TRIAL OF WILLIAM PALMER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 412, 15 October 1856, Page 5

TRIAL OF WILLIAM PALMER.

SIXTH DAY. The court was as much crowded as on the previous days. Amongst the gentlemen on the bench were Sir J. Ramsden, M.P., and Sir John Wilson, governor of Chelsea Hospital. The appearance and demeanour of the prisoner were in no respect changed. John Jackson, member of the college of physicians, was examined. He had had 25 years' practice in India, where tetanus is frequent. In adults there is no difference between the two forms of the disease. Had known idiopathic tetanus occur to women after confinement or miscarriage. Witness stated that he had never scan a case in which the disease ended in death in twenty minutes to half an hour. Daniel Scully Bergen, chief Superintendent of police at Stafford, had searcnea" Taimei'» house for papers on the night of the loth December, when the verdict of the coroner's inquest was returned. The papers were placed in a bag and conveyed to Stafford, where selections- were made from them by Mr. Deane, solicitor for the prosecution. Some of the papers were delivered to Mr. George Palmer. The prisoner was arrested on the nighty of the loth December. In his cross-examination this witness stated that Palmer was never present, nor did any one act for him, at the inquest. Henry Augustus Deane confirmed the statement respecting the paper?. He found amongst them no check on Messrs. Weatherby purporting to be signed by Cook, nor any acknowledgement by Cook of acceptances by Palmer for Cook's "benefit. On the cross-examination of this witness it appeared that Field and another detective ofiicer had been sent to Eu^elev by the Prince of Wales Insurance office to inquire into the habits of Mr. Walter Palmer, of wlicse death the oflice had received notice, and also to inquire respecting a person named Bates, with reference to a proposed insurance of £25,000 on his life. John Espin, solicitor, produced a bill for £2,000 drawn by Palmer on his mother, which had been placed in his hands to recover. Mr. Strawbridge, manager of the Eugeleybank, proved that the acceptance purporting to be that of Palmer's mother was not in her handwriting. Of the bill £I,OCO Iv-vcl been paid. Palmer had sent a cheque on the 12th November for £1,000, which was not paid ; and another on the Sth of December, for £000, which was not paid. Mr. Stem-bridge proved that the signature of this cheque was in the prisoner's handwriting. Execution was issued on the 12th of December, and upon that Palmer w:;s arrested, Mr. Bamibrd.'medical piv.etior.er. Kugeley. [He is a very infirm old ir.mi.iind scomspuitullv blind and d.af.] His evidence covsisted oi nothing more than the details to which he h;ul previously deposed. The only points of spec':1.1 interest were, that whui Palmer Hrst asked hun to visit Cook on the 17th November, the prisoner said that Cook had t.ikm too much champagne the day before, and that Cook assured him he had taken but two glasses. Ihe other point was, that after the post-mortem examination Palmer said to him,' We ought

not to have let that jar go.' There was only one question asked of this witness in cross-ex-amination, from which it appeared that Mr. Bamford's house is only about 200 yards from that of the prisoner's. Thomas Pratt, solicitor. —The evidence of this witness related exclusively to a variety of money transactions ha had had with Palmer, from the time of his acquaintance with him, which commenced at the end of November, 1553. The first transaction was a loan of £1,000 which lie procured for the prisoner and which was repaid. He next recovered for him two policies on the life of Ann Palmer, amounting to £"8,000 .; he had obtained discounts on a number of bills for him. and by the end of November.lßss, he held bills to the amount of £'12,500, purporting to be drawn on Ann Palmer. The interest was paid monthly, at the rate ef sixty per cent. Walter Palmar died in August, 1855, and the prisoner instructed witness to claim from the Prince of Wales Insurance Office, £13,000 upon a policy on his life. The office refused payment. This circumstance seems to have brought the transactions between the witness and the prisoner into a state of considerable complication. A great struggle was evidently made to pay up interest and avert extremities. On the 27th of October Palmer paid £250; on the 6th of November writs were issued; on the 10th Palmer paid £300. and on the 17th he sent witness a cheque " for £200: on the 19th, J settling day at Tattersall's, he paid £50. and sent him a cheque for £450. Witness did not know Cook. There was a bill of sale on horses of Cook's at the beginning of September, in reference to which Palmer sent witness Cook's acceptance for £500 to be discounted for Cook. This was done,, witness forwarding a cheque for £375, and a true warrant, taking care to strike out the words "or bearer/ so that it would only be payable to Cook's order. [Mr..Stephens here proved that the endorsement oa the cheque was not in the handwriting of Cook. Mr. Strawhridge also deposed that certain acceptances purporting to be those of Mrs. Sarah. Palmer were notinher handwriting. William. Cheshire, clerk in the Rugeley bank, proved that the £375 cheque bad been received by him, and placed to Palmer's tredit.l Mr. Pratt was briefly cross-examined, .b.u&.xu>tliiug iiu|jortant was elicited.■■* John Armshawe, attorney, issued a writ against Palmer on" the 12th November, for a debt of£6K)due to some mercers at Rugeley. On the following day the prisoner paid him two £50 notes, of which he gave him the chauire. YVallbank, butcher, deposed that on the Monday, in Shrewsbury race week, Palmer borrowed £25 from him', promising to return it on the Saturday, when he should have received some money at- Shrewsbury. On the Saturday witness met him, and 'Palmer repaid the money. John Spii-bury, a farmsr, had dealings with Palmer. In November, prisoner owed him £Ui 2s. Witness called'on him casually on the 22nl of thtt month, when Palmer gave him a £50 note. Witness had not applied ~to him for the money. Mr. Strawbridge proved that on the 19th of Novemter, Palmer's balance at the bank was only 9s. 6d. Nothing v/as paid after. The last peyment was on the 10th of October, when £50 was lodged. Herbert Wright, .solicitor, Birmingham. I ! haw known Palmer since ISSI. In November, ! 1,855, prisoner owed witness's brother £10,400. They had a bill of sab on his propertry. The advances were made partly on bills purporting to be accepted by Sarah Palmer, and partiv on collateral security. After the verdict of" the coroner's jury, thrv put the bill of sale in force. In his cross-examination the witness stated that he had never accommodated Cook; he hi<d offered to do no, but the transaction was never cenipleted, Tiu bills were discounted at sixty per lent. *' Mr. Strawhridgo proved that the acceptances were not in th- handwriting of Mrs. Sarah Palmer. The evfcm'natk.n of these witnesses closed t'u^ciss ii*r tlia pro-v^uiion, with the exception of 31". Weth-irby, who wm not in court. His evidiaae was, therefore, postponed till the ibliu-.ving morning. SKVKNTjr PAY. TV. curt whs even -more crowded this rnornirij- '. n it-ha,d b.e ! nxzvx the co/iujjcn'^mont of th. i:i By 9 o'cio-jk evjry avuilubly :«ut was occ: •■ ■':-•-!. (v.'A a. g"eai nujiiucr of ]jjrwon.s vrS/uA

in the passages hiding to the various entrances during the whole day without being able to obtain admission. Among the distinguished persons who were present we noticed the Lord Chief Baron, the Earl of Denbigh, Lord'G. Lennox, Mr. Monekton Milnes, Mr. L. Grower, Mr. G. 0. Higgins, Mr. Forster, and several other members of the House of Commons. The prisoner throughout the day maintained the same calmness and self-possession he had exhibited since the first day of the proceedings. Charles Weatherby proved the receipt of a cheque for £320 on the 20th November, sent to him by Palmer, professing to be signed by Cook, The Cheque was returned because there were no funds to meet it.

Mr. F. Butler was at Shrewsbury races when , Palmer, who owed him £700, was thei-e. Ho ' got £4q from him. Also a cheque for £250 on I the Rugeley bank, which was not paid. Witness won £210 for Palmer on Polestar, and kept it on account. Mr. Stephens proved that Polestar was sold at Tattersall's for 720 guineas. The Attorney-General: That is the case for the prosecution. THE DEFENCE. Mr. Sergeant Shee then rose to open the defence. He dwelt upon the overwhelming responsibility that devolved upon him, under which however, he was encouraged by the great care which had been taken to secure an impartial trial, and by his own sincere conviction of the innocence of the prisoner. The proposition sought to be established by circumstantial evidence might be thus stated. It was that the prisoner, having in the second week in November made up his mind that it was his interest to get rid of John Parsons Cook, deliberately prepared Ms body for the reception of a deadly poison by the slower poison of antimony, and that he afterwards despatched him by the deadly poison of strychnine. Now, no jury will convict a man of the crime thus charged unless it be made clear, in the first place, that he had some motive for its commission—-some strong reason for desiring the death of the deceased; in the second place, that the symptoms before death, and the appearances of the body after death are consistent with the theory that he died by poison ; and in the third place, that they are inconsistent with the theory that death ' proceeded from natural causes. Under these three heads he should discuss." the vast mass of evidence, and thus exhaust the whole subject. First, he drew the attention to the important fact, that no strychnine was found in the body; that Drs. Taylor and _Eees, not finding any strychnine, declared their opinion that the deceased died from antimony : but that afterwards, when they heard that the pi-isoner had purchased strychnine, they came to the conclusion that strychnine had been administered. They asserted the theory that strychnine, having done its work, became decomposed and absorbed into, the system. In that theory Dr. Taylor was not supported by any eminent toxicologist, But he (Mr. Serjeant Shee) would call before the jury a number of the most distinguished analytical chemists who would state their utter renunciation of that theory. He here enumerated the names of Drs. Nunneley, Williams, Letheby, Pai-ker, Robinson, Rogers, and lastly, Mr. William Herapath, the most eminent chemical analyst in the country ; all of whom utterly rejected Dr. Taylor's ; theory ; contending that if not only half a "grain of strychnine, but even l-50th or less, had once entered the human frame, it must be discovered by the tests now familiarly known to chemists Mr. Serjeant Shee then proceeded to discuss the question whether Palmer had an interest in Cook's death, and he entered into an elaborate examination of the transactions between them to show that he had the greatest j possible interest in Cook's life. His death, in fact, was the greatest calamity that could have befallen him, since it must have been followed by his immediate ruin. Cook was the only person to whom he could apply for assistance in his embarrassments, and by his death that source of aid was instantly destroyed. Passing in review the various circumstances which seemed to indicate guilty intentions, and the fear ol discovery, the learned counsel accounted lor tnern all in detail as being perfectly consistent with Palmer's innocence and his strong regard for the deceased. With respect to a note _ referring to strychnine in i\ book of Palmer's, it j was explained by the fact that the book had belonged to Palmer when he wan studying hu prok-HHion, The push at the dissecting tabh

might easily bo accounted for in the excitement of the moment, and the offer to the post-boy to upset the chaise, was nothing more than an expression of irritation against Mr. Stevens, who had treated Palmer all throughout with "the crudest suspicions. As to the disappearance of the betting-book, it should be remembered that a number of other persons had been in the room, and that the book even if found, would be of no use to any one. After animadverting \ipon every single point of the evidence with remarkable accuracy and clearness of exposition, ho referred again to the entry about strychnine, and stated that it was in the handwriting of Palmer's .wife, whom he loved warmly seven years ago, as he now loved her first-born, who was awaiting the verdict with trembling anxiety. The learned serjeant then read a letter full of tenderness which Palmer had written to his wife before marriage, and which was found in the leaves of that very book. Concluding his appeal, he said that Palmer was not unsupported in this dreadful trial by his family and friends. An aged mother, a dear sister, and a brave brother looked to the result with profound anxiety. He placed the case in the hands of the jury, confident that they would do their duty with firmness and courage, and that the time would come when the innocence of the prisoner would be made apparent to the world. The speech of the learned serjeant occupiod eight hours in delivery. At its close there were jf indications of a desire to applaud, which were jt instantly repressed. iJy[to be continued.]