Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1865-12-02
q POISONING CASE

Inlh9 UA10 FRUGEEDlNuS.
THE TESTIMONY NOT ALL IN.
Case Probably Disposed of To-day.
The examination Of witnesses in the case
of Mrs. Amelia II. Phinney, charged with
poisoning her husband, Benjamin Phinney,
of RockPort, was resumed in the Police
court atten o'clock yesterday, Mayor Chaplin
presiding. The prosecution got in ell the tes-
timony in behalf Of the Stale, but the avail
able hours Of the day were nearly consumed
by the time this was accomplished. The
counsel for the defense have but two or three
witnesses to examine, and in all human
probability the case will be concluded to-
day. The court will meet again at nine
O'clock this morning.
Thus far the evidence of guilt on the part
Of the accused, is by no means formidable,
indeed, is exceedingly faeagre. She could
not be convicted on the strength of it, and
probably not even bound ever. Inthe light
Of the developments made yesterday, the at
tention Of the careful observers of the drift
Of the testimony has inevitably been turned
10 another party. AT any rate it is not too
much to say, that the testimony against the
defendant is by no means conclusive.
We give below the substance of the testi-
mony taken yesterday
Judge Abbey was recalled at his own So
llcltation, having forgotten to make at his first
examination 9 full statement of the CONVEX
satioh between Mrs. Phinney and himself.
Before left to make that search. learn
ed that the bringing away of the stomach
was q secret, known only to two or three
others. / was struck with her first remark,
81 expected this l am ready to go with
you, and trust the result to Providence
asked her why she said that, as she didn't
know the stonach had been examined. She
said she had heard that the contents of that
organ had been chemically analyzrH, and
that a nelghbofing Woman had told her
Cnat poison had been found in the stomach.
Dr' HartuS Moore, SlrOrR g.: | reside in Do
yer. l am administrator of the estate of de-
ceased. was present at 1.-THE search ofthehouse
OF deceased, last Thursday. The vial was
here presented. He had seen it before. or
one similar. ] didn't see it taken out of the
drawer. Ny attention was first called to it
by an exclamation of Mr.. Dean % Here it
is we have found it \" He then gave me
this bottle, or n similar. lie had the
small upper drawer Of the bureau open. /
had had occasion, previous to this, to exam
inc said drawer After l was appointed adj
ministrator, I and the appraisers went to
Mr.. Phinney's to appraise the property.
Mrs. Phinney and childreA seemed to be
anxious that we should get at the money
and effects of that kind, FIRST. Mrs. Phin-
ney said, Make a thorough search of the
premises throughout. For she had a fear
that the children were taking the goods and
things belonging to the estate and slipping
them aside. The children said the same
thing Mrs. Phinney said to me, she sup
posed a thousand dollars in bonds were
missing. The son told me, be thought there
were from she to two thousand dollars miss
ing. l then proceeded 10 take an account
of the money, notes and effects of that kind.
We concluded TO examine the notes first,
and to get at them l went TO Mrs. Phiuney
for the keys, so that We could get at that
kind Of property. She told me that the
bonds belonging to the estate she had in her
pocket. She didn't know where the other
things were, and again requested me to
make a thorough search and find every
thing of that kind. We found the notes
and mortgages in o trunk. 1t was not
locked. The lock was defective. 1t was in
the bedroom adjoining the store. Then
went into the store, and took the papers out
of the drawers. Took them to the same
bedroom, and next searched the bureau
there, beginning with the small right-hand
My impression is, it was not
locked. The lower large drawers were all
locked. l unlocked them with one of the
keys furnished by Mrs. Phinney. In one
of the large drawers | found a key which
would unlock the other small left-hand
upper drawer. In it there were a few pa
pers, but Of no value; some articles of med
icine, l think, such as blue pills, Wright's
pills, and bitters not prepared in liquor, &c.
My idea is, that this vial of strychnine was
not there. I locked up the drawer and put
the key back where 1 found II, and gave
the other keys to Mrs. Phinney.
Cross examination: | have known Mr..
Phinney as long as have practiced. Was
his family physician. knew his late wife
before this one. She died about a year ago.
l had to her in her worst
sickness the use of Wright's pills, &c, At
tached no Importance to the discovery of
such articles in that drawer. Mrs. Phinney
seemed to have a fear that Ben. was taking
things. He had access to a place
where money was kept, and to the
store. She told me he had taken
from the store, such as undershirts,
drawers, &c, before his fathers death. She
had 10 doubt that Mr.. Phinney had 50, 900
in bonds in a valise. When it was opened
by her and Ben, there were but IS, 900. She
said Ben had access to the key in the drawer
in the store, which opened the money valise.
She took the bonds and put them in her
She said there were $500 which she
Mr.. Phinney were intending to lay out
in furniture, and come to the city the day he
lied She supposed it was in the store
irawer. She said Benny hadn't any money
If his own, but was using money freely.
had been to town the day before the
leath, with a load of potatoes. His father
gave Ben So, and this was ell he had. l
never knew deceased to have any poisons
lbout. He kept a small assortment Of medi-
The bonds were IN y large hand
runk of deceased, in his bedroom. | had
lot had any conversation with Mr.. Phinney
lfter his return from the east. Mrs. Phin-
gave me the bonds readily.
d. j. MdrUiR, SlCOrn: / reside in this CITY.
went with the party to make the search of
he premises. ! conversed with Mrs. Phin-
icy as to her history, and about her hus-
,and's death. She said he retired about an
lour earlier than common, the night before
lis death, and in apparent good health
hat he arose quite early the mex IN rning,
,efore she did, and went out to do his chores.
lie felt remarkably well, and said that
benny would soon be in for breakfast, and if
felt like it, he would like to have her
up and get breakfast. she got up and
le playfully tried to put on her stocking
he told him if he was in a hurry, he had
let her do it. She went into the
and soon heard him call. Didn't
in at once, for she thought him calling in
an, testing, but soon went in and found him
n spasms. She called to Alta that her faith
r was dying. The neighbors were reused,
hey came and did all they could, but could
OF save him