The Queen v. Beaney : extraordinary charge of murder against a medical man, in consequence of a diseased womb being ruptured after death : with medical notes and observations / by C.E. Reeves.

  • Reeves, C. E. (Charles Evans), 1828-1880
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Queen v. Beaney : extraordinary charge of murder against a medical man, in consequence of a diseased womb being ruptured after death : with medical notes and observations / by C.E. Reeves. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    means of testing. I could not judge whether the whites were uterine or vaginal without an examination by the speculum. Savin acts as an irritant; senna, by acting on the rectum, would irritate. An overdose of savin would inj ure the womb. If a discharge was offensive it would indicate disease. I could not say how long a foetus might remain in the womb after it was dead ; it might remain for some length of time ; it is not settled how long a woman can retain a dead foetus. [This gentleman considered that an examination with the speculum was the only means by which the existence of pregnancy could be determined ; he had, he said, been prosecuted for using the speculum, and had therefore abandoned it. Mr. A spin all—Dr. Barker got up that prosecution ?—The witness only smiled seraphically down at the worthy doctor.—C. E. R.] Richard Henry Smith sworn and examined—I knew Mary Lewis. I recollect going with her to Rokeby-street on the Monday before she died, about nine o’clock. I carried her parcel. She went into a large house ; she waited ten or fifteen minutes; she then came back. We then went to Mrs. Cronan’s. I saw nothing the matter with her. I saw Mrs. Cronan and her daughter. A bottle of porter was sent for ; Mary Lewis gave me the money. She was playing with the child. Mr. Bennett sent me with a message, a watch, and a £1 note on the Thursday. Margaret Cronan had not come to the Terminus Hotel before I left. I gave Mr. Bennett back the gold watch on the Thursday evening. Cross-examined—She was always complaining. Mary Cronan sworn and examined—I am a widow. I knew Mary Lewis six months before she died. She came to my place on the Monday (the 12th March), about nine o’clock in the evening, in a car, with a black man [the last witness]. My daughter, two children, and her own child were in the house. She told me she was very ill. She had some supper, and brandy and porter. She sat up until about eleven o’clock, when she went to bed. After she had gone to bed about a quarter of an hour, she got the basin in the bed and began retching violently. There had been a bottle of porter and a bottle of brandy between us three. I saw her take the brandy two or three times. I slept with her that night. I got up at six o’clock in the morning; she got up between eight and nine o’clock. I suppose she had some breakfast. After breakfast I went to Dr. Beaney’s ; I got there at about eleven o’clock. I think she w7as up when I went. I saw Dr. Beaney, and gave him a note ; he said he did not know what it meant; I said I thought it was the number of the house. My daughter wrote the note [produced*]. He said he -would come down. I went home, and * This was her address, which she had forgotten to leave the night before.