The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1870-07-16 00:00:00

WARNING TO WAITERS
HT A FREW:ENT DINER-OUT.
Ye, at allies small or great,
Who stand behind our chairs
Ne'er rn slow to change a plate
Near be her dial of our prate,
Never breaqe upon our pate,
"Learn to labour and to wait "—Punch.

REMARKABLE INVESTIGATION.

An extraordinary case has been investigated by Dr.
Irankester and a jury at the 'Brook field" Tavern,
Highgate, Londan. Lieut.-Colonel Pownall, who
served in India during the mutiny, died on the 10th
of August last, at his residence, ti, Middleton-place,
Stoke Newington, after suffering for ten months from
an aneurism of the carotid artery. A medical certifi-
cate was given that death was caused by the rupture
of this aneurism, and he was buried at Hi4tigate
Cemetery. Two sister s of the deceased, however,
who, during his illness, had fraquently asserted that he
was being poisoned by his wile, communicated some
time after hie interment with the Coroner, demanding
an inquiet A correspondence took place, and towards
the end of last month an order was given for the ex-
humation and analysis of the be sly. The body was
taken from the lead coffin in which it was buried, and
De Rodgers removed certain portions of the body for
analysis. The sisters of the deceased subsequently
attended at the cemetery, to are that the right body
had been exhumed. Av the inquest Mr. Strsight,
barrister, inetructed by Mesers. Walters and Gush,
re; resented the widow of deceased; and Mr. Allsop
appeared for the sisters, who had demanded the in-
quest. It was stated, but not in evidence, that de-
ceased was nephew of Mr. Pownall, the magistrate.
The jury prr ceeded to the catacombs of the cemetery,
where the remains lay. The act was merely formal,
as the body had been in the vaults eleven months, and
very little could be gained from its appearance by the
jriry. Upon the return into court Dr. Lankeeter
called

Mies Martha Pownen, who said—l am sister to the de-
ceased, Lleutenant-Colonel Pownall. lice at 10, Victoria-
place, stoke Newington.road. My brother was fifty-three
years of age when he died. Ile wria a colonel In the army,
hut had retired on a pension. He client on the 10th of
August last I was with him at his death. lie had been 11l
for ten months. Ile suffered from swelling of the throat,
which was called an aneurism, and eicknees. The swelling
erainally grew to an enormous extent, and gave him great
agmy, especially after his wife gave him anything. To use
his own exprescon, he used to say it made his throat 'burn
like hell," when she gave him any thing When the • kind"
nurse gave him anathieg it did slot affect him in the leant.
I perceived that myself. I say the " kind S' nurse. became
there was one who I believe was an accomplice. His wife
often gave bite champagne, Slid instead of exhilarating him
it hail a dreadful err, ct. It had the sanie effect upon me,
and took away all my appetite and sire' gth. I used to ask
him what mute him so tick and I asked very suspieloully
what
made things have such an effect upon bin', but I was
immediaiely eilenced and ordered out by the wife and the
sister Gosling, who we consider was tine of the accom-
t Ikea Nurse Radcliffe was the kind nurse, but she was
rent away. Num Go.lieg was sent away about seven
months before my brother died, hut then she was called
back I y the wife a few dale before his death. She WAS
Stilt away la the first instance because my brother hated the
sight of her. Mrs. Pow nall, a cousin, sisters Lucy and 9 trah,
and myself were prezent Tnere was also a brother-lola w.
Ame load clots was present Tne wife ereintal to me to he
giviog him chloroform. We were turned out of the room for
0 minute, and when we came back he waa breathing m at
/Gra, and was convulsed This was at two o'clock In the after-
n-on of the day he died. Sister Gosling was centinuafie
riving him some brown liquid with a spoon out of a small
glGs saucer. It appeared to he taking his senses away. I
think it w. morphia. It was kept by his side, and when-
ever he wished to say anything to us a teaspoonful was put
in his mouth Ile wished to say something particularly be.
fore he died. He called to my sister Sarah 20 times. Mn.
Pownall gin to his ride and held clown his arm It was no
very convulsed 1 suppose she thought it would raise sus-
picions. He died at ten o'clock at night. The tumour burst
10 days before his death. I saw it after it i,nrit. There
was a cut in it about the length ef my finger. It mu covered
with ',holster. I stooped over my brother and tusked him how
his tumour catre to burst, and he wan turnieg round to
answer use when the wife immediately interfered and 1 was
ordered to leave. before hfis death the colonel said to me,
" My wife has poisoned me."
Coroner That really is not evidence.
Mr. Straight n I wish it oft to go dravn. We are extremely
oldieed to you for allowipg this inquiry to take place, and
you may lie eure it will Ind enil here.
Examitiation continued by Mr. : On one occasion as
entered the room I now the wife admieistering soniethirg
In' the deceased She had her hand on the tumour, and was
saying, Are yen going to finish it?"
By the Cr tier: The stuff ,he was giving him was brown.
It looked like ordain, and the next day my brother said,
"tic wife has poisoned men.."
By Sir Alleop : For a length of time my brother could not
eat ordinary too I, and lie lived Opel fruit from the garden.
the wife gathered him a plate if cherries', of which he gave
me two ti eat. He Wel they were cankers in lite mouth.
When I got home I was taken very ill-1 had profuse vomit-
ing, purging, and Intense, agony, arid I was ill for a month
after that. I believe the cherries were poleoned. 1 lent for
Dr. Ferman, who attended my brother, and when: he sow
my sy motoms lie asked iii had had a dose, and I edit, ' Oh,
that I had &wit that myself," meaning the stuff that was
given to my brother by his wife. Dr. Forman said," If you
had, it would have poisoned you" Ile confirm., my state-
ment that poison was being given. He also saint he had been
questioning the wife shout it, and she said, "What object
should 1 have in polsonin- him, when I am getting L5OO •
year ?" He said he thonglit this very sharp. My brother
had all his meale alone, and whatever he left the servant was
ordered to throw away, lie told me he vomited all lie ate.
My brother was Es his coffin by ten o'clock in the morning
following his death, and we were not allowed to nee his body.
The cook says he was quite black.
Condter that to nothing wonderful in August.
Witness : It WAS most cruel that the sisters were not
allowed to see the body.
. . .

Cross-examined by Mr. Straight : My brother lived with
me mitii the tin. of his marriage. He was in receipt at a
pension of £470 a year. Ile th,n went to live in the same
house as alrs. Pownall's mother, at 6, itliddletomplace I
distinctly state that I believe nurse G.alltrg to have been an
aecon.plice in pdsoniug him My brother thought no too,
and repeatedly said, "That one.] will be the death of
me ;' ad when she was Iwou :ht back a few days bi tare his
death he screamed. The cook told sue so. I never a.ked
the servants for tire medicine bottles. but K Ate gave me g 0..,
and said that when my brother, took what was in them lie
wits seized with great pain

It being thought desirable by the Coroner and the jail,
that the medical evidence should he taken at this stsgd, Mr.
Srraight waived Ids right to continue the cross examination
of Miss Pownall
Mr. E B. Fortran, L.R C.P., M.R.C.S., wan then sworn.
Ile salt—l attended Colonel Pownall from ten months
before big death up so the time that he died. Ile had au
aneurism of the carotid artery. li,sides myself. Dr. Puller,
of George's Hospital; Sir William Ferguson, Mr. Paget,
and Mr. Hilton raw him They were called in on several oc-
cashu, There was no difference of opinion amongst them.
The advisability of an operation was discussed. The colonel
was certain to die if left to himself, but there was ground to
hope that he would he cured if an operation were performed
However, he objected to it, and we did not think the chance
autilcirntly good to throw our professional opinion into the
recommendation. lof ten saw Mrs Pownall, aud I mu never
Intl to suppose that she woe poisoning her husband. I never
thought of such a thing until the soggestion was imported
into my mind by the staters of the deceased. When I was
toll he was being poisoned my vigilance increased Unfold,
and I made special inenirlas as to testa for each poison.
Thinkii.g from the nature of the people that the matter
might come before a c,urt of law, I looked for symptoms of
p Iron, and sits' nothing which I could not account for
by the natural course of the disease. The aneurism
buret gradually. The course of it was this :
. By the extreme vigilance of Mrs. Pownall, the nurse,
and myself, we were able to delay the bursting
I and prolong his life beyond the expectations of any of the
medical men who saw him. A nurse was always with him
Is his sleeping, amusement, or exercise, to attend to him.
Tue attention ann so great to prevent any exertion that the
I skin of the aneurism was all wed to advance to such a state
of thinness without bursting that Coen at last death did not
result from the tearing of the sec, bat a spec of blood ap-
peared and trickled down in the presence of one of the
cousins of the colonel, who at once came to me, sad I at-
tended immediately. I applied a plaister, and we kept hint
alive ten days by injections. Althoi4h death took place Mr
Hilton cowidered it a particularly successful case, for his
life was prolonged beyt-mi what Is usual to such cases.
[Some Interruptions were here repeated by the sisters of de-
ceased, and the Coroner threatened to nrder theni out of
court if they did not remain silent I I was not actually
present at the moment of death, but I bad been in and ous
several tacos during the thiy. ile was slightly convulsed,
but he had nothing worth the name of convulsions. Cer-
tainly not such on would result from poisoning.
_ .

fly Mr Straight : I had Men attendit g colonel Pownall
before his Illness, and prior to his marriage. I Dever saw
anything in Mrs Pownail to indicate that she was poisoning
him. I think the length of time he lived with so fearful a
disease proved the kindness and attention of his wife. I may
say from my cop :Hence that I never saw a wife so devotedly
attached to her husband's interests, and so ready to do any.
thing for his benedt as Mrs_ Pownall. The number if medic ii
men called in shows the desire she had of doing all that was
possib o They wore calle4l In at her request, and against the
desire of the family lied I not objected to it. she would
have pitt Mr Syme to come all the way from Edinburgh,
because he was famed f-r treatment of amurisins. Nurse
Cheilinz was brought from the institution for training aunts.
I do net know what originally monied the swelling in the neck
believe he was out in the Indian Mutiny. I sent boil to Ram.
gate for about two mouths. the nurse was desired to carry
lint wherever he went, in ease the aneurism bunt Miss,
Pownsll lint suggested that her brother mug being poisoned
about Ms weeks before his death. If I said anything to Mist
Ponuall about having had • dote" after she had eaten the

cherries, it waste what Is vulgarly called chaff The reason
did thiamine that every one who went to the colonel's house
and partook Of refreshment was said by Miss POwnall to have
been " dosed." I know as • matter of family history that
when in India the colonel was condemned to be hanged, and
he has been weak and frightened since. The sickness would
be caused by the pressure on a particular nerve which passed
down the vessel that was diseased. I attended the Misses
Pownail. Miss Pownall did not suffer from poisoned chortle..
. She suffered from gastric derangement the result of Improper
food. She did not say anything about cherries at the time of
her sickness. They were an afterthought.
By Mr Alison : The colonel did tell me once that he had
talked the matter over with his sister Sarah, and he believed
he was ;Awned by his wife. tie said his sister had led him
to believe he was pdsoned. I said, " How cm you any you
are p Ironed, when you have no symptoms of it F' I have
informed Mrs Po small of the fPfferetit steps in this case, and
I have been active in it be lause lam concerned in It lithe
colonel was really poi oiled, I must have been, very foolish
not to discover it, or I must have been an accomplice.
Professor Julian E. D Rodgers, .11.R.0 S., and L.B A,
said: lii accordance with your order. I proceeded to the
.matery at Ilighcate on the Zits June, and mode • post-
mortem examination of the body of the late Lieut. C ilonel
Thomas Pown all. I have carefully analysed the stomach and
conteots, and the various portions of the viscera already
mentiot el, with a most decided negative result I have not
discovered a trace of any poison, el :her mineral or orgmic,
whatever. In the ainence of any trace of poison being
discovered, even by the most minute Hod certain modes
of procedure, I have no hesitation In expressing my
opinion that the death of the dec ,aced was not occasioned
by Poboli, but th,t tile inimedia•e came of death was
the carotid not orisni. Dr. Rodgers added, that Mr.
Lucy was prescso when the body was exhumed. The
reason he did not remove the brain Hod heart was that poi-
son would not be fmmil lu them mime it was also found in
the organs he exam,ned In Painter'. case, although no
poison was found In Cook's body, it was owing to the imper-
fect tilde einploycd bi Professor Taylor, who had since ex.
chided them from his work, and recolornenoed those shgs
were soggested by the defetice at the time. The organs for
analysis in Colonel Powriall's eats were put into aj sr (which
wi:ness held) op his assistant.

. -
The Coroner having summoned np, the jury cin.
Multed for a few mouitnte, and found a verdict "That
death was caused by the rupture of the aneuriam of
the carotid artery, and arose from natural CHU...,"

The Coroner heartily concurred in the verdict, and
said that Mrs. Puwhall was thoroughly cleared from
all imputation.
Mr. Straight eaid that Co far frwo Mre. Pownall
deriving any benefit by the death of her hm.band, her
income wat reduced from £470 per annum 4) £l7O, and
she was left with £3OO debts to pay.