The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-08-23 00:00:00

CROWN COURT.

BEFORE MR. JUSTICE WILLES.
precisely at nine oo'cl
Its Lordshi took his seat on the bench this morning,
ock.
l'e -.
2 nOLTON POISONING CASE.—A WIFE AD,..M1,....N15_TE.R...:
a a QUIETNESS" TO HER HUSBAND.—Betsey Al ANIRLL
. fee, ,
the ;`,',,e of about thirty years of age, stood charged with.
tie Wilful murder of her husband, Daniel M'Mullen, by
The
eamisterine to him repeated doses of antimony._ Priloner, sebbo was dressed in the deepest mourning,
_and
,aPPeared an exceedingly respectable person,,, on the Indic -
'eat being read over to her, pleaded not guilty" in a
lea,
t?sQ.' and firm voice. During the progress of the trial she
pa- accommodated with a seat in the dock, but during the
nor
rtrdajeated enquiry never evinced. the slightest uneasiness,.
she
Was she see appear to consider the awful position in which
as placed. Mr. Overend, e'llduct e b Q C., and Mr.. Sowleara
def e I e case for the prosecution, and the prisoner was
The b.y Mr. Sergeant Wilkins and Mr. Duggan.
the leading counsel of the prosecution,
with the
in opening
Wilfulease, said that the prisoner stood charged
the
2,, flaunter of her own husband, on Wednesday,
43 °f July last. The deceased was an operativefE cotton
olton-le-
eCener) and also a shopkeeper, in the town o
tttd rs. The prisoner had been married to him severaldn yaellarosf,
vil the issue of the marriage was four children, all
might be
ealjendi Were dead. The deceased was not what I
very intern-
pe,at an entirely temperate man, but
eleepet elie- He had sometimes drunkenno outbreaks, but
tea ou the occasion of these. outbreaks, he was a
Was to man. The last occasion on which he had one
Nee Saturday, the 7th of June, a d that continued
the the 11th of June. From that day u to Saturday,
oee;,,''t 4ne, he was perfectly well. At the time that the
ien-":rence took place, into which they were now going to
heltahlrehe Prisoner, the deceased, and a servant, resided
laa holse 1.1 had already told the jury that from the
-e to tb ' e deceased was perfectly well..
04 the e 21st of June the
der ant 1"t named day he beganto . complain of a consi-
-0 e Pain, and a burning about the pit of the stomach.
to complain
°Fa this
heollo!win.g day, Sunday, he continued
the humming pain at . his stomach, and on
that he ruing of that day the p
le e Was unable to sit up, ain was so intense
and remained in bed.
the eon Was
of the deceased thus complaining,
eat° Prisoner sent for a medical man ohf
him
mthaes
thoeT,_borrien, who saw the deceased, and treated .
ass's was suffering from.
.indigestion. On the following
still
gL-ver• Dorrien again visited the deceased, who was
suffering from the same symptoms and gradually
the -'l,ng worse and worse. The symptoms continued. during
ave,woole of
day,
made_ t day, and also on the following
'4lltlcl a that day the maid servant
See ay, the 24th. On
bt. ilocroritieuln,unication to Mr. Mactaggart, the assistant of
etin.., the surgeon,. by reason of which another
etsi in ee, in addition to Mr. Dorrien, was called in,
themaid erisequence of the information communicated by
tor teservant, it was arranged that neither the servannt
food 'e Prisoner should either prepare or adminisotemr any
%ti4the deceased; and he should prove that f
Berea„,"Y uP to the day of the decease.d s deat neither the
feed '' nor the
u. The prisoner could have given the deceased any
for a deceased continued to suffer from these symptoms
the 20Week onger, and on the morning of Wednesday,
'lea% ie°f OY, his death ultimately took place. Before his
been ee'"are Were all the symptoms of antimony having
at Caliaistered, including the continued burning iseella-iitoetiach, there was also constant rambling, general
tzh_au_.B,etiioliny, and at length the deceased sunk from sheer
armee, After the death of the deceased a poet mortem
the duo the of the body was made, when it was found that
flaiee°.;elia, the small intestines, and the rectum were very
lir, iv...._ Subsequently the contents were
.ha.nded over to
The Dau'ell, a skilful analytical chemist, residing at
.Bolton.
elartile'veer, the spleen, and the intestines, were minutely
Pelen"„e4 bY Mr. Watson and in all of them he found the
Words eielof antimony. Watson,
to use Mr. Watson s
town
aareja. e found these parts saturated with antimony, buhond
adse le the stomach no antimony was found. Ile a
lireji stated that from Saturday the 28th of June, to
Posaii4l4Y, the day of his death, there was no
.the deceasedl of the prisoner or the servant giving
'Qum
~ any food, and that the antimony
ie his p the retest; es must have been given to the deceased_
Iteee3;lo,od before that time. All the post mortem appearf oteitn "Wed that the deceased had died from the effects. o
bia 1 (41Y, and he (the learned counsel) did not think that
attritielareed friend would deny that his death was to be
he aat9ted to that cause. If, then, the jury should
-the
neat
that antimony had caused the deceased's death,
how
.:t question they would have to determine was,
pave Ftast it administered, and who was the person
tthato
trosecer ° him- It was suggested, on the. part of . the
0110 ...lon, that the prisoner at the bar administered it to
ea ti,""'n, 4 the evidence which would be brought before them
out the t`l'illt would he euppeeted by a variety of statements;
stateeis %ant part of the case would depend upon the
the e,„elit ef the young woman, the servant girl, who made
Wornavi'llolinication to the medical man. This young
inoetbe had been in the service of the deceased about nine
chsra shy
Was a girl of a totally irreproachable
jell, 941', and could have no motive for misdirecting the
decettillaatl way. This girl would tell them that the
three 84.!- sonaetimes got drunk, and that he had been drunk
time
unit es
since she went to reside in the house, the last
1%21_ Which he was drunk being from the 7tb to the 11th
eat tit,te. The girl would speak to these three occcsions,
te_tu.eree 1
ee e•ii?illY, as having occurred since she had lived with
t)eeeaia She would also tell them that after the last
Vell
and viz., the 11th of June, the deceased was perfectly
It*hell attended to his business' up to the 21st of June,
tvehtieldfirtstt complained of the burnings. at his stomach.
'1;111,!. the PPear that late in the evening of the 7th of
i'
'lle b deceased, the prisoner, and the servant, were
te\e eineB-01), when the deceased, seeing a man outside
Iltislne;r'and hanging about the shop, said to the
Doe, 0,, , "what is that man about, is he come after
eat _ . after her (the servant) ?" The girl said, "He is
Threoraei to look after me," The deceased then went t ) the
hoe,eeas public house, and afterwards to another public-
beee'etiaKtiewm by the name of the Archduke. After he had
to the :re for some time the prisoner and the servant went
relled b4rehdulee, when tha prisoner and the deceased quer-
the ria:erY much until three o'clock in the morning. During
,hesete,:ilei the prisoner fell and hurt her face, either in
4he cons of being intoxicated or from some other cause.
to attee_esequence of this was, that the prisoner was unable
kornia`Kl to the shop for some days. The deceased that
Aren,,,,,R went borne before the prisoner, and when the
Zsittis'er and the servant came .home the deceased was
ee Wasg on the door step. When the prisoner came home.
he Wa la
and the maid servant, for reasons which
het ~ cid afterwards explain, thought it right to examine
itpall';'eckets, cind on making this examination she found
Ilia hr. in the prisoner's pocket containing a white powder.
Peeeeti"Per and its contents she took out of the prisoner's.
t° 4, V gave it to Mr. Mactaggart, who afterwards gave it
e°ll%iat , atson- This gentleman analysed it, and found it to
very
~a'olost entirely of antimony. Now, it would be a
rrl, if
nal),io ous circumstance as regarded the servant
‘akee- it were not explained, that she should have
:hthe
.. a parcel out of her mistresses pocket.
.But
e it', would tell them that, on several occasions,
'c'od ,a,`,4 Seen the prisoner put a powder into the
of "` the deceased, and that the deceased had
aeree'luently taken it. On one occasion she"saw him drink
alder into which the prisoner had previously put some
ltral a rh'oand after he had taken it he complained of sickness
e.lleeasi r,"rnefq" Pain at the pit of his stomach. On another
4`lotti her°- sue aavr the prisoner take some of the powder
~ _ po,a__,,
'l'Let and put it on alate, on which there was
110'4 °f
feat and gravy, Thadecaased afterwards partook of
homed
the meat and gravy, and, in a few minutes,. cora();
hof the burning pain in his stomach. .figa.in, the se °f hue, when the deceased was lying ill in bed,
pocketrVant Ram the prisoner take the powder out of her
t and put soof it into the medicine, and then give
ofe , me
the 2`,,,°e deceased. Again, on the following day, Friday,
4girl ' th---the Friday before he died—the prisoner sent the
r ou for some tripe, and when she returned she found
The laistress engaged in the business of the shop.
liante„Riri went through the house, and into the
0014, and there she found a glass containing a
healve_re This was given to Mr. Watson, and, on being
kltilBoen%. Was
found to consist almost entirely of
,arternoon, the prisons same day, about four o'clock in the
lo take it u )stair er made some tea, and told the servant
bat l_
eshlocilt.he deceased. He drank a part of it,
iii_,
not
sediment. which re at the bottom of the cup he
4 ot drink. This
~114 found to contain almost Was preserved and analysed
,Z‘l' the jury should believe alletiellusively antimony.
.Now,
a.t_
ii dayaft. after day the prisoner
he. was afraid giving the deceased
1417 of annleoney,:iteasbefyac.ta, and be satisfied
(I
occasion to awllhwould find it would
char'neir duty to convict her of the crime of which she etood
- in se uence of these
;the
hpefacts :
it wsrheoiffee
rhrt
heh
dee
shed ged• It was con
related, that on the main
istid-servant went and examined the
,Her, and gave the contents to.n_ r. Maetaggart. Now,
v. I‘ed them to believe the evidence °els b
4 tl4B gin), who
evidence of
ivitn e confirmed by the .
"versa other
person
de, eases, as to the terms upon which the prisoner and the
*seemed lived, and amongst ethers a
that VerY material witness. This witnessd
hoe e heard prisoner say that she won ered how she could
*is: Married the deceased, and that she had consulted a aveatrin for the purpose of learning how soon bar husband
coent,iidie. Referring to the question of motive the learued
er the i was an import an ac
d aic
said
tf t f tin support of the ca.se
of
s.. Prosecution, that the deceased had effecte This
Vire, I,rance for ,ElOO, on the joint lives of himself and
st hisT that on this policy she would be entitled to £lOO.
'theethat ee, ea, th• Mr. Dorrien, the surgeon, would tell them
'thee the very occasion of which the servant girl spoke,
antimony was first administered in the food, the
oft h: V was in the habit of coming to him and complainine
is the 'nl
-fling pain at his stomach. All the symptoms, up
a i 4ti
th , Qeni, eof his death, were those of antimony. The
''e faei;(e'n appearances were those of antimony, and all
it.Peeted,went strongly in support of the prisoner having
tjl% lea"Y administered it to the deceased. Probably
fieeteacednieddiA friend would not contest the point that the
beer that , e die from the effects of antimony nor the
sae 4, the •
'-
.4 already.
er tin, prisoner administered it, because the pre-
admitted when before the coroner