New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-03-24

aconitine linked with quInine, and the Other
proportionately less aconitne. These pills had
been received from DR.. Lamson while he was
in America during the previous summer or
autumn, the explanation being made in a let
ter to the master of the school that some
one suffering from the same complaints with
which Percy John was afflicted had derived
benefit from the prescription. The boy had
swallowed one, and being made sick by it,
had refused TO take another. There was also
found in the boys trunk box containing
twenty quininc powders which had been pre-
pared 10y druggist in NentnOr Three OF
these powders were compounded with aconl-
tine. As the druggist testified that he had
prepared this box of powders for DIR. Lamson
in 1880, and that when they left his hands
they did not contain acOnitine-a poison
which he did not have III bis shoD--the infer
ence was that they had been subsequently tam
pered with. The boy, moreover, during his
last hours declared that he felt precisely az he
had mt Shanklin after taking a pill from Dr.
Lamson's hand and evidence was given in
regard to his sickness on that occasion.
This collateral evidence would have had lit
tie effect, if the expert testimony had been
equiyocal in any respect. AcOntine is veg
as monkshood. 1t acts upon the stomach and
nervous centres, and there are no chemical
tests at present known to science by which it
can be distinguished with absolute certainty
The ANALYSTS were thus deprived of the use of
means which are applicable to the discovery OF
mineral poisons They were highly faNored,
however, in one respect. Aconitine has char
actcristic taste which is uDmstakable, and with
this taste, as DR.. Stevenson pointed ont,
numbing effect, ga peculiar, burning, slcken-
ing sensation extending dOwnwards to the
stomach an effect lasting at least four hours
and not produced by any other alkaloid or
vegetable principle. The analysts were thus
enabled to identify most positively traces OF
the alkaloid found in the vOmt and the
body of the deceased. They killed mice
with it in fifteen or twenty-five minutes;
tbey tasted it and found that its effects
| corresponded to those Of acOnltine,
purchased for purposes of comparison and
| without trace of hesitation they expressed
| the deliberate conviction that the boy had been
poisoned with large dose OF acOnltlne and
that tie three powders and the two pills
found in his box contained the same vegetable
| extract. This testimony, taken IN connection
| with the identification of the prisoner by the
druggists clerks, who had sold him two grains
| of aconitine, and also with his previous effort
to buy the same poison seems TO have CON
WINGED the jury of his guilt especially as the
motive for the crime-the desire to get the
money which would revert TO his wife upon
! her brothers death-seemcd entirely adequate,
in view of the prisoners poverty
While the circumstantial evidence was di-
rect. It was not absolutely conclusive aand
there were several circumstances which counted
in his favor. When he was charged with the
crime he was i'll France, and might have taken
refuge in flight, but he boldly returned to
! ENGLAND and faced his accusers. His wife to
this day processes to believe in his innocence.
| The amount to be gained by the boys death
was only $780, and it would not be imme
diately available for his pressing wants; and
while he was reduced to great straits, he could
not have regarded himself as at the end
of his resources when he had a medical
| education and influential relatives and friends
ON each side of the Atlantic. Then there
was the openness with which he had acted.
Instead of poisoning the Lad at his own lodg-
iDgs during the holidays, where the facts could
have been suppressed, he had gone to the
school and administered the capsule under the
masters eyes He must have known that an
| investigation would follow death; that the
shallow device of giving the master an empty
CAPSULE, filing another with sugar for bis vie
tim. and leaving a box of harmless capsules
ON the table, wOud not deceive anyone and
that the reputation of the school would depend
| upon a rational explanation of the mysterious
occurrence He might easily have given the
name of another physician when he
bought the aconitine, and in this way
| have concealed his identity. In fact,
the recklessness and unconcen with
which he purchased deadly poisons and dis
| trbuted them in powders, pills and capsules,
leaving his address at druggists shops, writ
ing letters about his doses, and administering
the fatal capsule without the slightest attempt
at concealment, are almost unparalleled in the
records Of crime. If they are not proofs OF
innocence they imply mental processes which
are certainly abnormal and possibly deranged.
| This view of the case is taken by the prison
| er's American friends, who have already
avaied themselves of the services of the
| State Department to petition the British Gov
| eminent for a stay of proceedings on the
| ground of mental unsOundness.
| HUNTING FOE h LIVE LEiDER.
| There are three or four members of the
| Democratic party who are sitting bolt upright,
rubbing their eyes and saying: "Well, by