The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-08 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL HOMEOPATHIC

DISPENSARY.

MB annual meeting of the subscribers to, and friends of
this institution was held yesterday afternoon, at the Clarendon-
rooms; Mr. Yate Lee in the chair.
Mr. CAPPER, the secretary, read the following
REPORT.

This dispensary was first established in 1841, and has now,
therefore, been in existence fourteen years. The number of
patients treated during this period has been 37,000. The
number of new patients during the last year was 3,407. The
total number of prescriptions dispensed in 1855 was 16,161.
Throughout the year the charity has had the benefit of the
services of a qualified house-surgeon, and his exertions have
been attended with the greatest success. Since the Ist of
March, a special register has been kept of patients visited by
him at their own houses. The number of patients thus visited
has been 353, and the number of such visits paid, 2,367.
The subscribers to the dispensary will be much gratified by
the followin r official testimony to the success of the homoeo-
pathic practice in acute disease. In a return made last May
to the House of Commons, of papers and letters addressed to
the Board of Health, relating to the treatment of cholera,
which were produced, on the motion of Lord Robt. Grosvenor,
the following passage occurs. Dr. Macloughlin, one of the
medical inspectors of the Board of Health, addressing one of
the medical officers of the Homoeopathic Hospital, Golden-
square, says :
" You are aware that I went to your hospital predisposed
against the homcepathic system, that you had in me, iu your
camp, an enemy rather than a friend, and that I must, there-
fore, have seen some urgent reason to come away so favour-
ably disposed as to advise a friend to send a subscription to
your charitable fund; and I need not tell you that I have
taken some pains to make myself acquainted with the rise,
progress, and medical treatment of cholera, and that I claim
for myself some right to be able to recognise the disease, and
to know something of what the medical treatment ought to
be; and, that there may be no misapprehension about the
cases I saw in your hospital, I will add that all 111 saw were
true cases of cholera, in various stages of disease ; and that I
saw several cases which did well under your treatment which,
I have no hesitation in saying, would, have sunk under any
other. In conclusion, I must repeat to you, what I have
already told you, and what I have told every one with whom I
have conversed, that, although an allopath by principle, educa-
tion, and practice, yet, were it the will of Providence to afflict
me by cholera, and to deprive me of the power of prescribing
for myself, I would rather be in the hands of a homoeopathic
than an allopathic adviser."

In addition to this important testimony the committee have
great satisfaction in adding a tabular statement of the acute
cases and the results, the patients in such cases having been
attended at their own houses by Dr. Gwynn, the present
house-surgeon, since the Ist of March last.
[This statement showed that the total number of acute
cases under treatment was 204, of which 177 recovered, 2
were relieved, and 13 only died.]
The above evidence adduced, from official as well as local
sources, is in itself sufficient to disprove the statement that
homoeopathy is unable to cope with acute disease.
Returns of the number of cases treated at the dispensary
are published in the Albion, Mercury, Journal, and Mail.
The daily average lately has been fifty-eight.
The committee take this opportunity of again noticing the
handsome supply of soup placed at their disposal by Mr. Jesse
Sorton during the inclement season early in the last year, for
which they have already tendered their thanks, and which
they now state was most acceptable to the poor, and received
with gratitude by numerous families in distress.
Subscribers will, on payment of their subscriptions, receive
t!ekets,of recommendation, entitling patients presenting such
tickets to priority of attendance and medicine. Subscriptions
are due the Ist of January in each year, for which printed
receipts should be required; they may be paid either to the
Treasurer, Mr. Edgar, No. 1, Upper Duke-street; at Messrs.
ThompSon and Capper's, 43, Bold-street; or to the Collector,
Mr. Townshend, Courier-office, Castle-street.
The expenses of the institution having of late increased with
the increase of patients, the friends of the charity are earnestly
requested to use their endeavours in adding to the funds so
requisite to support it.—J. YATE LEE, Chairman.
'Die statement of accounts showed that a balance remained
in the treasurer's hands, after allowing for the year's expendi-
ture, of £2B 17s. 7d. On the motion of the Chairman, se-
conded by Mr. J. Muir, the report was unanimously adopted,
and copies ordered to be printed and circulated amongst the
subscribers. The meeting then proceeded to some routine
business, after the despatch of which the proceedings closed,
with the usual compliments to the chairman and the officers
,of the dispensary.

THE RUGELEY POISONING CASES.

ON Monday, an adjourned inquest was held at Rugeley, to
inquire into the circumstances connected with the deaths of
Mary Palmer and Walter Palmer, the wife and brother of
William Palmer, the sporting surgeon of Rugeley, who has
been committed for trial at the Staffordshire Assizes on the
charge of having poisoned Mr. J. C. Cook, late of Lutter-
worth, in Leicestershire. In consequence of an intimation
from Dr. Taylor, to the effect that the analysis by himself
and Dr. Rees, of the intestines of the two deceased, which
had been submitted to them for examination, had not been
completed, the inquest was further adjourned till the analysis
can be finished.
As the coroner was about to retire, the chief-constable of
the county of Stafford made application for a copy of a letter
which had been addressed by the prisoner Palmer to the
coroner, containing information relative to the inability of
Dr. Taylor to find any trace of arsenic in the stomach of the
deceased J. C. Cook. How such information could have been
obtained by the prisoner was a mystery, and he (the chief-
constable) apprehended treachery somewhere, by which, he
feared, the ends of justice might be defeated. The letter,
it seems, was sent by Palmer to the coroner at the time the
inquiry was pending concerning Cook's death, and before the
result of Professor Taylor's analysis had transpired. It is
said to intimate that Palmer had seen a letter from Professor
Taylor, stating that he had not been able to detect in Cook's
stomach any trace of mineral poison. A letter to that effect
was received by Mr. Gardner, the attorney acting for the
Insurance companies, who is positive that he did not divulge
the information. The police authorities cannot understand
how Palmer became acquainted with what was then a secret.
Disclosures of a most startling character, and of a nature
almost unsurpassed in the history of crime, are expected to be
made before the termination of the inquiry in this extraordi-
nary case. It is confidently asserted that, upon resuming the
inquiry, evidence will be given to show that Mrs. Palmer,
before her death, exclaimed to a female attendant in reference
to her husband, "Is that wretch in the house P He's mur-
dered me." The symptoms exhibited during her illness and
at her decease are alleged to be precisely similar to those
detailed as manifested by the unfortunate Cook. A surgeon
in Stafford, who attended Walter Palmer several times during
the short illness which preceded his death, will depose that on
the occasion of one visit Walter complained to him that the
pills he had sent him to take the previous night had made him
awfully ill. The surgeon, not having sent his patient any
pills, told him so, and was answered that he must be mistaken,
for his brother (William Palmer) had given him the pills, and
declared that he (the Stafford surgeon) had sent them. Of
the £23,000, for which William had insured Walter's life, we
are assured not a farthing was paid by any of the various
offices, and therefore, if the crime of fratricide, as supposed,
was committed with the view of gaining that sum, the intent
was happily frustrated.
Startling as it may appear, the names of no fewer than 16
persons are mentioned at Rugeley, respecting whose death by
poison, at the hands of the prisoner, statements are made.
The coffins containing the remains of the deceased
Ann and Walter Palmer were, upon their exhumation,
conveyed from the family vault to the Talbot Inn,
a Rugeley, and opened, in the presence of the coroner
and jury, in the commercial room of the inn. The coffin
of Mrs. Palmer, made of oak, was first opened. Having
been buried a long time, and the gaseous exhalations being
able to escape through the porous wood, the corpse was com-
paratively dry, and the smell educed endurable. On the
removal of the outer coffin a hole was bored in the leaden re-
ceptacle in which Walter Palmer's body was confined, and
instantly a most sickening and noxious effluvium escaped,
which permeated the entire building, affected parties at the
other end of the inn, and produced a sickening effect on all in
the immediate vicinity of the coffin. Subsequently the leaden
lid was removed, and the spectacle presented by the body was
absolutely frightful. The cheeks were so terribly distended
as to extend to either side of the coffin ; one eye was opened,
and the mouth partially so, presenting the appearance of a
horrible grin and grimace. Each limb was also swollen to
prodigious proportions, and the sight was revolting in the ex-
treme. Nearly all the jurors were afflicted with vomiting and
fainting. After the re-interment of the corpses considerable
time elapsed before fumigations could make the house at all
bearable. Even a week afterwards the close room in which
the bodies were opened strongly smelt of the disgusting
odour, and it was found necessary to have the walls scraped
and re-papered, the doors and woodwork re-painted, and a
portion of the floor on which foul matter had dropped from
the coffin of the male deceased re-laid, it being found impos-
sible, by planing, to divest the boards of the noxious stain
and stench.
Many extraordinary statements are current relative to the
transactions of William Palmer with the different life assu-
rance offices in London. Of these, the following may be
relied on as authentic :—ln the early part of 1855, Mr. Walter
Palmer, the brother of the accused, called at the Prince of
Wales Assurance-office, Regent-street, accompanied by Mr.
Pratt, who, he stated, to be his brother William's solicitor,
and intimated his wish to insure his own life for £13,000.
From inquiries then made it was ascertained that Mr. Palmer
had suffered from detirium tremens, and the office, therefore,
declined to grant the policy unless at an increased rate of
premium. It was stated on that occasion that Mr. William
Palmer and his mother had both advanced money to Mr.
Walter Palmer, and that the policy would be eventually
assigned to Mrs. Palmer as security for such advances. The
life was ultimately accepted, and in the mouth of February
last the first premium was paid by a check of Mr. Pratt, the
family solicitor ; but it has since transpired that the money
to pay the check was found by William Palmer. The Prince '
of Wales office, not wishing to take so heavy a risk wholly
upon themselves, divided the responsibility with 21 other
offices, retaining for themselves only £5OO. In the month of
June following, two other assurances, each for £13,000, were
offered to the Indisputable and Athenaeum offices, but they
bOth declined them, the latter office having already taken
part of the risk from the Prince of Wales. On the 16th of
August last, Walter Palmer died, and immediately afterwards
notice was given to the Prince of Wales office. An assign-
ment was also sent of which no previous notice had been
given at the office. It was not to Mrs. Palmer, as first alleged
by the deceased Walter Palmer, but turned out to be in favour
of William Palmer, the accused, and the consideration was
stated to be £4OO. It has since transpired that the only loan
from William Palmer to Walter Palmer was one of £6O. The
Prince of Wales Assurance-office received a letter from a
person in Staffordshire, who alleged that William Palmer had
used him badly, and containing information which led them
to suspect that the deceased had died by unfair means. Rely-
ing on this information, Mr. Hornby, the actuary of the
Prince of Wales, put himself into communication with the
other offices sharing the risk, and the result of their delibera-
tions was the formation of a committee, for the purpose of
obtaining evidence, with the view of ascertaining whether the
suspicious circumstances were of sufficient gravity to justify
the offices in resisting any demand that might be made upon
them in respect to the payment of these claims. In pur-
suance of this arrangement, Mr. Hornby, accompanied by Mr.
Deane, of the firm of Chubb, Deane, and Chubb, solicitors, of
Gray's-inn, and by Field and Simpson, detective officers, pro-
ceeded. to Staffordshire to obtain information as to the habits
of the deceased, and the connexion of William Palmer with
his pecuniary affairs. On arriving at Rugeley, the party pro-
ceeded to make inquiries, the result of which was, that they
ascertained that William Palmer was the person really inte-
rested in the policy of assurance in question, and that he had
also been in the habit of making propositions for insurances ,
to several London offices, and that he had received £13,000
from the Norwich Union, Equitable, and Sun offices on the life
of his wife, who had died a short time previously under very
mysterious circumstances. The deputation having been
informed that William Palmer had made a proposal for
insuring the life of "George Bates, Esq.," inquired at the
post-office for " George Bates, Esq.," and were informed
that he would be found at Mr. Palmer's ; that he
was a gentleman, and that, in all probability, he would
give "the gentlemen from London"• a bottle of old wine, as
he had a capital cellar. Field proceeded to Rugeley, and, to
his amazement, found " George Bates, Esq.," who had been
represented as a gentleman of property and position in the
county, in the act of cleaning out Palmer's stable. A con-
versation ensued, in the course of which Mr. Field said, " I
understand you are going to insure your life ; for what amount
do you intend to insure ?" Bates replied that he had left all
that to Mr. Palmer, but that he was to have some money for
himself,the amount of which he did not state. The subsequent
inquiries made by Mr. Hornby, Mr. Deane, and the officers,
led them to the conclusion that Mr. William Palmer had in-
duced the medical man, by false representations as to his
brother's habits and general health, to fiill up the documents
forwarded by the assurance offices in such a way as to lead
them to suppose that the life was one which they could safely
accept. The result of the investigation made in Staffordshire
was, that the offices resolved to defend themselves to the
utmost, on the ground of fraud, against any legal proceedings
that might be taken by William Palmer or the representatives
of the late Waiter Palmer, to recover the amount of the policies.
We are informed that the Attorney-General and Mr. Scot-
land are retained for the prosecution of Palmer.
Mr. Huddlestone is mentioned as engaged to assist Serjeant
Wilkins in defending Palmer.
In addition to the persons who have been already referred
to as supposed victims of William Palmer, another has been
recently named. Information hal just been given to Captain.
Hatton, the chief of the Staffordshire constabulary, that a
gentleman connected with the turf, who was accompanied by
Palmer to the races at Leicester not a great while since, whose
horse won there, and who was said to have realised a large
sum of money by his betting on the race, became dangerously
ill immediately afterwards, and was attended professionally by
Palmer. _ Before his death the poor fellow's wife had arrived

at his bedside, summoned there by the dying man. He had
strength, sufficient to tell her that he had won a large sum
from Palmer, and in a day or so afterwards be expired. As
soon after death as was compatible with the melancholy posi-
tion which the widow occupied, she told Palmer what her
husband had said to her, and, as there was scarcely any money
found in the deceased's pockets, asked him for a portion of the
money which her deceased husband had won from him in betting.
Palmer, it is said, replied that she was greatly misled; that,
on the contrary, her husband was largely indebted to him.
In consequence of Palmer's refusal to pay her any money,
she had to borrow money to bury her husband and to enable
her to return to her home. Searching inquffies continue to
be made relative to the various proposals made by William
Palmer, the prisoner, to the insurance-offices, Inspector
Field being in the neighbourhood for the purpose of institu-
ting such inquiries. It appears that a solicitor, well known
in Birmingham and the Midland Counties, between whom and
Palmer and his family a peculiarly intimate connexion is said
to exist, applied at the Midland Counties Insurance-office to
be appointed an
-agent to that establishment. The directors

caused Mr. Andrews, secretary, to make his report rela-
tive to the eligibility of the appointment. Ascertaining
that the applicant had been for some years upon the rolls,
Mr. Andrews reported in favour of the appointment, and the
solicitor succeeded in the object of his application. Complying
with the custom in such cases, the solicitor nominated his
medical referee, and he nominated Palmer for that appoint-
ment. The directors appointed Palmer. In a few days after-
wards, the Midland Counties Assurance Company received a
proposal from their new agent, in which one George Bates was
mentioned as solicitous of becoming assured in that office to
the extent of £lO,OOO. George Bates was the name of the
person on whose behalf a proposal was made by Palmer to the
Solicitors' and General Life Office, for a policy of the value of ,1
£25,000. It was this George Bates whom Inspector Field,
when he was making inquiries respecting him, upon the sup-
position that he was a gentleman living upon his own estate,
found sweeping out Palmer's stable. When the Midland
Counties Office inquired into the circumstances and prospects
of " George Bates," they were told that he wished, by means
of his life policy, to raise the necessary capital required for
taking to a farm. The explanation was not satisfactory to the
directorate, and inquiries were continued until they were con-
vinced that fraud was intended, and peremptorily refused to
accept the proposal. So strong, indeed, was the feeling of the
directors on the subject, that they declined any longer to
.acknowledge Pabxter as one of their medical referees.

r: ..~,:

JANUARY 8, 1856.]

EXECUTION OF THE _ROCITDJIE

MURDERER.

JONATHAN HEYWOOD, who was convicted at the winter
assizes for South Lancashire, of the murder of Margaret Jones
Rochdalesatoturdoy. l
it will berememberednJulylast,
that was executeadton th
at Kirkdale
nightkdale of
Gaol on
the
21st of July, a man of shabby appearance, attended 13):;
woinan, whom he represented as his wife, went to the 0
moon Inn, Rochdale, where he engaged a bed for the night'
for which he paid Bd. to the landlady, Mrs. Asquith. At half
past ten o'clock they retired to their chamber, and soon after
the inmates of the house went to their respective apartment .
Nothing occurred during the night to arouse suspicion, or ,:b*
rect attention to the strange couple, although the adjoining
room was merely divided from the one they occupied by a thin
partition. Soon after six o'clock on the following morning he
rose and went out, explaining that he would take a scal
before breakfast, and that he should return in about three
quarters of an hour. Six hours elapsed without witnessing
the fulfilment of the promise, and the occupants of the inn
wondered much at the cause of his absence, and still more at
the non-appearance of the woman. At noon the servant Was
instructed to investigate the cause: She knocked at the door,
and, receiving no answer, went in, when she was horrified to
find the lifeless body of the woman on the bed. There was s
fearful gash on the throat, and a razor, spotted with blood,
lay in the hand, but in such a position as to lead to the belief
that it had been placed there after death—a belief which the
early flight of the man quickened into supposition that he had
committed the heinous crime of murder. For a time the
police failed to obtain evidence as to the identity of the body'
but it was ultimately ascertained to be that of
.Margaret
Jones, a widow formerly residing with two sons in Pin-street,
Choriton-upon-Medlock, in the borough of Manchester. Sus•
picion fell upon Heywood, who was apprehended, and the
evidence given at the trial left no doubt that the murder atss
committed by him.
On Friday the prisoner was informed that a memorial 101
been forwarded to Sir Geoege Grey by the local agents for the
abolition of capital punishments, praying for a reprieve, and
that it had been referred to Mr. Justice Wightman, who earl
no reason why the sentence should be relaxed, and that, con'
sequently, the execution would take place. He was not mow
in the slightest degree by the intelligence. On the same dell
Mr. Thos.Wright, of Manchester, "the prison philanthropist,
who had seen him once before since his trial, again visited WO'
In the course of the several hours devoted by Mr. Wright t)
the criminal on that day, Heywood, who appeared affected by,
the kindly and untiring exertions of Mr. Wright, softened
the obstinacy of his temper, and somewhat freely opened his'
mind. He confessed, with expressions of deep regret, that he
had spent a life of unusual wickedness, and appeared no less
deeply sensible of the injuries he had inflicted upon his late
wife and children, to whom, he said, he had been a bad wall'
He stated that his wife used to pray that. God would punish
him for his wickedness, and he believed the Almighty w°punishing him for it now. He wept, and seemed to be penitent
for the sins of his past life to which he made allusion, but he
never uttered a word in acknowledgment of his guilt of the
murder, for the commission of which he was so soon to forfeit
his life. He also begged that Mr. Wright would look after his,
younger son, a boy 12 years of age, and appeared comforted
upon receiving a promise that his request should be attended tt
The boy is at present living with the mother of the criminal,
at Rochdale, works in a factory, and attends a Wesleyal2
Sunday school. In allusion to his sentence, he said he thought
it would have been better if he had been sentenced to be,
transported for life. Mr. Wright remained in the condemned,
cell until eleven o'clock, soon after which time the criminal'
after partaking of his usual evening meal with great heart,*
ness, went to bed, and slept soundly until 6 o'clock on Satur-
day morning. Mr. Wright, who has visited 41 criminals
under sentence of death, states that he never, in his exPe
' rience met with any one in that awful situation who appeared
to feel more poignant grief than Heywood did for the wrong's
he had inflicted upon his family by his neglect of them for a
vicious course of life. Though the culprit had maintained a
stubborn reserve in regard to the murder of Margaret Jones,
he occasionally let fall a word which showed his guilt. 11e
acknowledged that the razor found in the murdered woman's
hand was his, and that he was with her on the night in
question, and he said that she had been a curse to him. At
about half-past ten o'clock in the morning the chaplain alld
Mr. Wright had another interview with the criminal in his
cell. The wretched man continued to express sorrow for the
sins'and follies of his past life, and engaged in prayer, but he
made no allusion to the crime for which he was about to suffer.
As early as ten o'clock a crowd began to assemble in the
brickfields facing the north-west angle of the Kirkdale prison,
from which an unimpeded view of the scaffold could be ob-
tained. A space was kept clear under the drop, the barricade&
round which were guarded by a detachment of police, who,
by this time, had taken up the positions assigned to there.
Notwithstanding the rain, the throng steadily increased, addi-
tional numbers pouring into the brickfields from every direc-
tion, until the hour appointed for the fatal ceremony, when
there could not have been less than 8000 or 10,000 people
present. Early in the morning several town missionaries ap-
plied for permission to see the condemned man,.but they were
informed by the Governor that he had no power to gram
their request, the express order of the Secretary of State 1319'
hibiting the access of any but officials to criminals under sell"
tence of death. The missionaries then dispersed themseb:6s
among the crowd, exhorting the young especially to lead vir-
tuous lives, and take solemn warning by the fate of the
wretched man about to expiate his enormous criminality by_
dreadful death. Their exertions were, at least, attended with
some beneficial result, they excited the attention of the nutici"
city of the dense throng, and thus succeeded in maintaining a
greater appearance of decorum than is generally witnessed on
these occasions.

Precisely' at twelve o'clock a murmur ran through the
crowd, " they're coming !" and immediately afterwards the
condemned man, though his arms were pinioned, sprang
lightly on the scaffold, jumping up the two steps leading frOl
the interior to the drop. He advanced without assistance, and
with a firm step, placing himself immediately under the centre
of the beam. His face, though sallow, and bearing evidence
of a dissipated. life, contained no indication of fear. On the
contrary, as he glanced rapidly over the dense multitude
which stretched out before him, an expression of subdued joY
overspread his features. He was immedialy followed by Cal-
craft, to whom, as he stepped on the scaffold, he observed/
" What a number of people!" In the background were ob-
served the chaplain, reading the solemn service appointed for
such occasions; the under-shteriff, Mr. W. Wood; the governor
of the prison, Captain Gibbs; and Mr. Wright. Calcraft com-
menced the " work of dreadful preparation." With coolness
he pulled the white cap over the criminal's face ; adjusted the
rope ; hooked the fatal cord into a link of the stout chain de-
pending from the beam overhead ; and, having given a grasp
to the murderer's hand, he withdrew to the scaffold. Another
moment the bolt was withdrawn, and a corpse was swinging
before the eyes of the mob.
Heywood has had sixteen children, three of whom are alive,
a daughter and two sons. • The daughter is married ; the
elder son is nineteen years of age, and is a soldier; the younger'
is the boy already mentioned, aged twelve years.