The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-22 00:00:00

INDIA.

deceased, and that afterwards, while in hot blood
and during the struggle, the deceased had received
the wounds of which she died. That this state of
facts would constitute manslaughter, and not
murder

—as Lordship in summing up directed the jury as
to the law, and then read over the evidence.
The jury, after an absence of half an hour, found
the prisoner guilty. •
His Lordship immediately put on the black cap,
and the usual proclamation having been made,
passed upon the prisoner the awful sentence of death
in the usual form.
The prisoner was then removed from the dock.
TUESDAY, DEC. 21.
(Before Mr. Baron Watson.)
THE POISONINGS AT BRADFORD.
- Charles Hodgson, chemist, was indicted for the
manslaughter of Elizabeth Mary Midgley, at Brad-
ford, on the 30th of October, by negligently selling
arsenic, which was manufactured into lozenges, in-
stead of " terra alba," of which lozenges deceased

partook.
Mr. Price and Mr. Middleton prosecuted ; Mr
Campbell Foster appeared for the prisoner.
Mr. Price, in stating the case, said that this was
a charge of manslaughter by negligence, and to mak9
it out to be manslaughter when a person is carrying
out his lawful trade gross negligence must be proved.
He then quoted. Tessyman's case, in which a che-
mist's apprentice, who negligently sold a poison for
medicine, which caused death, was held guilty of
manslaughter, and Regina v. Lowe. Mr. Price then
stated the facts. The deceased was a little girl resid-
ing with her mother at Bradford, and on the 30th of
October the mother bought some lozenges of a man
named Hardaker, who kept a stall Bradford-
market. The little girl had part of one of the lozenges
given to her, and some time afterwards another
part. The little girl was taken ill and died with
all the symptoms of poisoning by arsenic. The
man Hardaker had bought his lozenges from a con-
fectioner called Neal. Neal kept a shop at Brad-
ford, and was accustomed to use a substance called
" daff," which is a preparation of gypsum, and is
called in commerce " terra alba," to mix with his
lozenges. He sent to the shop of the prisoner
Hodgson, who was a chemist at Shipley,
near Bradford, for some. Hodgson was
in bed ill at this time, and at first hesitated
about letting the man have it. Ultimately
he instructed his assistant Goddard, who
had only been with him three weeks and knew
nothing of drugs, to go up to a garret and get 121 b.
of " terra alba." He told him it was white and like
flour, and was in a cask in the corner of the room.
There were several casks in the garret; one con-
tained arsenic, which bears a certain resemblance
to "daff." The boy Goddard took 121 b. of arsenic
out of this cask, and gave them to Neal's man. The
result was the arsenic was made up with peppermint
and other things into 401 b. of lozenges. There was
no label on either cask. The question for the jury
would be, Did the keeping a barrel containing arsenic
in such a manner, and to which he sent his assistant,
who was ignorant of drugs, with such indefinite
directions, amount to such gross negligence, in case
of its causing death, as to be manslaughter ? Tho
following witnesses were then called :
James Archer—l know Mr. Neal, a confectioner
at Bradford. I have often called on Mr. Hodgson,
who keeps a druggist's shop at Shipley. When I
have called on him he has told me that he had some
"terra alba" (that is "daft"), that he knew Mr.
Neal used. I mentioned it to Mr. Neal, who said I
might bring some next time I went ; and I conse-
quently went to the shop of Mr. Hodgson at Ship-
ley. There I saw the young man Goddard, and told
him what I came for. Goddard then went to Mr.
Hodgson, who, he said, was sick. When he came
back he said Mr. Hodgson said I had better let it
alone this time. Then I said if he could oblige me
with 121 b. it would do. He then left me, and in a
short time returned, and said I might have 121 b.
Shortly after he brought me in two parcels ; they
were paper bags, which I wrapped up in canvas,
and put them into a tin box. I then returned to
Mr. Neal's, at Bradford, and I put the tin box on
the shop floor with my other boxes. This was on
Monday, aid I gave the box on the Wednesday
following to Appleton.
Wm. Goddard examined—ln Oct. last I lived
with the prisoner Hodgson, at Shipley, and had
been with him three weeks as assistant. I had for-
merly been at school as a pupil teacher. I was
sing to be in the Excise ; and if I did not get a
situation there I was going to remain at Hodgson's
to learn the business of a chemist. On Monday,
Oct. 18, in the afternoon, in consequence of what
the last witness (Archer) said, I went to Mr. Hodg-
son. I told him there was a man in the shop who
had come for some "daff." Hodgson said, " I
dont't know what it is." So I went back to ask
the man what it was for, and whom it was for.
The man said it was for putting in spice, and was
wanted for some man in Bradford. I then went
back to Mr. Hodgson and told him this, and I de-
scribed to him the man who had come for it.
Hodgson told me to go back and tell the man to
wait till he could attend to it himself. I did
so ; and again returned to Mr. Hodgson, as the
man insisted upon having it. Mr. Hodgson said I
should find it in a corner of the room in a barrel,
and I asked bim what kind of stuff it was. He said
it was white and like flour. I went into the shop
and got a pair of tea•scales. I got some weights
and went up to the garret, and I went to the wrong
cask, which cask had a little box on it. I took the
box off. I looked in the barrel, and saw the con-
tents were white and something like flour, and I
weighed out 121 b. I put it into two bags, and I
gave them to Archer. I don't know the difference
between arsenic and " daff "by appearance. I
knew the arsenic which I had to sell in the shop,
which was coloured and labelled. I saw another
cask in the room. As far as I know, the casks re-
mained in the same condition till Burniston, the
policeman, came.
Cross-examined by Mr. Foster—My master told
me that it was white and like flour. I handled the
stuff first. I can't say whether it was soft as flour,
but it did not feel as light. I saw several casks in
the room. This cask was on the top of the staircase,
and not in the corner of the room. The cask I went
to was at least four yards from any corner of the
room. I had been in the attic before, which was
used as a warehouse by Hodgson. I had been up
there with him. He has pointed out to me part of
the things in that room. He had pointed out to me
this barrel as containing arsenic. He told me to be
" mindful" of it. There was a barrel in the corner
of the room which contained " terra alba " or
" daff." My master was very ill in bed. When
Archer determined to have the stuff he spoke
angrily to me. I had served before in the shop,
but had not sold things from the warehouse, and
the man's anger flurried me, as I had to leave the
shop against the 7ules of my master. My master
always told me to be very careful about poisons.
He told me never to sell any poisons unless he was
present. I had been five years a pupil teacher. I
knew arsenic was poison.
Re-examined by Mr. Price—l was applied to by
the attorney for the prosecution, and refused to
answer any questions. I believe the prisoner is
going to marry a relation of mine. Hodgson pointed
out to me the arsenic the first week I was there. I
did not know what " terra alba " was till I was
arrested.
Mr. Baron Watson said that he really could not
see any negligence. When he first read the deposi-
tions he had made up his mind to leave the ques-
tion of negligence to the court of criminal appeal.
Mr. Price said he would call another witness,
and if his lordship did not think that he carried
the case any further, he would not go on.
Burniston—l am a detective officer. I went
on the 31st October to Mr. Hodgson's shop. The
cask containing arsenic was about 14 or 15 inches
from the top of the rail at the stair head, and was
not near a corner of the room. The " daff" cask was
about four feet from the lefthand corner. There
was no cask then in any corner of the room. There
was no label on the arsenic cask. The "daff" cask
was covered by some paper and a desk.
Cross-examined—On the Wednesday following
I found a clean label on the bottom of the arsenic
cask, which was found to be 1571 b. weight. The
cask of " daff" was not in the exact corner of the
room. I should call it in the corner. The sale of the
arsenic was on Monday, the 18th. I should not
have gone to the arsenic cask if I had been
directed as Goddard was.
His Lordship said he really thought there was no
case for the jury.
Mr. Price said he thought the prisoner ought to
have reminded the boy of the arsenic.
His Lordship, however, directed the jury to acquit
the prisoner. How could it be said that there was
any negligence here? There must be criminal
negligence to convict the prisoner. He did not
know what a man could do more, except not keep
arsenic. He had warned this young man that the
cask contained arsenic, that it was poison, and had
directed him to go to another place for the article
required.
The jury acquitted the prisoner accordingly.
Mr. Price said great credit was due to the police
in preventing the spread of these poisoned lozenges,
which had already resulted most lamentably in the
death of 21 persons.
the

The Seybouse of Bona, in Algeria, says A
lion paid a visit on the night of the 4th to the neighbour-
hood of Fort Genois, and seized a mule tied to a tree, and
was proceeding to devour it, when the cries of the animal
brought out a man with a lantern, the rays of which
frightened the assailant. The lion returned the night fol-
lowing for its prey, which had been removed. The inha-
bitants finding that the animal had thus come back thought
it might do so again, and accordingly on the following night
they placed the carcase over a concealed pit, but without
effect, as /to ftirtheryisit took place," .