The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-05-06 00:00:00

IIMINEI•11

THE STOURBRIDGE OBSERVER,

vomits. Its presence is attended with fermentative changes I a mile back of Sugar Loaf, the sudden appearance
7:Teitilting in vomiting;-ard-whirt-are-poputszty known as of Bo large a Stream of water from the bottom of a
bilious attacks. The presence of these sarcince would not, cavern fifty feet below the surface of the ground, is
however, account for the death of the deceased.
remarkable. Trees thirty feet in height were carried
The Coroner, in summing up, said he need not go through
to a distance of 1,000 feet. All around the
the history of the case. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace lodged with
the deceased woman, and it had been shown that she had i chasm the ground was undisturbed except where
valuable jewellery in her possession, that valuable diamond the immense mass of earth struck it as it tumbled
rings vs ere seen on her hands a short time before hcr death. It linto the river. Before the eruption all the land east of
appeared that in the policy of insurance its value was put the Wade residence was saturated with water, and seve-
down at LIMO, and he had a letter from a person who had ral streams ran through the grounds, but afterward
repaired some of it, and he said he had jewellery of the
the streams disappeared entirely, and the ground there
value of £7OO belonging to the deceased passing through his
hands. Then it was shown that deceased was suffering from was not nearly as wet as before. This explained the
_a bilious attack, and that Mr. Whitefield was sent for about true cause of the colossal eruption. The land at the
eleven o'clock in the evening and found her dead. He made base of the mountain is of a sandy nature, and ina-
a post-mortem examination, and found that she was suffer- mense quantities of water percolating through it from
lug from disease of the heart, and that any shock would rains and from the immense water sheds of Sugar
cause her death. Dr. Stevenson had made an analysis of the
state of the stomach, and there was no evidence of instant Loaf met at one point and formed an underground
poison having been given. The question then was, was the lake which, increasing in extent and volume daily and
death caused from the state of the heart, from natural hourly, had to have vent at last, and with tremendous
causes, or was it cauEed by the administration of chloroform, force lifted thousands of tons of the sandy soil near
On that point there was a legal question. Some might say
it arose partly from a disease of the heart, and partly from the top and hurled it down the bill side across the
chloroform, but in all cases where violence was used the law cove and on the railroad track. Then the no longer
did not allow them to portion the death, but it put entirely pent-up water rushed down the hill from a spot fifty
to the violence; and therefore in this ease, it they were feet below the surface of the miniature mountain,
satisfied that the deceased had chloroform administered to cutting deep ravines and carrying everything before it.
her in a violent manner, it would be their duty to return a
'verdict criminating the persons so assaulting her. They had
no direct evidence that chloroform had been administered,
but they had the evidence of the servant that there was
a smell of chloroform in the room, and the statement of
the servant and Mrs. Clfft that the little boy told them
that Mr. Wallace romped on the bed with his mother, and
took a ring from her finger, and from that, taken with
the other evidence, it would seem that he was holding her
and giving her chloroform, contrary to her desire. Then, as
to giving her chloroform, everybody knew that when it was
administered in hospitals and elsewhere the greatest care
was taken as to the state of the health generally, and that it
would not be administered to a person who had a diseased
heart. Then from her keys being gone, and her watch and
' jewellery being gone, and these letters being found in her
bedroom, all pointed to the conclusion that this man had
violently assaulted her, administered chloroform, and so
caused her death. All killing was murder. That was the
axiom. ,There must be some special 'circumstances about the
case to reduce it to manslaughter or misadventure, and it
was for them to say whether there was anything special in.
this case so to reduce it. If not, they would be quite justi-
fied in bringing in a verdict of wilful murder.
Mr. Froggat said Dr. Stevenson had not had the heart
submitted to him, and therefore wasnot able to give positive
evidence on the case.
The Coroner said Dr. Stevenson's evidence was given very
clearly as to the cause of death.
Mr. Froggatt asked that Dr. Whitfield's evidence should
be read over, and Dr. Stevenson asked about it.
Dr. Whitfield's evidence was then read over to the wit-
nem.
The Coroner: Having heard that evidence, can you give
any opinion in addition to what you have already stated?

Dr. Stevenson: Yes; a person with a heart in Vbe state
described might die from any shock whatever. She was
weakened by a bilious attack, and that would predispose
her to die from a shock, she being evidently in a weak state
that day. The forcible anministration of chloroform would
be a very likely thing to cause death by shock or syncope.
It would have a much greater effect than the ordinary
administration to a patient who was aware it was about to
be administered.

Was the heart contracted and the pupils of the eyes
dilated: The heart was not contracted but the pupils were
dilated The state of the heart does not indicate death from
chloroform absolutely.

Mr. Froggatt : From the state of the viscera, do you con-
sider the deceased died a natural death 7-1 cannot state
absolutely. I think the shock was very likely to have caused
her death. I cannot say absolutely that the shock was from
the administration of chloroform.

Dr George Henry Thurston was then called at the request
of several of the jury. He said: I live at 8, Hobury•street,
Chelsea. lam a registered medical practitioner. I did not
see the deceased during life. I assisted at the post-mortem
examination, and observed the symptoms that Dr. Whitfield
has already stated. I considered the heart certainly the
weakest I ever examined; the muscular coats were the
thinnest that ever came under my notiee. I saw nothing
during the examination which would lead me to think her
death was caused from any mineral poison, and my opinion
is she died from syncope in consequence of a diseased heart.
Could you tell whether chloroform had been used or not?
—IL we had made the examination earlier we might have
detected it, but the examination was on the Saturday, and
she died on the Thursday. I quite agree with Dr. Stevenson
that the forcible administration of chloroform might give
such a shock to the system as to cause death.
The room was then cleared, in order that the jury
might deliberate on their verdict, and on the readmis-
sion of the public about a quarter of an hour after-
wards,

The jury returned a verdict of "Wilful murder"
against William Wallace and Louise Wallace, and the
witnesses were bound over to appear and give their
evidence at the Old Bailey sessions, and the coroner
Issued his warrant for the apprehension of the accused
persons.