New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-07-29
THE PRuTCHARD MURDER.

The student Of human nature Will puzzle long
over DIR. Pritchard Of Glasgow before he is able
to classify him and bring him within any known
laws to which the action Of motives upon the
human mind can be referred. Pritchard is one
of those stupendous criminals who set Psychol-
ogy at defiance, and leave Us To wonder whether
indeed there be O human nature distinctly separ-
,abe from that Of the brutes. Goethe once
declared he had never heard Of q cline which
he did not think himself capable Of committing,
but Goethe was dead before the time Of Palmer
aud Smethurst aud Pritchard. This man has
been tried and convicted Of tho murder Of his
wife by slow poison. There were but two con-
ceivable motives for the act: desire to re-
ceive through her death and her mothers
legacy which it is not clear he could even
thus obtain; and a desire to marry his
wife's nursemad with whom he had long
lived in easy relations, and who could
be 10 more TO him IA wife than
she had been as Lis mistress. Mrs. Pritch-
ard was not jealous nor vindictye wife. Con-
WINGED of her husbands infide,ity, she bore with
lit. Her mother, coming to Glasgow on visit.
also became aware oft, and though DR.. Pritch.
ard was then leisurely engaged in poisoning his
wife, the fact that Mrs. Taylor knew of his re-
lations TO the nursemaid, Mcleod, was
enough to stimulate him into another and speed
Ter murder. Throughout the whole protracted
tragedy, lasting from October till March, the
conduct of Pritchard is so deliberately cold
blooded that his counsel can suggest no other
sane theory Of defense than that the hldeousness
of his crimes is an argument for their impOssi.
bility. That defense is dissipated by the con.
iession of the criminal, which, nevertheless,
leaves us as much in the dark as ever about
motives.
The confession, as so often happens is partly
true and largely false. The evidence on the
trial proved beyond all question that Mrs.
Pritchard died from repeated doses Of anthony,
which was found on examination in the stomach,
liver spleen, kidney, heart, brain, and blood.
Two physicians who saw her while alive testi-
fed that she was evidently suffering from the
depressing effects of anthony. For five
months, Pritchard mingled that poison with the
food and drink Of his wife He attended her
professionally during all that period, wept over
her. was assiduous in his caro-, and never forgot
to be demonstrative in his affection. He sits
IN her bedroom while she eats the dinners ne
has poisoned. He carries ON his intrigue with
her nursemaid all the while, and just as Mrs.
Pritchard is dying he presents Mary Mcleod
with jewelry and his photograph. When she
dies he goes to his room and writes in his diary
Ill, Friday. Died here at a. IN. Mary
Jane. my own beloved wife, aged 80 years; no
torment surrounded her bedside, but like o
calm, peaceful lamb Of God, passed Minnie
away. Prayer on prayer till mine be DER,
everlasting love. Save us, Lord, for Thy dear
Son." We presume it may have been that
precious entry which suggested to the counsel
of DR.. Prtchard q defense on tho ground Of
"moral insanity"-the modern euphcmism'
says London paper. for " the instigatlon oil the
devil"
But the singularity Of this case does not END
! With he crimlaal; it extends " tha msMsaI