Star.
London, England, 1817-04-03 00:00:00

)Si in the habit of heading the tea, &c. The witness
d not who wrote the anonymous letter.
Re-examined.—Mr. Bull, the Mayor of Falmouth, I
had asked the witness if he had not handed the first
cup of cocoa, but he had denied it: the same ques-
tion was put by Mr. Richards, who attended the Co-
roner's Jury on behalf of the prisoner, and the same
answer was giver. When the prisrraer handed the
bread and butter to the deceased, be did not go
acres' the room the shortest Way, hat he went round
behind snare of ihr chairs.
Dr. •lticloird ft.dwa.ds gave evidence, that he had
been 16 }'eats ill the profession. When called in be.tween lour acid five o'crock on the mowing of the
4 is of November, he asked the prisoner some ques-
tions respect:rig Mrs. Downing: the prisoner said
that she had a'. attack of the cholerainorbas ; and that
she had been similarly affected abu t a fortn'ght be-
for,. l'Oe witness went iota -her room, and found
that she reqiiivd a little rousing before she could an-
swer any questions: she complained of great
and her pulse was frequent and flatten:it; ; she had
no sickness at that time, but was in very great dan-
ger. lie irml.tsto-d, from the pri,oner, that he had
given her An opening medicine, All emetic, a saline
draught, arid some opium. witnts; wrote a pee-
scripoon, %trill a view to remove something oliensive
which appeare.i to he is her stomach or b 0.41,. lie
had never met wiit a ca•.:: of chaera morbus that had
produced death in a shorter time than time or four
days, and he WAS of opinion that that disorder was
not the cause of the death of Mrs. Downing. On
Thursday, the 7th of November, the witness was re-
quested to go and examine the body, by opening it,
having previously heard of the suspicion of poison.
He saw the prisoner at the house, and a surgeon of
the name of John Street. Alter taking the body out
ot the shell, the witness perceived that the prisoner
was tucking up his sleeves and preparing to open the
body, but the witness told hum that be must have no-
thing to do with the operation. On opening the sto.
mach, the contents were poured into a basis, and
after the lapse of a few minutes they were examined,
but no deposit of any thing heavy or solid could be
discovered. The stomach was in a state of stellated
inflammation, and both the coats of the stomach were
softened, as it by the action of some corrosive sub-
stance; one of them could be scraped off by the finger
nail. The blood vessels of the stomach were more
than ordinarily turgid. but the liver and lungs were
sound : the heart the witness did not examine. The
basin with the contents of the stomach had been care-
fully placed on a chair ; and the witness observed at
the time, aloud, that they must be preserved, and the
priscmer must have heard it. They then proceeded
to inspect the intestines, which were also inflamed,
and the witness felt certain that it could not have
been produced otherwise than by the operation of an
active poison. After this investigation, the witness
turned round to the basin, and was surprised to grid
it empty he asked the prisoner what he had done
with the contents of the stomach, and he replied that
he had thrown them into the chamber-vase, where
was a quantity of water, with which the intestines had
been washed. The witness said. that it would give
him a great deal more trouble in making experiments
to ascertain if any poison werwin the stomach, as be
mast evaporate about two quarts ot water. Mt.
Street took charge of the chamber-vase and its con-
*Fs ; it was pushed under the bed. Tire witness
Aerwards applied to it vatious ahytmieal tests, and
they indicated the presence of arsenic in a fluid, hot
ho could not detect it its- a selid state. He had not
the slightest doubt that arsenic was the cause •of Mel
death of Mrs. Downing, and he should have been of
drat opinion had he not analysed the contents of the
itootaeh.

- .
Cross-examined.— He said. that alelat furies was
'Produced generally in hot seasons by the overflowing
it bile, which irritated the stomach ; it was • very
Painful and distressing complaiut s cramp was. (re-
tread, occasioned by a bilious attack laudanum
was sometimes even in cases of rliekra inerOar. but
Wit in large qu.onities. The tests he bad used to
ffiKeet the arsenic were, first, sulphate of copper. with
small quantity of carbonate of potash I and when
applied to the contents of the stomach of the deceits-
-04 the precipitate was green. Next he had used
Hirst of silver in the same way, and the precipitate
was yellow. Both these appearances sheaved that
arsenic was present.. He had tried bile by the same
test, and onions (having been told that the deceased
had eaten of them) ;•• but it had exhibited no appear-
eine like that of arsenic. He bad not attempted to
reproduce the arsenic, not having a sufficient quan-
tity ; but he. was quite satisfied with the former cape-
rimeats. The witness did not recollect that the pri-
soner had required any other test to be applied ; but
he had sent for a part of the contents of the stomach
after all had been used.
Mr. John Street, who had been called in by the
. prisoner, but who had ceased to practice for. five
years.. agreed with Dr. Edwards in his account of
the appearance of the stomach, flee. of the decreased.
• Dr. Edwards, on being tecalled by Mr. Justice
ABOUT, said, that 00 parts of cold water would dip
solve one part of arsenic : that warm water would
dissolve a larger proportion, and that then two or
three tea-spoons full, or a table-spuon full, would
probably produce death.
Susan O'Brie. and Anne Blight were called to
prove that they had delivered the contents of the sto-
mach of the deceased to Dr. Edwards in the same
state as it bad been received from Mr. Street. The
former of these witnesses deposed, that on the 31st
of October Mrs. Downing drank tea with her son
John, and that *e returned home unwell, but else
was not nail seriously indisposed. •
Mr. S. P. Street confirmed, in one or two p. inn.
larsvthe statement of Dr. Edwards.
Mr. W. Dawning, in his evidence, detailed most
of the circumstances related 'by his brother. The
witness examined the body, and found that it was
not MU that there was any running at the nostrils.=
When the opening of the body was spoken of as ne-
cessary, the primner said that he should not have
time to attend, as he must 'go into the country on
business. Abdo the corpse had been' examined, the
witness was in a room with the door open, and hear.
iag a pouring of liquid from one vessel into another,
be looked out, and saw the prisoner passing out of
per apartment wbcre the operation had been perform.
ed t be afterwards retried to the room, and the
witness aria beard a noise like the pouring*, water.