A report on the trial and acquital of Mary Hunter, for the alleged murder of her husband by arsenic : with arguments in proof of her innocence, and strictures upon some parts of the medical jurisprudence of this country / by P. H. Holland, surgeon.

  • Holland, P. H. (Philip H.)
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A report on the trial and acquital of Mary Hunter, for the alleged murder of her husband by arsenic : with arguments in proof of her innocence, and strictures upon some parts of the medical jurisprudence of this country / by P. H. Holland, surgeon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    did not sell it unless the person wanting it brought a witness. She went away, but did not mention her husband. I told her she had better bring him with her. I knew her to be married. I should think this was between eleven and twelve o’clock. She came again that day, between four and five, and brought another person with her, whose name is Dunn. The person present is the same. She said she had brought Mrs. Dunn as a witness. I asked if Mrs. Dunn knew what was wanted, and she said yes ; it was all right: it was for the arsenic. [Mr. Wilkins, had created prejudice by saying, that she did not mention arsenic in Mrs. Dunn’s'presence.] The prisoner asked how I sold it, and I told her. She said ‘‘ let me have two ounces.’ ’ I sold her that quantity. It was wrapped in two papers, in one parcel. At her re- quest, I wrote on the outside “ Poison.” When I was making it up, she said, “ I suppose there is as much there as would poison a person ?” I replied, “ Yes, a dozen persons.” I cautioned her to take care of it and to keep it from children. She said she would. It was in powder. She said she would soon make use of it. She would mix it in meal balls and put it in the cupboard. I have sometimes adminis- tered medicines to her children when they have been poorly. I think I was at home from six to nine o’clock on the evening that Hunter was taken ill. No one came to me from him. Cross-examined: I never gave a different account from this to my knowledge. She did not express any intention of bringing her husband. The prisoner said “ 1 suppose there is as much there as would poison a person.” People in her rank of life are in the habit of buying arsenic from me to poison vermin. There was no concealment, and she said she would take proper care of it. On the 27th Novem- ber, from seven to nine in the evening, she came again and asked for some mustard. She seemed in great trouble, and I asked her what was the matter. She said her husband was very ill. I inquired what was the matter with him. She said she did not know; but the doctor. had ordered a mustard plaster for him. I am not positive she did not mention the doctor’s name. I never stated that she mentioned Dr. Harrison’s name to my knowledge. [At the inquest Mr. Davies stated, that she said Mr. Harrison was at- tending her husband. This is important, as it is a strong presumption against guilty knowledge of the cause of her husband’s illness, that she should have gone to the very same druggist from whom she pur- chased the poison, and voluntarily tell him that her husband was very ill, and that Mr. Harrison was attending him; such conduct was sure to excite suspicion, as in fact it did, and is not consistent with the consciousness of guilt.] Elizabeth Dunn deposed that, she had gone with prisoner to buy arsenic from Mr. Davies, and that she was quite aware, (contrary to Mr. Wilkin’s statement), that it was poison that she was purehasing. Mrs. Dunn also said, that Mary Hunter had told her on the Monday preceding her husband’s death, that she had lost the arsenic on her way home. [This account corresponds with that given by Mary Hunter herself, unknown to Mrs. Dunn, and it was not contrived between them, for when first charged with the crime, Mary Hunter said, either from fright or forgetfulness, that she had never purchased arsenic at all.] c
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