Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1876-05-18

father OF Mr.. Turner went to bis son Q
house to dinner, and Mrs. Turner Or
dered Eliza to make some yeast dump
lings. When dinner time came the
three Turner's sat down at the table,
and began to discuss the. savory dish.
The dumplings had scarcely been tasted
however, when all three were seized
With sharp and agonizing pains. The
dish was taken out into the kitchen,
and there Gadsden, one of the appren-
tices partook Of it and also fell violently
i'll. Eliza herself next ate of the dish,
and was attacked BY the same strange
symptoms. The apprentice, King, and
Sarah, the maid, who had dined earlier,
did not taste the dumplings, and were
not i'll.
The physician who was called declared
the symptoms of the sufferers to be
those Of poisoning by arsenic. Then
every component part of the dish Of
dumplings was examined. It was clear
that the poison was not in the sauce,
Of which the elder Turner had partaken.
Neither was it in the -four, for pie
crust made of the same -four had been
eaten by King and Peer with impunity
Some dough Of which the dumplings
were made was examined, and poison
discovered therein. 1t appears that
Turner used arsenic for killing rats,
and was in the habit of leaving it care
lessly in an open drawer.
Suspicion fell at once upon Eliza
Fenning, and she was arrested and ar
raigned on a charge Of attempting to
poison the Turner's. From the first she
earnestly protested her innocence. 1t
was proved that she and she alone had
mixed and made the dumplings; the cir.
:. (1 vi1euel went TO show that
,- - u h6v6 kad acasss to them
'u6t1l l6ey N6fs served upon the table.
She had been in the kitchen all the
time they we're there, and most of the time
alone. Here, then, was proved oppor-
tunity. 1t was shown that when the
apprentice Gadsden was on the point
Of eating some of the dumplings, Eliza
urged him not to do 30, saying they
were cold and heavy.
1t was in evidence that Eliza had not
taken the poisoned food until she had
observed its effect upon others, and it
was thence inferred tha. she either took
it to conceal the crime, or with suici-
dal design. 1t moreover appeared that
Elias statements about the matter
were inconsistent, contradictory, and
in some instances untrue. She declared
that the poison must be in the milk
and not in the dumplings. Now, the
milk had been fetched bv Sarah Peer.
1t was thence inferred that Eliza was
trying to divert suspicion from herself
to her fellow-servant. The analysis
proved conclusively that the arsenic was
in the dumplings and not in the milk.
To further disprove the presumption
of innocence raised by her eating herself
Of the poisoned food. it was shown that
she had shortly before had a hearty
meal of beef.steak pie, and therefore
was not likely to have eaten the .'cold
and heavy" dumplings. as she described
them to Gadsden. because she was hun.
gry. Having tried in vain to persuade
people that the poison was in the milk,
she turned around and declared that it
was in the yeast. The yeast was proved
BY analysis to be perfectly pure.
Here, then, was group Of important
circumstant.al elements. Opportunity
was proved; 90 was an instrument (the
arsenic) at hand in a drawer to which
she had free access, and desire betrav.
ed to conceal the crime by divertins
suspicion to another and by telling un-
truths. Upon the evidence a. We have
sketcbed it Eliza Fenuing was convicted
by the jury, and sentenced to death
The case, however, created 30 wide
spread an agitation in the public mind
that justice hesitated 70 execute its
fatal decree. The utter absence of a
conceivable motive was a serious blow
in the case. Why shouid this light
hearted, amiabfe young girl, whose
worst known fault was her coquetry with
the apprentices, poison q whole fami.
ly? The great Irish advocate Curran
then in the height Of his fame, exclaim.
ed in burning eloquence against The
horrible cruelty of her fate.
She was reprieved for three months,
in hope that new evidence would trans.
pire to save her. None was fortcom.
ing. She was executed amid the great.
est excitement throughout the metrop-
oils; and on warm 'July day she was
borne, amid the sorrowing faces of 10
600 spectators, and her pall upheld BY
six young girls robed in white, from
her humble home to the graveyard oi
the founding hospital One Who lived
amid those scenes wrote, long after
''Poor Eliza Fenning! Cut down in
the morning, with aii life's brightness
only in its dawn! Little did it profit
thee that city mourned over thy early
grave. aud that the most eloquent oi
men did justice to thy memory.