New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-03-17
RElsON1BLENESS IN CRIME.

The conviction of DR.. LamSOn illustrates q
noticeable tendency III English criminal prac-
tice. The evidence against him was very
strong. but it was circumsantial and by no
means as conclusive as the proof in murder
case should be- His brothcr-n-law, cripple
at school, had suddenly died after taking
Quinine capsules given by him. Aconite was
found i'm the body, and in some OF. the pow
ders which had been left in the boys
possession and DR.. Lamson had purchased
two grains of the drug on the eve
of his visit to the school. These circumstances
warranted strong presumption OF the prs
oner's guilt. But the evidence was not so con-
elusive as to exclude several reasonable theO-
res presented by the defence. The expert
upon whose scientific judgment the prOsecu-
ton relied to establish its case admitted that
the symptoms of acOnitine poisoning were I'M
known, and that the death of the boy might
have resulted from spinal disease and general
debility, or from poisonous compounds which
he had been using III the study of chem
istry, cor from the morphine which had
been administered by a physician during
the last hour of his life. Even If
these three suggestions were dismissed
as untenable, the defence could affirm that
aconite Is a remedy for diseases from which
the lad was suffering, and that there was no
direct proof that the prisoner had given the
powders with any criminal intent. His de-
parture from the school after the medicine
was prescribed was strangely abrupt and an
empty bottle marked "pOsOn . had been
found in his room but to offset these sus
picious circumstances there was the absence of
Al. IL, ,,t,, ton, 81 ho
ders, and then, too, the prisoners bearing,
which was that of an innocent man. Yet tIe
Jury promptly convicted him of murder on the
strength of this loosely linked chain of cir
cumstantial evidence.
To explain the judgment of this jury, and to
illustrate the general tendency which we are
considering, another poisoning case, to which
public attention has recently been directed in
England, may conveniently be cited. This is
the case of Kate Dover a housekeepeT, charged
with poisoning Thomas Skinner. The man had
died suddenly with all the symptoms of ar
senical poisoning. His housekeeper had cooked
and stuffed a fowl, of which they both par
took heartily, and soon afterward both were
taken sick, one recovering by the aid OF n
strong emetic, and the other sinking rapidly.
Kate DOver's explanation was TO the effect that
Mrs. Jones, who had been the former house
keeper had done for them both " by sending
to the house some onions and sage, which had
been used in the stufling made for the fowl.
The stuflng Of the halfeaten chicken was
found to contain arsenic OF which there was
also large quantity in the dead mans ston
ach Kate Dover, after charging upon her
own symptoms Immediately after the fatal
banquet, asserted that Mrs. Jones had a
good reason for wishing TO get rid of
them, for Mr. Skinner had made II will
in her favor while she was in his en-
ploy and had recently threatened TO revoke
1t in favor of her successor. Now, here
was a distinct motive for the crime, and II
would have gone hard with Mrs. Jones if her
house had happened to be infested with rats
and she had purchased arsenic about the time