On this page

• Text (2)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• 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.

    Untitled Article

    " Whether justly or not , the laird ' s jealousy was roused , and he refused to permit his brother to be any longer a sojourner in his house . He was overheard reproachinjr his wife , and using an expression not very explicit , ' that she and the lieutenant were as common as the bell that rings on Sabbath . ' The account he gave of the matter to a friend was , ' that he had forbid his brother , the captain , the house ; on account of suspicions ; and he said that his wife was too much taken tjjpVin doing thin gs for his brother , the captain , and not for himself ; and that , at the same time ° he mentioned some differences he had with his brother concerning moneymatters / The wife expressed fierce indignation at the dismissal of the brother-inlaw , but it mig ht have been called up as readily by the scandalous suspicions which it excited as by the loss of her paramour . Some of the witnesses said she openly threatened that her husband should have a dose , and her mother-in-law—a very aged woman—said she believed Catherine would stick at nothing , and warned the husband of his danger .

    " In this state of matters , one morning , after having had some tea , the laird was suddenly seized with spasms and other evil symptoms , which accumulated until he was released from his agony "by death , in a few hours . He exclaimed about sensations of burning and . thirst—drank much water , and vomited painfully . He complained of a burning at his heart , as he called it ; and complained bitterly of pains in the brauns of his legs , and said they would rend ; and desired the witness to bind them up for him , which the witness ( Anne Clark ) accordingly did . That there was a severe heaving at his breast and strong caw , and he cried , to keep open the windows to give him breath . That he was constantly in motion , moving his head , his legs , and his arms . That she observed in the afternoon he did not speak plain , which she supposed was owing to his tongue having swelled—but she did not see his tongue . That about an hour , or an hour and a half before his death , he had an intermission of the vomiting ; but that , at length , he was again attacked with a most severe press of vomiting , after which he fell back upon the witness , who was sitting behind him in the bed supporting him , and expired /

    « That he had been poisoned by his wife , was a conclusion immediately adopted by those connexions who were not her friends . That we may judge in a general way how far the evidence was conclusive , let us follow the circumstances attested by the witnesses from the beginning . " James Carnegie , a surgeon in Brechin , remembered to have received an invitation from Lieutenant Ogelvie , with whom he was acquainted , to meet him at a tavern . This was on some day near the end of May—it was on the 23 rd of May that the lieutenant was forbidden his brother ' s house , and on the 6 th of June that the death took place . The surgeon found Ogelvie engaged with two friends-Lieutenant Campbell of his owii regiment , and Mr . Dickson . He took the surgeon aside , ' and told him that he was troubled with gripes , and wanted to buy some

    laudanum from him , and at the same time told him he wanted to buy some arsenic , in order to destroy some dogs which spoiled the game . ' The surgeon was not sure if he could supply the articles wanted—he would see when he returned to his surgery r When he did so , ' he found he had some of both , and put up a small phial-glass of laudanum , and betwixt hah an ounce and an ounce of arsenic , both which he delivered next day to the lieutenant , after the witness had dined with him and Lieutenant Campbell next day in Smith ' s . That Lieutenant Ogelvie took him into another room away from Lieutenant Campbell , when he was to receive the laudanum and the arsenic , and then the witness delivered them to him . That the price of both was a shilling . That the arsenic was pulverised , and Lieutenant Ogelvie having asked how to prepare it , the witness gave him directions . He had

    sold of the same arsenic formerly to people for poisoning of rats , and heard that it had the desired effect . He has been accustomed , when he sold arsenic , to take receipts from low people who bought it , but never from gentlemen ; and as the witness knew Lieutenant Ogelvie , and had a good opinion of him , he did not ask a receipt from him , although , when the lieutenant spoke about it first , the witness said to him , ' We used to take a receipt for arsenic ; ' that the lieutenant answered , ' See first if you have it , ' adding at the same time , ' very good . ' It might be inferred from this , that he hinted to the lieutenant hia desire to possess an acknowledgment for the arsenic , but did not press his request on a gentleman and an examination is curioussincit

    acquaintance . The report of this surgeon ' s further , e shows how extremely uncertain and empirical any decision on the use of poison must have been at that time . He said he ' got his arsenic from a druggist in Dundee—but how long ago ho cannot say , there being a small demand for arsenic at any time . ' When the surgeon was cross-questioned by Mr . Crosby—the prototype of Scott ' s Pleydcll—he said he wrapt the arsenic up in the form of a pennyworth of snuff , but ' ho cannot take upon him to say , from looking at arsenic , whether it be arsenic or not—nor can ho say from the taste , for ho never tasted it ; but that he bought this as arsenic—had the name marked upon it , upon tho package and heard from those he sold it to that it had killed rats . '

    " One of tho chief circumstances bearing against Lieutenant Ogolvie , was his uneasiness about this purchase . It is pretty well known that , in Scotland , the moat powerful instrument for detecting crime is tho declaration of tho accused , solemnly recorded before a magistrate , immediately after his apprehension , and retained " , that at tho trial it may bo compared with tho evidence of tho witnesses , and the whole history of tho transactions as they aro one by one developed , llio declaration of a guilty man is almost sure to betray him by palpable inconsistencies ; and knowing offenders deem it their wisest policy to close their lips—a policy accompanied by the minor inconvenience of substituting a general suspicion for Hpecific evidence « f guilt . JJut it is sometimes supposed that the inferences from tho declaration and tho evidence , as compared together , arc too strictly interpreted , and that tho uccuscd is held us concealing or denying tho circumstances of tho crime , when ho is only keeping out of view unfortunate appearances which ho feura would such

    may bo against him . A believer in Lieutenant Ogelvio ' n iimocenco put an interpretation on his statement , in his declaration , « that within these two woolen ho wan at tho town of Brechin , and in company with James Carnegie , surgeon of that place , but that ho received from him no laudanum , or any other medicine whatever / No allusion is made to tho arsenic . When Ogolvio was apprehended , a certain Patrick Dickson was employed by him to go to tho surgeon , ' and talk to him that ho might not bo imposed on by anybody . ' Ho ' wont and conversed with Mr . Carnegie , who informed him that ho hud sold tho prisoner some laudanum and some arsenic , for both which ho received a shilling ; and the witness returned to Forfar , and communicated to tho prisoner what Mr . Carnegie had mud upon which tho prisoner Hoemed to bo under somo concern , and Hccincd desirous to ' speak with Mr . Carnegie , without either confessing or denying that ho hod bought tho arsenic , for ho had only acknowledged buying tho laudanum on tho Saturday before / And now lie waa anxious to have an alteration made on hw

    declaration ; but this could not be—he might make additions , but for what was recorded litera scriptamanet . . " Such being the state of the case as to the purchase of the poison , let us see how its destination and use are supposed to be traced . v " A certain Andrew Stewart , a village tradesman * had casually mentioned to the lieutenant that he had Occasion to visit Eastmiln on the following day . He stated that * before he went , off . Lieutenant Ogelvie delivered to the witness a small phial-glass , containing something liquid , which he said was laudanum ; and also a small paper packet , which he said contained salts ; and that the morning of the day preceding , the witness saw the lieutenant working among gome salts—at least which appeared to the witness to he salts—which were in a chest belonging to the

    lieutenant . That the phial-glass was round , and knows that there was another phial-glass in his own house , which was square . That he is positive , as he has already deposed , that one phial-glass was delivered to him by the lieutenant , and cannot say with certainty that two might not have been delivei'qd to him by the lieutenant , but rather thinks he got only one ; and that , at the time when the above particulars were delivered to him , the lieutenant desired him to deliver them privately into Mrs . Ogelvie ' s own hand . That he did not see the packet made up , nor did he open it to see what it contained . That in the foresaid packet there was a letter directed for Mrs . Ogelvie , of Eastmilu , which letter was sealed both ivith wax and a wafer ; and that round the packet there was a loose paper of directions in what manner the laudanum was to be used . That when he came to Eastmiln , on the Wednesday afternoon , he was carried into a room where old Lady Eastmiln * was ; and that , within a short time thereafter , Mrs . Ogelvie , the prisoner , and Miss Clark , came into the room . That , at the desire of Mrs . Ogelvie , he followed her into the Easter room , where Mrs . Ogelvie having asked him if he

    had brought any word to her from the lieutenant , he delivered to her the several particulars above mentioned , which the witness saw her immediately put into a drawer in the room . That he did not see her read the letter at that time , but that she put the whole together into the drawer . That soon thereafter Miss Clark asked the witness what he had brought with him from the lieutenant to Mrs Ogelvie , or if he had brought anything with him ? He at tfrst said he had brought nothing , but upon Miss Clark ' s pressing him with great earnestness , he at last informed her of the particulars he had brought . That , upon this , Miss Clark said that she was afraid Mrs . Ogelvie might poison her husband . That thereafter Miss Clark , in presence of the witness and the old lady , desired Eastiniln not to take anything out of his wife ' s hand except at the table ; to which he answered that he would not . That the old lady joined with Miss Clark in desiring Eastmiln to take nothing out of his wife ' s hand , but that the witness wa 3 at that time very much displeased with both , as he then had no suspicion that Mrs . Ogelvie had any design against the life of her husband . ' j « . - «

    " The Miss Clark , whose suspicions were awakened , is the same of whom some account is already given . One of the strange mysteries of the cage is , that this woman appears to have made up her mind , % ven before the arrival of Stewart and his package , that Mrs . Ogelvie was determined tp poison her husband . She vented her suspicions to Stewart and to the old lady , and according to her own account , she set off to consult the parish clergyman in the emergency , but did not succeed in finding him . Having now seen the evidence that the poison reached Eastmiln , let us see what light } s thrown on tho method in ^ which it was used . , ,

    "On the day when the package had arrived , there had been . high words between Eastiniln and his wife , and their subject was an extremely awkward one . She was occupied in making cambric ruffles for the lieutenant . She let it be xmderstood that tho material had been left behind by the dismissed brother-inlaw ; but a chapman or pedlar had just been dunning the laird himself for payment of an account for it , and thus it appeared that Catherine was incurring debts in her husband ' s name to decorate her paramour . The laird went forth sulky , spent the day with his tenants on the other side of the hill , and , returning in the evening in no better humour , went to bed without supping .

    " Next morning , breakfast was ready ' between eight and nine—a little sooner than ordinary / This was to accommodate Mr . Stewart , who stayed all night , and desired to depart early in tho day . Mr . Stewart saw Catherine Nairn pour out a bowl of tea , and walk from the room with it , saying that she was to give it to her husband , who was in bed . As she went up stairs with the bowl , a servant had occasion to follow her . According to the evidence as reported , * she followed her mistress up-stairs , wanting somo beef out of the beef-stand , and saw her go into a closet adjoining her master ' s room . That the witness followed her into tho closet , demanding tho beef ; but that'her mistress bade her go down stairs , as she was not ready yet—and she was always wanting something ; ana that Mrs . Ogelvie appeared to be in a passion at hqr . That her master was at that time in bed , and that when the witnesB was in the closet , she saw Mrs . Ogelvio nth-ring about the tea , with . her faco to tho door ; but that she did not see her mistress , when in the closet , put anything into tho tea . ' made

    Soon afterwards , tho rest of the family sitting at breakfast , Mrs . Ogelvie the remark that tho laird and Elizabeth Sturrock was well off , having got the first of tho tea . Anno Clark states that she was startled and alarmed by thw announcement , and she appear * to have expected what followed . Elizabeth pturrock stated that Catherine Nairn came to her , and Baying tho laird had got Ji « j breakfast , desired that site would tmy she had got breakfast too , though sho Anu not . The laird had gone out to the stable , and he was soon immediately utterwards , by Stewart , approaching tho house under palpable symptoms of internal agony . His wife was tho fiiH , t who announced at the breakfast-table that tlio laird wuh very ill . According to Anno Chirk , she upoko with levity , and , seeing her weeping , ' waid , « Aro you daft P Then followed tho poor man ' s agony am death , us it has boon already described . Ho did not , however , . depart Witnou ^ leaving on the evidence , tho impression of what occurred to himself . A florvan brought him some w » ttter in tho sume bowl from which ho . had drunk tho tea , but ho Imdo it bo carried out of wight , exclaiming , ' Damn that bowl , for 1 Jinv got death in it already / Ho saidin tho heaving of unothor servant , um

    my , ho was poisoned—and that woman had dono it . ' A neighbour called cum B his agony , and asking hhn what ho boliovcd to nil him , was answered , gono , James , with no lens than rank poison / ... _

    Untitled Article

    * " It was tho practico in Scotland to call tho laird simply by tho namo of jiw «¦ , e . g . EuHtiniln , and as it was necessary to distinguish tho wife from tho ftUBWa » > b lantry awarded to tho former tho flattering prefix of ' lady . ' So w > u ( I tlio nui . , helpmate of tho owner of « , couple of hundred owob of bog and » t < j » io U dononunwv

    Untitled Article

    470 THE LEADER . [ % rij * pAY

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 15, 1852, page 470, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1935/page/18/