On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    ^ ^ J JanuakyJ9 ^ 1556

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    The Rugeley Poisonings. {From Our Sjwial...

    . A-A . f Fn ' friisli cholera . Another medical gen- I that f « ^ J . Kie Sf he antiquities of Staffordg && S 3 K 3 Sy £ K Monday , wiiens However , her husband supplied i ^ S ^ ssiS' ^ srs ss « ^^^^ stfss ^^ sisr ^ A tht : d medicar . ° an , the Benjamin Thirlby , who deals m SSSooT ^ d bJS v , vvlS the nurse promised to give her '' SePt 29 th , Friday—My poor dear Anne expired « in nMtf- * * " Oct . 8 th , Sunday . —At church . Sacramen ? " The mortal remains of Mrs . Williams were la ! dTesfdo her mother and the sporting Bagman . Application was then duly made to the Insurance Offices which faithfully fulfilled their engagements ; £ 8 , 000 win

    K ^ eludes in its members a clergyman , a surgeon , and a lawver would anywhere require as cautious handling as a hedffe-liog . In Rugeley no man would venture on such a hazardous encounter . The insurance offices , indeed , despatched a Detective to the spot—so called quasi lucus a non lucendo ; but his inquiries were more particularly directed to a proposal that had been made touching the Jife of Geortre Bate , Esq ., " a gentleman of good property an < l possessed of a capital cellar of wine . " The amount was £ 25 000 . One of the signatures to the proposal was that of John Parsons Cook , another gentleman of sporting ; notoriety who now appears on the stage for the first time . George Bate , Esq ., proves to be a harmless man , not too much troubled with intellect , but of the ordinary rustic calibre who had once failed on a small farm , and now went on errands or did odd jobs for the Palmer family . The proposal was not accepted . George Bate , Esq ., is still alive : one of the lions , indeed , of Rugeley , and perhaps better off than if he had received tlie £ 500 promised to him should the policy be effected . While casting his net for thousands , William Palmer was not too proud to seize upon smaller prey . On-his brother Walter ' 3 death , after striving to mitigate his fraternal anguish bv working the telegraphic wires in instructing Ki ^ ( o tn lav various odds in his name , he hastened to

    drunken suspicions of Palmer had evaporated willi the fumes of the brandy . They were again , friends and brother sportsmen . In the afternoon they started together for Rugeley , where Mr . Cook engaged a room at the Tall ) ot Arms , exactly opposite to the snuggery inhabited by Mr . William Palmer , surgeon , and his pleasant-looking handmaid , Eliza Tharme . Thursday seems to have been a dies non , but on Friday Mr . Cook dined with his friend , returning to the hostelrv in a state of perfect sobrietythe only evidence to the contrary being his request for a candle to ena"ble him to . read in his bedroom : he was a sporting man , be it remembered—still , he might have wished to consult his betting book , or to read the Lacing Calendar . On the following morning he felt qualmish and uncomfortable . He threw up a cap of coffee administered bv the chambermaid , and afterwards a basin of broth sent by Mr Palmer . On Monday morning he was better , and aole to eat something , but at night he took two pills wMch made him excessively ill . He screamed wildly , rolled . his eyes about , and beat the bedclothes with his hands , while his head moved convulsively and ms limbs soon after straightened . Mr . Palmer being sent for in haste gave him some comforting words , two more pills , and a thick , dark-coloured draught which smelt like opium . The sick man vomited almost immediately , but there was *

    being paid th . ough a Mr . rratt , an auonicj , , acted as William Palmer ' s jackal in procuring money . The speculation had proved so profitable that it was worth repeating . Whose life should next be insured ? Why not that of Walter Palmer , his brother ? He had already suffered from one attack of ddinum tremens , but perhaps that objection might be got over through the usual complacency of medical examiners and the competition between rival offices . Mr . Pratt was accordingly in-^ todt ? S 5 J 2 U Walter ' s life for £ 13 , 000 to £ 14000 It is needless to enumerate all his-failures , but tie object was at length effected . Now , Walter Palmer was the bes of a very indifferent family—he was certainly the least selfish . He had the same unhappy taste , however , as his brother William for racing and betting— in short , for sport . Devoting more time to his betting-book than to his ledger , he failed as a corn merchant , and became bankrupt in 1849 . His wife was a Miss Blillcrcst , a ladylike and accomplished person , still most prepossessing m appearance , the daughter of a Liverpool shipbuilder , and possessed of an income of £ 450 a-year . Her sister had married Mr . Joseph . Palmer , and strongly dissuaded her from entering sucti a family—of course , in vain . The

    Liverpool to break the news te the poor widow . As she naturally desired to see the body of her husband once more before it was for ever snatched from her sight , he j dissuaded her from doing so , by representing the cause of j death to have been the rupture of a blood-vessel , and that the corpse was too horrible to be viewed . Not a word of ( his was true . No vessel had been ruptured , and the body presented no extraordinary appearances of any kind . Towards the end of September he applied to his sister-inlaw for the repayment of various sums alleged to be due to him by the deceased , such as £ * 5 , advanced upon the furniture , £ 40 to take up some mysterious bill , and £ 200 to pay off some small debts . To this strange application the widow replied witn much spirit that , as she had never received a farthing from her husband during the whole course of their married life , she did not consider herself bound to pay liis debts ; nor did she believe that his mother was aware of William ' s present proceeding ; that she had reason to believe that her husband did not owe bi n * anything whatever , but rather the contrary ; and that he must be cautious how he belied the dead . . ... T 7 > ~ : i . j : — « n tiiocn stfnmnfc : tn misn mnnftv . wn <> lher m ctfc » - « J fcv —— j

    no appearance of the pills , ana presently u « « = » ««» - refreshing slumber . The laudanum , if such it were , had been administered in too large a , dose for the state or the stomach after so much irritation—otherwise it might have soothed him into asleep from which there would have been no awakening . On Tuesday afternoon Mr . W . H . Jones arrived , a surgeon of Lutterworth . and a personal friend I of Mr . Cook . Old Dr . Bamford , aged eighty-two , had , of ' course , been called in before this , and had prescribed two opiate pills , which Mr . Palmer himself took ' awav Mr . Jones slept in the same room with , his ! friend , the foot of the beds being opposite to each other , the room sufficiently large , and Mr . Cook lying between the door and the window . A little after eleven Mr . ! Palmer went across and gave the sick man two pills , supposed to be morphine ; vomiting ensued , but the pills remained on the stomach . About midnight Mr Jones undressed himself and'turned in . He had not laid down above twenty minutes , when his friend called to him in alarm and begged that Mr . Palmer might be sent for Immediately . That gentleman was by las bedside ^ ithm three minutes , foolishly volunteering the remark that he had never dressed so quickly m his life before . He then wi

    union was an unhappy one , owing to his intemperate habits . While residing in the Isle of Man , lie had an attack of delirium trentens , during which he attempted to cut his throat . With great reluctance Mrs . Walter was compelled to separate from him , though they seem to have been alway s tenderly attached to one another : and in August last he paid a visit to her at Liverpool for a few days , abstaining entirely from spirits during the whole time . Previous to this he used to take a quart of gin a c " ay > but gradually reduced the quantity to half a pint or thereabouts . He had been living for some time with an impudent , brazen-faced fellow named "Walkeden , but a few months before liis death removed to Castle-terrace , just over tlie Railwa 5 ' Bridge at Stafford . This Walkeden , nominally a corn agent , came to live with him , and Mrs . Walkeden also slept in the house , leaving her children to themselves at night . It i 3 understood that old Mrs . Palmer allowed Walter £ 2 a-week , and it is whispered that William Palmer gave Walkeden £ 5 a-w « ek as a remuneration for his faithful attendance on hi 3 brother . Walkeden ' s chief business seems to have consisted in supplying his friend and master with gin . Sometimes there was a cask in the house , but more fre-. — a __ 4 ... . — _ « 3 ^* . a - - A ^^ aw ¦ ^ A ** * J 1 M ^ ^ % ^ % MV ^* W 4 ^ % ADA bottle reijuueujiuo atciagc

    JJ yilCti 1 Ik till VL 1 VOU * . v ^»*« JJ * * *~~ v w — — ? - . —— large sums , pr small , and incessantly harassed by the harpies who ' had discounted his bills , Palmer was now fairly at bav . Woe to him who crossed his path- With the calm Te ' solution of despair he proceeds to the Shrewsbury races , in company with his intimate friend , John Parsons Cook , who was also strangely mixed up with him in sporting transactions generally . This gentleman was about twenty-eight years of age , or about two years younger than Palmer , " and generally resided at Lutterworth , in Leicestershire , where he still possessed some property , although he "kept race-horses arid had William Palmer for his associate . The latter was clearly the master mind , and pulled , as he pleased , the strings which moved his puppet . On the 13 th of November these two sporting gentlemen were at Shrewsbury . The races were going on , and Mr . Cook ' s horse , Polestar , was the winner . The owner was naturally somewhat excited by his triumph , tliough no Pindar ( not even P « ter ) was there to sin " his praises . But a good dinner is no bad substitute for " a bard . So he repaired to the " Raven , " bird of ill omen , and there entertained his friends with Shrewsbury champagne . The waitress emphatically declares to the present dav that his friend , Mr . Palmer , was " a very nice , plea-1

    gave him two p ills which he brought a mm , saying Chat they were ammonia pills-a preparation never jcept readv made up , because of evaporation . A terrible scene now endued Wildly shrieking , the patient tossed about in feTrful convulsions ; his limbs were so "gj d lhat it jas impossible to raise him , though he entreated that they ^^ JZ ^^?™ 1 $ ^ ^ ! IK ^^ j £ dhs /& wa . ssA « pa fZdeatb Dr Bamford , however , thought there was 1 sfc ^ ss ^^ w ™ " ^ essr-s ^ s shs * rar jrr-s S-Wtesws . * 5 ? tetanus wttpiui t — j

    quemly a was procureu us . consumption exceeded a qiiart per diem , and a bottle , perhaps three quarters full , was placed by his bedside every night , with a water-jug and a glass . Not unfrequently the wretched man would toss off half a tumbler of raw spirits at a gulp , and then turn quite black in the face . At an early hour of the morning Walkeden tooTc him n cup of coffee , which lie would swallow nn < 5 . cast up again . Then ho would " set himself up" by drinking three or four glasses of gin and water . He was constantly complaining of pain all over him , but particularly under the ahoulder-blade ; he also coughed every morning very severely , and expectorated a great d « al . On the 14 th August , Walter Palmer and lua evil genius , this Walkeden , vent to Wolverhampton to see the races . He was tolerably sober at the time , and a littlo before twelve o ' clock picked at a small mutton chop , but without any appetite . On his return homo ho was quite drunk , but Walkeden did not the 1 cb 8 supply him with gin to drink in the night . All next day , Wednesday , ho was in liquor . On Thursday morning ho iiuaiu

    sant sort of gentleman . ' After dinner a cloud drooped around John Parsons Cook , and yet a film fell from his eyes . Bacchus , the ^ god of truth , had warned him against his friend William—Sweet William no longer . After indulging freely in the foreign wines of an English country town , 150 miles from London , the . owner of Polestar took to brandy and water to restore his Briiish solidity . Tossing off his glass d . la " gentleman rider , " he com plained that there was something in it ( the brandy or the empty glass ?) for it burned his throat . Perhaps those who have drunk strong brandy and water with similar b aste may have experienced the same . sensation . Perhaps , also , like Mr . Cook , they may have even vomited afterwards . As in the olden time it was given to few men to visit Corinth with enjoyment , so at the present day it falls to the- lot of few men to possess that " bibulous clny" which craveth nil things , absorbeth all things ) , and rotaineth , all things . Mr . Cook was not a man of this stamp . He was not a Prince Xerbino , whom Nature fashions in h « r dainty moods and then casts away the mould . He bolted his brandy and water down at " Palmer ' s challenge , and bolted it . un acain when it encountered the cold champagne .

    tetanus , and tnat » «« . w ~ . -- ---Mr ! Palmer vaa therefore committed to gaol on a charge ° ThfiST ^' aB . Every circumstance connected with this extraordinary inquiry is . stamped with singularity . Mr Cook received about £ 700 at fchrewabury , and was entitled to as much more . Of the former sum he had only £ 15 ia hb pockets when ho died ; his betting-book , winch " id on the mantelpiece during his illness , sud-Inly d appeared after his ' death-Mr . Palmer coolly observing that it was of no consequence , as all bets were now Sll aSd void . On the Monday that poor Cook was lying 3 ? in hfi yellow-curtained bed at the Talbot Arms , AV ilham Palmer hurried up to London to get hie fr « nd " « g g 2 settled with respect to Shrewsbury Races . WHh this vie " i a gentleman waited upon him at his }<* £ " &** * i

    WBB'SCIZCU WitII « n apv | l > cunv M « - » «« m uiumjui n being at hand , nnd died before medical assistance could be obtained . A certificate , however , wna not refused as to the enuso of doath being npoplexy , and ng « in application was made for the payment of the Life Policies . This time the officoa liesitatcd . They had been told that tho insurance was intended , to coyer an advance ? made by Mrs . Palmer ; but it now nppenred that the aafli ^ nmont haul been made in favou r of Willinnn , in consideration of nn assumed loan of JE 400 , though the deceased had nctuully received no more than £ i \ 0 . Other circumstances occurred to oxcito suspicion , and tfcc result was that tho different offices combined for their mutual defence , in case any claim should bo mado upon them . Those uuflpicions muat have boon strengthened when no demand wna mado lor payment , and it seems unnccountaWo that no atopa should have been taken fcy tho police to enforce a post niOTtom examination IJut Nemesis , though halting in gait , nover wearies or lialta in her pursuit of tlio guilty . ThuH fur William Palmor had safely set at defiance tho tor rilled whispers of hia neighbours . No one cared to cnat tho first atone . In Rugeloy ite-olf tho Palmer intereet -waa omnipotent . A family that

    SnThat night ho was very drunk and very sick and very ill . His dinner he cast up into a Imsin , his money ho deposited with his friend Ishnittel Fisher , n sporting wine merchant of Shoe-lane , Holborn . This gentleman apparently owes hia lovo of sport to liis patronymic , only that tho modern Esauides kills partridges instead of gazolks , and runs horses instead of hunting thoonagra s to hifl surname it may bo that ho ia indebted for dealing in liquids , only that , liis piscatoriul tnlents nro devoted to tho capture of m-en rather than of llalicp , after tlie manner of Peter : but what a nnmo it would bo for a Jow bailiff ! To this Mr . Ishmaol Fiaher , tho owner of Polestar gave j £ 700 to keep till noxt morning , expressing hiet belief , at tho same time , that Palmer had " dosed " him for tho eako of the money . If such had been Palmer ' s intention , would ho have left Cook at such a moment ? Ho neither followed him from tho room when hia atomnch rubollod , nor did ho go near him all that night . This neglect showed , indeed , how hollow wan his friendship , but it proven his innocence . Guilt would have been much more ofliqioua . Noxt morning Cook looked very ill , « a men are apt to do ofteir excessive vinous vomiting . uut his

    £ 1 , 020 , but of tins * iiu was « mp « . "' - " £ •"" Pll . suwsss ^ S ^ S-a usually employed by Palmer ^ in ' »» 'JJ ^ JS " from Colwich , A telegraphic reply was directlyjetnrneu thcre _ titrssrfe ^^^^ Jswg his onalyBis of Cook ' 8 stomach , & c , ho had occasion to writhe the solicitor for ii » prosecution , and ™™ " ™ £ That he had not been able to discover any traces of poMon . This important letter tho learned Professor rather imprudently despatched in an adhesive onvelopo-so named for

    ^ ^ J Januakyj9 ^ 1556

    ^ ^ J JanuakyJ 9 ^ 1556

    THE LEADEE .

    53

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 19, 1856, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19011856/page/5/