SCHOHARIE ness to come and see the deceased. 1817. V Kesler When he came again the next day, or the next but one day, he said he The People wanted some more opium and powders; and stated that the deceased had eaten of the opium first given, but it had been lost in the chamber pot. Witness then made up some more fever powders, and prisoner requested him to put a considerable share of the opium in the powder, as she was in the habit of taking opium, and a small quantity would be of no use. Witness prepared and delivered five or six of the pills to him, and he said no more about the opium: prisoner said his wife was no better, but rather worse. He came afterwards, being the third time, in the night, after witness had been asleep, and wanted some more medicine; thinks it was another puke, which witness gave to him, and when he went away, he stated to the witness that if he did not call over again by 12 o'clock the next day, he wanted witness to come over and see the woman: on the next day, being Thursday, towards night, he then requested witness to come over and see her. At one of the pri soner's calls upon the witness, he mentioned she was very thirsty. Witness went over on Thursdey, a little after sunset, and on seeing her thought her past recovery. The deceased complained of a severe pain in the pit of the stomach, and of a soreness in her stomach so that she could not bear the bed clothes on her; her extremities were cold, her pulse was fluttering, intermitted and very feeble; her countenance was ghastly, like that of a person in the agonies of death. Prisoner told this witness that he was going to Hudson. The witness left the patient a powder or two of an anodyne nature, and then went home; does not know he directed the prisoner at any time to make rue tea. The 187 The People V Kesler. On his cross-examination, this witness says he direct- SCHOHARIE ed the prisoner to give the powder in herb tea. pills were jalap and aloes, and something of an aromatic nature: does not recolleet how many pills he gave the prisoner in all; cannot speak with certainty the days be called the first and second times on him. Witness saw no symptoms which led him to believe she was dying because she had taken too much opium. Witness never has been called to visit a person poisoned by arsenic ; he keeps his emetic tartar in a large phial, and his camphor in a bottle; he only keeps the necessary medicine to use as a physician: witness had arsenic in his shop; his medicine is left in an open room in his house, but no person handles it. The four powders he gave prisoner were calculated to produce sweating: in leaving the same powder when he visited the deceased, with those before given to the prisoner for the patient, his only ob. ject was to allay pain; the powders given by him to prisoner would not produce the symptoms stated by Mrs. Best. Witness states that his arsenic is kept in a corner drawer, and that it is not possible he could have made a mistake: the witness is perfectly certain he did not. John C. Spoor. Witness saw where the deceased was interred; it was near his house in the burying-ground for the neighbourhood: her corpse was dug up about two months afterwards, to be opened. One Esquire Subar and one Adam Garlock were there at the time. Witness says he pointed out the spot to Subar and Garlock. Adam Garlock, jun. Witness was present at the time she was taken up; Spoor showed him the spot; she was carried to the widow Spruchers, the step-mother of the deceased, lying in Freysbush, near Bowman's kill; the 1817. V. Kesler. SCHOHARIE father's name of the deceased was George Sprucher, who lived and died at Freysbush, near Bowman's kill; the The People mother and child of the deceased had been buried there, and Jøst Sprucher was her uncle. At this place the body was opened, Doctors Miller, Atwater, Joseph White, and Delaus White were there at the time. Witness knew her, and has no doubt it was the body of Catharine Kesler. Dr. James W. Miller. The body was opened by Dr. Delaus White; the external appearance of the stomach and bowels showed there had been morbid action; the stomach was removed and opened, and on examining the innercoats of it, there appeared to have existed an inflammation; there was a small quantity of fluid in the stomach of a very dark appearance. Witness discovered some particles attached to the inner coats of the stomach, and some of them had penetrated into it; he also found some of the particles in the smaller intestines, and some of them appeared to be between the coats of the intestines. Those particles were of a vitreous appearance, and when mashed with a knife they were white inside. Some of those particles were placed on heated iron and a dense white fume arose from their combustion; some of them were placed between two plates of polished copper prepared for the purpose; the two plates were bound by an iron wire, and were then placed on the fire until they were brought to a red heat; they were then removed, and after being cooled they were separated; the interior of the plates towards the edges of them were whitened in a circular form. Witness took a small quantity of the contents of the stomach home with him in a phial, perhaps abont two tea-spoons full of it, and that contained some of the particles. On his return home he placed it 1817. V. Kesler. in his desk; and in consequence of the sickness of some SCHOHARIE of his family, his experiments were not made until some time afterwards. Witness then diluted it The People with a pint of water, and took the nitrate of silver, dissolved it, and put it in a separate glass; took pure ammoniac in another glass, then took two glass rods, wet the end of one of those with the solution of the nitrate of silver, dipped the end of the other in the pure ammoniac, brought the two ends of the glass rods, so dipped, in contact on the surface of the water in the vessel containing the contents of the stomach, passed them down into the fluid, and there was a precipitate which was of an orange colour; which experiment he repeated a number of times, and also with a solution of arsenic, and the result of the experiments were similar; the same precipitate in each, although the one made with the solution of arsenic was more distinct; the liquid in fluid being colorless it was clearly perceptible in the contents of the stomach; and in his opinion there was arsenic in the stomach. The last test is relied on as much as any one, and it is considered the most delicate test; it is his opinion, and he does not know he has any doubt of its being arsenic. Witness does not know of any thing, which will produce a similar effect with the experiments with the plates of polished copper, except it be arsenic itself; charcoal and oil will produce a result something like it, but the whitish color is easier removed; the fume proceeding from the heated iron beforementioned, was like that of burning arsenic on heated iron. Some spots of the corpse were more livid than others. Burning heat, vomiting, cold sweats, pain in the stomach, as mentioned by Mrs. Best, are the usual symptoms attending being poisoned by arsenic. He also saw an ap 1817. The People V. Kesler. SCHOHARIE pearance in the stomach resembling opium long lain in water; it was the rosinous part of the opium which never dissolves in water. The color of the contents of the stomach was much changed in consequence of the long period of interment. Thinks the particles were placed near the centre of the copper plates No charcoal put with the particles; nothing but the particles and what might have adhered to them. On his cross examination, witness said the copper plates were not luted; in those experiments the copper is generally whitened where the arsenic lies; he has never tried a similar experiment with the emetic tartar. Witness thought in this instance the white parts on the plates grew whiter by rubbing; they had the appearance of being a little whitened at first before they were rubbed. Witness has seen the plates pretty dark on the surface; is not certain, but thinks they would be darker with less heat. The experiment with the glass rods is called Marcet's experiment. Witness never tried the last experiment before on the contents of the stomach; never tried this same experiment with any other matter to ascertain whether it would not produce the same result. Witness has never seen the note by Marcet himself, in which he acknowledges it to be very uncertain. Arsenic does not readily dissolve in water, it generally requires a degree of heat. The mucus in the stomach might impede the dissolution of the arsenic by being coated over it: mucus is generally moist. Witness has never been called to a patient poisoned by arsenic till after death. Witness says puking on Sunday evening from poison by arsenic, is not usual to experience ease so soon as the next morning. He cannot say he discovered a garlic |