They Hanged My Saintly Billy (72 page)
Dr
Palmer,
while
in
the
dock,
wrote
a
facetious
note
to
his Counsel:
I
wish
there
was
two
and
a
half
grains
of
strychnia
in
old
Campbell's
acidulated
draught—solely
because
I
think
he
acts
unfairly.
The
Lord
Chief
Justice
summed
up
in
a
sense
which
left
the jury
no
choice
but
to
find
a
verdict
or
Guilty';
yet
Serjeant
Shee courageously
ventured
on
a
final
protest:
S
erjeant shee
.
The
question
which
your
Lordship
has
submitted
to the
jury
is
whether
Cook's
symptoms
were
consistent
with
death by
strychnia.
I
beg
leave
.
..
the lord chief justice
(in a tone of vexation).
That
is
not
the
question which
I
have
submitted
to
the
jury;
it
is
a
question!
I
have
told them
that
unless
they
consider
the
symptoms
consistent
with
death by
strychnia
they
ought
to
acquit
the
prisoner.
S
erjeant shee
.
It
is
my
duty
not
to
be
deterred
by
any
expression
of displeasure;
I
stand
before
a
much
higher
tribunal
than
even
your Lordships',
and
must
therefore
submit
what
I
believe
to
be
the proper
question.
I
submit
to
your
Lordships
that
the
question whether
Cook's
symptoms
are
consistent
with
death
by
strychnia is
a
wrong
question,
unless
followed
by
the
phrase:'.
.
.
and
inconsistent
with
death
from
other
and
natural
causes.'
I
submit
that
the question
should
be
whether
the
medical
evidence
has
established, beyond
all
reasonable
doubt,
that
Cook
died
by
strychnia.
It
is
my duty
to
make
this
submission,
as
it
is
your
Lordships',
if
I
am wrong,
to
overrule
it.
mr baron alderson
.
It
is
done
already.
You
did
so
in
your
speech.
the lord chief justice
(addressing the jury).
Gentlemen,
I
did
not submit
to
you
that
the
question
upon
which
alone
your
verdict should
turn
is
whether
the
symptoms
of
Cook
were
those
of strychnia.
I
said
that
this
is
a
most
material
question,
and
I
desired you
to
consider
it.
I
said:
if
you
think
that
he
died
from
natural disease—and
not
from
poisoning
by
strychnia—you
should
acquit the
prisoner.
Then
I
went
on
to
say
that
if
you
believed
that
the symptoms
were
consistent
with
death
from
strychnia,
you
should consider
the
other
evidence
given
in
the
case
to
sec
whether strychnia
had
been
administered
to
Cook
and,
if
so,
whether
it
had been
administered
by
the
prisoner
at
the
bar.
These
are
the
questions
which
I
now
again
put
to
you.
You
must
not
find
a
verdict of
'guilty'
unless
you
believe
that
strychnia
was
administered
to the
deceased
by
the
prisoner
at
the
bar;
but,
if
you
do
believe
that, it
is
your
duty
towards
God
and
man
to
find
the
prisoner
guilty.
At
the
conclusion
of
this
address
the
jury
retired
from
the Court,
at
eighteen
minutes
past
two
o'clock.
They
fil
ed
back
into their
box
at
twenty-five
minutes
to
four,
after
an
absence
of
one hour
and
seventeen
minutes.
The
prisoner,
who
had
meanwhile been
removed,
was
simultaneously
placed
in
the
dock.
A
buzz
of
excitement
which
ran
round
the
Court
on
the
reappearance
of
the
jury
was
instantly
hushed
by
the
Clerk
of
the Arraigns'
question:
'Gentlemen
of
the
Jury,
are
you
all
unanimous in
your
verdict?'
The
Foreman
replied
with
a
downright:
'We
are.'
Whereupon
the
Clerk
of
the
Arraigns
asked:
'How
say
you, gentlemen:
Do
you
find
the
prisoner
at
the
bar
guilty,
or
not guilty?'
The
Foreman
rose
and
announced
in
distinct
and
firm
tones: 'We
find
the
prisoner
guilty.'
Dr
Palmer,
who
exhibited
some
slight
pallor
and
the
least possible
shade
of
anxiety
upon
the
return
of
the
jury
to
the
box, almost
instantly
won
back
his
self-possession
and
his
demeanour of
comparative
indifference.
He
maintained
his
perfect
calm;
and when
sentence
was
being
passed,
he
looked
an
interested,
although utterly
unmoved,
spectator.
We
may
truly
say
that
during
the whole
of
this
protracted
trial
his
nerve
and
calmness
have
never for
a
moment
forsaken
him.
The
Clerk
of
the
Arraigns
then
turned
to
him
with:
'Prisoner at
the
bar,
you
stand
convicted
of
murder;
what
have
you
to
say why
the
Court
should
not
give
you
judgement
to
die
according to
the
law?'
This
question
is
of
a
formal
nature;
and
the
prisoner neither
made,
nor
was
expected
to
make,
any
answer.