The Portland daily press., 1888-04-14

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throat But he spit the most of 1t out and
only little went between his lips. His
spasms were such that in two or three min
utes decided that he was suffering from
strychnine poisoning. But found could
not get any remedies into his stomach, and
regarding his case as hopeless, turned my
attention to the boy George, who had been
brought in in about the same condition as
his father. / asked George what the matter
was and he said he had been drinking. l
prescribed antidotes for strychnine poison
ing and he gradually recovered, after vomit-
ing copiously. made post mortem exam
ination of the body of Mr.. Beal and found
all the organs in a normal condition: The
stomach forwarded to Professor Robinson
of Bowdoin. From what | saw should
say the cause of Mr.. Beal's death was
an overdose of strychnine. | first saw Charles
in the room while his father was In spasmS.
lie walked about the room and several times
up within three or four feet of his father;
looked at him, but said nothing. he ex-
pressed no surprise and shed no tears.
saw him the next morning out DOORS, He
spoke to me saying, ''Well Doc everything
is calm this morning" and passed In. he
spoke very naturally. That evening ltalked
with Charles about the probable cause of Mrt
Beal's death. Mr.. Stevenson suggested that
he had better take possession of the liquor,
and remarked that they sometimes used
strychnine to save up liquor and II TINS was
all treated the house would be responsible,
in Clinton. Stevenson went and TOOK the
whiskey, came back and Charles said, /
thought you was not going TO trouDle the
liquor. Stevenson said he. had made no
taken the liquor into custody to determine
whether but one bottle or all was poisoned.
Charles also related how he took bottle
from the barrel and it appeared to contain
''sticks" or "ashes.' He thought his father
had been fixing. it to keep the boys from
drinking it and threw it down the scuttle
of the stable"
Cross-examination--" heard Mr.. Beal
mutter boots and window | said, pull
off his boots Don't think he was able to
articulate full sentence like pull off my
boots or damn critters, poison, poison, pol
son.. did not hear him say these last
words. Charles was very cool, and his
mother equally so. He seemed to be solicit
GUS for his brother"
Redirect-"Mr. Beal could articulate four
1t is characteristic of strychnine poisoning
that the patient retains consciousness nearly
up to the time of DEATH"
PROF. ROBINSON.
of Bowdoin College, said: "Dr. Tash
delivered a mans stomach to me
ach, and obtained a third of a grain of
taken was one grain of strychnine surely.
Half grain is sufficient to kill man."
The Professor exhibited the fatal bottle,
which was about half full of liquid, appar-
emily liquor.
''It lacks about an ounce and half of be-
ing full" continued the Professor, 1.-The bot
tie being 16-ounce one. The liquor in the
bottle was nearly a saturated solution, con-
tanning about all the strychnine 1t would
hold. From the liquor which analyzed,
in the bottle. The strychnine crystals in the
stomach were identical with those found in
the bottle"
The witness here showed portion of the
strychnine obtained from the stomach.
81 received sealed bottle from Dr. Tash.
1t was empty with the exception of a gray
powder. | took little of the powder out,
analyzed it and found it to be strychnine.
My opinion is that the bottle was filled with
liquor and from appearances there had been
more strychnine introduced than 1t would
dissolve and the liquid had afterwards been
poured off leaving the sediment. One of
these bottles of whiskey would not dissolve
more than 25 grains, and if more than that
was put in it would remain undissolyed. The
strychnine in solution in the liquor
covered barrel partly filled with bottles OF
liquor packed in sawdust | examined all
for strychnine but found none. | discovered
little sugar in the poisoned bottle OF liquor
but cannot tell whether it came from sugar
direct or molasses sugar. The quality OF the
liquor in the barrel was good and | found no
poisonous substances.
GEO. W. BEAL.
of Clinton, the younger brother of the pris-
oner was called and said: 81 am over 20
years of age and live at home. l was en-
ployed in the store of my father, and was
there on the 14th of Februry. Father was out
most of the time that afternoon, at the de-
pot. The barrels containing the bottles of
whiskey came about five weeks before faith
ers death, and was purchased OF the Dixon
Bros, of Boston, knew of the liquor being
in the cellar about five weeks before the
tragedy. Father left the store on the alter
noon of his death about $50 o'clock, and 10
minutes before that he went down cellar.
Previous to that about half an hour l went
down and saw an empty bottle between the
boxes in glass can. Five minutes after
father left the store | descended to the cellar
again and found bottle of liquor In the
glass can, took it up, smelt of it and took
drink. putting in some water to make good
what l drank. A small drink had been tax
en- out About 10 minutes after drinking i
began to feel bad and twitch. | thought
keep us boys from drinking it aud / was sor-
ry The liquor tasted bitter. Father was
in the habit of putting stuff in his whiskey
to take the taste off. was carried home by
my brother shortly afterwards, for grew
rapidly worse. AS we were going home
Charles asked me if / had been drinking. !
made no reply, and he asked me second
time.
The counsel questioned the witness sharply
If he had not said that Charles asked him If
he had been drinking some of "that whis-
key" He replied 'No," emphatically Nei-
ther had he told Mr.. Dyer, Mr.. Hodgton nor
his uncle that his brother Charles had asked
him this. The Attorney General said this
witness had made statements previous TO the
trial but since he had come to Augusta he
had talked with the defence and now denied
some of his statements.
81 was sick with cramps and convulsions
about three hours, being conscious all the
time. Father said he had discharged Charles,
but he had frequently told my brother this
and / thought nothing of it. My brother and
| frequently toook liquor from the barrel. /
Charles took bottle out of the barrel and
sweetened the contents with molasses Don't
remember whether Charles was in the store
Tuesday. He was down cellar the Wednesday
or Thursday before fathers DEATH There
was bottle partly filled with liquor in the
usual place at the time. Think the Sunday
before the death of father my friend Johnny
Prescott took a bottle out Of the barrel.
showed him where it was. We drank it to-
gether | talked over the case with the
counsel for the defendant a little last even
ing. Mr.. Hall, of the defence-The witness
was summoned by usl | heard Charles say
about two weeks before the fatal day that he
should think the liquor would kill his father;
it was too poor for him. Think father COM
planned once or twice that Charles took
things from the store-money from the mon
behind the counter and took things after
father told me not to let him
go in there. Have talked with
Mr.. HOdgton, Mr.. Dyer and my uncle about