Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-12-29
THE WHARTON TRIAL.
ANegress ON the sta.d.

case, Susan Jacobs, colored, sworn, testified
she was Mrs .Wharton's cook and lived with
her at the time of Gen. Ketchum' sdeath. She
tsok charge of Ketchum's room until his
death. DIR. Williams called to see the
General Monday. After he left she dis
covered that KetcIum had vomited in the
slop jar. He took no medicine while she
was here. She asked if the Doctor had left
him any medicine. He said the Doctor left
but one dose, which he thought insufficient,
and he had taken o dose of his own medi-
cine which he knew was sufficient. She
left the room, but returned about O'Clock
to see what he would have for dinner
Found him asleep; called him and asked
how he felt. He said to let him alone and
he would sleep it off. He asked for tea and
toast for dinner. Said he would try and
sit up, and got out of bed and started to
the lounge. He staggered, and seemed
as if he was going 4 to fall. After
he got to the lounge, fixed pillow under
his head. Went down stairs and found
Mrs. Wharton in the back room reading,
and asked her to go up and see Ketchllm.
She went up stairs to him. l went down
to the kitchen. In a few minutes Mrs.
Wharton rang the bell. | went up. When
/ got up stairs she asked me to make up the
bed, for she wanted Ketchum TO lie down.
She told me to go down stairs and bring
feather bolster from Miss Weller's bed.
Brought it up. Mrs. Wharton was sitting
beside the General all this time. In max
ing the bed l started to take off the bolster.
The General spoke to me quite sternly. l
looked round to see what was the matter,
for saw nothing but tumbler at the head
of the bed. l picked up the tumbler. 1t
contained cracked ice. The tumbler was
between the bolster and the head board,
wrapped in a towel. Put the tumbler on
the mantlepiece. Again attempted to take
the bolster off the bed. As took off the
bolster small phial rolled down in the bed
from about where the tumbler had been.
Put the phial on the floor and finished fix
ing the bed. Mrs. Wharton by
this time had left the room.
Gen. Ketchum got in be /. He went to
sleep before he got dinner. Mrs. Wharton
went driving with Mrs., Toney that day.
Saw Gen. Ketchum quite often while she
was out. He seemed drowsy. went
down stairs and left the phial in Gen. Ketch-
ums room. Saw Mrs. Wharton and told
her about the phial before she went out
with Mrs. Toney. Told her left the phial
up stairs. Brought it down while she was
out. Kept it till she came in,and showed it
to her. We saw what was in it. She told
me to take some of it. L put it away. On
Wednesday morning Mrs. Wharton asked
me for the bottle. She sent me for DIR. Will
liams that msrning. Never saw the bottle
before found it in Gen. Ketchum's bed.
Had seen Gen. KetchTIm at Mrs. Wharton's
often. Had seen him take medicine. In
the summer, this year, he was in the dining
room with his medicine. asked him would
he have spoon. He said he did not want
any spoon, that be generally drank out of
the bottle what he thought was enough for
a dose. Did not know what the medicine
was. The bottle l found smelled like
laudanum. Told Mrs. Wharton so. Gen.
Ketchum did not tell witness what kind of
medicine he had taken. He had no tumb-
Ter when he took the medicine. Saw him
drink the medicine from the bottle. The
bottle was not a laudanum phial, but was
larger. Told Marshall Fry in his Office In
Baltimore, that Gen. Ketchum was not
taken like Mr.. Van Ness, but he kind of
slept. a. a'-a s.4.t VIZ
Miss Nellie Wharton.
Miss Nellie Wharton, daughter of the
prisoner, was called, and stated that she
left home on q visit to Hartford county on
the Thursday previous to Gen. Ketchum's
illness and arrived home about an hour and
a-haif before he died. She testified to tax
ing from home with her phial of paregoric
which she left at the house she visited; that
all the medicines in her mothers house
were kept in washstand in her mothers
room; that she went to it constantly. The
phial found in Gen. Ketcnum's bed was
here shown to witness. Said she had never
seen it before the day Gen. Ketchum died.
Was positive she had never seen any such
phial in the house. She was absent from
home for the purpose of making farewell
visits previous to her departure for Europe,
which had been determined upon a year
previously she had at that time S15, 900
in Government bonds of her own and un-
der her own control. In the afternoon of
Ketchum's death Mrs. Hutton gave her his
watch Keys, ETC., which she locked up.
Kept them until Mr.. Chas. Ketchum came
over, on the 4th of July. Then gave them
to mother who gave them to Chas.
Kstchum. r.F r..
The witness stated in reply to question
by Mr.. Steele, that the telegram sent by her
to Mrs. Chubb, asking her to come to Balti-
more, was in reply to a telegram received
by witness from Mrs. Chubb the day pre-
vious. a-lEA
Miss Nellie Mayer, of Baltimore, was
called. Said she was an intimate acquaint-
ance of the Wharton family. Saw Gen.
Ketchum there frequently. In conversation
last winter he tcld witness he was in the
habit of taking medicine from a bottle
without measurement. Court adjourned.