The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-20 00:00:00

(
%-4-t_' --1.--1,---1
~-2--t_-----,7,,,

C /2

w•F'Z

i 1

7:::7PA:11
, ,
..../
c.‘,6,
,-- ---- )A.
~,,
Bankes at the old lady above tlfil-'ts,';,k -.ll'-:''' •
\%\-,'" .
real wif and this conjecture is
seSer_fr2.'4
~
-.,-, ,
that t ceremony of marriage
and - Miss --Bankes Ira s • perfor 4-14-jiii . r 4.V"‘:;/
church at the beginning of lastlWeerniteTr:' - , -"-
However that might.be, they left !Ms. ' r V
~
and, after-staying-a short- time at a Mrs. Oirthow- .t.
ski's they-finally took up their abode at thO-house
of Mrs. Wheatley, at Alma,VillaS, Richmon-d, for
which they raid 15s a week_ According to
Smethurst, he-had settled the whole matter rvith
his legitimate wife, and she had agreed to accept a
(
certain sum for her lodgings, and to ask no -ques-
tions as to where or how he lived. ..Smethurst and
Miss Bankes liVed on at Mts. Wheatley's until the
end of last March, when the lady became very ill.
For SCAC:Hi ..:. Palligallky she had suffered from
sickness and diarrhoea, but the disease was now se-
rous; moreover it appeared that the lady had be-
come pregnant. In fact it was necessary to call in
a doctor, and after some. deliberation it was decided
to summon Dr. Julius, the leading practitioner in
Richmond. 11l as the -poor woman was, Smethurst
himself was the only attendant. A nurse bad been
suggested by the landlady, but Smethurst objected,
.
saying that he was too poor ; though at the very
time he had a balance of some X2oo' at 'the Bank.
On this affectionate quasi-husband, therefore, de-
volved all the disagreeable duties of the sick-room.
The food was mixed and administered by his own
hand; e chamber utensils were placed outside
the bedroom door by his own hand. During the
day no human being entered that room ' but
Smethurst ; • during the night no human being sat
by the bedside but Smethurst. Thecomplaint under
which the poor woman suffered required, above all
things, cleanliness and pure air, and this Smethurst
as a medical man must have well known, and yet
during the. Many weekS of illness "the bedroom
was never thoroughly cleanedeut,"Though, indeed,
the bed Was made by the landlady every day,. It
was surely a strange fancy for a man with more
than. £2OO at his banker's to insist upon'aoting the
i nurse to a sick woman, . and performing all the
most tender and disgusting offices. It was perhaps
stranger still that, of all the varieties of rice, beef
tea, blancmange, meal, coffee, and jelly, that en-
tered that bedroom, not one scrap—except some
sour rice—ever came out again. If anything
was mixed with the poor woman's food, no human
being ever had an oppoatunity of tasting it. . Ac-
cording to Smethurst, indeed, his tender regard for
Miss Bankes and his parsimony made him consume
all the remnants. Nor is it surprising to find'that
living upon this diet, with such fatigue Land under
such anxiety, the•afllicted husband, as he told the
jury in his parting address, should have lost in
weight some sixteen pounds.
It was on the sth of. April that Dr. Julius first
saw the poor lady,- whom he took fur the wife of
Smethurst. Having :learnt the- symptoms of the
case from him, he prescribed certain remedies.--They
gave no relief. They neither stopped the vomiting
nor the diarrhoea. From the sth to the 18th he
went on trying all sorts of prescriptions, but with-
out the slightest effect. At length, completely
puzzled, he handed over the patient to his partner,
Dr. Bird. His remedies equally failed. The dis-
ease relaxed not for a moment. Cases were ran-
sacked by various witnesses from the annals of
medicine, but amidst all the anomalies of disease
they searched in vain for a case in which no single
symptom was abated a jot. At length Dr. Julius
came to the conclusion that some drug was being
administered to counteract the effect of the medi-
cines. Now that -drug was, in his opinion, some
irritant poison. Dr. Bit d, after vainly attempting
to stay the'disease; Came to the same conclusion.
And upon comparing notes _it was found that both
agreed; True, neither Dr. Julius nor Dr, Bird had
ever seen the poor lady alone. Smethurst was him-
self always in the room,- and himself explained the
symptoms. More medical advice was demanded,
and the eminent Dr. Todd, of King's College
llospital, was sent for.. He saw the patient, pre-
scribed for her; still the bad symptoms were un-
abated. Dr. Todd, therefore came to the mine
conclusion with Dr. Julius and Dr. Bird, that some-
thing was administered to counteract the effect of
the ordinary medicines, and. that it must be some
irritant poison. In short, if those experienced
medical men were to be believed, this man alone
in that wretched room in Alma-villas was
daily and hourly with his own hands adminis•
tering to the lips of the lonely woman, whose
charactar he had destroyed, scientific doses of that
subtle poison which was stealthily sapping her
strength and drying up the sources of life and all
this under the very eyes of three medical men, one
of them at least of the highest reputation.
But the end was drawing near. Once only had
the sister of poor Isabella Bankes appeared. She
came to see her sister about the 19th of April. But
even then she was not permitted to do anything for
the sick woman—not even to make her some 'Mane-
manger or arrow-root. In spite of her desire to
come again, she was prevented by Smethurst ; and
in fact it was only just before her death, and when
she was speechless, thst she was again permitted to
"see her. But the same day on which Smethurst
wrote to Miss Bankes to Say that hei sisftsr was tOO-
weak to see her, he called on an attorney for the
purpose of. getting a will prepared by which Miss
Isabella Bankes was to leave him all her property.
The poor woman, forsooth, could not see her sister,
but she could see a strange attorney. The attorney
came on the Sunday morning, and the will by which
Smethurst obtained the whole property was exe-
cuted. It is worthy of remark that in this will
Miss Bankes signs in her maiden name, and
Smethurst told the attorney he was only living
with her for a season. It was just in time, for on
Tuesday, the 3d of May, the helpless victim died.
In the meantime arsenic had been found in such
a way as to prove that it had been deposited in the
woman's body, and Smethurst was apprehended.
At first he was released on his own recognisances,
and, strangely enough, when his nursing care was
withdrawn from the patient, the distressing symp-
toms ceased—her exhausted strength however was
not to be revived. But the body was opened, and
in it was discovered a certain quantity of antimony.
Was it then a mixture of arsenic and antimony which
this affectionate husband had been administering
in that lonely bedroom in Richmond ? If it was
it is difficult to conceive anything more cruelly
heartless. Here was a married man inveigling
away a weak woman from her sister and her friends
going through the mockery of a marriage to quiet
her scruples, and analysing the weakness of her con-
stitution until he discoversthe best means of putting
her out of the way—and, then, in that solitary bed-
room at Richmond administering day by day the
poisonous drugs in such proportions as should en-
sure death whilst he escaped detection. True, no
doubt so long as poor Isabella Babnuktetn, so shehvedthere
was the income £5,000 Consols;long
as Mrs. Smethurst lived, there was .the danger of
an indictment for bigamy, and, as it seemed, the
additional danger of the birth of a child. What
was to be done ? 'As Smethurst told the jury, his
best plan would have been to have poisoned the old
woman, but that was probab!y difficult and danger-
ous. Something must be done at once. Isabella
Bankes was entirely in his hands. He reasoned
with himself thus :—" Let her make a will, leaving
me £1,700. Then let her die of poison, which I
can administer—doses of arsenic and antimony—in
such minute quantities that traces will not be dis-
covered. In this there is some chance of escape.
But if I remain as 1 am, the sham marriage at Batter-
sea may be discovered, Isabella Bankes may become
a mother, and then I may be indicted for bigamy,
and be obliged to fly the country. It is better for
me to poison the woman in secret—though if the
crime be discovered I must stand the chance of an
indictment for murder." The stakes were fearful.
Smethurst played boldly and skilfully, but happily
his prize is Death.

FATAL ATTACK OF APOPLEXY AT A TABLE
D' HOTE.—An English gentleman of advanced age, named
Sanford, was suddenly seized on Friday last, whilst at the
table d'hote at Meurice's, with an attack of paralysis and
apoplexy. He was previously in good health, and was en-
gaged in a cheerful conversation with an
American gentle-
man, when he dropped his knife and fork, and fell on the
table in a state of insensibility. Dr. Shute, of the Rue
Castiglione, was immediately sent for ; and afterwards Dr.
Forbes Winslow, of London, a physician of well-known re-
putation for the treatment of diseases of the brain, who
happened to be in Paris, was summoned to a consultation.
Dr. Winslow considered the case to be a hopeless one, and
Mr. Sandford died early on Sunday or mornin never having
rallied. "Unfortunately he had no relations friends with
him at the hotel, as he was travelling alone with a courier.
hours after his
Several telegrams were immediately sent to England, but
his family did not arrive in Paris until some
death.—Ga/ignane s Messenger.
the election ELECTION EXPENSES.—Yesterday . .
mourrea
Messrs. Bram -by the successful Conservative
candidates,outhern division of that
ston and Watlington, for the s
divided the expense, and it
auditor for Essex made his return of the expenses
countY. The
h°ll.
gentlemen
cost nearly £1 each, he dis-
appears that every vote polled
the
good round sum of £4,374
bursements having h
fees and disbursements, £1,061;
X 243; professional agents'eetors, canvassers, committe, check
superintendents, insp
and messengers, L 1,041; printing and
and assisttuit clerks,
2s. 10d. Of this sreunaci tl sheriff's charges amounted to
ofcarriages, &c., for conveying
, £695. hire
advertising, . ,
committee rooms, £267; and miscella-
£s6o. The auditors' charges and " reasonable
neous items, hire of
';ised the total disbursements to £4,433 188 Bd.
and Mr. G. Ward Hunt letoff much
Lord Burghley
moreLo easily
in Northamptonshire, their total expenses being
2,652 14s. 9d. The conveyance of voters in this case cost
expenses" voters, L5O4r a
each candidate £311; agents, messengers .&c., £745 each;
printing, £7B each ; sheriff's expenses,. £l3l each ; and ex-
penses of committee-rooms, £34 each.NT
EAST INDIA (UNCOVENAEJ) SERVANTS.)----
The following is a return of the num),,er of native and
'n-
ropean une,ovenented servants, respectively, in the service
of the Indian Government who a.
,re in the receipt of 250
rupees per month, and upward,- according to returns made
up to the Ist of May, 1858 :—v
.iz
peens (including Angle-Incli s :, natives, 339, and Euro-
, 849, making a fetal of
1,188, ans)