THE RUGELEY MYSTERY
STRYCHNINE may very justly be termed a deadly poison. It is one of the
active principles extracted from nux vomica, the singular disk-like
seed of the _Strychnos nux vomica_, a tree indigenous to most parts
of India, Burmah, Northern Australia, and other countries. Nux vomica
was unknown to the ancients, and is said to have been introduced into
medicine by the Arabians, but there is very little reliable record
of it until the seventeenth century, when the seeds were used for
poisoning animals and birds. Strychnine was discovered in 1818 by
Pelletier and Carenton, and was first extracted from St. Ignatius'
bean, in which it is present to the extent of about 1·5 per cent. Very
soon afterwards it was extracted from nux vomica, which, being very
plentiful, is now the chief source of the drug. It is extremely bitter
in taste, and may be distinctly detected in a solution containing no
more than one-six-hundred-thousandth part. For a considerable time
after its discovery, the detection of strychnine in the body after
death was a matter of great uncertainty, especially when only a small
quantity had been administered; but now it is possible to detect the
presence of one-five-thousandth part of a grain, and that even after
some period has elapsed. It has been used for criminal purposes by
several notorious poisoners, notably by Dove, Palmer, and Cream, but
the symptoms produced are so marked and its presence clearly indicated,
that detection now is almost certain.
Among the most celebrated trials of this century was that of Dr.
Palmer, who was charged with the wilful murder of John Parsons Cook, at
Rugeley, in 1855. A special Act of Parliament was passed in order to
have this case tried in London, where it was brought before Lord Chief
Justice Campbell, Mr. Baron Alderson, and Mr. Justice Cresswell, at the
Central Criminal Court, on May 14, 1856. The Attorney General, Mr. E.
James, Q.C., with several other counsel, conducted the prosecution, and
Palmer was defended by Mr. Serjeant Shee, Messrs. Grove, Q.C., Gray,
and Kenealy.
The accused man was a country doctor, and had carried on a medical
practice in Rugeley, a small town in Staffordshire, for some years.
Then he went on the turf, and made his business over to a man
named Thirlby, a former assistant. Shortly afterwards, he made the
acquaintance of John P. Cook over some betting transactions. Cook was
a young man of good family, about twenty-eight years of age, and was
intended for the legal profession. He was articled to a solicitor; but
after a time, inheriting some property worth between twelve and fifteen
thousand pounds, he abandoned law and commenced to keep racehorses.
Meeting Palmer at various race meetings, they soon became very
intimate. In a very short time Palmer got into difficulties, and was
compelled to raise money on bills. Things went from bad to worse--until
he at last forged an acceptance to a bill in his mother's name, who
was possessed of considerable property. In 1854 he owed a large sum of
money, and in the same year his wife died, whose life, it transpired,
he had insured for £13,000. With this money he bought two racehorses;
but in his betting transactions he lost heavily, and then commenced to
borrow money from Cook, whose name he also forged on one occasion on
the back of a cheque. He insured his brother's life for £13,000, and
very shortly after _he_ died, the amount being also paid to Palmer.
This money soon went, and at length he had two writs out against him
for £4,000.
In the meanwhile, Cook had been more successful than his friend in his
racing ventures, and had won a considerable amount with a race-horse he
owned called Polestar. Polestar was entered for the Shrewsbury races
on November 14, 1855, and Cook and Palmer went there and stayed with
some friends at the same hotel in that town. On the evening of the
races they were drinking brandy and water together. Cook asked Palmer
to have some more, and the latter replied, "Not unless you finish your
glass." Cook, noticing he had some still left in his tumbler, said,
"I'll soon do that," and finished it at a draught. On swallowing it
he immediately exclaimed, "There's something in it burns my throat."
Palmer took up the glass and said, "Nonsense, there is nothing in it,"
and called the attention of the others standing by. Cook then suddenly
left the room, and was seized with violent vomiting. This became so bad
that he soon had to be taken to bed, and appeared to be very seriously
ill. Two hours later a medical man was sent for, who at once prescribed
an emetic, and then a pill. He obtained relief from these, and by the
morning the vomiting had ceased, and he was much better, though he
still felt very unwell. They returned to Rugeley together, Cook taking
rooms at an hotel directly opposite Palmer's house. Cook was still
confined to his room, and during the next few days, was constantly
visited by Palmer, and after each visit it was noticed the sickness
commenced again. On one occasion Palmer had some broth prepared, which
he specially wished Cook to take. The latter tried to swallow it, but
was immediately sick. It was then taken downstairs, and a woman at the
hotel, thinking it looked nice, took a couple of tablespoonfuls of
it; but within half an hour she was taken seriously ill, and obliged
to go to bed, her symptoms being exactly like those of Cook's when
first taken ill at Shrewsbury. Three days after this a neighbouring
doctor was called in, Palmer telling him that Cook was suffering from a
bilious attack. Palmer then suddenly went off to London, his business
being to try and arrange about the settlement of some debts that were
pressing. From the time he left, it was noticed by the doctor that
Cook's condition rapidly improved, and in a day or two he was able to
leave his bed and be up and dressed. On Palmer's return to Rugeley
he at once went to see Cook and during the rest of his illness was
constantly with him. On the evening of his return he also called on a
surgeon's assistant, with whom he was acquainted, and purchased from
him three grains of strychnine. Cook was taking some pills which had
been prescribed by the doctor, and which had done him good. They were
ordered to be taken at bedtime, and the box containing them was in his
room. He was visited by Palmer about 11 o'clock the same night, and up
to that time he was apparently well. Palmer left shortly after. At 12
o'clock the whole house was aroused by violent screams proceeding from
Cook's room. The servants rushed in and found him writhing in great
agony, shouting "Murder!" He was evidently suffering intense pain, and
soon was seized with convulsions. Palmer was at once sent for, and on
his arrival Cook was gasping for breath, and hardly able to speak. He
ran back to procure some medicine, which on his return he gave him,
but the sick man at once threw it back. The attack gradually passed
off, and by the morning he was somewhat better, but very weak. The same
day Palmer visited a chemist he knew in the town, and purchased six
grains of strychnine. During the afternoon a relative of Palmer's, who
was also a medical man, arrived on a visit to Rugeley, and he was taken
to see Cook, and in the evening a consultation was held by the three
medical men. They agreed to prescribe some medicine for the patient
in the form of pills, which were prepared, and in the course of the
evening were handed to Palmer, who was to administer a dose the last
thing at night.
About half-past ten Palmer gave Cook two of the pills, settled him
comfortably for the night, and went home. At ten minutes to eleven Cook
roused the house with a frightful scream, calling out, "I'm going to
be ill as I was last night." Palmer was sent for, and brought with him
two more pills, which he said contained ammonia, and gave them to Cook.
Very shortly afterwards convulsions set in, which were followed by
tetanus, and the unfortunate man died in a few minutes in great agony.
The deceased man's relatives were communicated with, and his
father-in-law soon arrived in Rugeley. On Palmer being questioned about
Cook's affairs, he said that he held a paper drawn up by a lawyer, and
signed by Cook, stating that, in respect of £4,000 worth of bills, he
(Cook) was alone liable, and Palmer had a claim for that amount against
the estate. This, with other matters, aroused suspicion, and it was
decided to hold a post-mortem examination on the body to ascertain
the cause of death. Palmer was present at the examination, and by
his deliberate act the fluid contents of the stomach were lost. What
portions of the body were reserved for analysis, he did all he could to
prevent from reaching the analysts. When the jars, etc. were being sent
to London for examination by the Government analyst, he intercepted
them, and offered the post-boy £10 to upset the conveyance and break
them.
The evidence offered at the trial was almost entirely circumstantial,
and the medical testimony was very conflicting. It was supposed, in the
first instance, Palmer had administered tartar emetic to his victim,
but that for the fatal dose strychnine was used. It was proved Palmer
had purchased strychnine under suspicious circumstances on the morning
of the day on which Cook died, and could not account for the purchase
of it, or state what he had done with it. The symptoms appeared at a
time which would correspond to the interval that precedes the action
of strychnine, being developed over the entire body and limbs in a
few minutes, suddenly and with violence. None of the pills could
be obtained for analysis, and Dr. Taylor, who made the analytical
examination, was unable to find any trace of strychnine in the portions
submitted to him, but he found half a grain of antimony in the blood.
He believed Cook died from the effects of strychnine. The great point
in the case was, did the tetanic symptoms, under which the deceased man
died, depend on disease or poison? Doctors Brodie, Christison and Todd,
and other eminent authorities of the time agreed, that when taken as a
whole they were not in accordance with any form of disease, but were in
perfect accordance with the effects of strychnine. On the other hand,
medical men called for the defence testified that tetanus might be
caused by natural disease, and the deceased might have died from angina
pectoris or epilepsy. In spite of the absence of confirmatory chemical
evidence, after one hour and seventeen minutes' deliberation, the jury
returned a verdict of "Guilty," and Palmer was sentenced to death, the
trial having lasted twelve days.
The rigid and fixed condition of the limbs is a marked feature after
poisoning by strychnine. In the recent Horsford case, in which a
farmer named Walter Horsford was convicted of the murder of his cousin
Annie Holmes, at St. Neot's, in 1897, 3·69 grains of strychnine were
recovered from the internal organs, after the body was exhumed,
_nineteen days_ after death. Even then, rigidity was very marked,
especially in the lower limbs and fingers. The same rigidity was
remarked by Dr. Stevenson in the case of Matilda Clover, who was
poisoned by Neill Cream with strychnine a few years ago. In this case,
the body had been buried _from October until May_, and the rigidity
in the limbs and fingers was still maintained. Dr. Stevenson states
that usually when persons are suffering from strychnine poisoning,
they are very apprehensive of death. He has known a woman say, "I am
going to die" before any intimation of symptoms had occurred. The first
apprehension is, that some terrible calamity is about to take place.