The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-07-19 00:00:00

hysteria. I have heard too little evidence to form an
opinion on one side or the other.

- Mr. Thomas Teale, surgeon, said : I have beard the
evidence, and I attribute the symptoms to strychnia. The
symptoms of Mrs. Dove, as described, are perfectly in
accordance with death from an overdose of strychnia.
Cross-examined : had heard that she had hysteria before ;
from her symptoms to Friday, I cannot say that I should
have expected strychnia, knowing the effects to ba precisely
analogous. I should have expected it to be strychnia,
although the recovered and was improved in health the next
day. The effect of strycht

to weaken the body. It is
vein°. exhaustion. I have attended
deny the possibility that the
symptoms might have of caused by hysteria.
By a Juryman : Can a man who has not got hims?lf into
a state of delirium tremens be in such a condition as to have
the idea of being poisoned by spirits ?
Witness : If constantly drunk he might have those delu-
sions, when drunk, or when part drunk.
Mr. William Hey : lam a surgeon, of Leeds. I have
heard the symptoms, and attribute the death to poisoning
by strychnia. I know of no natural disease that would pro-
duce those fincts.
Cross-examined : Taking the evidence of appetite, I am
not p epared to say that the symptoms are not those of
hysteria. Ido not deny the possibility, but it is a peculiar
case where hysteria assumes all the forms of, and assimilates
strychnia.

to the e

Mr. Richard Hey, sheriff of York, confirmed the evidence
of the last witnets.

Cross-examined : I have been a long time in practice in
York. LQoking at the symptoms during the week, I attri-
bute death to strychnia. I have never seen a case of death
by strychnia. I hav

en many c

;teria wb ere

he accel

,tryciani

e of hysteria do believe them-

elves to be i

he same kind of pain as i

duced b

d, moreover,

they. are not

I never saw so
hysteria as they are described to be in at his case. intenso in
It is a
Let that in strychnia a person is afraid to be touched. In
aegravated cases this is so, but in slight cases they might
ask to be rubbed.
Re-examined : I have never known a case of hysteria
where the walking across the room gave pain to the patient.
Looking at all the symptoms in conjunction, I do not
know of any case of hysteria like this, and I not believe this
is a case of hysteria.

This closes the case for the prosecution, and after some
conversation relative to the non-calling of a witness whose
name appeared on the 'lack of the indictment preferred
before the grand jury, in the course of which Mr. Bliss
suggested that the prosecution should be compelled to call
that witness.

The Learned Judge said he had no power or desire to
grant the application.

- The court adjourned at ten minutes past six o'clock
until to-morrow (Friday) morning.
The necessary directions were given for the airing of the
jury. During the day the court was densely crowded in
every part.

THIRD DAY.-FRIDAY

THE DEFENCE.

(pnom OUR OWN REPORTER.)
Mr. Baron BRAM WELL took his seat at nine o'clock,
long before which hour, the court was again much
crowded. The prisoner having been placed at the bar,
Mr. Bliss rose to address the jury on behalf of the
prisoner. The learned gentleman remarked that the case
for the prosecution had occupied two long days, and that
during that time, all the skill, learning. and vigilance of
the crown had been directed against the prisoner with
the view of placing him beyond the pale of mercy, and
almost of hope. He was sure, however, that the jury
would not allow their minds to be influenced by the
evidence brought against the prisoner, except so far as it
satisfied their minds of his guilt. The case of the prisoner
had been exaggerated and misrepresented, and there was
not a home in England, in which his crime was not dis-
cussed, and no doubt believed. Moreover, there was a
recent unfortunate case, which had created a panic in the
public mind, and had created an impression that society
was not safe, and that domestic ties were only facilities
for private and atrocious murders. The public, and the
prosecution in this case, had assumed that a murder was
committed, and the very walls of the building, in which
they were then assembled, were actually covered with
placards, inscribed with the words, "trial of Dove, the
Leeds poisoner' It seemed, too, that the terrible inflic-
tion of unsoundness of mind was to be shut out as an
element of defence in this case, and that it was to be held
as proven matter that the prisoner had never suffered
from that greatest of all human calamities—madness. He
(the learned counsel) was convinced, that if the jury
would view the facts of this extraordinary ...e, as if they
had hoard of ti, w [more, they could not arriv= at
the conclusion that the prisoner was guilty of a foul and
deliberate murder. Let them, for a moment look, at the
constitution of the prisoner's household. There was an
invalid wife, a drunken husband, and a young and
thoughtless female servant. The man, no doubt, procured
poison to kill cats and mice, and consequently the prose-
cution assumes murder, although there was no proof of
any murder having been committed at all. Neither was
there any proof that the prisoner had even administered
poison—there were no admissions by the
prisoner who, on
the contrary, had always asserted his innocence, and
there was no attempt to escape. The case was one of
circumstantial evidence a'one, and to take life upon such
evidence alone, was an awful responsibility. The conduct
of the prisoner was wholly irreconeileab'e with guilty
complicity. The prisoner might, if he liked, have des-
troyed his wife's life by other and eecret means, but it
was con'ended that with the malignity of a fiend, he
dosed her for a whole week—told his friends and neigh-
," 'about to die—

is in a

man to

uouy with strychnia, kissed the cold
lips of his victim, and smothered all enquiry into the
circumstances of her death. It was no doubt a suspicious
circumstance, that the prisoner's wife had died from the
effects of the same description of poison, which had been
traced to the possession of the prisoner, but surely, if he
had intended to kill his wife with that poison, he would
not have proclaimed his possession of it to his wife, his
servants, and other persons with whom he associated.
But it was said that the prisoner before this, had asked
the witness Harrison, to get him strychnia, and that the
idea had been suggested by the revelations in Palm-r's
case, which had startled and horrified the world. Harri-
son was not, however, asked in private for the poison.
On the contrary, after Harrison had read aloud in the
publichouse the report of the inquest at- Rugeley, the
prisoner at once turned round and enquired of Harrison
whether "he could get or make him any strychnia." The
inquiry in Palmer's case was not of such an encouraging
character as to induce a sane man to follow in his wake;
on the contrary the crime of that miscreant had horrified
society, and the very fact of a sane man asking for
strychnia at such a time would have been at once sufficient
to evoke curiosity as to its use. The prisoner, instead of
getting strychnia in some quarter where his person would
not have been known, goes to the very medical man who
was in daily attendance upon his wife, and openly asks
for strychnia to kill cats and mice. He was told by the
assistants in Mr. Morley's surgery that if he us .d strych-
nia he must be very cautious, as it was a deadly poison,
and might be mistaken for one of his wife's powders. The
prisoner said there was no fear of that as his wife took no
powders, and that he always gave her her medicine him-
self. It was also in evidence that the prisoner had been
assured by the assistants in the surgery that strychnia
could be detected in organic matter, and that Mr. Morley
himself had discovered it. The prisoner also knew that
Mr. Morley was a practitioner who always made post
mortem examinations, and that if he refused him liberty
to make it in this case the refusal would be pregnant with
suspicions of his guilt. Moreover, if the prisoner had
wished to destroy his wife in private and escape detection,
he would no doubt, if sane, have given her one dose at
once in the night which would have killed her, when no
witnesses were present. But the course adopted by the
prisoner was to summon the medical man and other per-
sons to witness the tortures of his wife, and to frustrate
the attempts which he is making to destry her. It was
contended by the prosecution that the dose of poison
which killed the deceased was administered on the
Saturday evening with the medicine given to her by
the prisoner. The remainder of the medicine in the
bottle from which the dose was taken had since been
analysed, and no poison had been found in it. It
was therefore clear that, if the prisoner poisoned his
wife, he must have put the poison into her medicine while
Mrs. Witham and Mrs. Wood were present, and the wife
watching all that was passing. The most superficial
glance at the evidence would show that it was improbable
—almost impossible. The poison was kept in the razor
case, and the prisoner could not have opened the case,
taken out the paper, and put in the strychnia, without
observation. Moreover, the wife, according to the evi-
dence, had suspected that she might be poisoned, and she
naturally would watch the movements of the prisoner with
the most intense and suspicious vigilance. It was said
that washing out the glass in which the wife had taken
the medicine was a proof of guilt, but it must he remem-
bered that the custom had been to wash out the
glass, and that the medicine was so offensive in smell
and taste, that it was not pleasant to keep it in the
room of an invald. The prisoner had not attempted
to remove the water in which he had washed the
glass, and which was left in the basin for the
inspection of the medical man or any other person who
might have examined it. Again, it was said that the
anxiety of the poisoner to prevent a post mortem exami-
nation was conclusive proof of the guilt ; but was it con-
sistent with common sense that a man who was poisoning
his wife by slow degrees, should be running to the medical
attendant, while the wife was yet alive, and sax-, " mind
there must be no post mortem examination." The thing
was absolutely absurd, and he was sure it would have no
weight with the jury. A circumstance tending strongly
arthew the state of the prisoner's mind was his visit to
tir.ion (the Wizard), whom he seemed to consult upon
is important affairs of his life. It was proved that
alnfte_r hbyesad been informed by Mr. Morley's assistant,
referen..-e to the Materi a Medi ea, that strych-
nia could be detected in the body of a deceased per-
son, that he
Brent to Harrison and asked him
whether a grain, grain and a half, of strychnia could be
discovered. This showed that the prisoner was weak-
minded enough to believe that Harrison had supernatural
powers, a.nd could control the destiny of mortals. His
conversation with the witness Rhodes, whom ne met for the
first time in his life in a public-house, was wholly incon-