Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1922-02-07
FAMOUS TRIALS
WILLIAM DOVE

Before the murder by Palmer of John
Parsons Cook. most famous English
trial already treated in this series poison
Ing by strychnin was almost unknown In
fact po..-nng as fine art had made
comparatively slight advances since the
days of the Warehouses and Brinviliiers
and arsenic, d IJm and antimony SCENE
| to exhause the ingenuity Of Grim mails
The mode Of murder of the prisoner was
| revived with renewed interest in the case
, Of the Queen VS. William Dove which
| occurred IN the middle of the past cen
fury in England
Dove was the son of leather manu-
facturer and was married. Mrs Dove
was the daughter of equally respectable
parents. she was sickly and almost con-
stantly under the DOCTORS care The Rus
band fen in love with a Mrs Whitman a
widow of highly reputable character. vino
neither did nor said anything to en-
courage his advances.
Believing that II he was free he world
be able to induce the widow to marry him.
+, Dove suddenly discovered that his house
was infested with rats and purchased at
first ten and soon afterward five grains
of sctrychnine and announced THAT he had
reason to believe that Mrs Dove would not
long survive the month Of February. s5s
Sure enough after a few preIimin-
airy dUtHCkS, she OleQ on the ISL OIL MaTCl
with an the peculiar symptoms of pois-
oning by strychnia. By Violently resistn :
a tpost-mortern examination and falsely
asserting he did so in Difference to the wish
es of his late wife Dove succeeded in at
tracing attention to himself and was duly
arrested. The reed on which he had lean
ed, as on a staff. broke In his hands Not
only were Mrs. Doves symptoms
those of strychnine poisoning, but each
of five different chemical tests applied to
the contents of her stomach and intestines
yielded unmist akai11e evidence Of the
presence of the same subtle and fatal
agent
Dove was arrested and was tried be-
fore Baron Bramwen at York on July 1e
to 10, 1856 The only possible defense
was insanity and insanity Of that pc
culiar type known as hornicidel mono.
mania. The chief witness for the prison
er was the nurse of his boyfood Sh,
deposed that he would keep her in hi.
/ bedroom with his back to the door, grin
: ming and screaming, and would lock 9
lighted candle UP in a basket in the closet
: She said Dove was sent to school bli
7 could not be taspgflt and he was most vi
: ciorrs and cruel In his treatment of ami
nrsls.
The nurse stated that the father al
t ways looked iron William as a fool, an
F., IIeft him onay $3.50 year to be paid h,
7 trustees in weekly allowances. She sal,
that on his farm he would plant tree
one day and pull them up the next. On
$ another occasion having seen another MAJ
= reaping his corn which was ripe. he wen
and reaioed HIS own. which was green
i because he said he would not be behind
:. hand
4 Another incident that was brought vi
as proof OF his sanity was a letter Will
: he was In York Castle jail. which wa
written in blood to the devil to whom h
4 Thought ne had SOLD his soul. 1t was il
t the following terms.
$ Dear Dewitt you will get me clea
e at the assizes and let me have the en-
i joyrnent Of life, wealth tobacco here NOR
d food and better. and my wishes granite
2 TIL am SO come to me tonight. I remain
: your faithful servant, William Dove.
+ On the face OF It this was. a strong cas
: from the stanffSint OF insanity but
q weakened considerably in the proving
the first place there was no douabt tina
: Dove both intended to commit and knss
!. that he was committing murder; agsi
+ he was afraid Of Punishment and onl
4 went on with his criminal designs becaus
n he believed punishment to be avoidable
!, In the next place the letter to the deyi
- which was tn strongest proof of insanitl
= | was written after the murder and misd
| we'll be fictitious evidence. Nom OF III
- witnesses for the prosecution who wer
about Dove during the Critical perio
were crosse examined as to his ment;
state Dove Yves found guilty with
4 recomm endation to mercy on the .groun
!. of his detective intellect which vas NJ
" attended to. He suffered the last per
t atty OF the law and his trial fin lily d.
- sipated the delusion that the latest ar
ee deadliest of the alksloids defed ne re
9. sources of chemical analysis.
to
j. :.