The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-06-03
IN THETOILS.
TRIES HARD TO
EXPLAIN THE DEATH
OF Ills FRIEND.
HE MAKES HIS STATEMENT IN
COURT OF Ills CONNEC-
TON WITH 1T.
~. LDUI-, Nav gG.-Immediately
.s, ~ rho criminal gDurt this morn

communication, Therefore, can D." had with or by
tHU-e inside ami the outside world must remain IN
/ ignorance OF the proceedings until an adjourn
ment shall be taken, which probably will be in the
/ afternoon.
| F0uutlprGy. for the defence, after the routine
business OF the court had been concluded, arose
/ and commenced the opening address 10 the jury
lie stated tha he wished 10 impress them with the
fact that one knew how PIeller came to hi-
| death, except the defendant. and he prOpO-ed 10
disclose to the jury all the ciTcumsfa attending
| il. After stating the manner in which Preer an.
the defendant became acquainted and the CiU-eness
Of their friendship thereafter h, stated that the de-
fence intended to prove that Preller suffering
from structure and defendant foOlishly undertook
70 remove it. The defendant unwilling to per
form the operation alone, but PrelIer did not wish
the nature Of MS aiiment 10 De known and Insisted
! that Maxwell -hOuld perform it. To lessen the
/ pain he administered chlOrOfOrm. but in too large
quantity, aud death resulted. He cnt the clothes
| from his fTiends body and attempted to resusCi-
tat. him, but failed. lie said the defense would
! prove that PrSler knew Maxwell had no money
and had promised to pay his expenses TO Auckland.
Robbery, therefore, could not have been the motive
/ for causing his friend death, which was, at any
| rate, accidental.
Tie remainder of Fount!eroy's speech was de-
voted 10 description OF his clients actions after
| the death of Preler, and assigning the reasons
| Confession made few days ago.
| Maxwell was then placed on the stand. He
showed little evidence OF feeling, though there was
! some degree Of neTyuusn-ss both in the face and
| hands. There was a rustic through the court room.
and Judge Val Wagner, in brief speech, de
handed absolute quiet in the audience The wit
| mess zen, in reply to questions by FOIntlerOy,
stated in substance follows:
my fun name is Hugh NJ. Brooks. / am TWEEN
| ty-iye years old; was born in Hyde, Chester Eng
| land commenced to study law with Mr. Brown
at stockport, .car Hyde, in 1875 remained there
four years.
| am a lawyer by professions | also studied med
cine aud surg"ry at the collegiate schO'l at VI an
chester, but am not 4 licensed physician: / first
! IA G Arthur pI,lIgT AT NUItIWp-tpTu hotel
| at Liverpool: did not get acquainted with HIM
until / met him on the steamer CephaiOnia: | also
met Warren on the steamer; Preller and were
| both Englishmen, coming To a strange country;
our acquaintance ripened into warmer friendship
we talked much about our plans and purposes for
| the future; our acquaintance and friendship con
nued after our arrival Iu this country; reached
Boston February ,: after three four days PrelIer
| started on business trip; / had CONVEX
satiOns and correspondence with PrelleT
about going to New Zealand. We agreed to meet
at ST. Louis to 90 there together. | told him
| about my financial condition, telling him in a letter
that had hundred dollars all told. | treated
Prcller several times medically in Boston, and by
| letter he acknowledged having received decided
benefit from he treatment He knew had never
| praCticed medicine regularly. | never used any
deception with him in this regard. Witness then
described various events about Preller leaving
Boston for Canada, about his own and Precr5 ar
| rival ia st. Louis ana stopping at the Southern
hotel that he had $50 to 500 when he arrived here
how he tried to pawn some of his things before
| IGellFI CAME Hr NlrllS 10 ftTHON ufU1 STORE anu
his conversations with FernOw.
| Also his purchasing various articles of him
| among them, ChlUrOfOrm and carbOlic acid. which
in combination, he used himself in treating bad
tooth that troubled him; that Preller arrived on
| Friday prior to Easter Sunday; how they went to
gether to try to sell his magic lantern and slides
and various other occurrences which took place
between Friday and Sunday all of which is fami
lar to nearly everybody.
| The court then took recess.
After recess the examination of defendant wai
continued.
eve Preller and l." he said "made two trip.
between the Southern hotel and union depot, where
We attempted to discover the cause of the deten
ton Of my trunk, which contained the magic Ian
tern, and were told by the baggage man there tina
it was probably detained in Port Huron, Canada
by custom officers. We visited Aloe
optcian, in the endeavor to learn il
he would, purchase the lantern anC
slides when they should arrive. From the time
| Prcller arrived in st. Louis down to Easter sun
day, we saw a great deal Of each other We were
| ia former witness stated, almost inseparable
| / visited his room several times, but when we were
not looking around the city, or playing pool, We
| spent most of our time in my room. We played
pool u great deal and whoever lost the game paid
| for it, We played about even, so the expense was
about equally divided. We drank some, but not
much. lie paid for most of the drinks. PTeler
was accustomed to call at my room early every
day. We would 20 down to breakfast together, re
| turn TO my room, converse, smoke for a while,
| then go down to the tunda
| Easter Sunday, before went to the drug store,
he and had conversation about the performance
Of the operation heretofore alluded to, and also a
day or two before that sunday Preller described to
me his evmpt ms, and | concluded that he was
suffering from structure, and that the best method
OF treating him was BY using catheter. | took
my authorities on medicine, READ to PTeller decls
ions IA to the proper methods of administering
chiOiofOrm. and refreshed my mind as to the pre-
cautions to be used. here are marginal notes on
the pages treating on the simplest and safest
methods of using the .rug, but made these same
twelve months before left England After this
conversation with Mr.. Prellcr | went to the
drug store, purchased four ounces of chloroforn
and quantity of absorbent cotton. Or
this same day Preller and had gone to another
drug store and made some purchases, which he
said We must have and could probably not get or
our journey to Auckland, before we should arrive
| at san Francisco.
# had been understood between us all the tim,
that was to sell my magic lantern and some othe
things in order to raise money for the trip to Sai
Francisco, and that he was to pay for my passage
~ Auckland, with the understanding that should
refund to him the cost of passage. While IN thu
drug store ordered drink, "A mixture of bromide
aud yaleranate of ammonia, to quiet my nerves
drank this in th, presence of Preller. He pait
for it, as he did for the other things purchased
th ,re.
We then returned to the hotel, and on the wa.
stopped at q cigar stand and purchased box
Cigara, for which, also, my companion paid. W.
then went up stairs and spent some time smoking
aud discussing the proposed operation, soon ate
which Preller went TO his own room, returning
presently, after having removed his WdlStCOal, AM
replaced his coat with dressing gown.
Immediately after this began TO make prepare
tons for the operation. Preller removed III
trousers and drawers and laid dawn on the bed.
placed IA fuur-OunCe bottle of ChlOrOform on tn
washstand. poured out fluid gTamme of tn
liquid upon piece of lint, which | folded tnre
times. / then walked to the bed and held the lin
about six inches from my patients face, so tina
the vapor from the chlorofurm might becom
mixed with air and not produce so violent an effect
IL all eNaporated in a few minutes. then turne
around To get more, and found that the bottl
which had placed on the washstand had falie
into the basin. \ large portion had flowed on
and not enough of the fluid was left 10 prodpc
anaesthesa. then went to Fernaws drug stor
, to purchase some more, telling Fernaw that | ha
spilled what | had first bought from him.
wanted four ounces, but the druggist only ha
two, and had To take that"
"Were You excited in your manner!' aske
: Fountoroy, attorney for the defence.
"Not at ALL
"Did you feel any excitement:"
mo, none whatever: but | was certainly in
hurry to get away, and told Fernaw l remarke
TO him that it was unnecessary TO place label q
the bottle, for intended to place its contents
the empty bottle in my room. left Preller in hi
/ undressed condition, lying upon my bed. | place
, about gramme of the fluid on the lint secon
time, and again held it about six inches from hi
face, allowing the air to mix with it | continue
or rather, insensibility to pain had been reached
then took up the catheter and proceeded to il
serit {. Preller made peculiar noise wincing
T. II he felt pain. | came 10 the conclusion that
had not administered a sufficient amount of chic
! reform. -