The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-18 00:00:00

believe to be very common in this country. I think the
effect of a quarter of a grain of copper pill, given to a
parson in the state of the deceased, would increase irrita-
tion. In the symptoms of Miss Bankes that I have heard
described in court during the progress of this trial, the idea
of poison having been administered would never have
entered into my mind. •
Dr. Gilbert Girdwood examined by Mr. Giffard—l have
had great experience in accouchements. I have had up-
wards of 3,000 cases pass through my hands. Among them
I have had cases of pregnancy combined with dysentery.
One was a very severe case. I would not give any mercu-
rial medicine to a person suffering from dysentery during
pregnancy, nor in any dysenteric case whatever unless I
had ascertained the reason why I should do so. I have
heard the symptoms of Miss Bankes and the account of the
post mortem examination, and in my judgment death is to
be attributed to dysenteric ulceration.
Dr. James Edmonds, of No. 2, Spitch-square, said—l

am a doctor of medicine and surgeon to the H division 01

police and to the Royal Maternity Charity. I have known
in the early stages of ptegnancy, vomiting and diarrhoea so
as to exhaust the patient. I had a fatal case. The lady was
about 40 years of age. She suffered severely in the abdomen.
She was ill for 5 or G. weeks. She did not survive the attack.

I made a post-mortem examination of her body. Dysentery
was the cause of death. It arose during pregnancy.
Cross-examined by Sergeant Ballantine The illness
commenced about the fifth or sixth month of pregnancy. I
administered chalk, opium, and prussic acid, and afterwards
bismuth. When I was sure there was ulceration of the
bowels, I used sulphate of zinc as an injection. I did not
use sulphate of copper because of the vomiting. It is a
very fine remedy, and highly recommended in cases of
dysentery. I examined the stomach after death. I found

it slightly injected. The large bowels were extensively
ulcerated. I administered bismuth, but all my medicines
failed to stop the progress of the disease.
The Court here adjourned for refreshment.
On the reassembling of the Court,
Dr. W. Tyler Smith said—l have been studying mid
wifery for a great number of years. I know of a case of
death from vomiting during pregnancy. Excessive vomit-
ing, in the earlier stages of pregnancy, produces a burning
sensation in the throat, at least that is the feeling com-
plained of by persons suffering in the earlier stages of preg-
nancy. The earlier part of pregnancy is the time when
there is most vomiting. A. woman in the earlier stages
might have diarrhoea which might ultimately turn
to dysentery. Prussic acid given in an effervescing state is
one of the most valuable remedies to allay vomiting. In
cases of excessive vomiting persons died in the same way as
if they had been• starved to death. If a basin of warm soup
was given to a female in that state it would be instantly
rejected. There is a peculiar expression of the features in
cases of excessive vomiting. It is a very painful one. All
the symptoms that I have heard explained with regard to
Miss Bankes might arise from natural causes, with the
exception of the ball in the throat.

Cross-exaimned by Sergeant Ballantine—Supposing
dysentery existed there would be dysenteric symptoms. .
At the wish of a juror, the learned judge asked Dr.
Smyth whether dysentery could be kept up by the adminis-
tration of any irritant medicine ?
Dr. Smyth replied in the affirmative.
Frederick Pedley, dentist, George-street, Hanover-square
—About the middle of February the prisoner complained to
me of foulnesq of breath. I mentioned chlorate of potash.
This was the case for the prisoner.
Mr. Sergeant Ballantine - then rose to reply. He
said he did so with great anxiety, in consequence
of the attempt that had been made to make the case
branch off into one of a purely scientific question ; but
notwithstanding that he felt confident the jury would
exercise their own judgment and discretion, and give a ver-
dict from the whole of the evidence that had been laid be-
fore them. He urged the jury to look at the united facts,
and not to view them in a disjointed state, and having done
this, he thought they would be of opinion the defence had
entirely failed to throw down the case he had brought
against the prisoner. It was contended that money was
not the motive of the prisoner, and that, it was said, was
proved by his great affection exhibited towards her ; but he
maintained that he inveigled this unfortunate lady away,
and his letters fully and clearly proved that the
attachment was not to be of long duration. Here
was a person living with his own wife. Now
see the position the prisoner had placed himself in.
Why, it was clear that if his first wife discovered that he
intended to desert her she could indict him for bigamy, and
then the discovery of a former marriage by the friends of
Miss Bankes would be anything but pleasing. If the jury
should feel that the prisoner intended to absent himself but

a short time from his first wife, then the only inference
that could be drawn would be that a crime of the most

hideous description had been committed. He thought— it
was a perfect mockery to talk about love and affec-

tion in the face of the letter the prisoner wrote
to his first wife. Why, the letter clearly showed
that the connection was to be merely a temporary one.
The learned sergeant then proceeded to recall the whole of

the incidents he had laid before the jury in his opening
speech. The suspicions of Drs. Julius and Bird that some

irritant poison was being administered was very strange,
but it was more remarkable still that Dr. Todd, one of the

most celebrated members of the medical profession, without
the slightest knowledge of the suspicions of Drs. Julius and

Bird, when he first saw the unfortunate lady, immediately
came to the same conclusion. Then, again, it was idle to
say that vomiting, purging, and irritation were not the
worst indications of poison. The prisoner was a man of

some skill, and if the death of the unhappy lady was his
aim he knew full well the nature and operation of the drugs

administered, and if poisoning was his aim, he knew a post

mortem examination would at once reveal the fact, suppos-
ing it was done quickly; but, taking advantage of his me-
. _ _

dical knowledge; he perfectly wall knew that the only
means of attaining his object was by 'administering poison

in small but fatal dozes. -Then, again, was it consistent
with innocence that everybody, even including the sister
of the unfortunate deceased, should be excluded from the
sick room until Miss Bankes was in such a state of exhaus-

tion that rendered her powerless P Another suspicious cir
cumstance was the absence of a nurse, and he felt perfectly
confident that any person dealing fairly with any woman
would not, without there was some ulterior motive,
deprive her, in the miserable position she then

was, of such a necessary aid. What was the reason
the prisoner objected to the employment of a nurseP

The prisoner said it was the expense, but he implored the

jury not to forget that at the very time he was making the
objection on the ground of his not being able to afford it,
that but a few days before he received £7O ss. belonging to
the dying woman; he had upwards of £lOO in the London
and Westminster Bank, besides other valuable property in
his possession, amounting to some hundreds of pounds.
Was such an act consistent with love and affection ? He
felt that they would be of opinion that it was not. Look
. _

again at his conduct with respect to the tapioca.
Here was the poor creature nearly at the point of
death, asking her sister to make her some tapioca, and the

_
prisoner, who, it was said was animated by love and affec-
tion, coolly telling the sister she could not do it, because
" the milk had not come." Was that the conduct of a man
with the slightest affection. Then, again, what was the
necessity for taking the soup outside the room to cool—why
could it not be done in the room, if nothing was to be done
to it But it was taken outside the room, it was cooled,
and when the prisoner brought it into the apartment and
gave it to the unfortunate woman, vomiting was the result.
Then, again, what valid objection could an innocent
man have to the sister of the deceased sitting
up with her a night or two previous to her death ? but the
prisoner would not allow this, and to prevent such a pro-
ceeding the sister was sent away on a fruitless and useless
errand. Passing from that part of the case he would come
to the medical evidence, and at the outset he contended
that the effect of the mistake of Dr. Taylor must not be
to set aside all the other evidence. It was clear he
had discovered both traces of arsenic and antimony,
and the tests he had used had been spoken to by Professor

Brand, one of the most celebrated authorities, as the best
and most to be relied upn. A great number of medical
witnesses bad been called on the other side, but the evidence

they had given did not shake, in the slightest degree, the
evidence for the prosecution, and the theory
of the medical men for the defence that
the poison in the body of the deceased was attributable
to the bismuth administered, but it was clearly in evidence
that Dr. Taylor had actually analysed the bismuth found
in Dr. Julius's shop, and the result of the analysis was the
total absence of arsenic. The learned sergeant then alluded
to the evidence that had been given by the medical gentle-
men connected with the Grosvenor School of Medicine, and
said theoretical opinions must be looked upon with the
greatest caution. The learned gentleman concluded by
imploring the jury to give the case their most serious con-
sideration, and said if they entertained any doubt, the pri-
soner was entitled to it, but if they entertained no such
doubt, then they had a duty, painful it might be,
to perform to their country, and he prayed that, under the
direction of God, they would come to a right conclusion.
The prisoner, at the conclusion of the learned sergeant's

reply, said in a tremulous voice, addressing the judge, al-
low me to say that the window of the passage at the out-
side of the door was where I stirred up the soup. Every-
thing was kept out there since orders had been given to
keep them all cool, soda water, soup, and everything else.
The Lord Chief Baron then proceeded to sum up the
evidence to the jury, and, at half-past five, said he should
postpone reading the evidence until to-morrow morning.
The Court then adjourned. -

THIRD DAY.
(Continued from The Sun of yesterday.)

The following witnesses were then called for the defence :
Benjamin Ward Richardson, examined by Mr. Giffard,
said-1 am a doctor of medicine, a licentiate of the College
of Physicians, and. Professor of Pathology in the Grosvenor
School of Medicine. I obtained Astley Cooper's prize, and I
am the author of several works on medical jurisprudence. I
have been in court, and the symptoms detailed of the death
of the deceased are, in my opinion, not in the main consis-
tent with arsenical poisoning.
The Lord Chief Baron—Nor antimonial poisoning ?
Witness—No.
The Lord Chief Baron—Nor with both together?

Witness—No. In the casE, of Miss Banker there were
symptoms absent which would be present in a case of arseni-