The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-06-15
CLRCUMSTANTIAL 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
AondOners, is probably forgotten, or at
least but little known In the United
States, Eliza Fenning was fair girl of
twenty-five, 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 H0lborn. on the very spot
where Day & Martins backing estab-
lishment now stands, she was employed
as cook in the 3amily of Mr.. Turner, a
law stationer in Chancery lane. That
family consisted of the Turner's, man
and wife, two apprentices named Gads-
den and King, Sarah Peer, q housemaid,
and Eliza Fenning, the cook. One day
the father of Mr.. Turner went to his
sous house to dinner, and Mrs. Turner
ordered Eliza to make some yeast dump
Angg. When dinner time came the
three Turner's sat down at table and be-
gan TO discuss the savOry dish. The
dumphngs 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 appretices,
par6ook OF it, and also fell violently i'll
Eliza herself next ate of the dish, and
was attacked by the same strange symp-
TOMAS. The apprentice King and Sarah
Che maid, who had dined earlier, did
not taste the dumplings, and were not
I'll.
sThe 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 dump
..alxrssw was examined. It was clear that
1he poison was not in the sauce, of which
the elder Turner had not partaken.
Neither was 1t in the -four, for q pie
! crust made of the same -four had been
ssaSen 10y King and Peer with impunity.
Some dough Of which the dumplings
were made was examined, AMI poison
discovered therein. It appears that
Turner used arsenic for killing rats, ana
Uas In tho b. ct leaving it carelessly
Ta au open drawer.
Suspicion fell at once upon Eliza Fen
ming, and she was arrested and arraigned
N1pOn charge of attempting to poison
TShe Turner's. From the first she ear
z nes&iy protested her innocence. It was
z proved that she, and she alone, had
mixed end made the dumplings the
circunstantial evidence went to show
shat no one else had access to them until
gEEaev were served upon the table. She
mad been i'll the kitchen all the time
they were there, and most of the time
alone. Here, then, was proved oppor-
szzuity. 1t was shown that when the APP
3srentice. Gadsden, was on the point of
eating some of the dumplings, Eliza
urged him not to do SO, saying they were
sold and heavy. It was lii evidence that
Eliza had not taken tl9 poisoned food
until she had observed it's effect upon
others, and it was thence inferred that
she took il either to conceal her crime,
or with suicidal design It moreover
appeared that Eliza's statements were
Inconsistent, contradictory, and, In some
instances, untrue. She declared that
the poison must be In the milk and not
zn the dumplings. Now, the milk had
E7een fetched by Sarah Peer. 1t was
thence inferred that Eliza was trying to
divert suspicion from herself to her fell
.Eow-secvant. The analysis proved con-
eaiusively that the arsenic was in the
dumpIings and not in the milk. To fur
aaler disprove the presumption of limo
ssenoe by eating herself of the poisoned
food it was shown that she had shortly
before had a hearty meal off beefsteak
pic and, therefore, was not likely to
have eaten the ''cold and heavy" dump
Kings, as she described them to Gads,
deaf because she was hungry. Having
tried in vain to persuade people that the
paiaon was In the milk, she turned
around and declared that it was In the
yeast The yeast was proved by analysis
60 be perfectly pure.
Here, then, was group of important
sGircuulstantial elements. Opportunity
-xag proved. so was an instrument (the