The San Francisco call., 1904-03-23


The defendant, her sister and her
brother-in-law, n. c. Mcclure of
Healdsburg, sat together. Mrs. Botkin
possessed herself of a printed tran
script of the testimony given at the
former trial and followed ii closely as
the various witnesses testified. Occa-
sionally she would whisper suggestions
to Attorney MCGOWAN. who sat beside
her. She was not noticeably nervous,
but displayed some emotion when Miss
Dunning appeared on the stand and
eyed her scornfully before beginning
her testimony.
Joshua D. Deane, husband Of one of
the murdered women, was the first
witness called in the morning session.
He told of how his wife was taken i'll
shorty before midnight on August 9,
1898, the same date on which she had
partaken of the candy. She was suf-
fering from severe pains in her
stomach and a burning sensation, ac-
companied by vomiting. She grew
worse, despite the household remedies
administered for cholera morbus, and
at 8 o'clock the following morning DR..
Bishop was called in. Mrs. Deane
grew steadily worse until August IL,
when she showed some improvement,
during the forenoon. In the after
noon a collapse occurred and she died
after suffering a terrible convulsion.
Drs. Bishop and Davis were at her
bedside. Mrs. Dunning was showing
the same symptoms at this time and
died the following day at a. m.
On cross-examination Attorney
Knight asked Deane if he knew E. E.
Clement of Dover. II do" replied the
witness. He tried to blackmail me
before 1 left"
In what way?" persisted Knight.
The District Attorney objected to the
tone of the question and remarked, Il
didn't, expect that the defense would
bring that out on cross-eXamination."
We'll, let 1t be stricken out" said
Knight and the Clement element in the
case was lost to disclosure.
Miss Leila Deane was recalled to
make a minor correction in her testi-
mony of the previous day, having re-
freshed her memory by reading her tes-
timony at the former trial.
PLEADS IGNORANCE.
DR.. Lemuel H. Bishop was the next
witness. He was the attending physi-
clan on Mrs. Dunning and Mrs. Deane
during their fatal illness and was pres
ent at the deathbed of both. He de-
scribed the symptoms of each as con-
sisting Of Inflammation of the mucous
membrane Of the throat, pains and
burning sensations in the stomach
nausea and vomiting. flushed skin and
swollen bodies. Asked the direct ques-
- Taf=
that he was positive that their deaths
were caused by arsenical poisoning.
Attorney Knight took the physician
in hand and drew from him the fact
that it was not until after the death
Of Mrs. Deane and when Mrs. Dunning
was beyond medical aid that he had de-
termined that the cause Of their illness
was arsenical poisoning. At first he
/ had treated them for cholera morbus,
and failing to relieve them he had ap-
parently gone it blind in hopes that
some Of the medicines he administered
might bring relief. He had given
strychnia to stimulate the heart action,
morphine TO allay vomiting, digitalis,
creosote, pepsinoids and other things.
Finally he administered egg albumen,
which he said was an excellent antidote
for arsenical poisoning. but he naively
admitted that he builded better than
he knew, because at that time he had
no idea that his patients were victims
OF arsenic.
LIMITS EXPLANATION.
! He was not very clear on the differ
ence in symptoms between arsenical
and ptomaine poisoning and cholera
morbus. Attorney Knight took him far
afield in search of the tetanus germ
and the effect of antitoxin in diphthe-
ria cases, where the doctor floundered
hopelessly and finally admitted that he
knew very little about bacteriology. He
/ admitted that at no time did he admin
/ lister peroxide of iron to either patient
although he said he knew it was the
generally accepted antidote in cases Of
arsenical poisoning.
What causes the decomposition of
meat?'' asked knight.
"Oh, the atmosphere and moisture
suppose" answered the doctor.
do you know that fish are the great
est field for the production of pto-
maines?" asked knight.
DR.. Bishop admitted that this infor-
nation was new to him. Judge Cook
! finally came to the rescue by declaring
that the cross-examination was being
unnecessarily drawn out. The witness
admitted that he received $500 in addi-