The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-12-10
MURDER By POISON
REVIEW OF FAMOUS ENGLISH
CASES OF THE LAST HALF
CENTURY

CENTURY
COURT SCENE PICTURESQUE
Quaint Customs which still Sur
vive Old Days 10 BE Observed at
the "OId Bailey" When "A Noted
Murder Case Is on TriaI-EngIIsh
Opinion as to the Guilt of Mrs.
Maybrick.
AS l happen to have been present at
some of the most celebrated murder trials
In which various poisons were used dur
Ing the last fifty years, heard the evil
dence, saw the prisoners and stood. up
when wretched men and women have been
condemned to death, writes Clement
Scott, in the New York Herald, apropos
of the trial of Roland Molineux, for the
murder Of Mrs. Cornish, it struck me that
1t might be interesting to run over few
sensational cases Of poison murders in
England during the Victorian era. The
trials have mostly taken place In what
We call the 'Old Bailey" 1t is really the
central criminal court in the city of Lon
don. close by Ludgate Hill, attached to
old NeWgate prison, outside whose
gloomy walls have. as a boy, seen sew
eral prisoners hanged in the early morn
ing amid the most hideous din and dis
reputable rapple that ever cursed great
CITY Happily that scandal has ceased
Public executions exist no longer in Eng
land Men ana, very rarely, women are
hanged inside the prison walls, and in
the presence of the sheriff and a few
officials.
When you go into the central criminal
court on the morning Of a celebrated
murder trial the scene suggests anything
but sadness and gloom 1t is a huge
ugly, uncomfortable, Implanted court
with dock for the wretched prisoner
large enough for regiment of soldiers
and miserable accommodation for the bar
risters and solicitors and officials connect
ed With the case, and small confined
pen" for the jury.
PICTURESQUE SCENE.
But the berch appointed for the judge
is, on such occasions, as gay as a garden,
and the wretched man or woman waiting
trial, huddled up In a corner of the great
dock or standing between two burly war
dens in uniform is face to face with
picturesque scene. Under a giant sword
of justice hanging on the wall, which
takes the place of the crucifix invariably
placed in French criminal court, sits
the lord mayor Of London in his gorgeous
robes OF scarlet, fur and ermine. BY his
side are the sheriffs of London, in robes
equally gorgeous, who are responsible for
all the details of the trial and the custody
Of the prisoner.
Fitting about the court are the under
sheriffs, in black velvet court suits,
adorned with cut steel buttons, knee
breeches, black silk stockings and buckled
pumps, lace ruff1es on their wrists and
sword at their side.
When the judge appears, often In scar
let, with a heavy gray wig, provided4it it is
gaudy day" In term time, all rise after
a stentorian warning from the usher of
the court, who is as a rule, the city toast
master, the official who stands behind the
lord mayors chair at city banquets to
announce the toasts and act as fugleman
for the cheers. A curious occupation,
surely, to lead the cheers and enthusiasm
at the Guild hall or the Mansion house,
and to call dread silence when in the
Old Bailey the judge puts on a black cap,
and man is sentenced to death
You Will notice that when the Judge
enters to@trys a manor woman fers his or
full bouquet of cut flowers which he de-
posits by his side on his desk, which is
not In the middle of the bench, as in
other courts, but at the side, the center
being occupied by the lord mayor of Lon
don.
SURVIVAL OF THE OLD CUSTOM.
This bouquet Is presented by the city
of London and Is a survival of the old
custom when at such trials rue and
rosemary and sweet smelling herbs were
scattered in the prisoners dock, and in
the precincts of the court, for the pur-
pose of disinfection and to allay what
was then called ''gaol fever"
The first celebrated poison case of the
last half century was that of Palmer,
local doctor OF Rugeley, In Staffordshire,
who was charged with numbering by
poison his friend Cook, a racing man.
whose life he had insured, and to whom
he owed a considerable amount of money.
The actual murder occurred at the Raven
hotel, at Shrewsbury, but the trial took
place in London, as often happens, to
avoid local prejudice in the selection of
jury. / remember as a lad at school the
Palmer case created furious excitement,
and in all our classrooms and dormi-
tories the Times newspaper was in enor-
nous reauisition. l was l remember, ap-
pointed 10 read out the details of the
trial to my hungry and eager school
mates. TIE case was tried by Lord
Campbell, a very drastic Scotch Judge
Jock Campbell, they used to call him.
The attorney general prosecuted, and the
then attorney general was Alexander
Cockburn afterwards lord chief Justice
of England, a name we'll known in Amer
lea in connection with the Alabama
claims. For the defense was Sergeant
Shee, an eloquent Irishman, with an enor-
nous practice. - 49,
DRUG LITTLE KNOWN.
Palmer. the Rugeley doctor, was eharg-
ed with poisoning his friend Cook with
strychnine, deadly drug of which very
little was known at the time, and con-
sequently gave rise to a noteworthy dis
cord in the medical evidence There
never was such black and white swear
ing as ON this occasion over the strych-
nine and its effects. At any rate, at the
autopsy strychnfne was discovered in
the murdered mans body, and Palmer
was proved to have bribed the postboy
who conveyed the contents of the stom-
ach for analysis to London to fall off
his horse and smash the contents of the
jar. Palmer, the doctor, throughout the
trial, preserved the utmost sang froid
and fully expected he would be ao-
quilted. The only thing that puzzled him
was the obseQuiousness of Lord Camp
bell, the judge, who was not wont to be
civil to anybody. Toward the close of the
trial Palmer, from the dock, sent down
penciled note to his counsel with
these words written on the paper: 1.-The
old devil on the bench is too beastly civil
He means to hang mel!