The Times 1841 - 1850 Jun 12, 1845 - Poisoning at Carlisle

Jun 12, 1845 - Poisoning at Carlisle

The Times - 1841 - 1850

Article Index Jun 12, 1845 - Poisoning at Carlisle Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 4 of 4 FRIDAY, AUGUST 8. Mr. Justice CRESSWELL left Carlisle yesterday afternoon for Appleby; but Mr. Baron ROLFE again came to the Crown court this morning for the purpose of disposing of the remaining charge against John GRAHAM. Mr. TEMPLE announced to the Court that it had been considered by those who had the management of the prosecution that it was their duty to lay the case before the jury. The same counsel appeared on each side as on the preceding trial. The jury having been sworn, Mr. TEMPLE stated to them the leading facts, and then called the witnesses. The evidence of some of them has already been stated in the report of the previous charge. There was the same proof repeated touching the mode of obtaining the arsenic and the finding of the poison in the prisoner’s pockets. The prisoner now stood charged with having, in May last, murdered his father, an old man residing at Grinsdale, being a short distance from where the prisoner resided. The poison, in this instance, had been mingled in the dough of some cakes which were made at the house of the deceased by Ruth GRAHAM, the prisoner’s mother. Ruth GRAHAM, examined by Mr. RAMSHAY. – I am the widow of John GRAHAM, of Grinsdale, about three miles from Carlisle. My family consists of the prisoner, Sibson, and two daughters. Mary is married to John HIND, and Ruth to William CANNELL. I and my husband had lived at Grinsdale, on my own property, many years – ever since our marriage. My eldest son, John (the prisoner), was a farmer at Kirkandrews upon a farm belonging to my husband. He paid us rent for it. He was upon it 13 or 14 years, and ceased to occupy it at Candlemas last. John BESWICK then became the tenant, and John continued to lodge with him in the house. The farm was let to BESWICK at 100L. a-year. My husband had a small piece of freehold land, called Cobble-hall, worth about 20L. a-year. My property at Grinsdale contains about 25 acres, and is worth 60L. or 70L. a-year. Down to the period of his last illness, my husband’s health was pretty good, but declining of late. He died on Tuesday, the 20th of May, aged 76. He became ill on the previous Thursday – in the course of the night – between 10 and 11 o’clock. He was attacked with sickness – vomiting. He went to bed about 10 o’clock. He had taken bread and milk for his supper, between 8 and 9 o’clock. He was affected in about a quarter of an hour after he went to bed. He was very poorly next day, and took very little food. I was ill at the same time, and in the same way. I am not aware that he had any of the bread of which he had eaten on Thursday evening. He had no vomiting after the Thursday night. I took a little of the same bread and milk as my husband, on Thursday, a little after him. I was very sick, but felt no particular pain. I was very poorly on the Friday. The bread we took for supper on the Thursday was some yeasted cake, which was made that day. It was made of flour, yeast, milk and butter. I got the yeast from Elizabeth NIXON, a neighbour, who gave it to me. The flour of which the cakes were made was kept in a tub upstairs. I set the bread about 9 o’clock in the morning. I think I had the flour down stairs before I set the bread, in a pot in the dairy. All the flour in that pot was used for the bread I speak of. I put the dough into a set-pot on one side of the back kitchen fireplace, and to which there is a close lid. It is a pot we used occasionally for boiling water. The dough was in a small dish. The lid was not fastened, and was easily lifted. It was an iron lid, and would weigh above a pound. Between 1 and 2 o’clock I worked up the bread with more flour, and then set it before the fire. It remained before the fire till about 3 o’clock, when I made up the cakes. They were put upon a tin and then sent to Mrs. NIXON’s to be baked, and I got them back in the evening. There were six cakes, two of them very small. My son John frequently came to see me. I saw him there on the Thursday. He had been there on the Tuesday before. He came about 10 o’clock on the Thursday. A young woman, the servant of my other son, Sibson, was there. She had come for some pot herbs, which I went to get for her from the garden. My son came to the back door when she was there. She was standing at the door, complaining of being ill, and John stood a bit with her at the back door, when he came in. He stood at the door a little while, and then both went in. I went into the back kitchen for a few minutes, perhaps five minutes or better. When he came in he came forward just within the back kitchen and went forward to the other kitchen. Perhaps he was within the door of the back kitchen: I can’t say; I was further in than he. I went into the front kitchen to him, perhaps about 10 minutes after he went, and sat down beside him. We sat a good while, near an hour, I dare say. I never was out till I opened the door and let him out, nor was he. He went away before 12 o’clock, and went out at the front door. I had no servant; nobody lived in the house beside myself and my husband. A good piece after he went out I went into the back kitchen. When we were at the well in the garden it is impossible to see any one standing at the back door. I was at the well after he went away, and left nobody in the house. The front door was shut; the back door, which is nearest the well, was open. I had some clothes at the bottom of the hedge, in the garden, and was a good deal with them. I could not see the house door when I was at the clothes; it was a washing of clothes. I was twice at the well, and several times at the hedge. By Mr. WILKINS. – About 1 o’clock? Witness. – I was once at the well before, and once after 12 o’clock; and once or twice at the clothes. It was perhaps about 12 o’clock when I was first at the well. When the cakes came back from the baker’s they were put in the dairy; there were no others like them in the house. I recollect in February last being taken ill about 2 o’clock; we were sick and very poorly, not so bad as we were the second time, but much of the same kind. We vomited, and the sickness continued during that night. We had a medical man, Mr. ANDERSON, and he gave me and my husband an emetic, which we took about 8 or 9 o’clock in the evening. My son John was there that day. It was on a Thursday. The Judge. – If this is given to show that the prisoner had been guilty of an attempted felony, I can’t receive this incidental evidence. It is irregular. Mr. WILKINS. – I shall certainly sift it, now it is begun. Examination continued. – In working up the bread, after getting it from the set-pot I put some flour in it and a little butter. The water was got from the well and brought in the night before. I always put my bread into the set-pot when I make it, except in very hot weather. There was a pot standing at the door with some yeast, which was not used in making the cakes. It was put there at 10 o’clock and stood about half an hour, till it cooled. I don’t know whether it was there when my son came, but I took it in between 10 and 11; it was set upon a kind of seat close to the door; there was nothing on the top of the vessel, it was open, and the yeast was just making. Friday was our regular baking day. I did not see my son John after that day till the Monday evening following. My husband died about 12 o’clock on the Tuesday. He was at the house all night, but I don’t know what time he went to bed. On the Monday night when John came from Newcastle he made no mention of poison. When he called on the Thursday morning he talked about going to Newcastle, and asked me to go with him. I thought I could not think of it, and he said he would wait another week if it would suit better. I said I told him it would not suit me; he need not wait. He said he was going to look after a place to keep four or five cows, if he saw anything likely. Cross-examined by Mr. WILKINS. – The prisoner was taken ill also in February; the doctor said he was worse than any of the rest; he was dreadfully sick and purged. John and his father lived upon friendly terms; very much so: they never had an angry word, that I heard. His father wished him above everything to keep on the farm at Kirkandrews; and so did I. When my son John looked in at the door the set-pot was on the opposite side of the kitchen. I was between it and the door. The iron lid fits very close to the set-pot, and it was not possible for my son to go near it without my seeing him. The well is close by Edenside; there may be rats about. After the potato-pot affair my husband was always displeased when any one said anything about poison. Joshua ANDERSON. – I am a surgeon practising in Carlisle. I went to see the deceased on the 18th of May. I found him labouring under great debility, but not in immediate danger. Mr. WILKINS. – My Lord, I have ascertained from my learned friend that this is the only evidence he has to offer as to the opportunity the prisoner might have of mixing the poison. The Judge. – If there are any other circumstances to fix the guilt of the prisoner I can’t stop the case. It is in evidence that his mother left the house, and it might be that he had come back and had an opportunity during her absence. I shall not stop the case; these investigations are not made for nothing. Witness. – I called again on the Tuesday, and found him sinking rapidly – in fact, he was dying. There was nothing in the symptoms inconsistent with the idea of his having taken arsenic. I saw the prisoner on the 19th and again on the morning of the 20th. He called to inquire if I had seen his father, as he heard he was very ill. I don’t recollect that poisoning was mentioned between us. I saw the prisoner in his father’s house on the Tuesday morning, the day the father died. He was very much intoxicated. It was between 8 and 9 o’clock in the morning. By Mr. WILKINS. – I have known the prisoner long, and always considered him a respectable man. I attended the family in February last. The prisoner was sick, and his symptoms were quite compatible with his having taken arsenic. Re-examined. – I saw the prisoner vomit after he took the emetic. I did not see him sick before he took it; he said he was. By the Judge – He appeared in precisely the same state as his father and mother. They did not vomit till they took the emetic. By Mr. WILKINS. – There was nothing to induce me to think John’s sickness was feigned. By Mr. TEMPLE. – I know nothing about it of my own knowledge. Dr. Richard JAMES – In conjunction with Mr. ELLIOT, I made a post mortem examination of the prisoner’s father. I am of opinion that Mr. GRAHAM died from the effects of inflammation, produced by some irritant poison, and that poison we ascertained to be arsenic. The post mortem examination took place 50 hours after death. We also analyzed a cake given by Mr. CARRICK, the coroner, to Mr. ELLIOT, and detected arsenic in it. In 3½ ounces we detected 16 grains of arsenic. By the Judge. – It was about a third of a cake; and a man with a good appetite would eat a whole cake. Examination continued. – A packet was given to us by Dr. TINNISWOOD, containing small woollen particles, sealingwax, gritty particles, and seedy particles – the scrapings of corners of pockets. The contents of that pocket were submitted to analysis, and we detected arsenic; this was, perhaps, three weeks ago. It was only upon one occasion we examined it. It was ordinary arsenic. Cross-examined by Mr. WILKINS. – The prisoner was in the house while the post mortem examination was going on. I should think arsenic is used as a wash for maggots in sheep. I have known Mr. GRAHAM for some time, and he has always borne the character of a very respectable man. Mrs. GRAHAM recalled. By the Judge. – In February my son vomited. He often went to Newcastle. By Mr. WILKINS. – He has visited us much more frequently since he let his farm than before. Margaret ROBSON, housekeeper to John BESWICK, of Kirkandrews, with whom the prisoner lodged. – I remember him going to Newcastle on the 15th of May. I never heard he was going till the morning. He came in perhaps rather better than half an hour before our dinnertime, 12 o’clock, and said he wanted some clothes to go to Newcastle, and he changed them. Before he changed he had some clothes he wore about home. He put on a better suit. I have only been living at Kirkandrews since Candlemas. I can’t say I would know the clothes he put off if I saw them. SABBAGE, the constable, came, and I gave him some clothes which I took to be the prisoner’s. By the Judge. – I had seen the prisoner wear them at times. Cross-examined by Mr. WILKINS. – He left the clothes about the room, and I put them by. Re-examined. – I think those clothes were the same I gave to SABBAGE. John SABBAGE repeated his evidence as to the apprehension of the prisoner. On the 12th of July MITCHELL gave me a waistcoat, which he said he had taken from a nail. I gave it to Dr. TINNISWOOD. I took nothing out of the pockets. There were no more clothes in the bed-room where the prisoner slept but those I took away; but there were some in a bed-room upstairs. I produce the clothes. Benjamin MITCHELL. – I saw what clothes the prisoner had on before he went to Newcastle, to the best of my knowledge. I have no doubt in my mind that he had these clothes on that morning. By Mr. WILKINS. – I was going to plough. I saw him go down the road about 8 o’clock, towards ELLIOT’s house; they were shifting. I passed him, but did not stop. I was within three or four yards of him. I did not take particular notice. I saw him the same day afterwards, and he had changed his clothes; and that is my reason for supposing he had the other clothes on. By Mr. TEMPLE. – I have no doubt I saw him have them on. Dr. TINNISWOOD. – On the 14th of July I got from SABBAGE a waistcoat. I examined the contents of the three pockets, which I examined with three other gentlemen. In all these pockets there was arsenic, but a very small quantity. Elizabeth NIXON. – I live at Grinsdale, about 100 yards from Mrs GRAHAM. On the Thursday previous to Mr. GRAHAM’s death my daughter took Mrs. GRAHAM some yeast. Mrs. GRAHAM said she had none. She took it about half-past 6 o’clock. I used the remainder of the yeast for our own family. No harm came of it. I baked half-a-dozen tea cakes in the afternoon. She brought them herself. I did not put anything to them when they were with me. She got them in the back yard. I was not absent from the house whilst the cakes were in the oven, and no one came near them. Sarah NIXON. – I made our yeast, which I took to Mrs. GRAHAM. No one had an opportunity of meddling with it. I took the baked cakes back to Mrs. GRAHAM. The portion of cake exhibited before the coroner was similar to those baked. By Mr. WILKINS. – The yeast is made of water, hops, and flour. I got the flour from Mr. HAUGH, of Holmes Mill. Mary NIXON is my aunt. She lived about 40 yards from Mrs. GRAHAM in July. I never heard that she was troubled with rats. By the Judge. – There was nothing in my yeast that there was not in hers. Jane THOMPSON. – I was living with Sibson GRAHAM in May. I remember going to Mrs. GRAHAM’s for some pot herbs on the day Mr. GRAHAM took ill. I went into the back kitchen and found Mrs. GRAHAM there. She went out to get them. She went out to get the herbs, I went away to the back door and met the prisoner. Whilst I was in the back kitchen and Mrs. GRAHAM in the garden no one came in the back kitchen at all. On the Monday following I was sent to Mrs. GRAHAM’s by Sibson GRAHAM and got a cake for him. I ate a small piece of it. I was very sick half an hour afterwards. Esther HOWNAM told me where to get the cake. Esther STEWART, another servant at the house, also ate of the cake, and was sick. My sickness continued till midnight. The yeasted cake tested by the medical men was then traced into the possession of Mr. ELLIOT, surgeon, by W. CANNELL, and W. CARRICK, Coroner. The voluntary statement of the prisoner before the coroner, at the inquest, was then put in. W. CARRICK, examined by Mr. WILKINS. – I examined the prisoner. The statement is a series of answers to questions, asked at his request, when he declined to make a statement himself, and was told he was not bound to answer any questions. By Mr. TEMPLE. – No one was criminated then. The statement was put in and read. Sibson GRAHAM, brother of the prisoner. – I live at Grinsdale. I remember seeing my brother on the 15th of May. I met him on the road about 9 o’clock. He was coming towards Grinsdale, and I came with him to near that place. We got there about 10 o’clock. I then left him; and he came to my house about 12 o’clock, and remained about 20 minutes, and then went in the direction of Kirkandrews. I don’t recollect what clothes he was wearing. John DAVIDSON. – I live near Carlisle. I saw the prisoner on the 15th of May. I walked down the road with him about noon. He told me that he was going a little journey; that he was going to Newcastle first, and would probably see London before he returned. Nathaniel WEDDELL. – On the Thursday before old John GRAHAM’s death the prisoner went to the train, of which I am guard, to Newcastle. I saw him again on the Saturday, coming towards the Newcastle station. He had his topcoat on, and carried a carpet bag. I asked him if he was going home; he said no; he was going to stay with Mrs. ORD over Sunday. While we were speaking Mr. Thomas WRIGHT joined us, and we all went into a public-house. While we were there the prisoner chatted with WRIGHT, and said he was going to London, and thought he would be residing there, but would be down again before he settled altogether, probably about the middle of June. WRIGHT looked at his watch, and it wanted 20 minutes to 8 o’clock, and WRIGHT said he must be off. GRAHAM and I sat chatting for three or four minutes, and then I accompanied him to near the place where I met him, in the direction of the train. When I parted with him it would want a quarter to 8 o’clock; and he might have gone round by where Mrs. ORD lives to catch the train. He would have to go round about a quarter of a mile. Bryan BURN. – I am a guard on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway, and keep an inn at Newcastle. I found the prisoner at my house on Tuesday [sic] evening, the 15th of May, and he remained there till about 7 o’clock on Saturday evening. I was not at Carlisle that week. On the Friday evening after his arrival he asked me, when I came in, if there was anything new from Carlisle, and I said no, not telling him that I had not been at Carlisle. He went out, saying that he was going to the Circus. On the Saturday evening I saw him again, a little before 6 o’clock, and he again asked me if there was anything new from Carlisle, and I said no. It struck me as if something was pressing heavy on his mind; he seemed very unsettled. On the Monday afternoon I brought the news of the illness of GRAHAM’s father from Carlisle to the station at Haltwhistle, about a quarter-past 3. I told the station-keeper there. The prisoner was there, but I did not speak to him. He was getting into the train for Haydon-bridge, and when the station-keeper told him about his father he got out again. John SIBBALD. – I am a druggist in Carlisle. I met the prisoner at the Carlisle Railway station on the 15th of May last, and travelled with him to Newcastle. He told me he was going to visit some friends there. We slept in the same room that night at Bryan BURN’s. About 8 o’clock in the evening I found him in bed, and he said he was unwell. Thomas PROCTOR. – I live in Gateshead. On the Saturday previous to his father’s death prisoner called at my shop in Newcastle. I had known him intimately for a long time. He remained with me less than five minutes. I asked him if he intended calling at my house in Gateshead, and he said he would, if he had time, before he went away. I inquired if he was going away that night, and he said he did not know. Examined by Mr. WILKINS. – Mrs. PROCTOR has occasionally visited Mrs. GRAHAM, the mother of the deceased. We are slightly related. I remember John GRAHAM’s marriage. He and his wife paid their marriage visit to the mother of Mrs. ORD, in Newcastle. William ORD. – I am a wine-merchant at Newcastle. On the 17th of May the prisoner called on me at my office. I had only seen him once before. He said he had called at my house, but no one was in. I asked him to step in; but he said he could not stay, as he was going by the London train. He only remained two or three minutes with me. This was between 12 and 1 o’clock. Mark CARR. – On Sunday, the 18th of May last, the prisoner came to our station at Haltwhistle, a little after 10 o’clock. He inquired if the train was gone east; and I told him it was. He then asked the fare to Rosehill station, which is west, and I told him. He then went away, and came next morning about 9 o’clock, and again inquired if the train had gone east. The train was then coming up from the east, and going west. He came back again about 11 o’clock, and I asked him if he was going by the train, and he said he was not – that he expected to meet a person by the train. When the train came in from the west, he asked me if there was any person getting off. I said no, and he went away. He returned again between 2 and 3 o’clock, bringing his carpet bag with him. Mrs. SAUL, innkeeper at Haltwhistle. – The prisoner came to my house on the 17th of May, at a little past 10 o’clock at night, and remained all night. He rose next morning about 8 o’clock, and after breakfast he went out, and then came in again in a quarter of an hour, and then went out, saying he was going to Heydonbridge. That is nine miles west. He returned to my house in about an hour, saying he had missed the train. He was in and out of the house during the remainder of the day. He seemed a little dull, and had no company. On the Monday morning he again said he was going to Heydon-bridge, and went out between 8 and 9 o’clock. He returned in about half an hour, but said nothing. During the day he was never more than half an hour absent from the house. He left in the afternoon. He did not appear to have any business. [The paragraph in the newspaper continues as if the following is Mrs. SAUL’s evidence, but it must be Mark CARR’s.] When the train from Carlisle arrived he remained in the office, and inquired if any person was getting off the train, and a person in the office said a gentleman had got off. He looked out of the window, and then took a ticket for Heydon-bridge, and went into the carriage. I told him, at Bryan BURN’s request, that his father was ill, and he was to go home immediately. He then left the train, and spoke to Bryan BURN. He then went out, and afterwards came to me and asked if Bryan BURN had told me anything more than he had told him, and if I thought his father was dead. I told him I did not know. William WEIR. – I was coming to Carlisle, by railway, on Thursday, the 17th of June [sic]. I got in at Wetherall, four miles from Carlisle, and found the prisoner in the train. He inquired what time I came from Carlisle, and if there was anything particular. I said there was something very particular; that his father and mother were poisoned. He seemed very much excited. I inquired when he left home, and he said on Thursday. I then said “Your father and mother were poisoned the same night;” he seemed more excited after that. When the train stopped close to the station I walked to Carlisle, and John GRAHAM went to the Railway Hotel. I saw him standing upon the steps of the front door. This was about half-past 5 in the afternoon. Robert WHITFIELD, druggist, Carlisle. – I was at the Black Swan with the prisoner on the Monday evening of his father’s illness, about 6 o’clock. The Black Swan is a mile from the station; he had a glass of whisky, and then left, in about 10 minutes, to see his sister, Mrs. CANNELL. He came in again in about a quarter of an hour, and ultimately left about 7 o’clock. While he was in the conversation turned on the death of his father. I remember saying it was supposed he had been poisoned. The prisoner said he had called on Mr. ANDERSON in coming to the station, and he had very much relieved his mind. Mr. SCOTT gave the order for the gig. I did not hear Mr. GRAHAM ask for it. Walker SWAN and his son gave the same evidence as yesterday with respect to the sale of arsenic to a person resembling the prisoner. The son said the prisoner strongly resembled the person who purchased the poison. Joseph HAUGH repeated the evidence given yesterday respecting the apprehension of the prisoner, and his inquiries as to whether any of the police officers had been to Newcastle. Peter MURPHY repeated the expression made use of by the prisoner in his cell, that “It is three weeks since this happened; I might have been in America.” John SAUL. – I am a solicitor in Carlisle. In the autumn of last year I applied to the prisoner on behalf of Mr. HEAD, banker, for a sum of money – about 150L. I applied several times between September and the following January – three or four times at least. There was a balance also upon another account of 15L. The 150L. was his being surety for another party, who had been a defaulter. In the beginning of May he paid me 150L. 15L. remains due. Silas SAUL. – I produce a writ of fi. fa., dated the 6th of December, 1844. The bailiff took possession of his house, and I was paid on the 10th. Dr. Richard JAMES. – The flour and butter given to us by HAUGH were analyzed. Neither of those articles contained arsenic. This was the case for the prosecution. Mr. WILKINS answered this case by a speech in which he drew the attention of the jury to the peculiar features of the charge now preferred. He contended that there was not a particle of evidence to show that the prisoner had any opportunity of mixing poison in the dough; there was even less ground for attributing bad motives here than in the former case. As to the facts connected with the prisoner’s journey upon the railway, some of the particulars detailed were really but worthy of ridicule, and those which discovered anxiety on the prisoner’s part were rather such as would show him to have entertained a praiseworthy solicitude for his father’s health, than any consciousness of having been the means of his destruction. His Lordship, in summing up, took a review of the whole of the leading facts, making upon them the same general observations as those applied to the former evidence. The jury again retired, but they were out not more than a quarter of an hour, and on coming back into court brought in a verdict of Not Guilty. This trial occupied the whole of the day, and concludes the business of the assizes at Carlisle. << Prev - Next

 

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