DRUG FOUND IN COFFIN

Taranaki Daily News, 4 March 1933, Page 9

DRUG FOUND IN COFFIN

CHARGE AGAINST NURSE KERR EFFECTS OF DRUG DESCRIBED. EVIDENCE OF MEDICAL MAN. POISON FOUND IN TWO GRAVES. By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. The trial of Nurse Elspeth Kerr on a charge of administering poison with (intent to injure entered on the fifth day to-day. Evidence was given by nurses and others who were associated with or were visitors to Mrs. Kerr’s nursing home. A former nurse in Mrs. Kerr’s employ said that she had seen veramon tablets (which contain veronal) in a handkerchief drawer of Mrs. Kerr’s room, and when Mrs. Kerr was ill she had seen an empty veramon tube under the pillow. Cross-examined, she denied having ever told the police that it was veronal, not veramon, she had seen. Another witness said that while Mrs. Kerr was ill she was extraordinarily concerned about the child Betty, of whom she was passionately fond. A nurse help employed by Mrs. Day, who died in Mrs. Kerr’s home, said that Mrs. Kerr told her that she was very fond of Mrs. Day, and she also said that she would be better dead in the event of her becoming totally paralysed. After Mrs. Day had a stroke she was in bed two or three weeks.

Dr. Gilmour, pathologist, who examined the body of Mrs. Kerr’s husband after exhumation, said the cause of death was not cerebral haemorrhage, of which there was no sign. There was no evidence of any organic disease which could cause death.

Witness also examined the exhumed body of Mrs. Day. There was no evidence of recent haemorrhage of the brain. Death was not due to a stroke caused by haemorrhage, but there was a possibility that it was due to a stroke caused by softening. Witness said various fluids and organs were examined by Government analysts from the organs of Kerr and 16 5-8 grains of veronal were recovered. The medicinal dose of veronal was 5 to 10 grains. It was impossible for a constant taker of veronal to increase the dose without being harmed.

EFFECTS OF VERONAL. Dr. Gilmour said some authorities said the drug veronal was not cumulative and others that it tended to accumulate. His own view was that continually repeated doses led to increasing damage to the central nervous system, which meant chiefly the brain. This showed itself by headaches, giddiness and staggering and difficulty in speaking. There were also mental changes that took the form of nervousness, sometimes delusions and sometimes alteration in the moral character. It was more correct to say the effects of the drug were cumulative than that the drug was cumulative.' He knew from the evidence that Kerr prior to his death was in a state of unconsciousness from the Saturday forenoon until his death at 3 p.m. on Sunday, said the doctor. Coupling that fact with the known recovery of veronal from the internal organs and from the coffin fluid he was of the opinion that the mode of death was consistent with death from veronal poisoning and that the amount recovered indicated that Kerr had had a fatal dose. His view was that Kerr must have taken a very much larger dose than 50 grains. One grain was recovered from a gallon of the coffin fluid, and there must have been at least 20 gallons of that fluid. Even in the liquid in the grave there were traces of veronal.

In the case of Mrs. Day, the amount recovered was much less—s£ grains. Another half grain was obtained from the coffin and the grave liquid. Water would in the process of time dissolve veronal. Seven grains of veronal taken five weeks before death would have been entirely eliminated from the body. Even supposing another two such doses had been taken on the nights prior to Mrs. Day falling into the coma it would require a fatal dose to account for the final coma. He inferred from all the facts that Mrs. Day died of veronal poisoning. In the case of Betty Kerr witness said the medical evidence that a sample of 4oz. taken from the child on April 11 yielded 2J grains of veronal forced him to the opinion that her comatose state on April 9 and 10 had been caused by veronal. The child must have had considerably more than a therapeutic dose. Samples taken on April 18 and 19 yielded half a grain of veronal from 45 cubic centimetres. Thus in witness’ opinion veronal in excess of a therapeutic dose must have been administered to Betty Kerr on the Saturday afternoon, when an entertainment was held in the ward. In cross-examination Dr. Gilmour agreed that compared with such poisons as arsenic or strychnine there was comparatively little known about veronal. It was not correct to say there were no specific references to veronal in medical literature dealing with poisons. Mr. Singer (for accused): Has there been any previous case of veronal being administered with intent? Witness: I have no knowledge of any. The hearing was adjourned till tomorrow.