Argument of A.G. Riddle, Esq., of Cleveland, delivered at the court house in Jefferson, Ohio, on the 26th and 27th of November, 1858, in the case of the state of Ohio vs. Hiram Cole, 1859, tried for poisoning his wife on the 9th of Sept., 1857, at Bainbridge, Ohio / Reported by Eli Bruce.
- Bruce, Eli.
- Date:
- 1859
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Argument of A.G. Riddle, Esq., of Cleveland, delivered at the court house in Jefferson, Ohio, on the 26th and 27th of November, 1858, in the case of the state of Ohio vs. Hiram Cole, 1859, tried for poisoning his wife on the 9th of Sept., 1857, at Bainbridge, Ohio / Reported by Eli Bruce. 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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![7 fact that we now know, that ho comniumcated that illness to his mistress as a response to her letter,-and ® nearly simultaneous illness of every other member of that family- save the defendaut-with the same symptoms Remember further, that on the evening of the 8th defendant found that his wife had arranged to go with Mrs. Rg- gleston to the uncle’s, that although he pretends to b^ve an en- gagement at Cleveland, very early the next mornmg ; and a ho he was then habitually and grossly unfaithful to her ; ami altho lie would take upon himself ten miles additional travel, and naz- ard the fulfillment of his next morning’s engagement; he volun- teered to carry his wife to Baiubridge, and for no apparent rea- son whatever. You will remember also his strange remark at tea—that hU wife was going to get rid of taking her medmme. His stranore conversation on his arrival at the uncle s, about his horse medicine—about his wife’s medicine—and that he came up to see that she took it. , i a.v • You must also remember that the wife could not make the mis- take as claimed,—that she knew the^ quality of the horse medi- cine—that she had warned others of it—that although the al appearance of the two were alike, there was a striking dmer- ence that the first casual glance would detect—that she took the medicine from the bureau, in a strong light—in the peseuce and under the eye of her husband and another witness, who must each have made the same mistake, repeated again when she took it from her satchel; and yet again, and more incredible still, when she finally prepared and swallowed it. , ^ , Especially in this connection will you remember, that when her husb^d was awakened as he says by her spasms, he leaped frightened to the floor—lit a candle, and while doing so, he saw the white gleam of the arsenic from the bottom of the yial. That she did not make the mistake you know, tor Alice Eggle- ston positively swears, that she saw her take her medicine from t])iir03(U Thus when you recall the means and opportunity for Cole to have made the exchange, or to substitute a third bottle ; or in- fuse something—anything into that mysterious sulphur, aud also recollect his strange and otherwise causeless visit the next tore- noon for a moment to his room at Eggleston’s, and that t e in- mates heard the sound as of the closing of a drawer ; an you must suppose in the absence of contra proof that he then rep ace her bloodroot medicine. Wheu you recall all these m connec- tion, you must believe that if Adelia Cole took that horse me i- cine it was solely by the procurement of the defendant. . , , You also know that the deceased did not die of a dose ot that horse medicine. 1st, because she did not take enough pf ^ cause she entirely recovered from everything, but the mcidenta illness. And 2d, because she had not a single symptom due to](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28268088_0068.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
