The Express.
London, England, 1860-08-23 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NORTHERN ClRCUlT.—lsivaarooL, Auo. 22.
CROWS COURT. —(Before Mr. Baron Martin.)
THU AWTINONT POISONINGB AT savnrooL.
The court opened at 9 o'clock this morning, when
Mr. Rigby Seymour rase to address the jury for the de- ,
fence. After expatiating with much fervour and eloquence
upon the immessurable value and sweetness of life, the •
terror, the mystery, the gloom which eurrounded the region ,
of death (whence none had ever returned), and the reopen-
sibility which rested upon the jury, he warned them not to
allow their feelings or judgment to be influenced by what
they had seen in the newspapers or heard in conversation,
but to regard the question judicially, and decide it solely ,
according to the evidence. The prime subject for then ,
consideration was the caves of death, and here he would
read a passage from the work of Dr. Taylor, who had been I
examined on the previous day:—" We have hitherto coon- ,
dered those effects which indicate in a disputed case
whether poison his or has not been the cause of death in a I
previously healthy state. We have supposed that the 1
question of poisoning would turn merely upon the affirms,
tau or negative, and be established or disproved by the evi- I
dence. We meet with cams where the presence of poison I
may be eetablished by the appearances after death,
and the actual discovery of the substance in
the vomited matters, and in the contents of the
stomach ; all these point,' may be freely conceded,
but the defence would rest upon the question whe-
ther or not the poison was actually the cause. To establish ,
the charge of murder against the prisoner it must be proved
that the poison was certainly and indisputably the cause of
death." The prosecution alleged that poison was adminis-
tered, and that it operated with an accelerated agency to
produce death. This was colt' another way of propming the
question—Was poison the cause of death ? Proceeding first
to examine the medical evidence the learned counsel strongly
commented upon the evidence of Dr. Cameron, pointing out
that it was not until the 25th May that his suspicions se to
poison were confirmed, and not until the Gth June that he
administered an antidote. How could this delay in the
application of an antidote be consistent with enong easph
cious ? When he saw Mrs. James be suspected • dimmed
mecum, but at that time lie had no suspicion of ulcers in
tje stomach. With regard to vomiting, the jury must
remember that it was consistent with natural disease, and
although fine distinctions might be drawn by medical and
by scientific men as to the particular effects of vomiting,
these were not distinctions of sufficient force to influence
their decision. Purging and prostration, the other symptoms
of the deceased, were both, the learned counsel contended,
consistent with her disease, and to show that the intermit-
ting exhibition of the symptom', upon which so much stress
hd been laid by Dr. Cameron, was (and here he read the
opinion of Dr. Watson, which he quoted last night) " one
of the curious features of malignant diseases of toe sto-
mach." Dr. Cameron had admitted that he bad never at-
tended a case of entimonbtA poisoning, and therefore the
information which he brought to bear upon the case was
the same information which was open to the bar and the
jury, the information of books. With regard to the ap-
pearances sifter death the post-mortem examination due
closed no redness of the small intestines, no building up of
false tissues, not en indication which could by the
medical men be exclusively attributed to poison.
Having called the jury's attention. to the " toleration" of
poison in the system where other diseases had lodgment,
and to its various and eccentric action under such circum-
stanms, the learned counsel called attention to the evidence
of Mr. Downs and Mr. Pemberton. Mr. Downs said that
when admitted to the hospital Mn. James had a natural
and moderate pulse ; and when the jury came to the im-
portant question of who mixed the cup found at the bedside
of the deceased and removed by the police, with the ad-
mire= of the prisoner that be had taken sago up at five
o'clock on the evening of the 10th of June, and the admis-
sion of Mrs. Cafferats that she had takenup sago previonaly,
it would be for them to my whether it was likely, if
there was antimony in the sago administered by
the primmer, the pulse would have been moderate
and natural when she was admitted to the hospital. Mr.
Pemberton, who had assisted at the post-mortem exami.
nation, admitted that there were no symptoms which might
be attributed exclusively to poison. Next, reviewing the
evidence of Dr. A. S. Taylor, to whom the learned counsel
paid • high compliment fur his learning and sagacity, Mr.
Seymour quoted Dr. Taylor's words, "that there was
nothing in the appearances of the moms, hc., but what
was referable to natural disease that all the rest was
matter of opinion," and asked whether in so doubtful •
ease the jury would leap to a conclusion from which Dr.
Taylor shrank, with all the caution and fear which age and
seteaded experience only increased when dealing with cameo(
this kind. Remarking upon the medical taste, which he had no
doubt had been conducted with accuracy and skill, Mr.
Seymour said he could not deny that there was antimony
in the body: what he lad to grapple with was how far the
jury could upon the evidence my that the administration of
antimony was brought home to the prisoner. This was the
prat question. Proceeding to argue that the links of evi-
dence were for the must part worthless and rotten, he
noticed first the witness Branuon, who had sworn that the
prisoner bad offered her 51. to procure antimony for him,
sad urged that her statement, were to be received with
the greatest suspicion, as on the day when the
alleged conversation took place she had been found
gadity of a criminal intimacy with a Mdpr in the house, bad
been dragged from beneath • bed by idrinalow, and dis.
a
It was extremely unlikely that the prisoner,
cetrelethe calculating villain the prosecution would have
the jury believe, would have employed a woman of this
kind, and under such circumstances, to obtain the means
for carrying out his deadly plans. There was nothing in the
evidence of Foley to point empicion to the prisoner ; Rees
doubted, or at least bad only an "impression, ' that he wee
the man who came to purchase antimony at Miller's shop ;
and Henry e'afferata win palpably not a disinterested wit-
ness, had a strong bias against the prisoner, and
bad, according to the evidence, made an attempt
to temper with Rees relative to the evidence
which the latter had adduced, and would adduce before the
court.. With regard to Maguire, and his statement as to the
prisoner putting white powder upon the bread and butter
which he prepared for the deceased, it was • monstrous
absurdity to suppose theta man who was deliberately carry-
ing out a system of slow poisoning would have thus cm-
pleyed antimony or any other poison when Maguire and
other persons (Signal! for instance) ware present, and were
witnesses of his operations. There was a vagueness, too,
about the dates given by Maguire, which, coupled with the
fact that he had been imported into the case after the ex-
aminations before the coroner and the niagistrates (although
he was present during both investigations, and heard what
paaaed), threw a haze of doubt and obscurity
over his statements. In commenting upon Mrs. Cafferata's
evidence, particularly upon that portion relative to the =to
of sago which contained antimony, the learned counsel said
it we. sot for him to accuse others, but he drew the close
attention of the jury to the fact that Higgins (whom time
was no reason to diebelieve) had sworn to the taking down
of one cup and the eating of the remains of the sego which
it contained ; and also printed out to them the possibility that
the pasition of the sups might have been changed by deceased
herself during the night ; so that the cup of sago which
Mrs. Chlorite brought up before she went to bed might
have Moo placed thus on the table where it was found in the
morning. Other points upon which the learned counsel dwelt
were the dissensions in the family ; the heartless conduct
of Martin Town end ; his expressiou, " I have waited long
for my opportunity, it has come at last, and lam salter
now ;" the phrase used by the witness Bowe, "Thank
God it has come to my turn—if the gentlemen only come
to me d could hang the Orange deg;" and he contended
that these sod other circumstances showed an animus and
combined action against the prisoner which should lead the
jury to view their evidence with suspicion. As to the
direct pine:mien of antimony traceable to the pri-
sneer the prosecution had uo case, while all the
conduct of the prisoner, both before end after
the death of Mrs. James, was couaistent with
honesty, devotion to the deceased, and perfect inno-
cence of the crime laid to his chugs. Winslow did not