A complete report of the trial of Miss Madeline Smith : for the alleged poisoning of Pierre Emile L'Angelier / Revised and corrected, with an introductory chapter, by John Morison ... With a correct portrait taken in the court.

Madeleine Smith

Date:: 1857

Credit: A complete report of the trial of Miss Madeline Smith : for the alleged poisoning of Pierre Emile L'Angelier / Revised and corrected, with an introductory chapter, by John Morison ... With a correct portrait taken in the court. 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.

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$slight extent at the lesser curvature, was then seen to be deeply injected with blood, pre- senting an appearance of dark red mottling, its substance being easily torn by scratcli- ing with the finger nail. The other organs of tlie abdomen were not examined. Tlie appearance of the mucous membrane, taken in connection with the history as related to us by witnesses, being such as, in our opinion, justified a suspicion of death having resulted from poison, we considered it proper to preserve the stomach and its contents in a sealed bottle for further investigation by chemical analysis, sliould such be de- termined on. We, hoAvever, do not imply that, in our opinion, death may not have resulted from natural causes; as, for example, severe internal congestion, tiie effect of exposure to cold after much bodily fiitigue, which we understand the deceased to have undergone. Before closing this Report, which we make at the request of the Pro- curator-Fiscal for the county of Lanark, we beg to state that, having liad no lefjal authority for making the post mortem examination above detailed, we restricted our examination to the organs in wliich we thought we were likely to find something to ac- count for the death. Given under our hands at Glasgow, the 2Sth day of March 1857, on soul and conscience. (Signed) Hugh Thomson,M.I). ; James Stevens, M.D. I afterwards received instructions from tlie Prociirator-Fiscal in regard to the stomach; I was summoned to attend at his office beforS I wrote tliat report; that was on the 27th March. The contents of the stomach, and the stomach itself, sealed up in a bottle, were handed to Dr Penny on the 27th; they were in my custody till then. On the 31st I received instruc- tions from the Procurator-Fiscal to attend at the Ramshorn Church, by order of the Sheriff, to make an inspection of L'Ano-elier's body. Dr Steven, Dr Gorbett, and Dr Penny were there. The coffin was in a vaidt, and Avas ojjened in our presence, and the body taken out. I recognised it as L'Angelier's body. It presented much the same appearance generally as when we left it; it was particularly well preserved, considering the time that had elapsed. On that occasion we removed other parts of the body for analysis. We drew up a report of that examination. He then, read the report as follows :— Glasgow^ Zd April 1857.—By virtue of a warrant from the Sheriff of Lanark- shire, we, the undersigned, proceeded to the post mortem examination of the body of Bierre Emile L'Angelier, within the vault of the llamshorn Church, on the 31st of i\Iarcii ult., in presence of two friends of tlie deceased. The body being re- moved from the cofhn, two of our number, Drs Thomson and Steven, who examined the body on the 24th ult., remarked that the features had lost tlieir former pinched appearance, and that the general surfiice of the skin, instead of the tawny or dingy hue observed by them on that occasion, had become rather florid. Drs Thomson and Steven likewise remarked that, witii the exception of the upper surface of the liver, whicii had assumed a purplish colour, all the internal parts were little changed in appearance; and we all agreed that the evidences of putrefaction were nnidi less marked than tliey usually are at such a date—the ninth day after death, and the fifth after burial. The duodenum, along with the upper part of the small in- testine, after both ends of the gut had been secured by ligatures, was removed and placed in a clean jar. A portiun of the large intestine, consisting of a part of the de- scending colon and sygmoid flexure, along with a j)ortion of the rectum, after using the like precaution of placing ligatures on both ends of the bowel, was removed, and ])laeed in the same jar with the duodenum and portion of small intestine. A ])ortioM (if the liver, being about a sixth part of that organ, was cut olf and placed in another clean jar. Wo then proceeded to open the head in the n.<ual manner, and observed nolhing calling for remark beyond a greater degree uf vascularity of the membranes ot the brain thiai ordinary. A portion of the brain was removed and placed in a Iburtli clean vessel. AVe then adjourned to Dr Benny's rooms, in the Audersonian Institution, taking with us the vessels containing the parts of the viscera before nuMilioned. The duodenum aud portion of small intestine were found to measure, together, 3G inches iu length. Their contents, poured into a clean glass measure, were found to amount to four fluid <iunces, and consisted of a turbid, sanguinolent lluid, having susiiended in it nnich llocculentnuilter, which settled towardsthebottom,whil,-ta few nniens-likenias.^eslliialed on the surface. The nuieous mendiranc of this part of the bowels was tiieu examined. Its colour was decidedly retUler than natural, and this redness was more nnn'keil over .several patches, portions of which, when carefully examined, were found to bo corroded.$