The Sun.
London, England, 1851-12-25 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY CONDUCT.

On Monday morning a' surgeon from Rusholme,
near Manchester, earned John Alfred Carr, presented
himself before Mr. H L. Trafford, stipendiary ma-
gistrate at the New Bailey Police Court, Salford, to
prefer a charge of murder against some person, and
asked to be put upon his oath.
Mr. Trafford said application had better be made
to the coroner.

Mr. W. S. Rutter, coroner for the hundred, said
application had been made to him by Mr. Carr, and
be had held an inquest in the case, the jury finding a
verdict of " Died from natural disease."

Mr. Trafford—Mr. Carr says he wishes to have
further investigation into the case.
Mr. Rutter—l don't know what Mr. Carr is driv-
ing at.
Mr. Carr—l say this child bas died from the effects
of some narcotic poison—probably opium.
Mr. Trafford—Will you tell me what the case was,
Mr. Rutter ?

Mr. Rutter—The case was one in which Mr. Carr
was called in to look at an infant child belonging to
Mr. Grundy, of Rusholme. Soon afterwards Mr.
Carr wrote to inform me that there was reason to be-
lieve the child died from poison, and I caused an in-
quiry. The surgeon who had prescribed for the child
was Mr. Birks, a respectable surgeon ; and Mr. Carr
had access to a bottle of medicine he had sent, and to
a bottle of Infant's Preservative found in the house. I
directed Mr. Carr to make a post mortem examination
of the body of the child, and examined him upon the
inquest. His evidence was that he still believed the
child died from poison, but that he could find no
trace of poison in the body. He grounded his be-
lief of poison being the agent of death upon the fact
of contractions of the child's fingers and other symp-
toms after death, which he admitted might be pro-
duced by common convulsions to which children are
subject. Mr. Birks was present, and examined him,
and the two bottles were produced.

Mr. Carr—The botth s were produced, but their
contents were not proved.

Mr. Rutter—The bottles were proved.
Mr. Carr—They were not proved.
Mr. Trafford—l was asking Mr. Rutter, and not
you, Mr. Carr. You had better wait your turn.
Mr. Rutter—Mr. Birks proved the contents of one
of the bottles to consist of paregoric, soda, syrup, and
water, and that he ordered a spoonful to be given at a
time; but Mr. Carr admitted himself, after examining
the bottle, that if the child had swallowed the whole
contents at once it would have received no harm. Mr.
Carr also went up to Mr. Birks, and said he had
meant to cast no imputation upon him, but was indig-
nantly repulse]. The jury found a verdict of "Died
from natural disease," and the case, I supposed, had
ended there; but Mr. Carr, at the conclusion of the
proceedings, wished to take possession of the two
bottles, and being appealed to by the police, I directed
that they should not be given to Mr. Carr, but be
retained by the police. Mr. Carr then said there was
poison in the bottles, and one of the jury, disgusted at
the animus he had ahown throughout, replied, " Then
I believe you have put it there."
Mr. Trafford—Now, Mr. Carr, are you prepared
to prefer a charge of murder ? Mr. Carr—Not at
present; but I am prepared to say the child died from
poison.

Mr. Trafford—And you gave that evidence on the
Inquest? Mr. Carr—Yes.

Mr. Trafford—And the jury did not believe you.
But you are prepared now again to swear the child
died from poison ? Mr. Carr—l am.
Mr. Trafford—Then go into the clerk's office, and
let us have your deposition before the court in
writing.
Mr. Carr left the court, and about an hour after-
wards returned with the following deposition :
" John Alfred Carr, of Rusholme, surgeon, upon
oath says :—On Sunday, the 14th instant, I was
called upon to visit professionally the child of Edward
Grundy, of Rusholme. The child appeared to be
labouring under the effects of a narcotic poison, and
was in a dying state. It died a few hours after. An
inquest has been held upon the body, and brought to
a conclusion before I had had time to bring to a con-
clusion the necessary post-mortem examination of the
body, an order to make which I had received from
the coroner. From the appearances before death and
post-mortem examination of the body, so far as that
examination has at present proceeded, I am of opinion
that the deceased died from the effects of a narcotic
poison, and I suppose that one of two bottles in the
possession of the superintendent of police contained
the poison and destroyed the child. A careful
chemical analysis of their contents, as well as of the
contents of the stomach and intestines, will be required
before it can be satisfactorily proved by whom the
poison was administered. I have hen unable, hitherto,
to detect any appearance of disease sufficient to ac-
count for death from natural causes."

Mr. Trafford having read the deposition, asked for
Mr. Carr's depositions at the inquest. These were
handed up, and the Coroner pointed out the statement
then made (in addition to what he had before named
to the court) by Mr. Carr, that he had made a post-
mortem examination ; that the contents of the abdo-
men appeared perfectly healthy ; that a clot of blood
was found to fill the cavity of the heart, which was
the only coagulation of blood observed in any part of
the body , that the coagulum in the heart was the
immediate cause of death, and must have formed
during life and probably a few hours before death.
Mr. Trafford—You say you made a post-mortem
examination and could find no traces of poison, and
you say that convulsions would produce all the ap
pearances you perceived before death. Will you now
undertake to say, upon your solemn oath, the causes