Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant Shee: It was three quarters of an hour from the time she took the pills till she was taken to the bed.
Caroline Hickson, examined by Mr. E. James: In October, 1848, I was nurse and lady’s maid in the family of Mr. Sarjantson Smyth. The family were then residing about two miles from Romsey. On the 30th of October Mrs. Smyth was unwell. We dealt with Mr. Jones, a druggist in Romsey. A prescription had been sent to him to be made up for Mrs Smyth. The medicine was brought back about six o’clock in the afternoon. It was a mixture in a bottle. My mistress took about half a wineglass of it the following morning, at five or ten minutes past seven o’clock. I left the room when I had given it her. Five or ten minutes afterwards I was alarmed by the ringing of her bell. I went into her room, and found her out of bed leaning upon a chair, in her night-dress. I thought she had fainted. She appeared to suffer from what I thought were spasms. I ran and sent the coachman for Mr. Taylor, the surgeon, and returned to her. Some of the other servants were there assisting her. She was lying on the floor. She screamed loudly, and her teeth were clinched. She asked to have her arms and legs held straight. I took hold of her arms and legs, which were very much drawn up. She still screamed, and was in great agony. She requested that water should be thrown over her, and I threw some. Her feet were turned inwards. I put a bottle of hot water to her feet, but that did not relax them. Shortly before she died she said she felt easier. The last words she uttered were—“Turn me over.” We did turn her over on the floor. She died a very few minutes after she had spoken those words. She died very quietly. She was quite conscious, and knew me during the whole time. About an hour and a quarter elapsed from the time I gave her the medicine till she died.
Cross-examined by Mr. Grove: She could not sit up from the time I went up to her till she died. It was when she was in a paroxysm that I endeavoured to straighten her limbs. The effect of cold water was to throw her into a paroxysm. It was a continually recurring attack, lasting about an hour or an hour and a quarter. Her teeth were clinched during the whole time.
Re-examined by the Attorney-General: The fit came on five or ten minutes after I gave her the medicine. She was stiff all the time till within a few minutes after death. She was conscious all the while.
Mr. Francis Taylor, examined by Mr. Welsby: I am a surgeon and apothecary at Romsey. I attended Mrs. Sarjantson Smyth in 1848. I was summoned to her house one morning soon after eight, and when I arrived I found her dead. The body was on the floor, near the bed. The hands were very much bent. The feet were contracted, and turned inwards. The soles of the feet were hollowed up, and the toes contracted, apparently from recent spasmodic action. The inner edge of each foot was turned up. There was a remarkable rigidity about the limbs.
By Lord Campbell: The body was warm.
Examination continued: The eyelids were almost adherent to the eyeballs. The druggist who made up the prescription was named Jones. I made a post-mortem examination three days after the death. The contraction of the feet continued, but it had gone off somewhat from the rest of the body. I found no trace of disease in the body. The heart was contracted and perfectly empty, as were all the large arteries leading from it. I analysed the medicine she had taken with another medical man. It contained a large quantity of strychnine. It originally contained nine grains, and she had taken one-third—three grains. I made a very casual examination of the stomach and bowels, as we had plenty of proof that poison had been taken without making use of tests.
Cross-examined by Mr. Serjeant Shee: In cases of death from ordinary causes the body is much distorted. It does not generally, I should think, remain in the same position after death.
If the body is not laid out immediately, is it not stiffened by the rigor mortis?—Probably it is. The ancles were tied by a bandage to keep them together. I commenced to open the body at the thorax and abdomen. The head was also opened.
Charles Blocksome, examined by Mr. Huddleston: I was apprentice to Mr. Jones, the chymist, at Romsey, in 1848. My master made a mistake in preparing a prescription for Mrs. Smyth. The mistake was the substitution of strychnine for salacite (bark of willow). He destroyed himself afterwards.