Saturday 21 Jun 1845 (p. 2, col. 8 - p. 3, col. 1) Part 2 SUSPECTED CASES OF POISONING. ----- ADJOURNED INQUEST ON MRS. GRAHAM.- VERDICT OF WILFUL MURDER. [continued] The CORONER then, addressing the jury, said-We have arrived at that stage of our inquiry where it becomes my duty to submit to you the whole of the evidence which has been taken during this inquest, with such remarks as I feel able to make for your assistance and guidance. When we consider the voluminous nature of that evidence, and the variety of circumstances which it embraces, and more especially when we contemplate the very serious object of this investigation, I need not say how much I feel the difficulty of my task and my inability to discharge it efficiently. Before I proceed to the facts, I cannot refrain from making some allusion to the bearing and conduct of some of the witnesses who have been called before us. In several instances it is clear and manifest that their oaths have been grossly violated, the truth perverted, and suppressed to an extent seldom witnessed in any Court of Justice. It is painful to witness such scenes of moral depravity, but the more so when the effect is to conceal and hide one of the most horrid crimes under heaven. The full development of the truth cannot prejudice innocent parties. Guilty ones may be affected-but that any member of the community can lend himself to screen guilt of such hideousness as this, and for such a purpose commit the offence of perjury, is an accumulation of wickedness shocking to contemplate. There are parties who are far from blameless in having stood aloof and omitted to give that information which I am satisfied might have been given in this case, and which would have cast much valuable light upon it. I still hope that those to whom these remarks refer will see the impropriety of their conduct, and make just amends to the injured laws of their country. I feel that the reluctance and want of truth on the part of witnesses has materially increased our labour and retarded and obstructed the course of justice, a result deeply to be lamented under the circumstances of this case. Gentlemen, in applying the evidence which has been read to you,-it is your province to ascertain, First-What has caused the death of Mrs. GRAHAM; Secondly-Whether that cause is the result of accident or criminal intent; and Thirdly-by whose hand committed. You are not required to find that any one is guilty of the offence. This court is one of inquiry, and not to try whether any particular individual is guilty or not guilty, but under what circumstances a fellow being has come by her death. If, however, in the course of the investigation, the evidence points out the criminal, then it is your duty to find a verdict accordingly. To enable us to reach that conclusion we must watch and scrutinize strictly the conduct of all against whom suspicion can exist, and while we are sifting for the truth we cannot help entering into matters which may appear irrelevant and immaterial, but which may ultimately prove most important, and until all the circumstances are before us we cannot judge what is useful and what is not. There is, however, one ingredient which is important, and that is, what motive influenced the guilty party-that opens a wide field, and the bearings of it are not all at once evident. The first question presenting itself for your consideration is, what has caused the death of Mrs. GRAHAM? The chief evidence on that point is that of the medical gentlemen, and it is for you to say whether you feel any doubt upon their report, coupled with the symptoms under which she is proved to have laboured. Should you be of opinion that poison has been taken by her, then it is for you to say whether it has been administered by accident or with a criminal intent, and if the latter, by whom it was administered. We have no direct evidence on this part of the case. You must therefore examine and compare the whole of the evidence and see whether it raises a fair and reasonable presumption against any one. The first witness is Miss HIND, the sister of the unfortunate deceased, and taking into account the feelings which must have been awakened, I think she has given her statement in a clear, straightforward, and dispassionate manner, and is entitled to the fullest credit. She proves her sister to have been in her usual health up to the Sunday forenoon-that on Monday morning when she went down in consequence of what she was told, she found deceased labouring under all the symptoms likely to be present in a patient suffering from an irritant poison-that no material change took place until the Tuesday forenoon, when the symptoms returned with more than former violence, an hour or so after she had partaken of a basin of sago prepared and given to her by her husband-that her illness continued until the evening, notwithstanding the medical assistance required; she then seemed easier. That on Wednesday evening the symptoms were again aggravated-she was worse, and died that evening without any material change-the symptoms remaining distinct. The evidence of MITCHELL shows that she was quite well up to bed time on Sunday night, and that her husband came home shortly afterwards. Betsy ROBINSON and MITCHELL prove that bread and milk had been prepared, as was usually the case for deceased's supper, and that it had been eaten from a basin standing on the table. We may fairly presume that this was the last meal she partook of that night, and that something which it contained caused her illness in the first instance. You recollect that her sufferings, which had greatly subsided until Tuesday forenoon, returned with two-fold aggravation shortly after the administering of sago by her husband, from which it is for you you [sic] to say whether another dose had then been administered. We next proceed to examine by whom is it to be supposed that this poison was administered. There were only four inmates-deceased, her husband, Betty ROBINSON, and MITCHELL and his son. There certainly does not appear any suspicious evidence against MITCHELL, and we are totally at a loss to conceive any motive which could induce him to take his mistress's life. As to Betty ROBINSON, there is no evidence to show that she had opportunity of mixing any thing in deceased's food, and so far as we know she had no interest in the death of Mrs. GRAHAM. We next come to John GRAHAM. It is doubtful whether he was present when Mrs. GRAHAM took her supper; but he must have been there about that time-and we have her becoming much worse after eating of the sago prepared and given by him to her. We next have him giving her his close attention, and indeed refusing to permit any one to attend her throughout the Tuesday night; and on the following Wednesday morning we find the suspicious symptoms aggravated, and the paroxysms present. If the medical evidence is to be relied on, the several changes for the worse were the result of the administration of fresh and additional doses. Had any person the same opportunity presented of administering this poison? It is difficult to conceive by whom else it could be administered (for I may here premise that there is nothing to lead us to conclude that deceased administered it herself.) This, however, would not alone justify us in imputing so fearful a crime to any one without some circumstances showing a motive or inducement-as well as others of a suspicious character. We shall now proceed to examine whether any such exist in this case. It is evident that she had been a fond, a doating, and affectionate wife, and that if those affections were misplaced and abused, she had acted with a forbearance and resignation which woman alone can feel and practise; but sad experience teaches us that woman's love is too often misplaced, and bestowed on the most undeserving. We shall first refer to his conduct. He appears to have been on the spot during the whole time of her illness, and to have been constant in his attendance upon her. This may be said to prove either that he was anxious to render his wife all the attentions and assistance she was entitled to in her affliction; or it might be to mislead the officers of justice, to prevent the detection of his guilt, and ensure more certainly the death of his victim. Miss HIND says that he did not look pleased at her when she was preparing the whey-that whenever any thing was said about giving her anything to eat or drink he said he would do it himself. You next have him boiling the sago and giving it to her, a piece of attention one would have thought rather unusual when there was her sister in readiness to do such an office. He appears also to have remained almost constantly with her, and on the Tuesday evening, when the medical gentlemen had given strict orders that a good fire should be kept on, and hot water in readiness to use in case Mrs. G. wanted it, he pointedly refused to allow any one to sit up, and sent Mrs. HIND's servant home, and so peremptory was he that it nearly led to a quarrel, and the poor distressed patient had to interpose between her brother and her husband and beg that her husband might be allowed to have his own way. Even his own mother and sister he would not allow to sit up. Again, when Mr. Hind proposed to have Dr. OLIVER sent for, he having previously cured her from a severe pain and lengthened illness, John was opposed to it, and again his wife submitted, saying,-"don't mention him again, John is not pleased." This extreme attention was likely to be bestowed by a fond and very sincerely kind husband. Was John GRAHAM that husband to her? Could such sentiments and feelings exist at a time when he was keeping under the same roof a woman of the conduct and character of Margaret RICKERBY, with whom he was carrying on an improper intercourse, and whom he allowed to heap upon his patient and nervous wife the grossest insults, in his presence, and even with his sanction? If, gentlemen, such was the state of things in that house, is it an unfair inference that his attention was to forward his diabolical design and avoid detection rather than otherwise: and was not his motive for the crime a desire to carry on his amours with this wicked woman; and is not that inference strengthened by the subsequent behaviour of these parties, and still more by the wilful and flagrant perjury which we had committed in this court? Again, gentlemen, you have to examine his conduct since the rumour got abroad that an inquest was to be taken on her body. Would it not have been more likely, more consistent with innocence for a husband on hearing of such suspicions to have stood foremost, and to have sought an investigation in to a report of so serious a nature, rather than to have shrunk from it and evinced so strong an anxiety to avoid it? For you have him betraying the most intense anxiety and fear on hearing the report; even leaving home at a late hour of the night, and going to Dr. JAMES to ascertain the report was true;-and to the officer, asking if he thought it possible that the disinterment could be dispensed with, and the investigation be limited to the examination of the medical men. Mark, too, his unaccountable expression in gaol that he knew who did administer the poison, but that he would not tell. It is for you to take all these circumstances into consideration, and say whether they do not raise a strong suspicion of John GRAHAM's guilt. I have endeavoured to lay the facts before you, and to explain the questions upon which you have to decide; and in conclusion I have only to add that the offender who commits the crime of murder, and more especially in the dastardly and fiendish form of poison, does not seek the life of his victim in haste and without deliberation, but premeditatedly, and after due calculation, so as, if possible, to effect his purpose beyond the reach of human eyes; and that it is by a multitude of circumstances, each perhaps trifling in itself, that guilt can be and is brought home. The attention you have bestowed gives me confidence in leaving the case to your disposal; and what you do, I pray it may be dictated by a conscience which will leave no remorse behind, but will, on the contrary, make you feel the proud and ennobling reflection that you have done your duty to your country, and that you are conscious of returning your verdict to the best of your judgment, without fear, favour, affection, or revenge. Before you retire, I may remark that this court is in the character of a Grand Jury. Whatever verdict you may return in this case, it does not necessarily impose upon the party accused or suspected any punishment beyond that of awaiting his trial. Before your verdict, whatever it may be, can affect any individual, the case will undergo inquiry before a higher and more competent tribunal. With these remarks I leave the case in your hands. Margaret RICKERBY was then brought before the Jury. CORONER-Now, will you answer the question I put to you before? Witness-What was it? CORONER-On what day was it that you called for the last time at the Angel?-I can't recollect whether it was on the Wednesday or the Tuesday. CORONER-Was it not the day before you went to Haltwhistle? Witness-I don't know. If I knew it would be no interest to me to keep it. CORONER (to the Jury)-I do not think we can elicit anything more from this witness. She was then liberated. The Jury having expressed a wish to retire, the constable conducted them to another room. They returned in about twenty-five minutes. The CORONER called over their names, and they were severally responded to. After which he said-Gentlemen, have you agreed to your verdict? The Foreman, Mr. MOSS, then handed to the Coroner a written verdict, which he read as follows:- "VERDICT. "We are unanimously agreed- "First-That Margaret GRAHAM died from taking arsenic. "Secondly-That such arsenic was administered by design. "Thirdly-That the person who administered it was John GRAHAM." The CORONER-The legal effect of that verdict is, that John GRAHAM has committed WILFUL MURDER UPON HIS WIFE BY ADMINISTERING POISON. The inquisition was read over by the Coroner, and signed by the Jury. Mr. SABBAGE was then bound over to prosecute and give evidence at the next Assizes. The other witnesses also entered into recognizances to appear and give evidence. The room was much crowded during the morning.