AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE

Evening Star, Issue 14554, 1 May 1911, Page 5

AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE

AN AMERICAN BECK., What nuy well bo termed the most extraordinary case in the annals of U.S. criminal trials, and certainly the most wonderful fight ever put up to secure a man's liberty, came again into public view the other day, when an appeal for the absolute pardon of Albert T. Patrick was made to the Governor of New York. The resurrection of Patrick's nine-years' struggle for freedom and acquittal, piled upon the long list'of strange things it has already brought out, has evoked a new set of sensations. —Genesis of the CaseIn order, to fully understand the motives of this reraarkaole case it is necessary to tell briellv the story of the crime for which Patrick was convicted. William Marsh Ri?e. a Texas millionaire, at the time residing in New York, was found dead in his Fifth Avenue home one morning in October, 1900. Dr Walker Curry, who had attended Rico in a somewhat protracted illness, issuod a certificate of death, assigning natural causes. The morning of the death Albert T. Patrick, an attornev aid friend of Rico, appeared at the bank of S. M. Swenson and Sons, and presented several large cheques purporting to have been signed by Rice. A defect in one of the cheques caused suspicion, and Rice's home was called on the telephone. Charles F. Jones, Rice's valot, assured the bank that tho cheque was Tho bank insisted that Mr llice himsjTf give his verbal approval of tho cheque Then the bank was told that Rice was dead. An investigation followed, and Jones was arrested. Meanwhile the body was removed to an undertaker's and embalmed. The day set for the funeral an autopsy was decided upon and held. Nothing sensational was found. Then Patrick was arrested, and charged with forgery. Two wills were found—one leaving the' bulk of Rice's fortuno to a charitable institution for negroes in Texas, and the later one leaving this institution a much smaller sum, and making Patrick the residuary legatee and administrator. —Jones Makes Several Confessions.—

Jones was subjected to a cruel examination, and made several confessions, finally asserting that Patrick had caused him to placo a towel containing a spongo saturated with chloroform over the nostrils of the ill and sleeping millionaire. Patrick went to ttial, and his attorneys were able to shatter badly the testimony of the weak, unstable Jones. The State was face to face with the problem of corroborating the testimony of the valet, and did so by producing testimony to show that the lungs of the body of Rice, examined after embalming, were slightly congested. T',w» the State asserted, was caused by th*ciiloroform. The defenco contended that the congestion had been duo to seepage of tho embalming fluid into the lungs. It also showed that the ingredients of the fluid used on Rice would have caused this congested condition. If this could bo proved, tho State's sole corroboration of Jones's uncertain testimony was taken away. The State immediately produced experts who swore that embalming fluid injected into the brachial artery, as°was done in Rice's case, could under no circumstances find its way into the lungs.

—The Crux of the Case.— The defence replied with its own array of experts, who said that the- opposite was tho case, and that embalming fluid was cerluin to reach the lungs by a number of routes. In the end tho jury accepted the view of the State, ar.d Patrek was convicted. The bearing of this medical point on the final termination cf Patrick's case can hardly bo overdrawn. Patrick himecif considers it the thing which convicted him. Then, of course, the usual legal steps were taken, and delay after delay ensued, and eventually Patrick was iepri«ved Then appeared Dr William Smith, of the American School of Osteopathy, of Kirksvillo, Mo., who did not even know the prisoner at the time. It is best, therefore, to take r.p this strangest of strange cases, tiiid (ontinue it with a portion of Dr Smiths own story. He says: Juet before Christmas in 1906 Governor lliggins reprieved lum, ar.d without his consent altered his «ntenco to hit; imprisonment. That was almost bis l;:tt official act, as ho cied about ten days later. I have heard it said that he could not die in peace with Patrick under sentence of death. On tho miming after the reprieve I was rending the account of the proceedings. I'i ore ol the New York papers 1 s.-.w th> statement that " had it not been for tho medical testimony, which stated ihat unoer no circumstances vould embalming lUud enter the lungs, Patrick might have been freed." The utter absurdity of it all appealed to me. I did not know Patrick, tut I at once called up Patrick's auorncy, and told him that I i ad ahsoiute i:i<vr.tiovcrtible evidence to the contrary. On the following Wednesday I tcok to his office some plates made by me by tie X-ray system two j'-mts belong the d«th of Rice, in tho American School of Osteopathy, which showed Injection fluid, and more than that, •>oiid matter in the lungs. When I showed these plates to Judge Olcott, Patrick's attorney, he leaned back in his > hair and ms eyes beamed. " Wonderful, wondeifnl," he said ; " if I had had those ter o.iys ago Patrick would bo a frte man today." Higgins died. We coild do -•;». thing. He had turned down the p.t. : tio)i of 3,CCO doctors of the State of New York, who believed the t'atements cf the State's " experts" were erroneous. Ho had turned down llu appeal of the Ntw York .Medico-Legal Soc'ety, and had done the samo thing with the protest of the embalmerß of the State. . . . This matter of the medical'l«*tun(ihy is not a matter of my own opinion. Nor is it the opinion of Dr Uonlin, Dr Be/], Dr Littlejohn, or anyone else. It ;s not a matter of scientilic dispute ; it is a rtatter of plain, overyday man said it was night wht-n e\e;yone knew it was day. I hat is r.Il. —Dr Bell, a Famous Criminologist, Testifies.— la my student days in Edinii-irgh, Sectland, 1 had associated wth. Dr Jc6cpU lit 11, president of the Royal CuJhge o' i-U'geotis in Edinburgh, Surgeon : u Ordinary ti the late King and the lite Q !"on V"irtovia. He is the original from winch Sir A'ibur Conan Doyie drew hirj famous fiction charactor of Sherlock Holmes, a mighty thinker, ami the peer of all unravellors of crime. As the original of That charicter, Dr Bell had to be and is recognised as one of the shrewdest criminologists :n tl-o world. And the creator of this character, Arthur Conan Doyle himself, must needs be proficient in weighing evidences of crime and showing correct- results by the famous method of deduction that ho mado his hero employ. Sir Arthur was a fellow student | with ine almost thirty years ago. Aly earliest teacher in anatomy was Sir William Turner, now the; retired professor of that subject in the University of Edinburgh, and now known as the foremost anatomist of Europe With Sir Henry 1). Littlejohn, a man of international reputation as a medico-legal exj>ert, I had worked for years. 1 havo been associated with him ill several criminal cases. With him I have performed many autoptsies of police cases. With John Chiene, the veteran professor of surgery in the same university, I had worked for two yearn. Chiene was associated with Sir Joseph Lister when the latter promulgated his antiseptic theory. These are men whose words must count, men whoso word means truth, and men who would no more sell their honor even for the whole of the State of New Yorkthan thoy would barter their souls. I wrote to" them, sent them my facts, the published interview with me in the undertakers' periodical, and all the scientific «*yideneo in my profession. I asked them if tho medical experts- did not err in asserting that "under no circumstances" could em-~ balming fluid, when injected into the right brachial artery, penetrate the lungs"; that "it was possible to balance a towel, containing chloroform in ouch on amount as to kill, on the face of a sleeping man and not hare the very action of the drug produce spasms to throw it off." —What Other Doctors Say.— i In response to these letters Dr Smitt^j

has received quite) a sheaf of cohxmuriications supporting his view. Dr Joseph Bell wrote:—"l have read the paper you eent mo, and also your interesting letter. >Am Ito underotand that tha post-mortem examination upon which ovidence was founded was really made after embalming? As I have no doubt that the lung can bo injected from the brachial, which indeed you prove, surely any results as to the vapor of chloroform being detected are quite impossible to understand." Dr Littlejohn added:—"After repeated consultations with our mutual friend, Dr Joseph Bell, and having read his letter, which fully expresses my own views and diificulties, I beg to endorse all he says." Sir Conan Doyle wrote:—"l am much interested by your letter, and from the circumstances, as stated, there certainly, seems to have been a gross miscarriage of justice. I have much sympathy with Mr Patrick, and wish you all success in your efforts." Dr John Chiene replied: "You can fill the whole body, lungs and ail, from the brachial artery with formalin solution. I could not separate tho congested condition of the lungs duo to inhalation of chloroform from a hypostatic congestion. I have never tried to put an adult, when asleep, under chloroform. I think he would waken. I have put a child under chloroform without wakening him. The poor man has surely been convicted on slender grounds. I wish you all success in your ondeftvors to got him otL" Dr Sir William Turner said:—"ln reply to tho question which you have put to me, I have no hesitation in. saying that fluids injected into the brachial femoral arteries do find their way into tho lungs. This remark applies not only to such fluids as are employed for purposes of embalming, but to such a substanco as liquid lard, which is sometimes used for filling the arterial system preliminary to dissection. It is not uncommon to find tho left ventricle, the left auricle, and the pulmonary veins distended with tho material which the anatomist has injected into the arterial system." —A Powerful AppealConcluding his story, Dr Smith thus sums up:— Wo aro asking for a chance for tho under dog in the fight, a commission to decido whether or not he deserves a new trial. Arthur Train, assistant district attorney in Jerome's office, in the May, 1907, issue of the 'American Magazine.' stated that " the evidence the medical experts convicted Patrick." 'lhat evidence did not convict on the ground that ho was "found guilty." There is avast difference between the two. If a rencaring is granted, I will pledge my word that I will demonstrate to the authorities in such a manner that there can bo no possible doubt about if that tho evidonco of the medical witnesses for the State m the case of tho People v. Albert T. Patrick was erroneous, whether through wilful or casual ignorance. lam prepared to inject into a bodv embalming fluid in exactly the same manner as did the einbalmcr m the case of Rice. And if tho fluid injected into the right brachial artery fails to penetrate the lungs, I will admit that the medical testimony which convicted Patrick was correct, and I will give up the fight. Patrick docs not want a pardon. Ho would decline it. Ho does not desire to have the Governor say : " Yes, you have killed an eighty-fivo-year-old man, bufi wo will forgive vou this time. Be good now ; you must kill no more people.' that is not what he desires. He wishes for that for which ho has always begged, a square chance to prove his innocence and an opportunity to obtain a vindication. . . • Let America never talk of wrongful convictions, n.iscarriaees of justice, or anvthinc; or the kind in other countries until Albert 1. Patrick is given' a chance to present evidence which was kept out at his trial.