prisoner may also have operated to alleviate the symp- SCHOHARIE

toms.

1817.

V.

Kesler.

Quest. 5. The deceased being convalescent on Wed- The People nesday evening, on the supposition that the arsenic had been administered on Sunday evening, would death have been produced had the poison not been repeated?

Ans. by the same. It might.

Quest. 6. From the symptoms immediately preceding her death, as detailed by Catharine Best and Dr. Burton Carpenter; did the deceased, if poisoned at all, die by the effects of opium or arsenic, or under the operation of both?

Ans. by the same. We do not think ourselves justifiable in answering this question.

Quest. 7. Might not the symptoms stated in the testimony have arisen from morbid affection, without any excessive dose of either arsenic or opium?

Ans. by the same. The symptoms described by the witnesses are usually the effects of arsenic. Other diseases, however, where no poison has been taken, have produced similar symptoms.

Quest. 8. Was the substance found in the stomach of the deceased, the remains or part of any of the medicines furnished to the prisoner by Dr. Burton Carpenter?

Ans. by the same. If by the words "the substance," in this question, is meant the white particles examined by the medical witnesses, we reply that it is improbable.

Quest. 9. Would any of the medicines, thus furnished, produce the symptoms which attended the deceased during the illness that preceded her death?

Ans. by the same. They might.

Ques. 10. What is your opinion of the substance found in the stomach of the deceased, without regard to experimental tests applied by the physicians?

SCHOHARE 1817.

The People

V.

Kesler.

Ans. by the same.

We have no information before

us to warrant our giving an answer to this question.

Ques. 11. Is there sufficient evidence, satisfactorily to show that the said substance was arsenic, arising from the evidence of the physicians, taken in connection and combined with other testimony, given on the trial?

Ans. by the same. We beg leave to refer to our answer to the sixth question.

Ques. 12. Are all the tests of the presence of arsenic made manifest in the experiments of Doctor Miller and the other physicians?

Ans. by the same. If by this question is meant, whether all the tests of arsenic were used? our answer is no; the reduction of the metal, the most important test, was omitted. If by this question is meant, whether the appearances exhibited by the experiments indicated the presence of arsenic? we answer generally they did.

Ques. 13. Considering the length of time the subject had remained a corpse, before the dissection by Dr. White, is it conclusive, that the appearances of the stomach and other parts of the body, were the effects of poison, and not morbid action?

Ans. by the same. We attach no importance to the appearances found after death, in this case.

Ques. 14. Is there any other metallic or mineral substance, experimented in the same manner, that would produce the same or similar results?

Ques. 15. Is there any animal or vegetable substance, or liquid, ordinarily used as food, which, if taken into the stomach of the deceased shortly before her death, would have caused the same appearance in the stomach de

1817.

scribed by the physicians, or would have produced the SCHOHARIE same or similar results of the experiments made by them?

Ans. to question 14 and 15, by the same. In answer, we beg leave to refer to the accompanying experiments made by Dr. Low.

Experiments made at the request and in the presence of a Committee of the Legislature of the State of New-York, and of several Physicians, on the Oxydum Album Arsenici, &c.

EXPERIMENT 1st.

All the solution glasses were previously well washed in distilled water.

1st. A quantity of common pump water was poured into glass No. 1.

2d. An equal quantity of snow water into glass No. 2. And 3d. An equal quantity of distilled water into glass No. 3.

To each of these samples of water, placed on the same stand, and in the same light, a few drops of very pure nitrate of silver were added.

In No. 1. a copious white precipitate immediately occurred. In neither No. 2. or No. 3. did there occur the least perceptible precipitate. After waiting sufficient length of time, about the 10th of a grain of muriate of ammonia was added to Nos. 2. and 3.; the white precipitate instantly occurred. The object of this experiment was to show that experiments made with a view of ascertaining metallic precipitates, ought to be made with pure water: the snow water No. 2. in this instance indicated no impurity.

EXPERIMENT 2d.

1st. I took ten grains of white oxyde of arsenic and thirty of subcarbonate of pot-ash, and by means of a lamp, dissolved them in distilled water. I put a portion of this solution into a clean glass, and diluted it with a quantity of distilled water.

2d. I next took a common white onion, and bruised and macerated it in distilled water. This infusion was filtered and put in a clean glass.

To No. 1. or arsenical solution, two glass rods, one dipped in a solution of nitrate of silver, the other in aq. ammonia, were approached at the same moment, an orpiment yellow precipitate, with a slight tinge of green immediately fell, the green almost instantly disappeared. The same process was followed with No. 2. or infusion of onion; but with so slight a variation of colour (if any) that it could not be named, and no precipitate at all.

EXPERIMENT 3d.

A solution of white oxyde of arsenic was made in distilled water. 1st. A portion of this solution was put into a clean glass, and a little pure potash in solution was added to it.

The People

V.

Kesler.

SCHOHARTE

1817.

The People

V.

Kesler.

2d. A portion of the infusion of onion was put into another glass to each of these, was added. by drops, a quantity of a solution of sulphate of copper. In No. 1. a bluish green precipitate appeared. In No. 2. no obvious green color appeared, and no precipitate.

3d. A small portion of the solution of arsenatic of potash was put into a glass and diluted with distilled water; on adding a few drops of a solution of sulphate of copper, a beautiful green precipitate instantly formed, resembling what I should call Scheele's green. This experiment has been twice repeated with the same effect.

EXPERIMENT 4th.

I took eight pieces of copper, about 1 3-4 of an inch square, had them planed and burnished on one side.

No. 1. I surrounded 5 grains of oxyde of bismuth, with a circle of charcoal finely powdered and moistened with a little oil, on the polished surface of one plate, placed the polished surface of another accurately upon it, and bound them tightly together with a binding wire.

No. 2. I treated 5 grains of oxg. muriate of mercury in precisely the same manner.

No. 3. Five grains of tartrite of antimony and pot-ash were treated in the same manner.

No. 4. consisted of 5 grains of white Oxyde of arsenic, managed precisely as in the former cases. Nos. 1. 2. 3. 4. as just described, were subjected to an equal degree of heat, for the same length of time, (ten minutes.)

On examination, the pair of plates, No. 1, exhibited indeed a slight whitish spot in the centre of the plates, when the bismuth was in contact.

Nos. 2. and 3. had the copper hue in different places impaired, and in some places permanently a little whitish, surrounded by a narrow irradiant disk.

No. 4. exhibited the unequivocal silver-like alloy.

All these plates were carefully cleaned, rubbed with a little course paper, and subsequently with a little fine chalk.

I should have no hesitation in stating, that the experiments 1, 2, 3, and 4. all of which produce changes on the surface of the copper, decide the question as to the appearance of the alloy of copper and arsenic, in which there is, comparatively, a marked differference of aspect from the other three.

EXPERIMENT 5th.

1st. Oxyde of bismuth, and tartrite of antimony, and potash, were each exposed in equal quantities, on an iron heated to redness; they were all, to a certain extent, volatilized, but without any sensible aliaceous odour; a portion of each was also placed on ignited charcoal, gradually volatilized, but no odour.

2nd. An equal quantity of white oxyde of arsenic was placed on the heated iron, the white fumes rose in profusion; a slight but aliaceous odour was present. I will not be certain, however, that some small particles of carbonaceous matter might not have adhered to the iron, which gave rise to it. But on ignited charcoal the aliaceous odour was strong and pungent.

REPORTS OF CRIMINAL LAW CASES.

1817.

From Scheele's own directions for preparing the green, (vide SCHOHARIE Murray, vol. 3. page 356. 2d ed.) we are of opinion that Dr. M.Neven is inadvertently in error.

When we consider the high standing of the medical gentlemen who examined the body, in the profession of which they are, and for many years have been, distinguished members; supported as they are, on every essential point, by the gentlemen of the profession in the city of Albany, already named; we are bound to say that full reliance may be placed on the correctness of their opinion. If this testimony be not satisfactory, how are we, in any case, to convict the murderer, who produces the death of his victim by means of poison? The fatal dose is never administered in the presence of a witness. It is only by the examination of the body, after death, by scientific and practical men, that the cause of death, in those cases, is ascertained, and the perpetrator brought to punishment.

Your committee could not, however, direct the execution of the convict upon this testimony alone: their opinion has been influenced entirely by taking it in connection with the other testimony in the cause. On the 16th of November last, after a desertion of his wife, from the day of his marriage, a period of upwards of five years, Abraham Kesler appeared at the house of Eve Sprucher, the residence of the deceased, with offers of reconciliation. He seduced her from her friends and her home, under the false pretences of wishing to live with her; of having procured a residence at Rome, or in the neigh bourhood of that place, near his father's; and of having then, on the road to Rome, two waggons loaded with his effects; and on their journey towards that place, he led her a distance from the direct rout to an obscure VOL. III.

9

The People

V.

Kesler.