The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-01-16 00:00:00

2.111,232ic.2.,...11.1111

THE RUGELEY POISONING

CASES.

ADJOURNED INQUEST ON THE BODY OF MR

WALTER PALMER,

(PROM OUR OWN RtPORTER.)

R TUESDAY .
The inquiry into the cause of theUGELEY,
death of Mr.NiGHT
Walter
Palmer, of Rugeley, who is alleged to have been poisoned
At Stafford, in August last, by his brother, William
Palmer, surgeon, was resumed this morning before Mr.
William Webb Ward, the district county coroner. The
.'court was again crowded.
Mr. Robert Hughes was the first witness examined. Ile
'said : lam a surgeon, residing at Stafford; on the 2nd
of December, 1854, I made an examination of Mr. Walter
Palmer, in conseq.ience of receiving a notice from the
Solicitors and General Life Assurance Society, that his
brother, William Palnvr, wished to effect an insurance on
his life. Air. Walter Palmer called at my house for the
Purpose of examination, in company with his brother,
William Palmer ; I made an examination of Walter
Palmer, and certified to the office that his -
-was good; I did not discover that he was suffering from
any disease at all, and the only remark I made was, that
'one of his pulse was feeble ; In my private report I stated
to the company that from the habits of the persons with
whom he associated, and not from personal examination:
the prospects of longevity were not so good as in the case
of a healthy person, of temperate habits ; I made this
communication in consequence of information I privately
wetelved ; I had also heard that he had had one fit of
delirium tremens, which he himself afterwards confirmed
to me ; at that time, I was not on intimate terms with
the deceased; I heard Dr. Taylor's evidence yesterday ;
y opinion, before hearing Dr. Taylor's evidence, en-
tirely agreed with it; to intoxicate means to poison; my
'opinion, before hearing Dr. Taylor's evidence, was, that
the deceased had been poisoned by gin.
By Mr. Smith: In my opinion the continued use of gin
as spoken to yesterday would destroy life ; I think " poi-
soning by gin" a proper term, and I adhere to it; I have
never seen a person poisoned by prussic acid or morphia;
I cannot say whether prussic acid would cause sterto-
rouse breathing or not; 1 have heard no evidence to
change the opinion I have formed that the deceased died
from excessive drinking; it depends upon a person's con-
stitution as to how much liquor will cause poison by
kioxication ; one person might live to an old age though
drinking a deal, whilst another person would be poisoned
at once by the same quantity.
'l Mr. Smith : Why, this is no evidence, because it
'amounts to nothing else than a vague opinion. I knew
two men, one of whom was a teetotaller, and the other
:never went to bed sober, and yet they both lived to the
•age of 92.

teral health

By the Coroner : Apoplexy sometimes follows an:attack
uf delirium tremens.
Dr. Monckton, physician, of Rugeley, examined :"On
the 20th of December, I made a post mortem examination
of the body of the deceased ; the case was that of a man
of middle statue, and broad build, with very considerable
corpulence; decomposition had commenced, and proceeded
to some extent, especially about the head and neck, and
the whale of the posterior ; that is the most dependent
position of the body ; the exterior presented no
Marks of the
violence ; there was no dropsical
uenditioll of the surface, except that about the head and
face, 'which was clearly the usual effect of decorntosition ;
tae body.was well nourished, much fat being found where
h is usually deposited; the blood had almost entirely
soaked out of the body ; the brain was so disorganised by
'decomposition that I could form no opinion of its state at
the time of death ; the lungs at one or two points were
:adherent to the walls of the chest ; this is by no means an
'unusual appearance, although certainly a diseased one,
but is in fact, a very common condition ; the lungs were
'somewhat decomposed, but not to such an extent as to
prevent my discovering evidence of disease of an organic
nature, that had existed during life. The liver was some-
what larger and harder than usual, but showed no other
external evidence of disease ; the kilneys were rather
softer than ordinary, but I am not prepared to say whether
this was the result of a fortuitous accident or of disease
during life; the external appearance of both was healthy,
and on taking a section of one it did not present an un-
healthy. appearance. The other was unexamined by
ane, because saved with the other viscera in one of the
jars sent to Professor Taylor ; the whole length of the
alimentary canal, including the mouth, throat, palate,
'and intestines, were carefully examined, with the
exception of those portions enclosed in the jars, and,
throughout the whole extent, the tube exhibited no
evidence of disease ; the only thing remarkable was the
unusually empty state of the stomach and bowels—there
being but a very small quantity of food or excrement
present, and that only in the ccecum; near the entrance
to the windpipe, far back in the throat, a rather unusual
appearance presented itself, and as such must be men-
tioned : it was a light, oval, prominent substance, about
the size of a tulip ; I believe it was an enlarged gland, and
wholly unconnected with the death of the deceased; so
far, therefore, as the condition of the body allowed me to
form an opinion, I found no organic disease, no change of
structure, sufficient to account for death ; the duodenum,
the stomach and intestine-a, one kidney, and a portion
of the larynx and pilarynx, the liver, spleen, heart, and
half of the lune. 6, were enclosed in three glazed earthen-
ware jara, duly labelled:and secured, and delivered by me
into tLie hands of Inspector Ellis Crisp, on Saturday
4',,ening, Dec. the 22nd.
By the Coroner: I have heard the other evidence, and
from that and the post mortem examination, in the absence
oI
f any other cause occurring within a short time of death,
can form no other opinion than that the deceased died
from a fit of apoplexy; the habits of the deceased, as
given in evidence, would be quite sufficient in m o
to account for such apoplexy taking place. y pinion,
Mr. Deane : Is it incompatible with the symptoms
described that death took place from prussic acid ?
'Witness :
By Mr. Smith : The heart was flaccid and collapsed,
like an old bladder ; the kidneys were soft, but I did not
find them diseased ; should say that the kidneys would be
the last organ from which the blood would soak; I could
not speak to there being any congestion other than that
which I discovered from post mortem causes; the liver I
found harder and larger than natural, but I did not con-
sider it in a generally diseased state, although to some
extent diseased.
By the Coroner : There is a 'smell from prussic acid,
but it would not be detected except immediately pre-
ceding or after death, because it is exceedingly volatile;
if mixed with brandy, the smell would be entirely over-
powered ; the brandy, alone would smell, and not the
prussic acid.
trom pr
By Mr. Smith : I have never seen a person suffering
prussic acid, but I have been at the post mortem
examination of a man who died from prussic acid.
A Juror : In three months after death would you be
able to discover traces of prussic acid, on a post mortem
examination ?
Witness : Oh, no. In the case I am speaking of, the
post mortem was made within an hour after death, and
there were no traces.
I The Coroner : Did you ever see a post mortem examine.
tion of a person who had died from drinking gin or other
ardent spirits ?
Witness : Why, not particularly, but of course I mus t
have been present when post mortem examinations have
been made of persons who have died from the effects of
drinking ardent spirits.
Ellis Crisp, Inspector of police, to receivin
three jars containing the contents deposed of the body of theg
deceased from Dr. Monekton, on the 22nd December, and
delivering them to Dr. Taylor on th
Palmer, No.e 24th, at the
laboratory at
1,2, 3." Guy's Hospital; they were labelledchemical "Walter
Mr. Deane here proposed to call the gentlemen repre-
senting the insurance companies, but
The Coroner observed he thought it irregular in the
present stage of the proceedings. In ordinary cases (and
he did not see why the present case should prove an ex-
ception) his rule was to take first evidence as to the cause
of death. Now several medical gentlemen had been called,
and expressed a decided opinion as to the cause of death,
and before any other class of evidence was produced he
thought that if there was any further evidence as to the
cause of death which might alter the opinions formed by
the jury on the medical evidence, which they had already
beard, it ought now to he brought forward.
Mr. Cornelius, Waddell, of Stafford, examined. He
said: I attended Mr. Walter Palmer professionally as a
surgeon, in November, 1854; I examined him in conse-
quence of his brother William speaking to me some days
before, and saying his brother was poorly. I called upon
Walter, and found him suffering from a slight attack of
delirium tremens ; he told me it was the result of consi-
derable trouble and excessive' drinking ; he considered
trouble had quite as much to do with his attack as drink I never knew trouble cause delirium tremens without the
drink ; he had not had an attack before that period : I
had heard that he was a general free liver, but I did not
know he was a drunkard ; I attended him more or less
for six weeks. and in addition for disease of the digestive
organs ; the pulse was scarcely ever disturbed, and the
symptoms of delirium tremens subsided in three days; at
the end of the six weeks I left him in good health ; he had
a great inclination to be intemperate, but the person in
the house restrained him within the bounds of moderation ;
Thomas Walkerdine lived with him at that time; I have
not since then attended
ce him professionally ; r; have
freqeently seen him sin. The certificates produced—h