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
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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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    her at the inquest, but from that I all but convinced myself that she was not guilty, while it was very evident that, unless some one inter- fered in her behalf, she would, in all probability, be convicted. Up to this moment nothing had been done towards preparing an effective defence; her attorney could do little, not having the necessary know- ledge himself, nor the pecuniary resources whereby to procure pro- fessional assistance. I knew that by some sacrifice of time and labour, and by the exertion of influence, I could make up a good defence, and of course I could not innocently refuse; for, had I done so, and the woman been subsequently hanged, I should have felt myself to have been accessory to a legal murder. I now undertook an elaborate examination of the whole of the evi- dence, particularly that part bearing upon the nature of the fatal disease. Having got out all the facts, and arranged them in the order in which they occurred, and also the opinions given, together with the circumstan- ces on which they were founded, I made a careful comparison of them with the descriptions of cases of poisoning by arsenic and of natural dis- ease, as given by writers of the highest authority, and was thus enabled to show that though the case did, in some degree, resemble one of poisoning by arsenic, it resembled as closely, I think more closely, a not very unfrequent disease, acute gastro-interitis ; for all the symp- toms which were present, and all the morbid appearances discovered after death, as described by the medical witnesses at the inquest, might have been produced by this disease, while, though they might also have been produced by arsenic, it was remarkable that of those most characteristic of the poison, no mention whatever was made. I believed, therefore, that an error had been committed, easy and natural, but still an error; that the medical witnesses being strongly impressed with the idea that arsenic had been given, and finding many of the appear- ances which arsenic generally produces, not unnaturally arrived at the conclusion that in this case arsenic had produced them. I believe the conclusion to be erroneous, but those who best know the doubts and difficulties with which questions of this sort are surrounded, and the little opportunity which those who have not paid special attention to such subjects, have of learning the minutiae of such inquiries, will be the last to condemn, as flagrant errors, mistakes so easily committed, and so difficult to be guarded against. Having made this comparison between the points of this case and the published opinions of the highest authorities in Medical Jurispru-