A CHLOROFORM MYSTERY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9154, 8 September 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

A CHLOROFORM MYSTERY.

SUSPICIOUS DEATH OF A YOUNG f } married WOMAN. ; : FLIGHT OF THE CHEMIST. A MYSTERIOUS affair is being inquired into by the coroner and the police at the East End, London. It took place in a chemist's shop, owned by a Mr. Henry Hamilton, and situate in Markhouse Road, a thoroughfare leading from St. James-street . Railway Station, Walthamstow, to the Lea Bridge Road. Mr. Hamilton is an old-established chemist in Walthamstow, and for many years carried on business at the shop, but for reasons he had to give up the business a. year or two ago. As, ever, the population increased, he re-opened the premises and placed them in the sole charge of a man named William Barber. It appeared that on Saturday afternoon, July 21, Mr. Barber sent his errand boy, a lad aged 15, named Frank Playle, to a Mrs. French, residing at '208, Boundary Road, althamstow, to fetch his dinner. He also gave him a note, instructing him before he started not to deliver the note to anyone but Mrs. French. The lad went to the address indicated, but as Mrs French was accompanied by her band, the lad did nob deliver the note Mrs. French, it may be stated, was only 'Si years of ace, her husband being employed as manager to Mr. Hudson, a grocer in the neighbourhood. Soon afterwards Mr. Barbersent the lad back with the note to Mrs. French, who this time was alone. She read the note and replied Yes." The lad on his return gave Mr. Barber this answer, and was sent for a shillingsworth of brandy. Mr». French arrived at the shop shortly after his return with the spirits and was shown into u parlour at the back of the snop, behind the counter. This was at about four o'clock. Mr. Barber told Playle that he might go home, which he did. Mrs. French was at that time in the parlour. Playle returned to the shop at six o'clock, but found the place closed and fully secured, as at night. Having failed to gain an entrance by the front door, he scaled the wall which separates the garden from the footpath in Prospect Place, and entered the house by the back door. He knocked with his knuckles at the door of the parlour which was usually occupied by Mr. Barber, but lie received no unswer, so he opened the unlocked dooi and entered. The room was unusually dark, anil on a sofa near the window reclined Mr?. French, who looked deadly white. J.he lad searched the place, and failing to find Mr. Barber, he hastened to fetch assistance. He went to a butcher named Ratchet, next door, and got him to go and see Mrs. French. He felt her pulse, and as she was unconscious, he fetched a grocer named Drummond, who summoned medical assistance. Dr. Thorpe was soon in attendance, and at first thought that the woman was in a fainting fit. but he soon detected the smell of chloroform in the woman s breath. Her face was very much puffed up and suffused, and her breathing was very difficult. and altogether she showed unmistakable signs of having had a large quantity of chloroform. He administered ether and other remedies, and re-sort-ed to artificial respiration until about 10 o'clock. As no signs of animation were apparent. Dr. Blight was sent for. and he decided to perform the operation of tracheotomy, which, after sending for the necessary instruments, he ' performed successfully. She was somewhat relieved as far as her breathing was a fleeted, but she did not regain consciousness. _ The police heard of the affair, and Superintendent Craggs coming to the house, sent for one of the divisional surgeons, Dr. Chambers. Throughout the night and all the next day efforts were made without intermission to restore consciousness, but without effect, and the unfortunate young woman died about midnight on Sunday. Meanwhile the police, in searching the premises, found that a robbery had been committed, the till having been emptied, and some £12 to £15 in money taken. The motive of Barber in giving Mrs. French the chloroform gave rise to much speculation, and it was suggested that a criminal outrage was perpetrated : but this rumour was unfounded. Another theory was that Barber attempted to carrv out a medical operation, and absconded on finding that the preliminary results were likely to lead to a charge of murder. A third suggestion was that Mrs. .French was about to have her teeth seen to. THE MISSI.NO MAX. Barber is a native of Hit-chin, but had lived in the United States, where he gained his diplomas. Woodcut portraits were issued during Monday, Jul}' 23. Barber's correspondence, of which varying accounts are driven, was immediately seized by the police, and among it was found one letter, in the handwriting of a woman, which is said to contain this reference : "My head is better, but my legs ache. ou need not send me any more pills. lam glad I have ■■got all right now. ' It is not alleged that the writer was the deceased. A thorough search was made of French's house, but no trace of the letter sent by Barber to the deceased could be found. It is conjectured that after having read it she threw it into

the fire. POST-MORTEM EXAMINATION. Dr. Thorpe and Dr. Blight, under the coroner's order, conducted a post-mortem examination upon the body. The doctors arrived at the conclusion that the appearances were consistent- with the assumption that death resulted from a large quantity of chloroform administered by inhalation. But the handkerchief was not pressed to the nostrils, as there were no signs of the skin having been burned, and there was an absence of the effects which would have been produced had the liquid been swallowed. It is important to bear in mind that it is easy to resist chloroforming at the outset if a person is so disposed. No screaming was heard, and the attitude of the woman when discovered insensible seemed to indicate that she had been a consenting | jvirty, although, possibly, as some assert, she was unaware of the nature of the drug which was about to be applied. All people are not subject in the same degree to the anesthetic ; some more easily succumb than others, and the hysteric condition frequently noticed in the first stage is not, it is said, necessarily precedent to come. The explanation of the administration of chloroform at all in this case is still sought. There is absolutely no evidence of outrage, of violence, or of immoral practices. On the other hand, the woman's teeth were very much decayed, and it is believed to be not unlikely that she endeavoured to »btain relief from her friend, the chemist. She might, it is suggested by some, even lave had recourse to the chloroform bottle lerself, supposing, in her ignorance, that it fas as harmless as " camphorated chloroorm,:' which is a popular specific for toothjche. Barber, it was clear, had tried his itmost to resuscitate her, but some reason squires to be assigned for his suspicious dght. He is charged also with emptying •'lis employer's till, although it is not true, a at first, rumoured, that he took Mrs. French's purse. INTERVIEW WITH MR. FRENCH. The boy, Frederick Playle, when asked tin Tuesdaj r whether he had ever carried fetters to Mrs. French from his master on my previous occasion, answered in the .legative, but added that notes had passed -etween Barber and Mr. French which the »vife of the latter sometimes opened. For everal months he said Mrs. French was in the habit of calling at the shop in Markhouse Road usually about 11 a.m., and that whenever she came Barber despatched him on errands which would in some cases detain him for an hour or two. If he returned earlier he was immediately sent out again, but Playle affirms that he then noticed the door of the ante-room was shut, and he formed the impression that Mrs. French was still there because of his master's be haviour.

Mr. French, the husband, when interviewed, seemed evidently painfully affected by his bereavement. He said he first became acquainted with Barber one Sunday morning when he was taking his dog for a swim. Barber expressed a wish to go with him, and Mr. French could not of course refuse his company. Barber was, said Mr. French, one of the most kindhearted of fellows, and although he (Mr. French) had lived at Walthamstow for six years, Barber ■was the only young man he was ever on intimate terms with. He declared that his wife's frequent visits to the chemist, of which he was aware, were natural. Barber was an intimate acquaintance, and they would often smoke together. He was of opinion that the chemist's manager disliked the society of women. Six months ago Mrs. Hamilton, who attended to Barber's domestic wants, died, and since then there has been an arrangement by which Mrs. French supplied him with his dinner, for which ho paid. Mrs. French went to see

her mother pretty regularly, because she kept some business books for her, and on the way to the house she would nave to pass the chemist's, and Barber might exchange a word with her at the door. He (Mr. French) believed Barber to have been drinking, and not to have been accountable for his actions until his mistake sobered him He discredited any idea that his wife, who was of cheerful disposition, of sound bodv and mind, would contemplate suicide, and lie attributed her death to misadventure. evidence of the husband. Mr Arthur George French was the first witness examined at the inquest. He said : I live at 20S, Boundary Road, althamstow. I am assistant to Mr. Hudson, grocer, of Boundary Road. The deceased was my wife and was 22 years of ape. I have known her over five years, and we were married two years ago at St. Peter's, Walthamstow. My wife had no business to att end to. I saw her at a quarter- two, when I returned from dinner. We lived in the house where the business is carried on. We dined together, and she then seemed in the best ot health. After dinner she said she thought she had the toothache coming on again, but it was nothing to speak of. A fortnight previously she had had an attack of toothache. She then took chloroform, which she bought. The bottle bears Mr. Hamilton's name. As near as I can learn, mv wife left, home at about three o'clock. "I did not see anything more of her until about seven o'clock, when I was sent for by Mr. Jackson, a friend of mine. Dr. George Thorpe, of Markhouse Road, examined : On Saturday evening, at about six o'clock, I was called to the deceased. I went directly, and found her on the sofa as described. She was quite insensible. Her body was slightly leaning toward the right, and her head was hanging back. I could scarcaly detect her breathing, the respiration being about five or six a minute, and the pulse very feeble, beating at about 120. The pupils of the eyes were widely dilated, and muscular rigidity had gone. I smelt her breath and detected a strong odour of chloroform. Her clothing was not disarranged, except that the front part of her dress °was partly unbuttoned at. the top. j There was no towel round her breast; that was put afterwards. My impression is chat her hair was unfastened, but I am not quite certain. On the table were her bonnet, shawl, gloves, and brooch, and also a hat which Mr. Barber was in the habit of wearing. Was there any smell of chloroform in the room ? I did not detect it. On the mantelshelf I found a ten-ounce chloroform bottle with about an ounce of chloroform in it, one of the shop bottles containing sal volatile, a six-ounce bottle of carbolic lotion, and a small measure containing carbolic acid, in which was a glass tube. On the table I found a syphon of soda-water and a tumbler, a small glass brandy-flask, a bottle of toothache tincture and some cotton wool, and a kitchen handbowd containing water, in which there was a pocket handkerchief. I gave the deceased 20 drops of ether subcutaneously. I undid her dress a little more and tried all restoratives. At about halfpast, eight I found she was getting worse, and sent for Dr. Blight. We injected more ether and removed some ot her clothes, and commenced artificial respiration. At about ten o'clock her breathing became much worse, when we performed tracheotomy, which relieved her. After that we performed artificial respiration for 15' hours. She died at a quarter to twelve on Sunday night. On Tuesday, with Dr. Blight, I made a post-mortem examination. Externally there were no bruises or marks of violence. There was no sign whatever of disease in the head. The lungs were swollen and watery. The heart was natural in size. The right side was gorged with blood, showing an obstruction to the circulation, and the left, side was empty. Upon opening the abdomen we could not detect the smell of chloroform. We detected it slightly on opening the covering of the heart. Towards one end of the stomach there was a kind of congestion of the tissues, but. otherwise the stomach was healthy. There was also some congestion of the windpipe. All the other organs seemed healthy. We. e you able to trace the cause of death ? I should" say it was due to chloroform inhalation, but I could not be positive until after an analysis of the contents of the stomach. I have preserved the lungs, the windpipe, the stomach and contents, the liver, the kidneys, etc. The deceased was not enceinte.

Had you any reason to suppose that she had been violated in any way ? None whatever.

By the jury : The teeth were very badly decayed at the back, but nothing had apparently been done for them. There was a small sear on one of the lips, such as would have been caused by carbolic acid. The gums were not lacerated, and there were no tooth-drawing instruments about the place. Mr. French, being recalled at the request of Detective-Inspector Glass, said he had no reason to suppose that his wife had been robbed.

The inquiry was then adjourned for a fortnight, in order that the result of an analysis of the contents of the stomach might be made by Dr. Tidy.