THE TIMARU POISONING CASE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XX, Issue 245, 14 October 1886, Page 2

THE TIMARU POISONING CASE.

(Press Association.) CiuusfcnußcH. October 13. The Supreme Court was occupied the whole of the day, from ten in the morning till five in the evening, with the examination of two of the medical witneses. Dr M"lntyre (Mrs Hall's medical attendant) and Dr Drew (the Resident surgeon at Timaru Hospital.) The Attorney General conducted the examination in chief himself, and he drew from the witnesses the various facts relating to their connection with Mrs Hall's case in chronological order, and then dwelt more particularly with any conversations they had had with Hall, or remarks they had heard him make. Dr M'lntyre said he had not prescribed antimony, colchicum, or arsenic for Mrs Hall. The witness used the words "to my knowledge" when referring to his prescriptions, and this was the occasion of a little passage of arms between the Attorney General and Mr Joynt, the latter contending that the witness had used the qualification as if be (Dr M'lnbyre) was not sure what lie had prescribed. However, the Attorney General elicited that the witness only meant he bad no knowledge of the dipensing of the medicines, but he had no doubt that none of the substances named had appeared on bis prescriptions. lie was positive that none of the three; consultations with Drs Drew, Ijovogrove, and himself had bean suggested by Hall. Mr Joync iv the cros-<-exAinination brought oui the fact thevb bismuth, bellailonn, ami digitalis had been giwu Mr.s Hall in small doses, arid chloral for a cough ou one occasion. Tbo learned counsel seemed to lny great sfcrrtes on the digitalis, and (juotevl from " Taylor on Poisons" to show it was a poison actiug as au emetic, and similar in its effects to antimony. Dr M'lntyro said that was only when largo doses were administered. It is hardly likely to be the intention of the defence ho undertake Che task of attacking the corroctness of all tho various analyses, but Mr Joynt was most particular in insisting that all the details of Dri. M'lntyre and Drow's analyses of the wine and ice water be taken down. Dr M'lntyre denies that Hall had accused him of negligence and threatened nob to allow him to attend his wife any more, but admitted that old Mr and Mrs Hall had ceased to employ him on account of '•' some idea" of Mr Hall senior's. The idea that Mrs Hall was suffering from an irritant poison had (the doctor said) occurred to him spontaneously, and had not been suggested by anyone to him. Mr Hay, on behalf of Miss Houston, remarked at the outset, that it was singular

that the doctor bad not once nientionedJMiss Houston's name in his evidence and yet he had laid an information against her. Dr Mclntyre replied that he had connected Miss Houston with the matter because he understood she had most to do with the cooking. Witness said he had shaken hands with Miss Houston on the morning of August 15, and laid the information in the evening. The Attorney General brought out in reexamination that antimony had been found in the ice water. Dr Drew's evidence was chiefly corrobora tive, but he made some remarkable statements: one was that the three doctors— Lovegrove, Mclntyre, and Drew— who met in consultation on August 13 had an opinion that Mrs Hall was being poisoned, but none of them expressed it. It was ordered that nothing bat ice was to be given to her by the mouth, because this would diminish the possibilities of the administration of poison ; and the injections were ordered because the doctor said none but an adept in poisons would have attempted to give poison by the bowels. Mr Hall's position (the witness said) made them careful aot to discuss the poisoning openly at his house. In reply to Mr Hay, Dr Drew said he knew Miss Houston had acted as nurse at the Timaru Hospital from August 1, 1884, to April 30, 1885, and said he thought she was a kind hearted and good natured girl. The Court adjourned at 5.15 p.m. October 14. Inspector Broham was placed in the wit-ness-box when the hearing of the HallHouston case was resumed this morning. He detailed the circumstances of the arrest, Hall's endeavor to throw away the phial containing the tartar emetic solution, the struggle, and Houston's intervention, the finding of the packet of tnrtar emetic upon Hall, and some grains on the dining room floor where the struggle had taken place. Hall at first said he used antimony in a preparation for cigarettes, and later on he said : — " Anything in connection, with this matter, Broham, I did alone. There was no eecond person concerned." Witness identified all the articles mentioned above, also the book " Tuylor on Poisons," a bottle of colchicum wine, and other things found in Hall's bedroom. A deal of time was occupied in hearing decails with reference to the numerous articles sent to Professor Black for analysis, The Inspector referred to his subsequent visits to the house and taking possession of th.B colander and articles connected with the ice. Rags saturated with k°roseno, small pieces of firewood, and large pieces of scantling, all smelling of kerosene, were found in the garret or loft intended for a ppare bedroom adjoining Hall's bedroom. Mr Joynt elicited the new fact that Hall had a small leather case covering a phial in. his hand when Inspector Broham first saw him. Hall said this w-s morphia and showed the Inspector where ho injected it into the veins of bis leg. Mr Hay cross-examined Inspector Broham as to the part Miss Houston took. The witness said that she exclaimed when the charge was made : — " Antimony, that's what you use in your photography," just as if the idea had struck her, and she was offering an explanation and not putting a question to Hall. He could not say whether Miss Houston put her arms round Hall's waist, or put her arms right and left when she tried to separate him and Hall. Detective Kirby corroborated Inspector Broham's statement, and said that Hall appeared fainting and asked for a nip just as the detective was about to search him.