The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-03-02

ABINGDON, March 1.-[Speciall- II. L.
Deaton was the first witness this morn
ing. He was in the furniture and
undertaking business hero five or six
years ago, and was bought out by Mr..
Baldwin. He was placed on tho stand
to prove that it was not customary in
this section to embalm bodies at the
time he went out Of the business. He
said:
81 was in tho business about four
years. used the fluid to preserve the
features, but never did any thorough
embalming. 1t takes some time to
embalm body thoroughly. have in.
jected the fluid through the nostrils
into the cavities Of the throat.
II have no interest in this case.
went on Mrs. Gilmer's bail on a power
of attorney from Mr.. Cecil her brother.
l understand by thorough embalming
taking out the blood and entrails and
filling all the arteries and cavities with
the fluid"
j. M. Rose. another undertaken, was
the next witness. He testified as fol.
lows:
II have been in the undertaking bust
ness for forty odd years. 1 keep en-
balming instruments and fluid and have
embalming done by an experienced ply
stefan. Embalming is very rare in this
section, do very little Of it. | often
use the fluid to preserve tho features
for few days. have never embalmed
a body and buried IL in q POPLAR coffin.
When bodies arc embalmed they arc
usually buried in metallic caskets.''
DR.. Taylor next took the stand, and n
great crowd rushed into the courtroom
to hear his testimony. He proceeded as
follows:
81 live in Richmond So far as this
case is concerned my occupation is that
OF State chemist l am also professor
OF chemistry and teacher of sciences in
tho Richmond school. have made
many chemical analyses of bodies for
poison. examined the body of Mrs.
Baker. came here on tho 10th of last
June. was sont for by Col. Summers.
l went first to the office Of DR.. Barr,
and then proceeded to the grave When
arrived there Mr.. Baldwin had gone
through the preiminaries and had the
earth removed almost down to tho cof-
fin. The coffin was taken out and
opened, and MIR. Baldwin opened the
clothing. l then made an incision and
took out the stomach, part Of tho liver
and one of the kidneys"
In his examination of tho stomach he
found arsenic, zinc. and, possibly, mer-
curry. In the liver he found zinc and
arsenic. The witness said that he
thought the arsenic might have reached
the liver from the embalming fluid.
He was asked about the appearance of
the stomach. The question was OBJ.
lected to and argued at length, the
defense claiming that the stomach
itself must be brought into court, and
that the jury must Judge as to its ap
pearance. Court gave the opinion tn at
the appearance could be proved by ex-
pert testimony, but adjourned to look
up authorities on the subject.
The last question asked DIR. TAYLOR
this afternoon was his opinion as to-
what caused the redness of the stomach.
He answered that he would have to say
that his best Judgment would be that
redness was caused by arsenic admins.
tered before death, but he said that on
account OF the limited number of facts
on which to base his opinion there
could be no certainty in regard to it.
Finally he said that considering all
the facts he was led to believe that this
was case of arsenical poisoning
The court here adjourned until to-
morrow morning, when DIR. TAYLOR will
| be cross-eXamined.
Prof. Mullett, of the University OF
Virginia. is here to testify as an expert
| for the defense