Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-06-22
A PECULIAR VERDICT.

l.
A PECULIAR VERDICT.
Nothing to Show That tho Man Committed
Suicide, But Verdict That he Died From
Poison Administered bv Himself.
The coroner's inquest upon the body of Her.
~ McManus was resumed at 9 o'clock yester-
day morning at the late residence of the de-
ceased. In addition to the coroner and his
jury, there were present Drs. Mattocks, Boyd,
and Roy, and GLOBE representative.
Immediately previous to adjournment on the
previous afternoon, the coroner stated that the
| body would be eviscerated yesterday morning,
for the purpose of submitting the digestive
organs to chemical analysis, aud Dr.. Mattocks
was on hand with his interesting little ma
hogany box of knives and what-nots. But
when the jury got together, the coroner said
DR.. Mattocks considered that q post mortem
was entirely unnecessary under the circumstan
ces. Thai, continued the coroner, was
matter for the jury to decide, and he would re-
( move the responsibility as to whether the post
mortem should take place or not from his own
shoulders to those of the jury. In order,
then, that they might arrive at decision in
the premises, he would read them the evidence
taken on the day previous. With this, the cor
oner produced a copy of yesterdays Pionee,
| Press. and said the evidence as therein pub
lished was the same as his official transcript of
the testimony, as he had dictated it to the re-
porter Of that journal from his own notes. The
testimony Of Mrs. McManus and DR.. Roy, given
on the morning of the previous day then
read from the newspaper, but the other testi-
| mOny was not read.
During the reading, J. G. A. Ward, a Juror.
| who had taken most vOluminous notes as re-
porter closely followed his manuscript as the
reading progressed, and objected to the testi-
mony as read by the coroner.
Coroner-What is the matter with it?
/ JuIor-Because it omits the fact that Mrs.
| McAlanus said her husband was troubled with
heart disease.
Coroner-I omitted that because I did not
believe she was a judge.
JurOr-But she said it, and it ought to be in
the evidence.
/ Corone1-Well, am the coroner, and I left
it out because l did not believe she was COM
petent to judge whether he had heart disease
or not.
Juror-You may be the coroner but we are
The jury. We are the judges of the fact as to
whether she was competent to judge or not. At
any rate, size said SO, and it ought to be in the
evidence. The evidence read has another
omission. DR.. Roy said that he administered
nitrate of amyl to the deceased, and that fact
is omitted in the evidence published, which ha.
; been read. It evidence is to be submitted to
US to form judgment upon, we want the
whole of it. For my part I do not see that
there has been the ightest necessity for even
an inquest on this matter, let alone oos1
norton examinatiO l.
This little blet zc hay ing subsidized DR.. Boyd
by request of the coroner and of DR.. Mattocks,
reiterated his statement of yesterday, only
som. what mole fully. The decedent first came
<rf hn Hoo nf <lD 1.I<L
asked to be prescribed for. He was very fee.
BILE, 80 very feeble that he could scarcely walk
across the floor of the Office. His pulse was
low. He said he was suffering from pain in
, and around the heart, and at tie time of tt {
soreness was covered with cold, clamm,
sweat. The severity Of the pain was not con.
inuous but came and went. He had no APP
petite. He said he bad had many physician.
: in attendance upon him at various times, but
had obtained no relief. The witness
! prescribed sulphur and determined
to await results. On the &C.
casion Of the second visit, the deceased
, looked brighter. and said he was much better
The sweats had left him, but the pain still con
tinued. The witness then prescribed the suga,
3 Of milk. to be alternated described in yes
terday's testimony.
l DR.. Roy then described the differences be-
tween commissions caused by strychnine, tetanit
commissions and ordinary commissions. He
considered thai the deceased died from strych.
nine, because his eyes were not wide open al
they would be in of -tetanic commissions
and because the slightest movement or noise
, m lde by those around the deceased would
throw him again into commissions after the par
. oxysm Was over. In tetanic convulsions, the
patient could not swallow after the CONFUSION.
were over, whereas. after strychnine uIsiOni
the patient The latter was the case with the
deceased, and the witness concluded. by sayins
, that the deceased had presented every symptom
| nj frnv c<rS
DIR. J, attocks made an unsworn statement
He said he believed the deceased had died from
strychnine administered by his own hand-he
: had killed himself. The symptoms of poison
ing by strychnine were nnmistakable, and the
: witness considered DR.. Roy was right in his
supposition that the deceased was SO poisoned
post mortem would not necessarily develop
the fact that the man died from heart disease
The morphine administered to him would in.
; terfere with a chemical analysis for strychnine
: and prevent successful test therefor
: DR.. Boyd had said that men suffering from
heart disease sometimes died as the deceased
had done, which the witness thought might be
true. At any rate, the medicines prescribed by
DIR. Boyd had nothing whatever to do with the
! mans death. strychnine was difficult to take
ON account Of its extreme bitterness, and they
had seen DIR. Boyd take one OF the powders,
DIR. Roy had been here when the man was in
? the commissions, his evidence had not been con-
troverted, and he was the best Judge of the cir
cumstances of his "eath. But suppose strych-
, nine was found in the mans stomach, they
; would be just in the same dilemma they were
then. The wi hess had known the decedent
we'll for some time. He was eccentric--very
peculiar. He had had business losses. He
had lately lost his mother and two daughters.
There was not shadow of Il suspicion resting
upon anyone as having administered the poison
to the deceased. On the other hand, he was
just that class Of man that would get tired of
life and end his own days.
Juror to DR.. Mattocks-Would not the medi-
cine given by DIR. Roy have killed a man with
heart disease?
DR.. Mattocks, laughing-That means, did
DR.. Boyd or DIR. Roy kill the man? No, it
would not.
Thomas McManus, brother of the deceased
without being sworn, said he Was present when
his brother died. The deceased was sometimes
a little passionate, but, beyond that, had no
domestic trouble. The deceased and his wife,
in the language of the witness, lived us hap
Ply as king and queen.
This closed the testimony. and all retired
from the room but the jurors. In a very short
time ve-dict was rendered to the effect tha,
the deceased came to his death by strychnine
administered by his own hand.
y RIVER MATTERS.
The river yesterday indicated depth Of
four feet, there having been neither rise mol
fall during the previous twenty-four hours!
The Minnesota arrived at s A. NJ. yesterday
and departed at p. NJ, with fair trip. eaet