The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-05-09
JUDGE ALBEIT REFUSES
Declines to Allow the Ex-
humation of the Elder
Shann's Body.

CdS6S NAASA a 49,
of Mrs. Sham, who is CHARGED with
poisoning her son John. for the few dol
lars for which he was insured. The tall.
gray haired prisoner continues to De an
object of curiosity, and the subberfuges
TO which the morbldly inclined resort in
their attempts to catch q glimpse of the
accused woman would be amusing II
they did not deal with such a serious
subject. But all ruses are fruit
wishes of Mrs Shann In that
particular and does not allow anyone to
zee her except her counsel and memoer
of her family. One Of the most remark
able phases of this most remarkaole case
is the wonderful nerve of the wowan who
is Charged with numbering her own sou.
She shows no more signs OF weakening
than she did when the Coroner informed
her that she would have to go to the
Trenton Jail to await the action OF tne
Grand Jury. In fact. through the entire
ordeal, she has never relaxed her cool.
indifferent demeanor, and she has always
had the appearance of being tue least
concerned over the outcome OF the mat
ter.
INNOCENT OR GUILTY?
This may be the result of conscious IN
nocence, and it may be the calm nerve OF
TIE accomplished poisoner. No falterer
or person who would be liable 10 break
down at the critical period could have DAY
after dav calmly aud coolly admin,
istered poison to their own flesh ana
blood, and without a blink watch them
sink gradually day by day. Although
many people in Princeton are inclined 70
coudemn the woman before she has had
a trial, there are others who boldly assert
her innocence.
It is hardly considered probable that she
could 90 such a foul deed, and it Is al
legged that If she did administer the fatal
mercury, it was through an error; that
having the disinfectanJ and medicine TO-
eetner, she may have given the poison by
mistake for the medicine. But That Is
hardly reasonable. Most OF Jonn'sm edl-
clue was in powder form, while the disin-
fectant was always dissolved i'll large
quantities of water, SO that a blind pc rson
could hardly mistake one for the other.
All day yesterday people turned down
Market street. aud pausing in front OF
the wing or the jail which runs down TO
that street, loitered about the grim build
ing, hoping that they might obtain a
glimpse of the woman.
JUDGE ALBEIT REFUSES.
An application for the examining OF old
Frederick Shaun's body, which is buried
In the cemetery at Rocky Hill, three
miles from here. has already been made
to Judge Abbstt, but he h s minated TO
the Prosecutor That he will not grant IL
at present, as he does not want to preJu-
dice the present case against MIS-. SnAnn.
He does not consider that one case has
any bearing on the other, aud to grant
the order applied for he wants more evil
dence thar is at present in The posses
sion of the authorities. The evidence III
the old mans case merely consists of the
statements made by the deceased himself
previous TO his death. TO the effect that
lie believed his wife was poisoning him.
should au Indictment be fOupd against
Mrs, Shanu, however, Judge Abbott may
grant the permission to exnume her huS-
bands body, in order that the authori-
ties may ascertain whether young
Shann's murder was really preceded by
that OF his father.
The authorities agree that their strong
est points against Mrs. Sham IRE the
theft of the vItals of her sons body the
night before the official autopsy was TO
have been held and the motive she hait TO
CONCEAL the real cause of death. The fact
that.by her husbands will she could not
iuherit his property unless she paid OFT all
j his d. BITS within nine mouths, and that
the of the debts could nave been
made If she secuted the iusuraucs GU her
son, constitute, to their mind, suiucien5
wa, rant for tile jury in establishing the
native. Her story ABOUT the visit of
three men to her house between Que aud
four O'Clock in the morning has not re-
ceiyed the slightest corroboration, aud
now The statements she made AT the ln-
onest are contradicted by her daughter,
Mabel.
ABEL DENIES.
At tie inquest Coroner Coulter asked
Mrs. Shann several times what she did
after the three men had outraged the
body.
James Vanselaut, one OF Mrs. ShannsS
boarders, who said at the inquest that
Mrs. Sham took him into the room where
the body lay and where Mabel was sleep
ing, testified that he also went back to
bed after he had been shown the body.
Now Mabel said that neither her mother
nor Vanselaut went back to bed, but that
they were dressed and that they remained
mn. Her mother, she says, sat in the room
with her till daylight.
Th bichloride of mercury tablets which
DR.. Bergen prescribed fer uisinfecting
purposes during the Illness of both the
elder and younger Sham are a little over
half an inch in diameter, a fifth of an
inch thick and look very much like an
ordinary small lozenge. Gu each tablet
was DR. tinted in blue letters tue word
s~.poison," and each con tanned seven and
seven -eighths grains of bichloride OF
mercury and three-tenths of u grain of
muriate of ammonia. The instructions
given with the tablets were That one
should be dissolved IL q pint OF water.
Iu such a solution there would be one
part of mercury to LOCO parts OF water,
and il it were given continually TO a
patient internally it would cause symp-
IONS like those of gastritis, which DE-.
Bergen thought young Sham had
DAMAGING EVIDENCE.
Mrs. Shaun Was seen giving her son
LIQUID medicine In capsules. DR.. Bergen
declares he prescriDedrno medicines TO be
gwen in capsules, and the fact that
hichloride of mercury was found in
Shann's body is deened conclusive proof
uhat Mrs. Sham was deliberately en-
gagged in administering to her son poison
III such doses that death would be slow
but sure. Mrs. Sham is not the kindly
faced, bIue-eyed woman she has been
described. Her features are irregular
aud sharp; she has hin lips aud a pair of
steel gray, piercing eyes.
The examination of the ashes found In
the furnace and range in Mrs. Shann's
house the morning after The sons body
mad been robbed has been suspended by
Expert WormIey, for reasons of economy
on the part OF the county officials. The
taxpayers of Mercer County are
great stickIers in the matter Of
economy. County officials don't
last long in Office il their expendi-
lures aregnot Kept down to bedrock
figures. II has been learned that to COM
piete the work of analyzing the ashes
wonld cost At least SO, 600. This startled