The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1828-07-30
From the Massachusetts, Journal.
REMARKABLE CASE.

A case Of deceptive circumstantial evidenc
, lately came to our knowledge, than which, W
believe, more remarkable cannot be found o
record. Our information was communicated t
us by one who was personally engaged in tn
, investigations attending it.
In country town in the State of Maine,
few months since, the wife of laboring mar
who lived for long time on very ndifferen
terms with her, suddenly died AS she was i
apparently perfect health on the day of he
ldeath and there had been violent quarrels be
tween them, the man was regarded with con
siderable degree of suspicion. At the burial @
the wife, her relations attended. To these tn
husband had always cherished great hostility
but on this occasion he was particularly urgen
that they should return with him, after the fl,
neral, to partake of meal at his table The
were i'll disposed to do this, both on account o
their recollection of the treatment of his wife
his uniform hostility to them, and the very sus
! picious circumstances of the wife death. He
continued TO urge them to return 20 his house
and partake Of the entertainment with so mucl
earnestness, that after resisting for long while
they found that they could refuse no longer
The meal was placed before them, at which &
dish Of baked beans was abundanty served anC
of which they were urged to partake literally
Much time had not elapsed after the meal be
fore every individual of the party was taken
sick, some were SO violently affected that their
lives were despaired Of. These very suspicious
circumstances determined the neighbors to have
the man arrested, and this was accordingly
done. The house was searched, and a quantity
of arsenic was found, of which it was afterwards
ascertained that he had bought a considerable
quantity of an apothecary a short time before
the death of his wife. Another corroboratIng
circumstance was that the accused had, on the
day on which his wife died, carried to her, while
at work in the field, glass of hquor-an act of
courtesy which, such were the terms on which
they had lived, it was quite out of his custom
TO proffer. The man was placed in custody,
and preparations we're made for his trial TIL
physician, who attended the deceased, was sat-
isfied that the death was from poison, and would
give his evidence to that effect. Public opinion
was greatly excited on the subject, and the con-
viction of the individual was confidently antici-
pated at the approaching session of the court.
Things being thus circumstanced, the physi-
clan, whose evidence; as we have related, was
decided on the point of the death being occa-
stoned by poison, happened to be on a visit to
the town of B. The circumstances being gen.
orally known, Dr. NJ who was a personal friend
of this physician, sought an interview with him.
and inquired of him if he examined the body
internally after death, and on being answered
in the negative, he placed before him in strong
roE evIuenCe
by poison. 1t was soon decided that a 9isinter-
ment and an examination OF the body should be
Immediately made, and DR.. NJ, with another
medical friend, accompanied the first named
physician to the place of the presumed murder.
The people of the vicinity expressed great sat-
isfaction at knowing of this intention, and were
eager to assist in the disinterment, assured
that it would only add confirmation to their be-
lief in the guilt of the accused. The body was
quietly removed from the earth. A question
then arising where the examination should take
place-for as it had been buried three weeks, no
one was willing that it should be brought into
his dwelling house, nelghboring barn was
first proposed, but to this the physicians object
ed, on account of the want of sufficient light.
The meeting house was then named, and thith-
er the body was carried. 1t was placed on a
table in the centre aisle, and the examination
commenced in the presence CT the assembled
and eager multitude who filled the pews and
the galleries DR.. M. prepared to open the alb
6omen, and the gentleman who accompanied
him undertook in the mean while the examlna.
ton of the head To the former, of course, the
attention of all was chiefly directed. The ope.
ration of opening the head, however, advanced
| more rapidly than that Of the abdomen, and the
removal of the Uranium discovered to the sur
! prise of the operators and the spectators, a suf
fusion of blood in the organ, and all the une
quivocal marks of apopie1y, while the stomach
! and the other digestive organs, were found L
exhibit not the slightest indications of the pres
ence of any poisonous substance the surprise
and probably in their excited state of mine
against the supposed criminal, the disappont
ment, of the spectators was extreme. The re
suit of the examination was, however, irresisti
bly, in proof that the death was occasioned By
| apoplexy, and not by poison, and the mans lif
was saved for it is scarce to be doubted tina
a Jury would have convicted him upon the evi
dence of the circumstances which we have emu
merated
| 1t will be asked, how is the circumstance O
the sickness of the wife's relatives, which wa
evidently caused by the meal, which the MAJ
urged them SO earnestly to take, to be account
ed for? Ii is explained by singular fact 0
which one or two other instances are known t
| have occurred. The beans, of which the mea
was principally composed, had been baked i
earthen vessels, and were allowed to grow colo
They had been kept long enough to have turn
ed acid to slight degree, and when they wer
, placed in the oven to be re-heated, the action G
the acid on the sides of the jar, decomposed tn
glazing with which the interior oil the jar wa
d coated, and of which sulphurate of lead is tn
chief ingredient a poisonous substance wa
thus developed and infused into the content
of the jar, and those eating Of the beans wer
attacked with symptoms of illness more or les
severe, according to the, part of the jar fror
which the beans were taken, of which they att
After this, it was not difficult to admit that tn
!. arsenic found in the mans possession migl
n have been purchased for the destruction Of rat
as he had constantly averred was the case.
We leave this statement, the authenticity
which may be confidently relied on, to the n
Fiction Of our readers. They can have lit
l. doubt, that, had this individual been brought
trial, (as he would have been, but for the
physcian) without the examination of the bod
his life would have been sacrifced,--few jur
would have hesitated to convict him. 1t wou
have been one instance added to the many
yacord IF N reliance on mere circumstantial n