Читать книгу The Most Extraordinary Trial of William Palmer, for the Rugeley Poisonings, which lasted Twelve Days - Anonymous - Страница 4

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William Palmer is a member of a wealthy family, and is thirty-one years of age. He was educated for the medical profession, was a pupil at St. Bartholemew’s Hospital, London, received the diploma of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1846, and shortly afterwards settled at Rugeley, his native place. He seems, however, to have paid more attention to the “turf,” and what are commonly called sporting pursuits, than to his profession, and to have confined his practice to his own family and friends.

His name appears in the “London and Provincial Medical Directory” of 1851, and again in 1855, as that of one of the persons who had neglected to inform the editor of that work of the nature of their qualifications. He married, in 1847, Anne, the natural daughter of Col. William Brookes and Mary Thornton, his housekeeper. Col. Brookes, who, after quitting the East India service, took up his residence at Stafford, died in 1834, leaving considerable property, and more than one natural child.

To Anne Thornton he bequeathed, by a will dated July 27, 1833, nine houses at Stafford, besides land, and the interest of 20,000 sicca rupees, for herself and her children, and appointed Dr. Edward Knight, a physician of Stafford, and Mr. Dawson, her guardians and trustees. To Mary Thornton, the mother of Anne, the colonel bequeathed certain property, which was to pass to her daughter at the decease of the mother. Mary Thornton departed this life—it is said, while a guest at Mr. Palmer’s house,—in 1848 or 1849.

Now, although the will of Colonel Brookes would seem clear enough to anyone who was ignorant of law, and although, in the present state of the law, as we are informed, it would be sufficient, yet it was discovered by the legal fraternity, some years since, that the language conveying the bequest to Anne Thornton was not sufficiently forcible to convey it to her absolutely, but only to give her a life interest in it, insomuch as, at her decease, it was liable to be claimed by the heir-at-law to Colonel Brookes.

Under these circumstances, there was nothing unnatural or unusual in the idea that Palmer should insure his wife’s life, in order to protect himself from the inevitable loss which must ensue in case of her decease; and since her property consisted of seventeen acres of land, valued at between £300 and £400 per acre, besides nine houses, and the interest of the sicca rupees—probably altogether worth at least £400 per annum, upon which he had borrowed largely from his mother—there could be no doubt of his having such an interest in his wife’s life as would justify insurance.

Accordingly, in January, 1854, he insured her life for £3,000 in the Norwich Union, and in March in the Sun for £5,000; there was also an insurance in the Scottish Equitable for £5,000. Mrs. Palmer died on September 29, 1854, leaving only one surviving child, a boy of seven years; and, as if to justify the husband in effecting an insurance, an action was brought within a month by Colonel Brookes’s heir-at-law, to obtain possession of Mrs. Palmer’s property.

Palmer brought up the life policies on the Sun and Norwich Union on the 16th of October, 1854, and employed Mr. Pratt, the solicitor, to obtain the money from the offices. Mr. Pratt, who seems to have acted with entire bona fides, and the caution usual among lawyers, required to be furnished with evidence of the husband’s pecuniary interest in his wife’s life, took counsel’s opinion on every step, and obtained the £8,000 from the offices on the 6th of February, 1855; strangely enough, the £5,000 from the Scottish Equitable was paid through a banker unknown to Pratt.

Great excitement prevailed in reference to the trial, and large bodies of persons who could have no possible chance of admission crowded the avenues of the court. Day after day notices have appeared in the papers, that only those who had obtained tickets of admission from the Sheriffs would be admitted; and the under-sheriffs very wisely adhered to that determination. In consequence of their very excellent arrangements, the Court was at no time inconveniently crowded. At ten o’clock the judges appointed to try the case entered the Court, and took their seats on the bench. They were Lord Campbell, the Lord Chief Justice of the Queen’s Bench, Mr. Baron Alderson, and Mr. Justice Cresswell.