said, “You were talking of going to Eddisford. If I
were you, I would not take a solicitor with me there.” I said, “Why not?
I shall use my own judgment.” Later in the evening he came again to my
room, holding a piece of paper, as if he wished to give it to me. I went
on with my writing, and said, “Pray, who is Mr. Smith?” He repeated,
“Mr. Smith!” two or three times, and I said, “I mean a Mr. Smith who sat
up with my son one night.” He said, “He is a solicitor in the town.” I
asked if he was in practice. He replied, “Yes.” I said, “I ask you the
question because, as the betting-book is lost, I should wish to know who
has been with the young man.” After a pause, I said, “Did you attend my
son in a medical capacity?” He said, “Oh, dear, no.” I said, “I ask you,
because I am determined to have his body examined; and if you had
attended him professionally I suppose the gentleman I shall call in
would think it proper that you should be present.” He asked who was to
perform the examination. I said, “I cannot say. I shall not know myself
until to-morrow. I think it right to tell you of it; but, whether you
are present at it or not is a matter of indifference to me.”

On the Friday, when Palmer gave orders for the shell, did you perceive
any sign of decomposition in the body, or anything which would render
its immediate enclosure necessary?--On the contrary, the body did not
look to me like a dead body. I was surprised at its appearance.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE: The last time Cook stayed at my
house was in January or February last year, for about a month. He then
had a sore throat. I do not remember that it was continually sore. He
had not the least difficulty in swallowing. I did not notice any ulcers
about his face. In the spring he complained of being an invalid, and
said his medical friends told him that if he was not better in the
winter he ought to go to a warm climate. No communication was made to me
about insuring his life. I was dissatisfied about the loss of the
betting-book. I desired that everything belonging to the deceased might
be locked up. When I returned to Rugeley with Palmer, I went to seek for
Mr. Gardner. I saw him on the following (Sunday) morning. I have once
been in communication with the policeofficer Field. That was a fortnight
or three weeks after my son’s death. Field called upon me. I never
applied to him.

By Mr. Baron ALDERSON: I never called upon Mr. Bamford, but he dined
with me at the Talbot Arms.

MARY KEELEY, examined by Mr. WELSBY: I am a widow, living at Rugeley. On
the morning of Wednesday, the 21st of November last, I was sent for to
lay out Cook’s body. My sister-in-law went with me. That was about one
o’clock in the morning. The body was still warm, but the hands and arms
were cold. The body was lying on the back. The arms were crossed upon
the chest. The head lay a little turned on one side. The body was very
stiff indeed. I have laid out many corpses. I never saw one so stiff
before. We had difficulty in straightening the arms. We could not keep
them straight down to the body. I passed a piece of tape under the back
and tied it round the wrists, to fasten the arms down. The right foot
turned, on one side, outwards. We were obliged to tie both the feet
together. The eyes were open. We were a considerable time before we
could close them, because the eyelids were very stiff. The hands were
closed, and were very stiff. Palmer was upstairs with us. He lighted me
while I took two rings off Cook’s fingers. That was off one hand. The
fingers were very stiff, and I had difficulty in getting off the rings.
I got them off, and when I had done so the hand closed again. I did not
see anything of a betting-book, nor any small book like a pocketbook.

Cross-examined by Mr. GROVE: It is not usual to tie the hands of a
corpse. I have never before used tape to tie the arms; I have used it to
tie the ankles together, and also for the toes. I have never seen it
used for the arms. It is usual to lay the arms by the sides. If the body
gets stiff the arms remain as they were at the time of death. If the
eyes are closed at the time of death there is no difficulty in keeping
them closed. It is a common thing to put penny pieces upon them to keep
them closed. That is to prevent the eyelid drawing back. The jaw is
generally tied up shortly after death.

Re-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I cannot say how many bodies I have
laid out, but I have laid out a great many, of all ages. I never knew of
the arms being tied before this instance. It is usual to lay the arms by
the sides within a few minutes after death. I was called up at half-past
twelve. It was half-past one when I went upstairs to the room where Cook
lay. Sometimes the feet of corpses get twisted out; it is then that they
are tied. That occurs within about half-an-hour after death. I have
never known the eyelid so stiff as in this case. I have put penny pieces
on the eyes. In those cases the lids were stiff, but not so stiff as in
this instance.

JOHN THOMAS HARLAND, examined by Mr. BODKIN: I am a physician residing
at Stafford. On the 26th of November last I went from Stafford to
Rugeley, to be present at a _post-mortem_ examination. I arrived at
Rugeley at ten o’clock in the morning. I called at the house of Mr.
Bamford, surgeon. As I went there Palmer joined me in the street. He
came from the back of his own house. I had frequently seen him and had
spoken to him before. He said, “I am glad that you are come to make a
_post-mortem_ examination. Some one might have been sent whom I did not
know.” I said, “What is this case? I hear there is a suspicion of
poisoning.” He said, “Oh, no; I think not. He had an epileptic fit on
Monday and Tuesday last, and you will find old disease in the heart and
in the head.” We then went together to Mr. Bamford’s. I had brought no
instruments with me, having only been requested to be present at the
examination. Palmer said that he had instruments, and offered to fetch
them and lend them to me. He (Palmer) said there was a very queer old
man who seemed to suspect him of something, but he did not know what he
meant or what he wanted. He also said, “He seems to suspect that I have
got the betting-book. Cook had no betting-book that would be of use to
anyone.” Mr. Bamford and I then went to the house of Mr. Frere, who is a
surgeon at Rugeley. Palmer did not go with us. Thence we went to the
Talbot Arms, where the _post-mortem_ examination was proceeded with. Mr.
Devonshire operated, and Mr. Newton assisted him. There were in the
room, besides, Mr. Bamford, Palmer, myself, and several other persons. I
stood near Mr. Devonshire. The body was very stiff.

By LORD CAMPBELL: It was much stiffer than bodies usually are five or
six days after death.

Examination resumed: The muscles were very highly developed. By that I
mean that they were strongly contracted and thrown out. I examined the
hands. They were stiff, and were firmly closed. The abdominal viscera
were first examined.

At the suggestion of LORD CAMPBELL, the witness read a report which he
prepared on the day on which this _post-mortem_ examination took place,
November 26th, 1855, and transmitted to Mr. Stevens, the step-father of
the deceased. This report described the state of the various internal
organs as being perfectly healthy and natural. The material statements
were all repeated in the subsequent examination of the witness. After
reading the report,

The witness continued: The abdominal viscera were in a perfectly healthy
state. They were taken out of the body. We examined the liver. It was
healthy. The lungs were healthy, but contained a good deal of blood. Not
more than would be accounted for by gravitation after death. We examined
the head. The brain was quite healthy. There was no extravasation of
blood, and no serum. There was nothing which, in my judgment, could
cause pressure. The heart was contracted, and contained no blood. That
was the result not of disease, but of spasmodic action. At the larger
end of the stomach there were numerous small yellowish-white spots,
about the size of mustard seeds. They would not at all account for
death. I doubt whether they would have any effect upon the health. I
think they were mucous follicles. The kidneys were full of blood, which
had gravitated there. They had no appearance of disease. The blood was
in a fluid state. That is not usual. It is found so in some cases of
sudden death, which are of rare occurrence. The lower part of the spinal
cord was not very closely examined. We examined the upper part of that
cord. It presented a perfectly natural appearance. On a subsequent day,
I think the 25th of January, it was thought right to exhume the body,
that the spinal cord might be more carefully examined. I was present at
that examination. The lower part of the spinal cord was then minutely
examined. A report was made of that examination.

This report was put in, and was read by the witness. It described
minutely the appearance and condition of the spinal cord and its
envelopes, and concluded with this statement:--“There is nothing in the
condition of the spinal cord or its envelopes to account for death;
nothing but the most normal and healthy state, allowance being made for
the lapse of time since the death of the deceased.”

Examination resumed: I am still of opinion that there was nothing in the
appearance of the spine to account for the death of the deceased, and
nothing of an unusual kind which might not be referred to changes after
death. When the stomach and the intestines were removed from the body on
the occasion of the first examination they were separately emptied into
a jar, and were afterwards placed in it. Mr. Devonshire and Mr. Newton
removed them from the body. They were the only two who operated. At that
time the prisoner was standing on the right of Mr. Newton. While Mr.
Devonshire was opening the stomach a push was given by Palmer which sent
Mr. Newton against Mr. Devonshire, and shook some of the contents of the
stomach into the body. I thought a joke was passing among them, and
said, “Don’t do that.”

By Lord CAMPBELL.--Might not Palmer have been impelled by some one
outside him?--There was no one who could have impelled him.

What did you observe Palmer do?--I saw Mr. Newton and Mr. Devonshire
pushed together, and Palmer was over them. He was smiling at the time.

Examination continued: After this interruption the opening of the
stomach was pursued. The stomach contained about three ounces of a
brownish fluid. There was nothing particular in that. Palmer was looking
on, and said, “They won’t hang us yet.” He said that to Mr. Bamford in a
loud whisper. That remark was made upon his own observation of the
stomach. The stomach, after being emptied, was put into the jar. The
intestines were then examined, but nothing particular was found in them.
They were contracted and very small. The viscera, with their contents,
as taken from the body, were placed in the jar, which was then covered
over with two bladders, which were tied and sealed. I tied and sealed
them. After I had done so I placed the jar upon the table by the body.
Palmer was then moving about the room. In a few minutes I missed the jar
from where I had placed it. During that time my attention had been
withdrawn by the examination. On missing the jar I called out, “Where’s
the jar?” and Palmer, from the other end of the room, said, “It is
here; I thought it would be more convenient for you to take away.” There
was a door at the end of the room where he was. He was within a yard or
two of that door, and about 24 feet from the table on which the body was
lying. [Before making this last statement the witness referred to a plan
of the room which was put in by the Attorney-General.] The door near
which Palmer was standing was not the one by which he had entered the
room. I called to Palmer, “Will you bring it here?” I went from the
table and met Palmer half way coming with the jar. The jar had, since I
last saw it, been cut through both bladders. The cut was hardly an inch
long. It had been done with a sharp instrument. I examined the cut. The
edges were quite clean. No part of the contents of the jar could have
passed through it. Finding this cut, I said, “Here is a cut; who has
done this?” Palmer, and Mr. Devonshire, and Mr. Newton all said that
they had not done it, and nothing more was said about it. When I was
about to remove the jar from the room, the prisoner asked me what I was
going to do with it. I said I should take it to Mr. Frere’s. He said, “I
had rather you would take it to Stafford than take it there.” I made no
answer that I remember. I took it to Mr. Frere’s house. After doing so,
I returned to the Talbot Arms. I left the jar in Mr. Frere’s hall, tied
and sealed. Immediately upon finding the slit in the cover, I cut the
strings and altered the bladders, so that the slits were not over the
top of the jar. I resealed them. After going to Mr. Frere’s I went to
the Talbot Arms. I went into the yard to order my carriage, and while I
was waiting for it the prisoner came across to me. He asked me what I
had done with the jar. I told him that I had left it at Mr. Frere’s. He
inquired what would be done with it, and I said it would go either to
Birmingham or London that night for examination. I do not recollect that
he made any reply. When I re-covered the jar, I tied each cover
separately, and sealed it with my own seal. During the first
_post-mortem_ examination there were several Rugeley persons present,
but I believe no one on behalf of the prisoner. At the second
examination there was some one there on behalf of Palmer.

Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant SHEE: In the course of the _post-mortem_
examination Palmer said, “They won’t hang us yet.” I am not sure whether
that observation was addressed to Dr. Bamford, or whether he prefaced it
by the word “Doctor.” I think that he first said it to Dr. Bamford in a
loud whisper, and afterwards repeated it to several persons. I had said
to him that I had heard that there was a suspicion of poisoning. I made
notes in pencil at the time of the _post-mortem_, and I wrote a more
formal report from those notes as soon as I got home. The original
pencil notes are destroyed. I sent the fair copy to Mr. Stevens, Cook’s
father-in-law, the same evening. They were not produced before the
coroner. At the base of the tongue of the deceased I observed some
enlarged mucous follicles; they were not pustules containing matter, but
enlarged mucous follicles of long standing. There were a good many of
them, but I do not suppose that they would occasion much inconvenience.
They might cause some degree of pain, but I think that it would be
slight. I do not believe that they were enlarged glands. I should not
say that deceased’s lungs were diseased, though they were not in their
normal state. The lungs were full of blood and the heart empty. I had no
lens at the _post-mortem_, but I made an examination which was
satisfactory to me, without one. The brain was carefully taken out; the
membranes and external parts were first examined, and thin slices of
about a quarter of an inch in thickness were taken off and subjected to
separate examination. I think by that means we should have discovered
disease if any had existed; and if there had been any indication of
disease, I should have examined it more carefully. I examined the spinal
cord as far down as possible, and if there had been any appearance of
disease I should have opened the canal. There was no appearance of
disease, however. We opened down to the first vertebra. If we had found
a softening of the spinal cord, I do not think that it would have been
sufficient to have caused Cook’s death; certainly not. A softening of
the spinal cord would not produce tetanus--it might produce paralysis. I
do not think, as a medical man investigating the cause of death, that it
was necessary carefully to examine the spinal cord. I do not know who
suggested that there should be an examination of the spinal cord two
months after death. There were some appearances of decomposition when we
examined the spinal cord, but I do not think that there was sufficient
to interfere with our examination. I examined the body to ascertain if
there was any trace of venereal disease. I did find certain indications
of that description, and the marks of an old excoriation, which were
cicatriced over.

Re-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: There were no indications of wounds
or sores such as could by possibility produce _tetanus_. There was no
disease of the lungs to account for death. The heart was healthy, and
its emptiness I attribute to spasmodic action. The heart being empty, of
course death ensued. The convulsive spasmodic action of the muscles of
the body, which was deposed to yesterday by Mr. Jones, would, in my
judgment, occasion the emptiness of the heart. There was nothing
whatever in the brain to indicate the presence of any disease of any
sort; but if there had been, I never heard or read of any disease of the
brain ever producing tetanus. There was no relaxation of the spinal
cord which would account for the symptoms accompanying Mr. Cook’s death,
as they have been described. In fact, there was no relaxation of the
spinal cord at all, and there is no disease of the spinal cord with
which I am acquainted, that would produce tetanus.

Mr. CHARLES JAMES DEVONSHIRE, undergraduate of University of London,
late assistant to Dr. Monckton, examined by Mr. HUDDLESTON: I made the
first _post-mortem_ examination of the body of Mr. Cook in November
last. The body was pale and stiff; the hands were clinched, and the
mouth was contorted. I opened the body. The liver was very healthy. The
heart also seemed healthy, but it was perfectly empty. The lungs
contained a considerable quantity of dark fluid blood. The blood was
perfectly fluid. The brain was healthy throughout. I examined the
_medulla oblongata_, and about a quarter or half an inch of the spinal
cord. It was perfectly sound. I took out the stomach, and opened it with
a pair of scissors. I put the contents in a jar, which was taken to Mr.
Frere’s, the surgeon. I obtained the jar from Mr. Frere’s on Monday, in
the same state as it was before, and I gave it Mr. Boycott, clerk to Mr.
Gardner, the attorney. I examined the body again on the 29th, and took
out the liver, kidneys, spleen, and some blood. I put them in a stone
jar, which I covered with washleather and brown paper, and sealed up. I
delivered that jar also to Boycott. Palmer said at the examination that
we should find syphilis upon the deceased. I therefore examined the
parts carefully, and found no indications of the sort. I also took out
the throat. The _papillæ_ were slightly enlarged, but they were natural,
and one of the tonsils was shrunk.

Cross-examined by Mr. GROVE, Q.C.--Tetanic convulsions are considered to
proceed from derangement of the spine, and from complaints that affect
the spine. These derangements are not always capable of being detected
by examination. In examining the body of a person supposed to have died
from tetanus, the spinal cord would be the first organ looked to. About
half an inch of the spinal cord, exterior to the aperture of the
cranium, was examined on the first occasion. I was not present when the
granules were discovered on the second examination. The learned counsel
was proceeding to cross-examine this witness upon some minute points of
a scientific nature, when

Baron ALDERSON, interposing, said,--When you have all the medical men in
London here, you had better not examine an undergraduate of the
University of London upon such points, I should think.

Dr. MONCKTON, examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL: I am a physician in
practice, and reside at Rugeley. On the 28th of January I made a
_post-mortem_ examination of the spinal cord and marrow of the deceased,
J. P. Cook. I found the muscles of the trunk in a state of laxity, which
I should attribute to the decay of the body which had set in; but that
laxity would not be at all inconsistent, in my opinion, with a great
rigidity of those muscles at the time of death. The muscles of the arms
and legs were in a state of rigidity, but they were not more rigid than
usual in dead bodies. The muscles of the arms had partially flexed the
fingers of the hand. The feet were turned inwards to a much greater
extent than usual. I carefully examined the spinal cord. The body was
then in such a condition as to enable me to make a satisfactory
examination of it; and if prior to death there had been any disease of a
normal character on the spinal cord and marrow, I should have had no
difficulty in detecting it. There was no disease. I discovered certain
granules upon it. It is difficult to account for their origin, but they
are frequently found in persons of advanced age. I never knew them to
occasion sudden death. I agree entirely with the evidence which has been
given by Dr. Harland.

This witness was not cross-examined.

Mr. JOHN BOYCOTT, examined by Mr. WELSBY: I am clerk to Messrs. Landor,
Gardner, and Landor, attorneys at Rugeley. On the 26th of last November,
I received a jar from Mr. Devonshire, covered with leather and brown
paper, and sealed up. I took it to London, and delivered it on the next
day to Dr. Taylor, at Guy’s Hospital. On a subsequent day I received
another jar, similarly secured, from Mr. Devonshire, and I also brought
that to London and delivered it to Dr. Taylor. I was not present at the
inquest on Cook’s body, and did not fetch Newton to be examined there.
On Tuesday last, when at the Rugeley station, previous to my departure
for London, Newton came and made a communication to me. He knew that Mr.
Gardner was not there; and when we reached London I took him to Mr.
Gardner, and heard him make the same communication to Mr. Gardner which
he had made before to me.

This witness was not cross-examined.

JAMES MYATT, examined by Mr. JAMES: In November last I was postboy at
the Talbot Arms at Rugeley. I know Palmer, the prisoner, and I remember
Monday, the 26th of November last. I was ordered on that night, a little
after five o’clock, to take Mr. Stevens to the Stafford station in a
fly. Before I started I went home to get my tea, and on returning from
my tea to the Talbot Arms I met the prisoner. He asked me if I was going
to drive Mr. Stevens to Stafford. I told him I was.

What did he say to you then?--He asked me if I would upset them.

“Them?” Had anything been said about a jar?--He said he supposed I was
going to take the jar.

What did you say then?--I said I believed I was.

What did he say after that?--He said, “Do you think you could upset
them?”

What answer did you make?--I told him “No

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