The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1869-12-15

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CARLISLE, Pa, Nov. "a.
The news that Governor Geary has sign
ed the death warrant of Schoeppe, the al
legged murderer of Miss Stennecke, was re
ceived here this afternoon, and occasioned |
excitement. The purely circum-
stantial evidence upon which the prisoner
was convicted, the slender thread which. |
connected the crime with any reasonable |
motive, and the social standing of the par
ties, have contributed to make this one of |
the causes celebre of this country. =
The accused, DR.. Paul Sehoeppe, is a
practising physician of this place, native |
OF Germany, graduate of Heidelburg 1
University, and q handsome looking man /
or about twenty five. His father is e |
Lutheran minister, and also resident of
this city. -.J
Miss Maria Stennecke, the deceased,
was about sixty five years of age, resi-
dent of Baltimore, and possessed of an es-
tate worth probably $40, 600 p. $40
In the summer Of 1868, Miss Stenneeke
visited Carlisle, and, in consequence of
slight illness, consulted DR.. Schoeppe. The
acquaintance soon ripened into an infima
cy, and the intimacy into the offer of
marriage from DIR. Schoeppe.f The offer
was accepted, and the course of love ran
smooth until the 26 of january, 1869,
when Miss Stennecke was taken i'll, dying
on the 9Th. She was attended at the
time by two physieians-Dr. Schoeppe
and DIR. Herman-the latter having been
called IN by the former. The body of the
deceased was taken to Baltimore, and on
the lst Of February, SchOeppe, through
his counsel, appeared before the Probate
Court and filed document purportiDg to
be the last will and testament of Miss
Stenneeke, whereby all her property was
bequeathed TO her lover and physiclan.-
The subscribing witnesses were -Schoeppe
and his father. Up to this time there had
not been thefalntest suspicion of foul play.
No one had seen or suspected any irregu-
larity. Upon the production of this will
the heirs of Miss Stennecke Immediately
denounced Sch9eppe as murderer. assert
ing that the VIII was forged and Miss
Stenneeke asssssinRted. Thirteen days af-
ter her death, the body of the deceased
was exhumed, and post mortem examin-
alton made. Schoeppe was indicted by
the Grand Jury, tried IN the Oyer and
Terminer Court, found guilty, and genten-
ced to be hanged, GFlE- .-l "a
When the charges were first presented,
considerable feeling was manifested against
the condemned, but his conduct from that
time to the present, and the thorough sift
ing which the circumstances have received
from the medical journals and facnlty,
nave worked change in public sentiment
so great that now there is probably not
dozen people in this city who believe in
his guilt galI ci -ls1as iis 10 4 II ~
When public inquiry was directed to the
case by the, declarations of the heirs of
Miss Stennecke, the probabilities that q
murder might have been committed under
such circumstances caused the INQUIRY to
start out upon the-assumption that it actus
ally had There was no attempt to find
any other cause for her death or TO con
Wet any other man as her murderer. In
stead OF first finding the result and work
ing back to the cause, a probable cause
was found and everything bentand twisted
TO prove that it was the particular cause
which produced the effect. The whole
ease shows this clearly. ESQ -
? To prove that a murder was committed
the stomach and intestines were given TO
DR., Aiken for examination. He testified
that he found by the sulphuric acid a faint
trace of prussic acid. When asked ifhe had
tined any other test (the nitrate Of silver)
to distinguish traces of prussic acid, he
said he had not. He had tested for min
] eral poIsons, but found none AS soon
as he had found traces of prhssic acid he
stoppedls-iIhat was what he set ont tO
| ind, and when il was found he made M
attempt TO search further for the cause OF
death. OF the method which he employ.
ed, it is not for me to speak. His examin.
alton had been shown to be faulty by the
members of his profession, by whom ht
is accused of gross negligence in InstiIl
ng the stomach and Intestines with a DOW
erful acid, which, by decomposing the
cyanOgen compounds naturally found d
the human system, produced the one
twenty five thousandth part of q grain o1
/ prussic acid, necessary to fulfill the condi
tiOns of his test. 1t is manly upon The
evidence of DR.. Aiken that the prisoner
was convicted. The only other evidence
that q murder was committed was the les,
| timony of DIR. Herman, that he looked at
Miss Stennecke's eye when she was diving,
and it reminded him of the eye of aichick
en- hawk that had been poisoned with Z
compound poison. But SO far as having
any opinion at the, time that Miss Stem,
necke was poisoned, he continued hi!
friendly relations with Schoeppe, and nev
4 er mentioned asuspiciOn. ~ r'alI8t5 3
The question, was there a murder com
mitted Dr.. John Reese, Professor o.
Medical Jurisprudence and Toxicology IL
the University Of Pennsylvania, answer
as follows: 1sl4E G5 '..sss1ks--a +
The chemical evidence is open to gravt
objections, in the first place, let it be OBJ
served that 1t is a well established point il
medical Jurisprudence, that the detection
of merely faint traces of q poison, by chem
ical analysis, is of very little signidcane.
unless corroborated by the previous symp
toms. This was not the case. Again
the analysis was faulty in two points
first, the analist neglected to employ tn
most delicate of all tests, the nitrate of sill
yer test, and secondly (and, particularly
he committed mistake in using sulphur,
acid in his distilling process. This acit
was not only unnecessary, on the pre-
sumption of the existence ef free pFussi
acid in the stomach, but it was absoIutell
faulty, inasmuch. as it (the acid has tn
properly of developing the poison in cues
tien out of certain inert substances tha
might happen to be present there, one o,
which f(sulphocyanogen) is normal con
sutuent OF human saliva. The fact is, o
course, fatal to the chemical evidence. I
would seem that the prosecution becam
z sensible of this defect, as they soon abAn
/ dOned the charge of poisoning by prassi
acid, and substituting by the combined US
of morphia and prussic acid. But WheH
is the evidence to substentiate this allega
tiOn 1t appears to US 10 be perfecti,
gTOundlesss One OF the medical IPlrnesse
it is true, gave the details of an expeTimen
made on q crow or a hawk, by giving
q combined. dose of prussic acid, mOrphi
and corrosive sublimate. He says tina
the bird died with symptoms analogous /
those presented by the deceased . T'hi
SOLITARY experiment is the only one addu
ced, and it is not pertinent TO the case
since birds are poor subjects 10 experinen
upon with pOIsOns, with view to Sleduc
physiological conclusions in reference I
manis Again, the analist utterly failed 4
! discover the pretence of morphine in ia
t-stomach, although he searched carefull
for it, d0u what ground, them is the allie
: CATION of poisoning by morphine based g.
Chiefly from the resemblance of the ant
mortem symptoms with those which ar
produced by morphia. Now, we thin
!, that every symptom 'presentedsby the de
: ceased might very readilys and natufalI
I. be ascribed to an apoplectic attack He
Il farr 10, n