Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1871-12-08
EVENING STAR.
urrRIAL OF MRS. WHARTON.
t1curr that Gen. ketehum Died
WV ,esa the fleets Of Poison.


,,,.T the close of our report of the Wharton
Ly Associated Press yesterday, and the
I,.,rrut upCu the admissability of evidence as
. 1be circumstances connected with the max
q ~. 7. milk punch at Mrs. Wharton house OF
- Mr. Van Ness paItOoh, and in which a
NI5:,,sut Was found which proved to be tarter
-. the court decided that it was comPe-
en. for the State to show that Mrs Wharton
~ N her possession the means of poisoning.
IsgrSs testimony Of Mrs. Hutton was then re-
Id She testified that DIR. Chew had ordered
SIM punch; Mrs. Van Nes- prepared the
- MIS-. " naTton was Present; after it was
l-srra Ms. Van Ness placed ii in the re-
i.Sls-,f0r: nd not r. member who put the sugar
80 tBmber; witness afterwards saw the
L-FGsr ia the Sd story, tnere Was sediment in
isl-iGt-onl- after the Ueueral's death. while his
p1 -. scr. beiI z packed, Mr.. Crawford Nell
= and .oorCO woman were IN the room; wit
-. -, the clothes TO Mr.. Nelson and ne
IttJ a.. " " the bag: the vest was not nut in;
!tsvrr-.d . tiud IL; don't know where the vest
.. f-T.i. lie Tag had = key; Mr.. Nei sOn
W. + IN Win - Who gave IL TO Mrs. Wha ton:
go, slr. ~. stated to witness that she Ia the
-. iu hey wardrobe she gave no reason Tor its
N NJ th,re ror did she state ANYTHING as to how
r. Z, or rroSs eyf nnation of Mrs. Hutton was
len COndueted by Mr.. Steele, but nothing new
W. W. p &. williams testified tina. he saw Gen.
Es,chum ON Monday, June 10Th, between the
49, OF I and O'Clock; he was in the third story
: at com Of Mrs. VS. house, sitting on n sofa;
a. ". much nauseated; very pale and much
4f..tl-H
- lev moments; ordered him to bed, and
III ~ rs a dose two drops of creosote and
tt's.uVcnlul of lime water, to be repeated
srsTv Two hours until he was relieved. Witness
% Lin again on TuesCiav, when he was b stter,
- ,uoSe OF returning to Washington that day;
sw him sgain on Wednesday morning; received
. messing from Mrs, Whar ION through a servant
II ;, cone iTnme dately, as neral n. was worse,
va- IL uC on the sofa on his right side, with his
fsst on a chair and his face to the back of the
sofa; maze noise. thin ing he was asleep; then
su,ss TO him; got no answer; witness went up to
nm and laid his hands on his shoulders; a slight
eoVyul,ive tremOr passed over his whole body:
wins ordered some ice to be applied to his
had and wrote a prescription for half an ounce
OF the tincture OF yellow Jasmine; the directions
which he gave and which were on the bottle
we're forty drops 20 be given every two hours in
tive teaspoons fun "a water; Mr.: Hutton and
Mrs Hutton were there then. Mrs. Wharton
sked me Il had received a bottle which she
had entrusted 70 Mr.. Hutton TO give to me /; told
ter YES; he had given IL to me as i entered the
bOuSe. She asked me N did not think il con
taiued laudsnum told her thought 1t had; she
detailed the circumstances under which the bot
lie had been found, and minated that the fact
should lot be known further than was neces-
say, stating that IL might give rise to an idea
that the general had destroyed himself; she told
ne that the bottle was found on Tuesday even
ing, that she and the servant Susan had gone
tOthe generals room to make uD the bed; that
they requested the general to get up and 60 to
tie sofa; and while she WAS arranging the
sofa. Susan began 10 pull OF the bed-clothes;
Tat As Susan dld 30 something rolled out
out. "lCOk out, you'll break my watch" that she
hOked anu saw the generals watch on his person;
that they completed making the bed and with
drew leaving him lying on the sofa, that some
tine aftgTward Susan came TO her and said,
" y on know. Mrs. W, something fell out of the
bed while we were making IL up, and General
X. thought il was his watch, bat / afterwards
ven: 10 u see and found this bottle;'' that Su-
san gave the bottle 10 her. there was no label on
&c when il y g given to me, at that time there
va legib'y printed on the sealing wax on the
cork - Coleman * Rogers" but il is now illegi-
BE: they are druggists in Baltimore; their store
: about Eiile and a quarter from Mrs. Whar-
tons Witness described at some length the
SYMPTOMS Of General n, and, after careful ex-
animation. said he remarked. 80 fear the GEN
ela has been poisoned" Mrs. Hutton beck
oues to me. and went 10 the corner of the
rOOm. fpr. Williams was warned not to give
sny Conversation which occurred when Mrs.
Wharton not present 4 was sent out of
the T0cm To see Mrs lOney; she produced a
\ lumber from her pocket, and asked me to ex-
an ne il and tell her what il contained; being
Pat on my guard by certain facts she mentioned
TO me, took my knife and put a small portion
| Of the s.diment in the tumbler my tongue
and pressed il agains. the roof of my mouth;
I had a strong metallic taste and burnt my
tongue and the roof OF nv mouth; the taste re-
| NAMED il nv mouth until p. M; being con-
Vineed hy the taste that the deposit contained z
Retaliic poison returned to General Ketchum'-
IOOm itE nv doubts changed into a conviction
that he lad been poisoned; found him growing
rapidly worse; applied TO General Brice for per-
EiSS' 20 make post HsGTtem examination;
mace pos, BsOTfeR examination the next morn
ing AZ y O'Clock; removed the skull and took
out TIE brain; examined il thoroughly; there
vas nothing there 10 account for his death; then
I examined the liver, the kidneys and the Spleen
ard found them all healthy: applied a lIgature
Above and below the stomach and removed that
organ ard its contents; then removed the bowels
ard opened them; there were occasional point;
CT congestion IN them; had sli ght discussion a
20 the PTOpriety OF opening the chest TO examine
TIE heart and lungs; came 20 the conclusion thai
n would rot be OF much use TO do 80, as there
was no evidence that in his lifetime he had suf
iered from anv disease of those organs; did not
examine the m then, but did SO after the indict-
mentS against Mrs. Wharton had been found
going 20 Washington anu having the body ex.
humed; found, as we expected, no evidence OF
any disease.
The eoart then adjourned until to-day.