Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-08
SAYS EVIDENCE
OF STRYCHNINE
NOT APPARENT
PHYSICIAN GIVES TESTIMONY
AT BENNETT TRIAL
WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION
HELPS DEFENSE
Jury for Sensational Murder Trial Se-
cured an Hour and Half After
Case Is Called-Accused of
Killing Wife

Strychnlne taken internally aHeCIS
the extensor muscles of the back rath-
er than the flexor muscles. Mrs. Ben
netts muscles were relaxed. Further
more the peculiar facial expression so
common in cases of strychnine poison
ing when the face is distorted by a
sardoniC grin was absent in her case. =
This was, in brief, the testimony of
DR.. A. c. Pratt, the physician who at
tended Mrs. Eugenia Thompson Ben
nett the night of her death, February
Is, and for the alleged killing of whom
the husband, Harper E. Bennett, was
placed on trial before jury in Judge
Willis department of the criminal
court yesterday.
Benefits pale face, showing the eff
fects of worry over his position, lit up
with a complacent smile as he listened
to the statements of the physician,
witness for the prosecution, for DR..
Pratt's testimony marks the founda-
ton for that of other medical experts
whose recitals of strychnine poisoning
symptoms are expected by the defense
to offset, if not completely nullify, the
reports of the chemists who examined
the contents of Mrs. Benefits stomach
after her body was eXhumed.
Jury Selected by Noon
A Jury to try the case was selected
by noon, an hour and half after the
case was called, the twelve men chosen
being as follows:
James 7. Rankin, Colegrove; w. F.
McBurney, E. P. Ford, A. w. Stewart,
Hydalis c. Fink, Los Angeles; l.. c.
Mason, N. H. Hughes, Norwalk; F. D.
| Green, j. A. Kennedy, Ira l.. Niebel
and II. C. Anderson, Pomona, and
Charles Seward, El Monte.
The court room was crowded with
spectators and witnesses when Bennett
entered from the door leading to the
little bridge connecting the hall of JUS
| tice with the county jail, Throughout
the day he manifested little evidence of
nervousness, listening intently to the
| testimony of witnesses and frequently
prompting his attorneys, e. r. Drake
| and T. L. Johnson, during their cross
| examination. 4
ooh, Lord, give me strength to bear
this" was the exclamation of Mrs. M.
e. Walker of Fort Worth, Texas, moth
er of Mrs. Bennett when she took the
stand as the first witness to be called
! by c. G. McComas assistant district
attorney, in charge of the prosecution.
Mrs. Walker broke down several
times during the direct and cross ex-
aminations. She told of the telegram
received by her in Fort Worth an
nouncing her daughters death and the
arrival of herself and three children in
Los Angeles February II, four days
| later.
Suspected Something Wrong
'"My suspicious that something was
J wrong were first aroused when / over
| heard a conversation between Bennett
and George Reynolds during which
| Bennett told Reynolds he thought the
coast was clear" said Mrs Walker.
| She added she could not understand
why her son-in-law and Reynolds a
wave motor promoter, were apparently
| inseparable.
Reynolds. in response to Benefits s
remark, told the latter to keep an eye
on the old woman, meaning me-" said
the witness, land Bennett replied he
was more afraid of me than any other
person."
Mrs. Walker said Bennett did not eX-
press the sorrow that would naturally
| be expected of a man whose wife had
recently died. He told me she died
from the effects of ptomaine poisoning
and that he had already engaged at
torneys to bring suit for damages
against the grocer from whom the can
ned goods were purchased" said the
witness.
The testimony of undertakers who
had embalmed Mrs. Benefits body,
one of whom said surychnine was an
| ingredient of the embalmlng fluid, was
brief The last witness of the day was
| DR.. A. C. Pratt. who attended Bennett
and his wife the night Of the latter's
death.
"I was called to the house by Ben
nett's little daughter, Lalah," said DR..
| Pratt. Bennett and his wife were
| lying on the floor and both were suffer-
| ing greatly. l administered hypoder-
mic injection of strychnine and fol-
| lowed this by an emetic of mustard
and water"
Bennett, he said, told him to attend
| to Mrs. Bennett first.
Symptoms Differ
when I was told by Bennett he and
| his wife had eaten canned chilli con-
carne I came to the conclusion that
| they were suffering from ptomaiue
poisoning" said the physician. "Ben-
nett's symptoms differed from those of
his wife, however, the emetic producing
the desired effect in his case while it
had no effect whatever on Mrs. Ben
nett
Mrs. Bennett he said, had frequent
convulsions and died in one of these
| spasmodic attacks
While this symptom and the ineffec-
| tiveness of emetics are peculiar in
cases of stryehnine poisoning. DR.. Pratt
stated other symptoms manifested by
Mrs. Bennett were directly opposite to
those affecting persons to whom the
poison has been administered.
Prominent among these, he said, was
a weakened pulse. "And," said the
physician, ''strychnine affects the ex-
| tensor muscles of the back rather than
the hexor muscles. This causes the
body to be drawn up, the patient rest
| ing on the heels and head. The mus
cles of the face are also drawn and
after death the muscles in all parts of
| the body are stiffened. I noted none
of these symptoms in Mrs. Benefits
| case"
Court adjourned until 10 o'clock to-
! day before DR.. Pratt had concluded his
| testimony.