The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette. — 1865-07-18 (Dorchester, Dorset, England)

DEANEI. One of the most extraordinary CAW that has engos the attention of a criminal c 'art in modern times has been insesqated in the High Ju4iciary Conn ot Scotland during the past week. A medical pmeti. firmer ef-Ot.mgow, named Pritchard, was charged with havit g murriored hi. Wife, Mot. Pritchard, and his wife's mothers, Mrs. Teytor, iii his own houee, in Glasgow. the murdet of Mrs. Taylor, aecording to the indictment, having been perpetrated between the 10th and 25th day last, and the murder of Mot. Pritcha,d between the 22nd day of December, 1864. and the 18th day ,of March, in the present yeer. The poisonous .....syregiad by the prosecution, were Unshed Antony and aconite, and a great number of with cofesionel and non-profeesional, were examined for the purpose of proving the guilt of the accused The evidence for the prosecution, the taking of which emu` hit .nosixt three dayr of mr -extraordinary ; and, although mrcumetantial, bore in !rimy respects with fear ful directneels against the accused. Thi, poisoning of Mrs. Pritchard commenced, AA hne been stated,Deessaberof I.et -may the eyniptbms being sickness, with Revere retching and cramp in the hands. These symptoms were manifested after attetain theala. and the presumption that they were produced by poison Was strengthened by the fact that while the lady wee on a visit to her parents In Edinburgh they entirely disappeared, and that they reappeared aa won as she returned to her own house in Gliegow. As time went on the lady got worse, and her mother was met for to nurse her during her inners. It seems, however, that Dr. Pritchard did not want • nurse, but a victim. Seoul after her arrival at the house of her eon-in-law Mrs. Taylor fell ill, and so rapid was the progress of her (Inman that in about fifteen days she was a melee. The accursed insinuated to the medical man, Dr. Patterson, .who was brought in to see Mrs. Taylor lust before she expired, the* she was addicted to drinkiog, an insinuation which was clearly disproved by competent witnesses, and that alit, had taken a " good swig" of Sattley's Sedative Solution, which she wee in the habit of using as a means of procuring sleep. Dr. Patterson thought the death of the old lady suspicious, and refused to give a eertificate of the muse of her death; otherwise he kept his suspicions to himself. Meantime Mrs. Taylor got worse, her complaint being • mystery to herself, AI mine days she was quite well, and the only thing she complained of was the Meknes, retching, and tendency to cramp. In less than a month after the death of her mother Mrs. Pritchard died, and her remains were taken to Edinburgh by her husband, for interment. During his absence rumours began to float about respecting the death of the two ladies, and the police became acquainted with certain facts which led to the apprehension of the husband on his return from the funeral of hie wife. Subsequently the bodies of the Iwo ladies were exhumed. A rostmortem examination was made, and the chemical analysis to which portions of the remains were subjected revealed the (set-that poison had been introduced into their systems in suffioiently large quantities to produee fatal results. The question involved in the tri‘l which terminated bit Friday was, who was the administrator of that poison. The jury, in about an hour, returned an unanimous verdict of Guilty on both charges. The Lord Juetice Clerk then tentenoed the primmer to be executed at Glasgow on the 28th inst., and in passing sentence said that the verdict of the jary proceeded upon evidence which could leave no reasonable doubt in the minds of those by whom it was considered. The prisoner, who had maintained great composure throughout the fire days of the trial, seemed greatly affected when the verdict was pronounced, and leant slightly on the Policeman sitting beside him; but while the sentence was-being—recorded he aompletely regained his composure, and after sentence was passed upon him he bowed to the judge and also to the jury before leaving the dock. Tee