A review of the case, the people agt. Rev. Henry Budge : indicted for the murder of his wife, Priscilla Budge, tried at the Oneida, New York, Circuit Court, in August and September, 1861 : containing an examination of the medico-legal questions involved in the case, a review of the positions taken by the medical witnesses for the defence, an extended discussion of the positions assumed by the medical witnesses for the prosecution, with cuts and tables for illustration, letters and opinions from various eminent American and foreign medical jurists, together with copious abstracts from the evidence adduced, and the judge's charge in the civil action of Henry Budge agt. Caleb Lyon for libel, tried at the Herkimer Circuit in October and November, 1961 / by John Swinburne.

  • Swinburne, John, 1820-1889.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A review of the case, the people agt. Rev. Henry Budge : indicted for the murder of his wife, Priscilla Budge, tried at the Oneida, New York, Circuit Court, in August and September, 1861 : containing an examination of the medico-legal questions involved in the case, a review of the positions taken by the medical witnesses for the defence, an extended discussion of the positions assumed by the medical witnesses for the prosecution, with cuts and tables for illustration, letters and opinions from various eminent American and foreign medical jurists, together with copious abstracts from the evidence adduced, and the judge's charge in the civil action of Henry Budge agt. Caleb Lyon for libel, tried at the Herkimer Circuit in October and November, 1961 / by John Swinburne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    Last October and November, the case was tried at Herkimer, Judge Mullen presiding. Eminent counsel were arrayed on either side. As witnesses for Mr. Budge, appeared Drs. Clark, of New York, Coventry, Hogeboom and Thomas, of Utica, Olm- stead (the family physician), of Leyden, and on the part of the defence was Prof. Porter and myself. The trial lasted about three weeks,, The fact of publishing the alleged libel was clearly proven, and not controverted. No defence to a portion of the alleged libelous publication was ever set up in the answer, or on the trial. The justification related only to the part charging murder. After three weeks of careful and patient investigation the trial was concluded by the jury rendering a verdict of one hundred dollars for the plaintiff, the damages claimed being, as I have before stated, twenty thousand dollars! Inasmuch as this slander trial contains the full defence, as well as the prosecution of the murder trial, and vice versa the slander case, I will make a synopsis from this reported testimony, as containing the whole case, of which the following is the title: Henry Budge, | ag't \ Caleb Lyon. J In this cause, the following is a brief portion of the medical testimony : Mrs. Budge, aged about 40, weight about 96 pounds—spare habit of body, but enjoying ordinary health and spirits, was found dead and cold in her bed, with her throat cut extensively; and from the circumstances attending the death, the entire absence of the physical appearances of death from cutting of carotids during life, the absence of spirts and spatters of blood, position of the body and surroundings, the moral circum- stances also of unhappy relations having existed between her and her husband for some time, induced an examination in form, and from this cursory examination, nothing was elicited, (except the testimony of the husband,) which threw any light on the subject. This examination was really a form, and nothing else. Four months after this, I, in conjunction with Prof. Porter, and several of the local physicians, made a careful dissection of the body. It had been buried in a grave of sandy loam, about four feet deep, which was as thoroughly cold as a northern winter could make it. The body was entirely cold at its burial—the ground frozen for three feet, and chilled to the freezing point, much lower, so that there could be no decomposition going on. It remained in this condition until the dissection, four months after burial, which revealed the following condition: