The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1859-12-06 00:00:00

THE POISONINGS BY MISTAKE.

CANTERBURY, Saturday.

Since the close of the magisterial investigation into
this unfortunate occurrence which took place on Friday
week many fresh facts have come to light, and we regret
to say that it has assumed a magnitude which seems
likely to rival, if not exceed, the recent case of whole-
sale poisoning by daft. This morning the coroner for
East Kent, Mr. T. T. Delasaux, was waited upon by the
widow of a man named James Copping, who stated that
having beard of the symptons of the deceased, Cole, ahe
feared her husband bad met his death by the same cause.
He was taken ill, she said, rather more than a week ago,
and a black draught was sent for from Mr. Reeve's shop.
A bottle, labelled "the aperient draught," and purport-
ing to be the mixture usually known as the "black
draught," was obtained and adt aa iaa istered to the deceased,
an ohl man. Very soon after taking it lie was siesed in
precisely the same way as Cole; he became insensible,
breathed very hard, and turned black in the face. A
medical man was sent for, who arrived in the course of
an hour or two, but the poor old man had died without
recovering his consciousness for a moment. He was
buried Sunday, and nothing more would have been heard
of his case but for the publicity given to the death of
Cole. The Coroner said that another witness must come
and speak to the same facts before lie could feel justified
in ordering the exhumation of the body. A neighbour
of the deceased accordingly came and made a statement
to the effect of that given above. He also said that he
bad known the deceased for some years, and that he was
not subject to fits. Under these circumstances the Coro-
ner considered that lie had no alternative but to order
, the exhumation of the body of the:deceased.

MONDAY.
The Coroner has had a jury summoned, and the inquest
took place tins afternoon.
Elisabeth Coppins, widow of the deceased, deposed,
that for the past two months her husband had been un-
well, and on Tuesday, the 15th inst., at 1 o'clock, he
died. In the evening previous to his death witness pur-
chased • black draught and a blue pill at the shop of Mr.
Reeve. On her return home she administered the blue
pill to her husband, and at about 7 o'clock the following
morning. Tuesday, she gave him the draught, in a small
glass, which he drank. About an hour after taking the
draught the deceased was unable to walk, and with as-
sistance witness got him into bed. Shortly after the de-
ceased became very pale, and afterwards drowsy, in
which state he remained for about three hours, when he
died. Witness took a bottle to Mr. Reeve's shop for the
draught, and the shopman poured it out of a phial into
the one witness took. The bottle the shopman poured
the draught from was similar to the one produced by In-
spector Hpratt.
Nathaniel Waite, gateman on the South-Eastern Rail-
way, said, lie saw the deceased walking in the street on
the day previous to his death. On the following morn-
ing the last witness called him into her holm, and he
proceeded upstairs, where he saw the deceased, appa-
rently in • fit. On asking the deceased how he was he
made no reply.
Inspector Sprott, of the Canterbury police force, pro-
ved that he received the bottle produced from Mrs. Co
pins, and that he was present at the exhumation of the
body of the deceased, which took place early that morn-
ing.
Robert Teasell, surgeon, deposed that he had that day
made a pose ',torten examination of the body of the de-
ceased. Externally there was no decomposition or ema-
ciation, and to all appearances the body was healthy. On
removing the cranium witness observed that the vessels
of the brain were considerably congested, and about an
ounce and a half of serum effused into the ventricles.
The substance of the brain was soft and friable. The
heart presented a fatty appearance and was rather en-
larged, and the walls of the left vantricle were preter-
naturally thickened. The valves of the heart were
healthy, with the exception of the aortic valves, upon
which there was a considerable o,olfie deposit, and also
in the course of the aorta. There were adhesions on
each side of the lunge, attaching them to the pleura.
the lungs themsetres were congested, and the tubes
more or leas filled with mucus. The liver was also con-
gested, but otherwise healthy. The stomach contained
about two ounces of thick brown fluid. The witness
could sot give an opinion as to the cause of death, not
having yet examined the stomach and its contents, but
with a few hours' further examination he might be able
to express an opinion on that point. He however added
that death might have been caused from apimplexy,
epilepsy, or poison, but that he did not believe there was
sufficient disease to cause immediate death.
. . . .

The adjourned inured into the death of Cormins was
resumed on Tuesday evening, at 8 o'clock. In the inter-
val an analytical examination of the contents of the
stomach had been made by Mr. Linford, chemist.
The evidence taken on the former occasion having been
read over.
_ _ _ . . .

Mr. J. S. Lanford was the first witness of importance
called. He said that he had that day received from Mr.
Teasel' a jar containing the stomach and the small intes-
tines of the deceased man Coppins. He could state pm,i-
tively that the stomach of the deceased had contained
opium, but he could not say whether it contained enough
to cause death, because he had only examined a small
portion of it. He had not found morphia in tie fluid,
but that was not to be expected.
Mr. Tassel' was then re-examined as to his opinion
concerning the cause of death, after what Mr. Lanford
had stated in his evidence. He said that the death of
the deceased had been immediately caused by the serous
fluid in the brain, and the cause of that serous fluid was
either serous appoplexy or a dose of opium.
Ile jury, after the coroner had summed up, returned
a verdict of" Natural death."
The greatest excitement has been created in Canter-
bury by this dreadful occurrence, especially as there is
hut too much reason to fear that we have not yet got to
the end of it. It is stated on good authority that a wo-
man is now lying dead at Harbledown, near this city,
whose death cannot be accounted for upon natural causes.
and we understand, on the highest authority, that more
bodies will havc to be exhumed. The public have been
startled to find that, but for a circumstance almost acci-
dental, the unfortunate persons whose death is now the
subject of so much inquiry might have gone to their
graves and no suspicion been excited that their death
was other than a natural one, for it is certain that, had
not the accused, by his conduct and voluntary state-
ments, set the inquiry afoot, it never would have taken
place. In many cases where the poisonous black draughts
were swallowed, they produced great pain and vomiting
which luted many hours, but, the poison having
been thus thrown off the stomach, death did not
follow.