The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-06-16
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.
some of the Famous Cases.


We doubt if there ever happened a
more melancholy instance of what is
termed Judicial murder than the
famous case of Eliza Fenning. The
tragic history of that unhappy young
woman, though well remembered by old
Londoners, is probably forgot ten, or ut
least but little known in the Unites
States. Eliza FenDing was a fair girl of
twenty-two, of more than usual intelli-
gence for one of her class, bright, CO.
quettish, but well disposed and amiable.
The daughter of a poor couple who
dwelt in High Holborn, Oh the very spot
where Day Martins backing estab-
1ishment now stands, she was employed
,as cook in the Iamily OF q Mr.. Turner, a
law stationer in Chancery lane. That
family consisted of the Turner'S, man
and wife, two apprentices named Gads-
don and King, Sarah Peer, housemaid,
and Eliza Fenning, the cook. One day
the father of Mr.. Turner went to his
sons house to dinner, and Mrs. Turner
ordered Eliza TO make some yeast dump.
ingsG When dinner time came the
three turner's sat down at table and be-
gan to discuss the sayory dish. The
dumphngs had scarcely been tasted,
however, when all three were seized with
sharp aud agonizing pains. The dish
WAS taken out into the kitchen, and
there Gsdsden, one of the appretices,
partook OF it, and also fell violently Ill.
Elizs herself next ate of the dish, and
was attacked by the same strange symp-
toxns. The apprentice King and Sarah
the maid, who had dined earlier, did
not taste the dumplings, and were not
IN.
The physician who WAS called declared
the sym ptoms OF the sufferers to be those
OF poisoning by arsenic. Then every
component part Of the dish of dump
the poison was not in the sauce, of which
the elder Turner had not partaken.
Neither was it in the flour, for pie
crust made of the same flour had been
eaten by King and Peer with impunity.
Some dough of which the dumplings
were made was examined, an | POISON
disc@geced therein. 1t appears that
TurIler used ,reenic for killing rats, and
was i'll the babit 81 leaving it carelessly
IN an upeaa drawer.
Suspicion fell at once upon Eliza Fen
} ning, and she was arrested and arraigned
yTsn Il charge of attempting to poison
tdse Turner'S. From the first she ear
nes$iy protested her innocence. 1t was
proved that size, and she alone, had
mixed and made the dumplings the
circnnstantial evidence went to show
that no one else had access to them until
They were served upon the table. She
bad been in the kitchen all the time
ys$ey were there, and most OF the time
saotsa Here, then, was proved oppor-
ts,nity. # WAS shown that when the APP
prcntice, Gadsden, was on the point of
eating somo of the dumplings, Eliza.
urged him not to do 30, Say ing they were
cold and heavy. 1t was 10 evidence that
Ialiaa had not taken the poisoned food
until she had observed its effect upon
.otlexs, and it was thence inferred that
.sias took IL either to conceal her crime,
+og with suicidal design. 1t moreover
appeared that ELIAS statements we're
Inconsistent, contradictory, and, in some
INSTANCES, untrue. She declared that
tho poison must be in the milk and not
IN the dumplings. Now, the milk had
'Seegl fetched by Sarah Peer. IL was
thence inferred tnat Eliza was trying to
divert suspicion from herself to her fell
{ow-servant. The analysis proved con-
ciuaiyely that the arsenic was in the
.damplings aud not in the milk. To fur
Cher disprove the presumption of inno-
.ce1cs by eating herself of the poisoned
food. it was shown that she had shortly
before had hearty meal off beefsteak
pie, and. therefore, was not likely TO
have eaten the cold and heavy" dump
hnga, as she described them to Gads.
den, because she was hungry. Having
tired In vain 20 persuade people that the
YotHon was in the milk, she turned
around and declared that il was in the
yesse The yeast was proved by analysis
In be perfectly pure.
here, then, was group of important
esroumstantlal elements. Opportunity
waa T~oved, 80 was an instrument (the