The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-08-11
FASTENING THE CRIME.
The Experts Agree Poison
Was in the Body of John
Sham.

ipation yesterday, the State called Pro-
fessor Henry B. Cornwall. of Princeton,
who is Chemist in the College Of New
Jersey. lie made the analysis OF some
other parts OF the body of John Shaun
for the purpose of locating mercury in
other parts OF the body.
These ,rs were GWEN to him on May
10 by County Physlcian Frank V. Cant
well. They contained portions OF the ex-
humed body uf John Shaun. In No. l
was the bladder; No. 2. calf muscles: No.
8. part of The brain; No. 4, right thigh
muscles; No. 8, tonsil. gland and ulcer OF
the mouth; No 6. part Of tue Biopha :
gus.
He examined the contents OF eve ry jar,
following a wsIl-establtshed aud easy
| process for detecting metallic precip ita-
tons. Iu lone of them diu tie 1ud cor
rosive subiimata as q combination. but
In all OF them he did ind metal mercury.
The tousils, glands and ulcer of the
mouth showed decided presence of mer-
curry. He took ten ounces Of the calf
muscles ami found a small amount of
mercury. File examined eight ounces OF
the brain with u similar result. Hs ex-
amined all of the bladder aud finding
| that there WAS some metallic preeipita-
tion ne subjected it TO a more searching
process, and the result was the fiudiug of
mercury equivalent TO thirty-one
thousanth part.
AN IMPORTANT QUESTION.
Prosecutor stockton thsn put at him a
very important question, which cauSed II
lengthy discussion. He asked "tnat If in
| one kidney and a part of a brain there
was found one and eighty three hun
dredths grain Of corrosive sublinlsre,
and in Two inches of the recrum one
hftieth Of u grain, from your examina-
tion of the other parts of the body, what
yvnDII he in rhA nrOaDy Thar I'm Va mt
been examiusdf"
Captain Holt objscted to the question,
because he claimed that DR.. CurRwall
WAS only there as an expert of chemistry.
and not the course ana occasion of medi-
sine. He said 1t was an attempt to patch
up the weak evidence of DR.. Wormley
by another witness.
Justice Abbet1 objected to his making
such a criticism, and said the course of
the Slate was right, and the witness had
| ouly TO confine himself To answering the
question az TO the atnount of mercury
that would De found in other parts of the
body.
After the question was amended. Pro
fessor Cornwall quoted a number OF
cases. particularly experiments on dogs,
and from them made The deduction that
there would be more mercury secretad in
the liver than in the kidney; more IN the
muscles than In the brain. and more in
the muscles than in the kidney, and from
this he Inferred that further search
through the body of John Shaun would
have discovered considerable more mer-
curry. At this point the court adjourn ed
to dine.
AFTER RECESS.
On the recoLyening of the court at
fifteen minute pnst two p. NJ, Prose-
| c1tor Stockton asked another pertinent
question u, and that was that of in ono
kidney and a part of a brain there was
found eighty-thres hundredths grain Of
| corros i've sublimHte, and In two inches of
the re ctum one tftisth of q grain, from
your examination OF the other parts of
the bouy, what would De yous inference
as to the length of time This mercury had
be en- ad m1nlstered-whether 1t had been
| Civ en in o sinRle dose or in smaller doses
that extended over q longer period of
timer"
Captain Holt objected to the question,
but did not sustain his objection In the
opinion OF tho Court.
Professor Cornell. Ia answering, said
that he woul infer. from DIR. Wormley's
testimony aud his own observation. that
| the mercury had been Administered con-
tinuously, although the behavior of mer-
curry was different and varied according
to circumstances. That where mercury
had been given in small doses for q
period Of time it had been observed that
some of the mercury could be found In
| tuo DUUf UkboI uCAbus 0uU Wu6E0 IL WAS u
case OF acute poisoning, the mercury
eEtirely disappeared after death
The State then produced a DO title Of
embalming fluid. white in color, which
the Professor identified and said he mad
examined for mercury, but found none
of 1t there. He also was shown a pres
cription which he stated he had made up
aud had exDerimentsd with the compost
tion upon various articles of clothing,
principally dress good fabrics, and found
that 1t did not burn a hole In the goods,
but discolored it, leaving q yellow stain.
He then produced u number OF exhibits
consisting OF small Enbes, In which were
the globules of mercury obtained from
the brain, bladder and ths ulcer, and
which were marked rs exhibits.
CROSS EXAMINED BIZ JUDGE BEBsLEY.
Hs was cross examined by Judge
Chauncey Beasley. Il this brought out
that the various parts Of John Shann's
brought TO him, but he allow ed them TO
stand y week before beeinnIn z his work,
when nearly all Of the parts were much
decomposed.
He was then asked whether he knew
anything about the contents OF the e,n-
balming fluid used by Undertaken Snann,
and he said he did Lot. except that he
exRminedsit for mercury. He did not
know whether IL contained chloride of
zinc or not. He was then questioned as
TO what might De the effect should 1t
contain chloride of zinc, and he admitted
that chloride of zinc coming In contact
with calomel WOULD produce a mecuric
chloride, and that chleride of ammonia
comtug In contact with calomel, would
produce corrosive subIimate. Calomel
and any mercuric salt might produce
mercury.
He was then obliged to recite again
some OF the authorities for his having the
opinion that the liver and kidneys abb
sorbcd the largest amount of mercury,
aud he gave That of an experiment made
on a dog. Judge Beasley was not salts
fed with the dog experiment aud wanted
him to cite one OF n human being, but
Justice Albeit objected because it was
not probable that experts would poison
q human being and Then a~nalyza him for
the sake OF obtaining Expert testimoa..
JUSTICE ALBEIT KNOWS OF THESE TAG
TICS.
At this point in the Professors evil
dence Judge Bsasley made use of the ex-
preston, "And you came here to make
this jury believe Lhis.n which brought
Justice Abbett to his fest at once, aud he
said, He does not come here to nuke the
jury believe anything; he comes here as
an expert to give them the benefit OF his
Studies and his researches. aud the couu-
eel have no business to make Rn such
I imputatlon."
Justice Albeit said he knew he had been
guilty of the same tactics himself. but ii
was unfair to the witness, aud. as q
Judge. he would not allow 1t. This pro-
voked some laughter, In Which all III the
court room seemed to participates.