Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1879-12-16

, while he was in the cellar All tht
morning | spent in the place where the!
dissect; and when the students began t
come in down stairs escaped here to thu
roof
"Are you aware, Miss Borgier,
asked, very gravely, THAT you have com
mitted a serious indiscretion, and must bC
gotten out of the building as quickly and
as privately as possible" :"
She did not appear TO understand
Very we'll" she said. IL suppose there
is nothing more to see. may as vel
go"
led her down through the garret
numbered with boxes and barrels of unar-
ticulated human bones through the med
ical library, unoccupied at that hour; by
a back stairway into and across the great
vacant chemical lecture-room; through
the anatomical cabinet, full Of objects APP
palling TO the Imagination of her sex.
was silent, and she said nothing; but hei
ewes were everywhere, drinking in the
strange surroundings with an avidity
which | could feel without once looking
at her. Finally we came 70 a basement
corridor, at the end of which door, not
often used, gave egress by an alley-way
to the street 1t was through this door
that subjects for dissection were brought
into the building took a bunch OF
keys from my pocket and turned the lock.
"Iour way Is clear now,
ITO my immense astoniShment Miss
Borgier, as we stood together at the end
of the dark corridor, threw both arms
around my neck and kissed me.
"Good-by," she said as she disappeared
through the half-opened door
When awoke the next morning after
sleeping for more than fifteen hours,
found that | could not raise my head from
the pillow without nausea The symp-
toms were exactly like those which mark
the effects of an over dose of laudanum.
II.
have thought il due to myself and TO
my professional reputation 70 recount
these facts before briefly speaking Of my
recent testimony, as an expert IN the Rat
cliff murder trial, the character Of my re-
lations with the accused having been per-
sistently misrepreSentcd.
The circumstances of that celebrated
case are no doubt still fresh in the recol-
lcc,ions of the public. Mr.. John l..
RatcLff, a wealthy. middle-agcd merchant
of Boston, came to 81. LOUIS with his
Young bride on their wedding journey.
His sudden death at the Planters Hotel,
followed by the arrest of his wife, who
was entirely without friends or acquaint-
ances in the city, her indictment for mur-
der by poisoning, the conflict of medical
testimony at the trial, and the purely cir
cumstaniial nature of the evidence against
thc prisoner, attracted general attention
and excited public interest to a degree
that was quite extraordinary.
/, will be remembered that the State
proved that the relations of Mr. and Mrs.
Ratc,if. as observed by the guests and
servants Of e.. motel. were 10; ielicitous;
that he rarely spoke TO her At table, hab-
;tually avcrting his face in her presence; :;
that hc wandered aimlessly about the
hotel for several days previous to his i'll
ness, apparently half stuPcted, Us II by
the oppression Of some heavy mental bur
den, and that when accos,cd by any one
connected with the house he started as il
from a dream, and answered incohercntly
il d. all
Il was also shown that, By her hus-
band death, Mrs. Ra;clF became the
sole mistress of a large fortune.
The evidence bearing directly upon the
circumstances OF Mr.. katcllb death was
very clear. For twenty-four hours before
a physician was summoned nobody had
access to him save his wife At dinner
tina; day, in response to the polite in
quiry OF lady neighbor at table, Mrs
RatcliF announced, with great self-pos-
session, that her husband was seriously
lndlspo.ed Soon after ii o'clock at
night Mrs. Ratclif rang her bell, and,
without the least agitation Of manner,
remarked that her husband seemed to be
dying, and that it might be well to send
for a physician. Or. Culbert, who ar
rived within very few minutes. found
Mr.. Ratclif in profound stupor, breath
ing stertoriously. He sworc at the trial
that when he first entered the room the
prisoner, pointing to the bed, coolly said ::
Il suppose | have killed him
DR.. Culberts testimony seemed to point
unmistakably to poisoning by laudanum
or morphine. The unconscious mans
pulse was full but slow; his skin cold
and pallid; the expression of his counte-
nance placid, yet deadly pale; lips liyid.
Coma had already supervened and it was
impossible to rouse him. The ordinary
expedients were tried in vain. Flagella-
tion of the palms of his hands and the
soles Of his feet, electricity applied to the
head and spine, failed to make any i'm
preston on his lethargy. The eyelids
being forcibly opened the pupils were
seen to be contracted to the size of pin
heads and violently turned inward. Later
the stertorious breathing developed into
the ominously loud rattle of mucous in
the trachea; there were convulsions, at
tended by copious frothing at the mouth ;