Full report of the trial of Thomas Hall for the murder of Captain Henry Cain : Before his honor Mr. Justice Williams, at the Supreme Court, Dunedin, January, 1887.
- Hall, Thomas, -1887?
- Date:
- MDCCCLXXXVII
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Full report of the trial of Thomas Hall for the murder of Captain Henry Cain : Before his honor Mr. Justice Williams, at the Supreme Court, Dunedin, January, 1887. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
22/90 (page 16)
![plained of the pain round his back and in his chest. When he coughed it used to make him sick. The coughing did not always make him sick, but if he took anything to drink directly after it used to make him sick. He used to suffer a good deal from thirst. I gave him champagne, and whisky [and water, and brandy and water. I used sometimes to draw the champagne. We drew it with a champagne tap. The tap had a bent nozzle, and the shank reached nearly to the bottom of the bottle. The screen projected about half a foot behind the end of the bed so as to keep off the draught. I sometimes had conversations with Hall as to how the cap- tain was. I did not think the captain was in a dangerous state, but thought he would get over it. The doctor said he was dropsical, and a waterproof sheeting was put under his legs. Captain Cain had other visitors besides Hall, and sometimes I stayed in the room and some- times I left. I was glad to get the chance of leav- ing,and I could leaveif they were intimate friends. I do not rember any conversation with the cap- tain about his dying. Captain Cain used to talk a good deal to me, and would sometimes make jokes. When the captain ceased to use whisky the stand was left in the same place, on the top of the cupboard. Sometimes there was whisky in the bottles, bat I do not remember there being any put in the bottles in the stand after the captain was taken to the large room. The captain was not so sick during the latter end of his illness as he was at the commencement of it. Re-examined by Mr Haggitt: I commenced to nurse the captain about Christmas time. I think I sat up with the captain a night before Hall sat up with him. I last drove the captain ont about the middle of December, and before that time had not sat up with him. I do not remember the captain smoking after he was moved to the dining room. Kay made the cap- tain smoke, and the captain used to get us to smoke to sweeten the room. I did not see the captain smoke in his regular way until after Christmas. I used to leave the captain at Le Cren's office, and then call for him. This was a daily matter, and I do not remember see- ing him sick at any time I was out with him. I remember seeing the captain pass Hall in the street; that was three or four months before Cain's death. Al- though not on speaking terms. Hall used to call at the house. Sometimes he would 20 in and sometimes he would not. He would generally go into the house when he called in the evening. I think Hall called me up on both nights that he stayed with the captain. The captain had not been sick when he called me. I was there the next day after the prisoner had been sitting up with the captain. Miss Gillon was there, and I re- member the captain was very sick that day— Christmas Day. I do not remember what he was taking then. I do not think he was taking cough mixture, and do not remember if he was taking any medicine. At that time he was tak- ing his whisky, and I believe he took whisky that day. I do not remember, but I might have given him some myself. I used to give him things at night—tea and biscuit. The tea did not make him sick. I used to make the tea in the kit- chen. He took the tea right to the end without being sick. I used also to give him custards and jellies. He took them to the end, and they did not make him sick that I remember. I was attending Captain Cain all day on the day before he died. Miss Gillon used to come and see him. I do not remember her giving him anything that afternoon. I think Captain Cain had some chicken the day before he died, and that he ate some of it; but I do not re- member anything specially about it. He ap- peared to me better that day, and I was sur- prised next morning when I heard he was dying. He was less sick I think on that day. I was giving him some brandy and water and his medicine at that time. When I left at 8 o'clock Kay and Mr Stubbs succeeded me. I went in about 11 o'clock, and he then appeared all right—rather better than usual. The next thing that happened was my being called at 5 o'clock in the morning. He was speechless and dying then, but he did not die for five hours. He could speak till 2 o'clock. I was with him from 5 in the morning till a few minutes before he died. His complexion was altered, and I observed the swelling had gone down from his hands and feet. He was speechless after 5 o'clock, but was breathing freely. There was no doctor present after 5 o'clock. He was then breathing heavily with a rumbling noise in his throat. His ordinary com- plexion was reddish, but it changed on the day he died. Once or twice after he was moved in- to the big room he appeared to see things, and called out that someone was coming. This was not sudden waking out of sleep. He never used to sleep much. This happened two or three times. He had an attack of severe diarrhoea after Christmas, which continued during hia ill- ness. I don't remember that he got excited at any time, nor low spirited. He continued to be fond of a joke down to the last. The cham- pagne tap produced is like the one that was used. [The tap produced had a long thin tube which would reach to the bottom of the bottle.] I used to put it about half-way down at first. and as the champagn*^ got lower the tube was pressed down. The cork had to be drawn for the last of the bottle. The champagne was generally given by whoever was in the room. The captain took two quart bottles of cham- pagne in the morning and sometimes two more bottles at night. Mr Haggitt: A very good allowance, your Honor. Mr Denniston: Yes; and yet he complained of getting sick! Witness: He used to take a little champagne always. At the time he took the four bottles a day he took no food. Just at the last he took brandy and some food again, his champagne being limited. I never saw the prisoner giving Cain champagne. The thirst continued down to the last. When I said he was better Hall once remarked to me that he thought he could never get over it. It was only for about a day that the captain took port wine. I drank port wine when I was sitting up and sometimes champagne, but very seldom. I took champagne out of a newly- opened bottle or out of a bottle which I opened](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2105650x_0022.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
