The Warwickshire Herald. — 1891-04-09 (Birmingham, West Midlands, England)

PALMER TES POISONER. Mr. Frail was a very agreeable, entertaining cornanion, and full of anecdotes. He told me that once le went down to Liverpool with three thousand ?amide in notes for electioneering purposes (what tort of purposes we had better not inquire), and :hat he occupied a double-bedded room in the hotel with Palmer, the notorious poisoner, then a friend at his. When he woke in the morning,he found that E'almer, always an early riser, was already dressed and gone out. "As he was finishing his own toilet, Palmer came into the room, just as Mr. Frail was putting his hand under his pillow to take out the waistcoat that contained the money. "What halts you got there, John? " Palmer asked. " I hope tc find three thousand pounds in notes," was Mr.Frail'i reply, in his peculiar measured tones. " Good Heavens," said Palmer, " why didn't you tell me so last night?" The remark came back to Mr. Frail's mind, with unpleasant significance, when he afterwards found that his friend was a wholesale murderer. Mr. George Payne, too, told me that lie saw Cook the morning after he had won the shrewsbury Cup, and knowing him, congratulated him on his victory. Cook replied, "Oh, Mr. Payne, don't wish me my; I am so ill and have had such a fearful night; I am going away now with Palmer there he stands," and on looking round Mr. Payne says he saw Palmer "standing with his hands behind him intently regarding them." It was proved afterwards at the trial that the night before this conversation took place the landlady of the Raver Hotel saw Palmer holding a tumbler under the gas i . tight in the passage and stirring something up n it with a spoon. This was supposed to be the first dose of antimony he gave Cook. "What are yot. mixing, Mr. Palmer f" the landlady asked. "Ii `hat am I mixing?" he replied (he had extraordinary command over his looks as Cook's uncle testifies when travelling with him from Rugby to Rugeley to ascertain if Cook had met with his death by foul play), "Why, some whisky and water and sugar !'• What a scene for a drama, These three men standing on the Shrewsbury Race-course—Cook, the in. tended victim, the prisoner who meant to finish hin. off that night (Palmer administered strychnine pills to Cook that evening at Rugeley, and then sat up in his own house opposite the inn to await tie result, and when he WU summoned, made the foolish remark that told no against him at the trial, "I never dressed so quickly in all my life," for he could not possibly have got half his clothes on in the time), and Mr. Payne, little knowing what a fearful tragedy was being secretly devised. In racing circles It was firmly believed that Mr. Padwick would have been Palmer's next victim. William Saunders, of Hednesford, who was my trainer in 1872, told me he knew Palmer well—in fact, his horse, The Chicken, was trained at Hednesford—and that he believes one day Palmer put something in the tea as a test; at any rate, he and one or two friends were very ill after drinking it."—"Racing Reminiscences and Experiences of the Turf." By Sir George Chetwynd, Bart. In Two Vole. (London: Longmans, Green, and Co.) ' stymies. Love, like an island, held a single heart, Waiting for shoreward list ...ilia, of the breeze. So might it waft to him th It ,it apart Some angel guest from out the clouded seas. Was it mere chance that threw within his reach Fragments and symbols of the bliss unknown? Was it vague hope that nmrmured down the beach . Tuning the billows and the cavern's moan Oft through the aching void tho promise thrilled "Thou shalt be loved, and Tiny sha.l pay his debt." Silence returns upon the wish fulfired Joy for a year, and then a sweet regret. Idol, mine Idol, whom this touch profanes, Pass as thou cam'st across the glimmering seas : All, all is lost but memory's sacred pains; Leave me, oh leave me. ere I forfeit these! —"lonica." (London and Orpington: George Allen.)