The morning journal-courier., 1908-02-19

of blood on the stairs were from his injuries.
 Dr. Wolf's criticism of pr. Smith $ chemical methods may be quickly dis posed of Dr. Smith. for years dean of the Yale Medical School, has re- peatedly been before the courts in this State with a resulting reputation for skill. accuracy and fairness which no one can successfully question.
 Any attempt to imply that the de- lection of poison in the stomach con- tents in the Edwards case was based only upon the sense of smell is entire ly gratuitous. The odor was suggestive of laudanum, but the actual test for the morphine, the poisonous princi- pie of laudanum. was made and its presence shown by the most accurate modern chemical methods. The ob- taining of at least one-quarter grain of morphine from the stomach in ad- dition to the quantity necessarily lost in the process even by the most ac- curate methods simply indicates that q considerable quantity had been talk en. not necessarily absorbed. On the contrary, the finding of morphine in the urine is of great importance. This means that it had hcen absorbed. that it had passed through the tis- sues and that it had been excreted. How long this requires is not known, the most authoritative statements be- ing that it passes only slowly into the urine and that it's presence there in dicates that it has been taken In large quantity. It is to be further noted that the amount of morphine stored up in the liver in the Edwards case is unknown. This is one of the organs in which it Is often found in considerable quantity. The coroner's investigation did not require an andy sis of this organ although it was pre- served for the purpose if later devel- opments required it. The fact was sufficiently established that morphine had been absorbed and had in all probability been in the body a suffici- ent time to produce it's effects Also that the poison was not merely put into the stomach after death for in that case it would not have appeared in the urine.
 Aside from his criticism of the chemist and the conclusions drawn from the chemical findings. Dr. Wolff bases his report chiefly upon four oth- CT alleged facts. First that the wound to Edwards brain was such that it must have at once produced unconsciousness with lack of volun- tary motion, and was necessarily fatal Second. that the blood stains on Ed wards undershirt and body came from 1 the finger of the murderer. Third 1 that the blood on the stairs from the I basement to the first floor also came ! from the finger of the murderer and ! could not come from Edwards, and 1 fourth. that there were stains on the | docr-latch and elsewhere In the attic | also on the front door thumb prn'
 on the railing of the stairs leading
 from the basement to the first floor
 and evidence that blood stains here
 were made by a person going dowr | StalTS, not upSldlTS
 Taking these up in order, there k the opinion of men of professi onn
 ability who were present at the antop- sy confirming that Of the medical eX. aminer that the injury to the brair as found need not produce immedi. ate unconsciousness or inability tc
 move, or if 1t did that such period oi 1 uneonsciousnes might have beer
 very brief. From Dr Wolffs repor it is evident that much of his knowl
 edge of the effects of gunshot wounds Is reflected from Dr. Charles D. Phelps
 of New York, a recognized authorit! on gunshot wounds. Under these cir
 cumstances it is justiiable to go di
 rectly to pr. Phelps for information
 Tn a work entitled "Traumatic Inju
 ries of the Brain" by Dr. Phelps, pub
 lished in 1891 the following case i
 recorded on page 557:
 Case CCXClII-Male, aged twen
 weight years, shot himself in tn
 right temple region using all five bar
 rels of a pistol of 0.22 cal. All tn
 bullets entered space one inch il
 diameter just behind and little abov
 the right angular process Each voun'
 was distinct, and apparently made a
 contact. as there were no burns 0
 trace of powder upon the surface. EX
 ternal hemorrhage was profuse, bu
 there were no shock and no gen
 eral symptoms. Two bullets wer
 removed from the cutaneous wound'
 and one from the masseter muscle, in
 to which lt had been deflected On
 bullet was undiscovered, and one onl
 penetrated the cranium at some dis tant and unknown point between and the dura mater which was unir jured There were no subsequer
 symptoms"
 In this case with Ave 22-calibre bu lets fired into the head. one of whic passed through the skull into il, cranial cavity, there was no shock an no general symptoms and recovery ot cured. While in the Edwards cas one .22-calibre bullet not penetratin or fracturing the skull, did in the opir ion of Dr Wolff necessarily produc immediate inconsistencies, lack voluntary motion and was necessaril fatal. Is the conclusion justified Tn case quoted from Dr Phelps boo agrees with the experience of almo' every physician of wide practice thS severe injuries of the brain may n' prove fatal, may not produce uncor sciousness or lack of voluntary mC ton, or if 60 that this condition ma be temporary.
 Secondly. Dr. Wolff assumes that tn blood on the body and undercloths came from the murderer's finger as I held Mr. Edwards down If so the fir ger must have bled profusely. Tn blood was widely distributed from tn ear well down on the chest. It hs diffusely stained the beard on the le side and had clotted and dried aroun the roots of the beard here The spo Of clotted blood on the neck and che