The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-14 00:00:00

MORE POISONING WITH ARSENIC.

COMMITTAL O" A WOMAN FOR THE MUR-
DER OF HER SON.

CHIPPING BARNET, Arc. 12.—A very mysterious case
of poisoning with arsenic occupied the magistrates and
coroner of this district nearly the whole of to-day in in-
vestigating. The unfortunate victim of this horrible and
secret system of murder was a fine boy named William
Newton, eight years of age, and the party suspected of
having administered the poison is his mother, Sarah
Newton, a widow aged apparently about thirty-five.
The husband of the accused was a kind of jobbing agri-
cultural labourer. They had two children, the deceased
and a younger boy, and resided in a small cottage on
Rowley-green, in the parish of Shenley, some two miles
distant from this town. About two months since the
husband, who was often ailing, died, and being entered
in a friendly burial society, 10/, was allowed for his in-
terment. The deceased was generally considered a
healthy boy, free from sickness. However, he was sud-
denly seized with illness, which was most mysteriously
accounted for, his symptoms became worse, and on the
following day he expired. Suspicious circumstances then
came to light as to the cause of his death ; an inquest
was called ; but, owing to the restrictions placed upon
the coroner, in respect to the fees of the inquiry, a diffi-
culty presented itself in directing the analysation of the
contents of the stomach, &c. At length an appeal was
made to the Secretary of State, and his lordship at once
desired Dr. Taylor, professor of medical jurisprudence
at Guy's Hospital, London, to make the necessary analysis.
From the evidence it appeared that, on the morning
of Thursday, the 20th of last month, the decased went
to school. About half-past two o'clock Rachel Howe, who
lived near the prisoner, saw the accused, and she stated
that the boy had picked up some powder in a paper, and had
eaten it on going to school in the morning, and that it had
made him sick and ill. Later in the afternoon she saw the
child. It was retching, and Howe asked her what the boy
had taken. She replied a powder in a paper, and the child
said "Yes." She then added that the governess had sent the
child from school because he had been very sick all the
morning. She said she would take him to the surgeon
in the evening. In the course of the evening Police-
constable Brett, S 144, was informed of the circumstance,
and on going to Rowley-green he saw the prisoner. He
said to her, " What is it your child has picked up and
eaten ?" She replied, "He picked up something going
to school in the morning in a paper, and it hung about
his mouth like flour.:' The officer inquired for the child.
She fetched him out, and the constable asked him where
he got the powder. He answered, "In the lane." He
was asked what lane, and whereabouts, and he said,
" Barnes," on the grass. He added that he had thrown
the paper away. He then asked his mother to give him
some water, and she said, "Come in my dear, and I will
give you some tea." He retched while outside the house.
He advised her to take the child to a surgeon ; she said
she would, and between 8 and 9 that evening she went
with the deceased to Mr. Godson. She told him the
child had been sick the whole day, and that the fluid
which he vomited resembled in colour ground slate pen-
cil. She said she had thrown the vomit away 4 The child
did not appear to be suffering much—the pulse was
steady, tongue moist, and there was "no tenderness on
pressure of the abdotren. While the medical gentle-
man was examining him he vomited a clear fluid like
water, and Mr. Godson remarked that the stomach must
have rejected the whole of the powder that it had taken
in the morning. Mr. Godson asked the child why he
had eaten the powder if it was so nasty. He made no
reply. After he had vomited he looked up to the pri-
sioner's face and said, "I am better now, mother."
Some proper medicine was then prescribed for him, and
the mother was requested to let the surgeon know
early on the next day how the child was. They then
left and returned home to Rowley-green, when the
young woman Howe saw the prisoner give the de-
ceased a powder, which she said had come from Mr.
Godson's. On the following (Friday) morning Howe
again saw the deceased. He was in the garden, and
looked very pale. It appeared that he had been vomiting
in a basin, and the prisoner put it into a small yellow
jug. At ten o'clock she went to Mr. Godson, stated
the condition of the child, and had more medicine for
him, and at five o'clock in the afternoon of the same day
she again went to the surgery, and took with her the
yellow jug, without the handle. It contained a dark
fluid, and had sediments of a slate colour. She informed
Mr. Godson that the contents of the jug were a portion
of what the child had vomited that afternoon, and at
that gentleman's request the utensil was left at the sur-
gery. The symptoms of the boy then became of a more
alarming character. He gradually got worse, and died
the same evening, Mr. Mulreany, assistant to Mr. God-
son, having been sent to attend him. The prisoner
seemed much affected, and observed it was unfortunate
it should have happened so soon after his father had died.
The grandmother then arrived, and hearing the prisoner
state that the child had picked up something in the read
and had ate it, the old lady declared that she could not
believe it, and that she would not follow her grandson
to the grave until the whole matter was seen into. On
the following (Saturday) morning Mr. Godson subjected
a portion of the contents of the jug to two tests, both of
which clearly showed the presence of arsenic. Brett
then arrested the prisoner in the cottage. He saw a
neighbour scrape some earth on the left hand side of the
door. She said thst she was going to throw it away.
The constable inquired what for 7 and she replied that it
was where the dear lamb was sick, and she thought she
would take it away before the coroner and jury came.
Inquiries were then made, and it was ascertained that,
about a week previous to the death of the deceased, the
mother had called at the shop of Mr. Dowtwaite, che-
mist and druggist at Barnet, who had known her four or
five years, and had purchased a packet of Butler's rat
poison. She conversed as if she bad had some before,
and she was asked if it had answered her purpose in
clearing the house. She replied "Yes," that it had
cleared the house, and now she wanted some for the barn.
She was then served with a sixpenny packet. The pow-
der was a slate colour. It was also elicited that on the
15th of July she went to the shop of Mr. Timberley, a
clothier in Barnet, and asked for a suit of clothes for her
son. Ellis Edwards, the assistant, inquired of her whe-
ther she wanted them for the same boy for whom she
purchased a suit of clothes at the death of the father.
She replied " Yes." She was shown some clothes, but as
they would not be large enough for the boy, the assistant
informed her he would get a suit made for him by the
Wednesday, and that if she would call on that, or any of
the following days, she could have them. On the 20th
of July she again went to the shop, and was shown the
suit. She remarked "I hope they will be large enough,
because be will have to follow his eldest brother to the
grave on the next day." Edwards made answer "Is he
dead ?" When she replied, " Yes, I am in great trouble ;
it is only seven weeks and two days since I buried his
father. I understand from what Mr. Godson says that
he has the same complaint as his father had, and I should
not have much reason to grieve, for I should not like to
see him the same sufferer as his father was." She then
took the clothes away. It was then shown that deceased
did not go down Barnes-lane when he went to school in
the morning.
Ann Rainbow, a young woman, saw the deceased and
his younger brother pass her house. She gave them
each a rose. They did not go down the lane in ques-
tion. In the course of an hour the prisoner pa,sed, and
Rainbow asked her how she was. She said that she
was very well, but that William (the deceased) had not
been well all night. She had sent him to scnool, and she
was sorry -he had done so. She added that he had been
sick and bad all night. About two o'clock in the after-
noon the prisoner was seen by Rainbow returning with
the deceased. She said she was going to take William
home as he was sick, and the governess had sent him
home.

Miss Edmonds, the governess of the school, stated
that the deceased was not sick at the school, and she
did not send him home because he was sick.

Mr. A. S. Taylor, the professor of medical jurispru-
dence at Guy's Hospital, was then sworn and examined
—Under an order from viscount Palmerston proceeded
with an analysis of the stomach and contents, and liver
of the deceased, the contents of a brown jug, a dark
_ _

coloured fluid 'with a sediment, said to have been

vomited by the deceased, and a packet of Butler's ver:

Min killer: In the latter powder there was no trace of
arsenic, or of any arsenical compound. The result of a
number of experiments let to the conclusion that it was
thus constituted in 100 parts of weight—corrosive subli-
mate 14, carbonate of barytes 83, charcoal as colouring
matter 3-100. Both corrosive sublimate and carbonate

of barytes are poisons, the former being very destructive
to human and animal life, while the latter (carbonate of
barytes), although not very poisonous to man, is a poison
to animals. The deadly ingredient is corrosive subli-
mate, of which two grains might destroy the life of a
child. The quantity of liquid in the brown jug
amounted to six fluid drachms. On submitting it to the
usual chemical processes, metalic arsenic was obtained
from it, and it was proved to consist entirely of white
arsenic. The witness then entered into a very minute
and elaborate detail of the appearance of the stomach,
its contents, and the liver, and gave the following as
the results of his analysis :-1. The contents of the
stomach of the deceased contained arsenic in sufficient
quantity to destroy life. 2. The coats of the stomach,
as well as the liver contained arsenic ; a fact which
proved that the poison had been taken while the child
was living, and that it had been absorbed. 3. Tale
into consideration these facts, as well as the c ing
i
stance that the deceased died rapidly after having
la-
boured
poisoning with arsenic,
rciutm i
8-
yopinion symptoms
the deceased of
is-
my under
that
from no other cause. 4. The fluid of the jug contained
a large quantity of arsenic, amounting in the whole to
powder
highly in the p
at
containedleast 13n
arsenic,o grains. Thea and
although paopi :or
npoaucsk, tit
could have had no share in the death of the deceased.
In answer to the jury, the witness
was the third powder of Butler's vermn statedkille thatwhichhiS
had examined. They were all different—not one onealikhee.
In 1846, a case occurred in Essex,
been one
aoliaßrtuvelhe:,,de
died from arsenic, said to have h
powders. A similar one was supplied by the druggist,
and it was found to contain no such poison. In con-
sequence of the difficulty in which they were placed,
Mr. Butler was communicated with on the subject, and
he (Mr. Taylor) received a letter from him, dated High
Wycomb, July 16, 1848, in which he stated that a case
of suicide having occurred in London about eighteen
months ago (the commencement of 1847), from the use
of the killer, he determined no more to use arsenic in
its preparation, but substituted precipitated carbonites
of barytes in its stead.
Mr. Dowthwaite was recalled with a view of ascer-
taining whether the acket which he sold to the pri-
soner might not have been one of the old stock, and so
have contained arsenic, but nothing conclusive was ar-

rived at.
The evidence having closed, the prisoner was asked
whether she had anything to say. In a low tone of
voice she observed, " I am innocent of the oharge."
The magistrates then informed her that they felt it