1817.

V.

Kesler.

SCHOHARIE the experiment with the glass rods, only substituting phosphoric acid for an arsenical solution, and the nitrate The People of silver occasioned a precipitate, but not yellow: however, the phosphoric acid now in my possession is some recently procured from Loudon, and I find it is mixed with nitric acid. To this circumstance may probably be owing the difference of colour in Mr. Brande's and my results.

7. Dr. Delaus White repeated the experiment of Dr. Miller, putting some of the white particles found in the stomach of the deceased on heated iron, and also between two plates of copper, but since he does not at all vary or correct the process, the observations already made, No. 5, apply with equal force to his testimony.

8. Dr. John Atwater mashed some of the particles on white paper, and says, "it had the appearance of arsenic." I deem it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish with certainty, any white mineral powder from another in such circumstances. He also says the white fumes are considered a test. Chemists do not deem them such where they are unaccompanied with a garlic smell.

9. Dr. Joseph White testifies, "that some of the fluid of the stomach was put into a phial containing a solution of sulphate of copper and sub-carbonate of pot-ash, and that the precipitate was darker than what takes place in the process for making Scheele's Green."

Remarks. The fact is, that Scheele's Green is never obtained by using sub-carbonate of pot-ash. To obtain that, pure or caustic pot-ash must be employed, and it should be first combined with the arsenic in a separate vessel, and then the sulphate of copper will be precipitated by the compound of a very remarkable green co

I SCHOHARIE 1617

lour. But even this experiment is inconclusive. took the expressed juice of onions, and added to it a solution of sulphate of copper. immediately the whole The People. was turned of a beautiful green not to be distinguished in appearance from that of Scheele's Green.

10. Dr. Joseph White repeated the experiments with the plates of copper; but with no other result than what was obtained in my experiments with oxyde of tin, &c. No. 4. He repeated the experiments of Dr. Miller, on the contents of the stomach; but we are not informed in what kind of water he dissolved them. He also looked for an orange coloured precipitate, which is not the characteristic one. He himself places no reliance on this experiment, and in that he is correct.

11. Dr. James Hadley, Professor of Chemistry, at Fairfield. His testimony is only approbatory of the experiments and opinions of Doctors Miller, Delaus, and Joseph White; and must partake of the same fate.

General Remarks.

Some of the results obtained in the experiments of the physicians, are such as arsenic will afford, but not exclusively; nor can any reliance be placed on any one, or all of them, unsupported by others more decisive. I have shown that the same, or some very similar to them, proceed from other and innocent substances. At the same time the unerring signs of arsenic were not at all, nor were the most proper means taken to procure them.

The only thing to be relied on, in the opinion of the best chemists, is the exhibition of the metal itself in its inetalic lustre and state. This thing is by no means difficult to perform, and I show it every winter to my VOL. III.

8

V.

Kesler.

1817.

The People

V.

Kesler.

SCHOHARIE class, together with all the other experiments on arsenic in comparative approximation. In the metallic state the arsenic is clear and unequivocal, and it could have seldom been placed more easily beyond all possible doubt, than in the present case; because it appears there was enough of the white matter found in the stomach, for every necessary trial. Indeed, the weight of a single grain is sufficient, and I usually employ this quantity only, in order to show my students with how little it can be effected. A given quantity of the white powders have been mixed with three times its weight of black flux, and carefully put into a tube of thin glass eight or nine inches long, a quarter of an inch wide, and coated at its lower end, which should be hermetrically closed for one or two inches. The upper end should be loosely stopped and the coated end placed upright in a chaffing dish of red hot coals. In a little time, if there be arsenic in the tube, it rises with its metallic lustre, and adheres to the sides of the tube. The tube should be broken as soon as cool, and the reduced metal laid on a hot iron; a dense smoke then arises, and a smell of garlic is perceived. The arsenic might next be farther identified by putting a small quantity between two polished plates of copper, surrounded by powdered charcoal, and exposing them to a low red heat. If the included substance be arsenic, a white stain will be left on the copper. In this way every part supports another, and there is no possible ambiguity. But as those experiments, which are alone certain, were omitted, and no experiment performed with unexceptionable accuracy, I must give it as my opinion, confining it however to the scientific part alone of the testimony, that the indictment, for poisoning with arsenic, is not substantia

1817.

ted by the evidence of the witnesses. All which is re- SCHOHARIE spectfully submitted.

WM. JAS. MACNEVEN.

New-York, Sept. 26th, 1817.

Mr. Bay, from the committee on courts of justice, to whom was referred the message of his excellency the Governor, with the accompanying documents, in the case of Abraham Kesler, convicted of the murder of Catharine Kesler, his wife, at a Court of Oyer and Terminer, held in and for the county of Schoharie, on the 12th and 13th days of September last, report:

That they have entered upon the examination of this case with deliberation and care, which its nature demands, and with a full sense of the responsibility which their duty imposes upon them. They forbear to go into a full detail of the testimony, and in a short view which they are about to take of the subject, will consider the facts as familiar to all.

The first and most important question in this case is, did the deceased come to her death by the effect of poison?

In answer to this question, the committee must refer to the testimony of the respectable physicians who were present at the opening of the body of the deceased. A strong opinion is there expressed by them of the presence of arsenic in the stomach at the time of the dissection.

On the correctness of that opinion, a shade of doubt has been thrown by the letter of Dr. William James M'Neven, professor of chemistry in the University of this state, to his excellency the Governor. Of the merits of this letter, or of the opinions which it attacks, we

1817.

V.

Kesler.

SCHOHARIE readily confess ourselves incompetent judges; we therefore addressed a letter to doctors Beck, Bay, Low and The People Stearns, of the city of Albany, requesting that they would lend their attention to the facts contained in the documents accompanying the message, with a view of giving your committee their opinion upon the scientific part of the testimony. The following questions were proposed, to which they afterwards returned the answer annexed to them respectively.

Quest. 1. (By the Committee.) From the testimony it appears that the deceased and the prisoner came to the house of Peter Best, and had a glass of " sling" between 3 and 9 o'clock in the evening, and the deceased was taken with puking about 10 o'clock that night; would arsenic taken in the sling have produced that effect so soon?

Ans. by Drs. Stearns, Low, Bay and Beck in the affirmative.

Quest. 2. Was the quickness of its operation owing to the large quantity taken?

Ans. by the same. It probably was.

Quest. 3. Will not that depend upon the state of the stomach as to the quantity of food it contained?

Ans. by the same. A full stomach would probably retard the operation, and an empty one accelerate it.

Quest. 4. If the dose administered was arsenic, and that does a large one, how do you account for the convalescence of the deceased on Wednesday?

Ans. by the same. If arsenic in a large dose was administered to the deceased, her partial convalescence may be readily accounted for on the supposition that the previous vomiting and purging may have discharged the principal part of the poison: the opium given by the