ALLEGED WIFE-MURDER AT NAPIER.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 1466, 3 June 1879, Page 3

ALLEGED WIFE-MURDER AT NAPIER.

The following detailed particulars of the charge of wife-murder at Napier are taken from the local papers to hand. The prisoner, Roderick 'McLennan, was charged before Mr Kenny, R.M., on Mondny, May 2'"tb, with causing the death of his wife by administering arsenic to her. Dr Cotterill prosecuted for the Crown, Mr Lasnelles appeared for the defence. Dr Caro stated that when he was called to Mrs McLennan on the 17th March she complained of a* tightness in the chest and difficulty of breathing, for which he prescribed. On the same evening she told him she was pregnant, and suffered from exctessive morning sickness, and her husband made a similar complaint to him. Her throat was also slightly inflame'). On the 12th March tbe deceased said she suffered from palpitation of the heart, adding tbat ehe had consulted Dr Fish, of Geraldine, for that affection. Dr Fish then ascribed it to pregnancy, and said it was of no consequence. Prisoner had also told him (witnesß) that she had consulted Dr Blair, of Uunedin, for the (ame complaint. When witness was called in on the morning of her death, tbe prisoner appeared much affected. He cried bitterly, and said that "she was an angel of a woman, and never cost him a sigh." Witness was surprised at the suddenness of her death, as she appeared so much better on the previous evening, but there was nothing to Cbuse him to suspect anything. He had for three or four days considered her case a serious one in consequence of the continuance of the excessive sickness. At about two o'clock in the afternoon of her denth, the prisoner came to him and asked him fora certificate of death. He gave the one produced, which stated that death was due to excessive sickness during pregnancy, and to syncope arising from disease of the heart. He was in somewhat of a " fix " to state the cause of death, for though he had no doubt that sho died from natural causes, he could not well indicate any particular form of disease of the heart. He saw tbe body again at the post mortem examination. He was not invited to that examination, but invited himself. The rcBU tof the examination convinced him that Mrs MoLennan was not pregnant. He still thought her heart was not sound. 1 "' Hud he known at the time of her death what he knew now, and had found no other cause sufficient to account for death, he would have given tbe cause of death as sickness and synocope probably due to disease of the heart. Dr. Caro concluded by reading from a book issued under the authority of the -Royal College of Physicians, in which it was stated that it wa* not always possible, even after a pott mortem examination, to discover specific disease, and advising- that in tome such cases some of the leading symptoms of the disease should be named on the certificate. This he had done. On Tuesday Dr Hector, the Government Analyst, was examined. He deposed to having received the etomach, liver, nnd spleen of the deceased for examination. He first examined the stomaci). Tbe exterior of the organ was decomposed ; tb.3 interior surface was tolerably well preserved, of a pale color, with pink blotches ; and towards tbe lower end the surface was broken in a few pa' dies by the corrosion of the mucous membrane. It contained a small quantity of dark, dirty colored, mucous fluid, and adhering to the lining were a few white particles, eon.e of which were picked out for separate examination. Tbe stomaoh was thoroughly scraped and freed from its contents and lining membrane, and these were submitted to analysis in the ordinary manner. Arsenic was found to be present, and it was also found in tbe white particles that had been previously removed. These particles, however, consisted chiefly of organic matter ; under the microscope they were of a brilliant white, and had a regular radiating structure, resembling a fungoid growth. Suoh particles ure not ordinarily found in the stomachs of healthy individuals. He considered them to be morbid growths, probably resulting from inflammatory action in the stomach. He found no trace of any poisonous substance in the liver, and the spleen was too much decomposed for examination. There was not sufficient arsenic in the stomach to have killed a human being at one dose. The arsenic was eliminated from tbe system by the excretory organs — chiefly by the kidneys. The poison is required to be absorbed to produce fatal results, as it had no direct irritant action on the system ; it was not, therefore, immediately fatal, like some other poisons. The process of elimination would by checked by the death of the person. Arsenic acted specifically upon the stomach, in which it rapidly set up an inflammation. It frequently happened that where arsenio was administered it> antiseptic properties delayed the decomposition of the interior of the stomaoh. Its properties as a preservative of animal substances were well known, and this quality might account for the good state of preservation of tbe interior of the stomach after the decomposition of the exterior ; but he should not regard it as a positive proof. He could not offer an opinion as to the cause of death from his examination of the jars. Dr Hector was subjected to a long and searching cross-examination by Mr Lascelles, and the Court subsequently adjourned. Details of further proceedings are not yet to hand. We have learnt by telegraph, however, that accused has been committed for trial.