The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-04-21

Followed her body in monrnful silence
through the streets TO the cemetery OF
81 george the Martyr, the windows be-
ing Velicd and draped in mourning, and
every housctop thronged with weeping
people. You will find in the books of
inc great lawyers on the philosophy of
evidence some expert opinions to the
'iIcct that Eliza Fennirg was rightfuliy
convicted but the balance of probabil-
NY Is entirely the other way.
III Is to the credit of human progress
that within recent years no man has
p'cn executed on evidence so incomcl,,-
Sive rs That on which Captain Doncllan
ana poor Eliza fleming were con-
ucmhcd. 1T Is comfortable reflection
mat III every case of conviction ofmur-
Ger by poison on crcumStantial evil
"ence Within the past forty years.
cither the condemned person has con-
le>scl MS guilt or else the death son
tencc has not been carried out Mrs.
Mnyblici has been convicted. but not
hhnged Carlyle w. Harris has been
convicted but il is not yet certain that
he will be executed.
All prisoners must. for Obvious rca-
sons, be brought to Justice il at all. on
circumstantial evidence. William Pal
Incr' the young Staffordshirc doctor.
who poisoned three persons in order to
collect the insurance policies on their
lives. would have easily escaped pun
lshmcnt if the rule had been applied To
his ease that 81 jury shall not find Il man
guilty of murder Ivy poisoning unless
there is direct evidence of tho fact.
Palmer is famous in history us the first
of long lire of modern poisoning doc
tors He was only about 81 wears of
age but was much given to the racn
course and It's incidental vices TO pro-
cure money To maintain his dissolutc
life he poisoned his wife his brother.
and, finally, his friend, Mr. Cook.
for whose murder alone he was tried.
He had employed strychnia. Il fatal
preparation which leaves no trace in
the body of the victim by this pre-
caution Palmer thought that hc had
securely guarded himself against dctcc-
ton and punishment. But when he
was arrested and charged with the
offense he betrayed SO much nervous
ness at every point of the proceedings
that he gave the jury good reason. by
his own behavior alone. to believe that
he was guilty. He tried to bride the
'DioiiN W nv IifiN the inquest OH LOOK
body. he offered ten pounds i'm money
to driver of carriage in which the
jar containing the contents of Cooks
stomach was 10 be taken to the rail
road depot on its way to London for
analysis, on condition that he
would upset the vehicle and break
the jar. Yet on his trial, which
took place in 1856. he showed the
greatest GOODNESS lie chattcd freely
with the wardcns on his way 10 and
from the court room and laughingly
predicted his own acquittal with the
utmost confidence. The Central Grim
inal court room in London in which he
was tried WAS crowded with an audi
cnce gathered mainly from the nobility
and the first social circles of ENGLAND.
The doctors were obliged to admit on
their oaths that there was no trace of
strychnia found in the body of Cook;
ana the best legal opinion of the conn
try expected his acquittal. While the
jury were out of court dclibcratinr on
their verdict Palmer was so confident
that the chain of circumstances proved
against him was incomplete that he
tossed over Il paper 10 his counsel. on
which he had iauntily written: There
will he Il verdict OF not guilty"
The jury convicted him, nevertheless.
Palmer still believed that he would not
be executed. and repeatedly declared i'm
his condemned cell that he was sroinr
TO his grave Il murdered man. Sostead-
fast did he seem to be in his assertion
of innocence that public opinion way
cred, as it always will do under such
circumstances, and there began to be n
widespread anxiety lest an innocent
man was going to be deprived
OF his life Palmer was sent
back to Staffordshire to be exc
cuted and in front of Stat
ford Jail the largest concoursc of spec
tators ever assembled in England on a
like occasion witnessed his last mo-
ments Not less than $4,000 people.
stood around his scaffold. The process
sion OF death had reached the platform
OF the scaffold. and still Palmer had
not confessed. But at thclast moment
he turned TO the chaplain and admitted
that he he not only poisoned Cook but
had also poisoned his wife and brother
III the same manner. II he had had
two minutes more of the hardihood
and bravado which had characterized
him all through the trial and MP 10 the
very brink of eternity, William Palmer
would have Joined the other spcctcrs
that throw their weird shadows across
the annals OF the courts and make Ms
all trcmble ao the possibility of doing u
wrong that never can be rightcd on
the strength OF merely crcumstantial
evidence.
Curiously like the case of Carlyle w
Harris III many respects was that OF
George Henry I.amson, Il yonng med-
cal man who was tried i'll London i'm