The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-24
MEDICAL PRISONERS.
FAMOUS GASES RECALLED BY THE
GRAVES TRIAL.


Punishment In England "A Young
Woman Boiled Alive-rhe Marcaion.
ess De Brinvilliers-The Celebrated
Palmer Case-Ghs Case OF DR.. Lam
soma Descendant of Gen. SCHUYLER
Was he Guilty9
Copyright, 1892. by the United Prsss.)
NEw YORK, Jan. 23.-The trial in Dem
yer of Dr. T. Thatcher Graves on the charge
| of having murdered MRS Josephine A.
Barnaby with bottle OF poisonous mixture
purporting to be fine old whisky, and mailed
in Boston, has stimulated public interest in
that dangerous form OF crime.
Before chemical analysis was brought to
its present high stage of accuracy, the proof
Of poisoning was extremely difficult. and in
tho trials Of which there is record, guilt ap-
pears to have been assumed from surround
ing circumstances, rather than any positive
evidence that poison was the cause of death
! Undoubtedly many innocent persons were
thus convicted, while large numbers who
were guilty must have escaped because sus-
picion lacked the confirmation that an
analysis would have given.
In ancient Rome poisoning was punished
by crcihxi1n, no matter what the rank of
the criminal, although this penalty was
usually reserved for slaves. A Roman Of
respectable st ltion having been convicted of
poisoning his ward. was sentenced TO be
crCcitied, but Troteste1 against the punish
ment as unfit for a gentleman. The en-
perCr thereupOn ordered that the cross be
painted white. and oJ1erwlse made more
presentable than those commonly used.
Whether the convict expressed himself as
better satisfied is not recorded.
Atcertain periods in ancient and modern
times poisoning seems to have been epidemic.
| A lumber of Roman ladies we convicted,
many years before Christ, of forming
conspiracy to get rid of their husbands by
poisoning. The exposure. which was brougt
about through the confession of a female
slave, created a panic in Rome Tho ac-
cused ladies, TO the number of 40. were ar
rested, found guilty chiefly on the statement
of the slave, and hastily executed A SINH
lar panic was caused III Italy in the seven
tenth century when the woman Toiania
and many others including numerous persons
of distinction, were put TO death on charges
OF wholesale poisoning. Tojania confessed
her guilt She had carried on the sale Of
the deadly aqua tojana for half century
without being detected by the authorities,
and she acknowledged having been a party
TO the poisoning OF 600 persons Her pa
irons were chiefly women who wanted to
get rid of their husbands. The liquid was
as clear as n alter, and is supposed TO have
been preparation of arsenic
In England, during the reign of Henry
VIII, the public mind became greatly ex..
cited through seve al cases Of poisoning
and parliament enacted law making boil
ing to death the penalty. The law was on
tbs statute books about sixteen years 1t
was made retroactive so as to take in Il case
that chiefly prompted It's enactment-that
lr.H 49, - TN-T-
bishop of Rochester's cook, who poisoned
seven teen persons, two of whom died Coke
was boiled at Rochester. The infection was
attended with peculiar cruelty, as Coke was
put into a cauldrOn Of cold water and
gradually cooked to death.
few years later, in March, 1912, a young
woman named Margaret Davy was punished
In similar way, on conviction of poison
ing. The public we're not satisfied as to her
guilt, and notwithstanding tue c)mpara
lively slow travel of news in those days
the story OF Margaret Davy's trial and pun
/ hment soon spread through the Kingdom
and aroused universal horror Boiling to
death remained on the statute book, how
ever, as long as Henry reigned, perhaps be-
cause the monarch himself had G dread of
being poisoned. Immedia ely after his
death parliament repealed the law.
| The story Of the Marchioness dc Briuvil-
liers is well known. This noblewomRn
maintained reputation for good and al
most sanity conduct while she was quietly
disposing Of her relatives and many Others
by poison She was strangled and burned
Coming nearer our own times one of the
most celebrated instances in criminal an
mails is that of an English surgeon named
Palmer, who was convicted in 1856 OF hav-
ing poisoned several persons to whom he
owed money. Palmer gGmOled great deal
on race horses and owned several. To one
Of his horses he gave the singular name f
"strychnine,n and strychnine was the poison
which he used to get RID Of those who won
his money and we're unfortunate in claim
Ing 1t, as we'll as Of others. including his life
and brother, whose death brought to him
pecuniary advantage Suspicion was slow
TO fasten itself upon the owner of ''strych-
nine" but he was detected at last. The trial
excited great attention in England. Palmer
was hanged, after ackno wledging several of
his crimes. Fifty thousand persons from
all parts Of the kingdom, witnessed the ex-
ecution at Stafford.
Another and more recent poisoning case
. by q doctor in England il of peculiar in
terest to Americans, DR.. George Henry
Lamson was convicted ia March 1882, OF
the murder by poison Of his brother-in-
law, Percy Malcolm John, student at
Wimbledon. DR.. Lamson was direct de-
scendent Of the American revolutionary
general, Schuyler. The motive Of the
crime was said to be to secure to Lam
sons wife a sum of several thou
sand pounds that would fall to her
on the death of her brother. The latter was
an invalid and DR.. Lamson attended him
he gave John certain pills which, 1t wes
claimed by the prosecution were poisonous.
For the defense il was asserted thaS even If
the poison was contained in the pills it was
used as RENE deal agent and did not cause
death. The jury convicted Lamson, about
hose guilt there has always been much
doubt. He was executed at Newgete
A peculiar case OF poisoning by physi-
clan was that Of DIR. Stephen e jtvos, in
hungary, about tgenty-hve years ago.
Eotvos undertook 10 hasten the death Of
patients, whose cases he considered hopeless,
by putting them out of their misery, as he
termed it, with fatal drugs. He encount-
cred no opposition To his peculiar methods
of benevo!ence, while he pracsiced them on
people OF no particular standing. But
when the doctor fastened the death of
well-knoNn land proprietor named
SZlavy, who was slowly dying
of cancer, the relatives of the dead man
presented a violent protest. and demanded
the prosecution of Eotvos The physician
declared on trial that he was actuated by
humane motives, and had merely eased tho
journey OF his victims to the inevitable
goal. This defense was not accepted by the