Rugeley on the critical Monday evening—the evening when Newton stated that, about nine o'clock, he had freely presented Dr Palmer with three grains of stryclininc. Allspice would have been ready to swear that the train reached Stafford at 8.45; that the Doctor engaged him at The Junction Hotel for the drive to Rugeley; that, on arrival there, at ten minutes past ten, Dr Palmer had gone straight to The Talbot Arms, where Jeremiah Smith was anxiously awaiting him; and had then, after a brief visit to the hotel, returned, paid the fare, and walked away with Smith in the direction of The Yard. Had this been proved, the Crown must needs have abandoned the charge that Dr Palmer was given the strychnia at nine o'clock; took it to his surgery, made it up into pills and, at about half-past ten, administered diesc to Cook in place of Dr Barn-ford's prescription.
Two letters on this point are extant, written by Dr Palmer from Newgate Gaol, where he was being kept during the trial, to Jeremiah Smith. We copy them here verbatim:
Dear Jere,
No man in the world ever committed a grosser case of Perjury than that vile wretch Newton—he positively swore last Friday 16 May, that he let me have 3 grs. of Strychnine the Monday before Cook's death and that I went to Mr Salt's surgery for it, and got it from him at 9 o'clock.
It is a base lie, for I left London on that very night at 5 o'clock by Express and arrived at Stafford at 10 minutes to 9, brought a Fly from the Junction and arrived at Rugeley at Masters' door about 10 o'clock.
Now, as there is a God in Heaven (I am sure you can't have forgotten it) you know that you were waiting for my coming and when I got out of the Fly you told me that my Mother wanted to see me particularly, and after bidding Cook good-night we walked together down to The Yard and got a good brushing from the Old Lady about a writ of Brown's that Arminshaw had sent for; that Arminshaw told to George, and George to my Mother—and if you recollect she was very cross.
We then walked back to my house and you said: 'Well, let me have a glass of spirit.' I went to the cupboard and there was none— you said: 'Never mind,' and bid me good-night. This must have been after n o'clock—now I should like to know how I could get to Mr Salt's shop at 9 o'clock on that night? You can also prove this truth, that Cook dined with me (and you) at my house on the Friday before his death and that we had a quantity of wine. Cook then went with you and had a glass of Brandy and Water—and that he was then the worse for liquor. You can further prove that Cook handed me some money on this day, for he told you so in my presence when he gave you the ?10. He told you at the same time I had won over ?1000 on his mare at Shrewsbury, and lastly you can prove that he and I betted for each other, that we owned 'Pyrrhine jointly, and that we had had bill transactions together. These are solemn truths and I am fully persuaded that they cannot have escaped your memory.
Therefore let it be your most bounden duty to come forward and place yourself in the witness-box and on your oath speak these great truths. Then rest assured you will lie down on a downy pillow and get to sleep happy.
Bear in mind I only want the truth. I ask for no more.
Yours faithfully,
Wm Palmer
P.S. Newton no doubt calculated upon my coming by the luggage train, but this had been discontinued more than a month—thus my reason for going to Stafford.
Dear Jere,
Do, for God's sake, tell the Truth—if you will only consider I am sure you will recollect meeting me at Masters' steps that night, Monday the 19th of Nov. I returned from London and you told me my Mother wanted to see me. I replied: 'Have you seen Cook? And how is he?' You said: 'No.' I then said: 'Let us go upstairs and see him.' We did do so. When upstairs Cook said: 'Doctor, you are late! Mr Bamford has sent me two pills which I have taken.' And he said to you: 'Damn you, Jere, how is it you have never been to see me?' You replied that you had been busy all the day settling Mr Ingram's affairs and we then wished him good-night and went to my Mother's.
Yours ever faithfully,
Wm Palmer
Jeremiah Smith did, indeed, vouch for these facts under oath when called by the Defence.
The Crown lawyers played much the same trick with Allspice as with Cockayne and Saunders, though they did not subpoena him. They merely arranged for his temporary dismissal from The Junction Hotel, and his employment by Mr Bergen of the Rural Constabulary in a remote situation. Serjeant Shee dared not accuse the Attorney-General of sharp practice in spiriting away his witnesses, because to do so and thus, by inference, reproach the Lord Chief Justice of condoning a felonious act, would have ruined him professionally. Shee was aiming at a judgeship, and had perforce to swallow his discomfiture. As it was, the Lord Chief Justice rebuked him pretty sharply for a delay of ten minutes in producing another of his witnesses and, we may be certain, would not have waited until Saunders, Cockayne, and Allspice had been routed out and, despite all the efforts made by the Stafford Constabulary to detain them, brought up to London from the Midlands.
Now, if anyone asks us: 'Do you really believe that Mr Stevens, a retired merchant of modest fortune, was powerful enough to force diese extraordinary and disgraceful tactics on Messrs Chubb, Dean & Chubb, the Crown lawyers?', we shall unhesitatingly answer 'No, Sir!' But to the next question: 'Whom, then, do you suspect?', we shall reply with all possible circumspection, as follows: 'The jurymen were warned before the trial began that, if any of them happened to be shareholders of certain powerful insurance companies, they must retire as interested parties. But what of the Crown lawyers? Has anyone dared inquire into their impartiality? If Dr Palmer had been found innocent of poisoning Cook (as the Stafford Grand Jury found him innocent of poisoning his brother Walter), would not the companies have been liable in consequence to pay the Doctor the thirteen thousand pounds of Walter's life insurance? And what of the Stafford Police? Are none of them venal?'
We will, however, say no more, for fear of libel, but simply invite our questioner to decide whether it is impossible that representatives of the insurance companies privately acquainted Messrs Chubb, Dean & Chubb, and Captain Hatton, with their strong interest in the prisoner's condemnation.
It is perhaps a not very remarkable circumstance that the Judges, the Lord Mayor, the Sheriffs, the Aldermen and (we are told) the jury, the majority of them, were united in a fond love of the Turf. We believe that most loyal Turfites would feel a hundred times less aggrieved with a man who garotted a fellow-criminal, an unwanted child, or an ailing relative, dian with one who poisoned racehorses—as Dr Palmer was suspected of doing. The Doctor's reputation at Tattcrsall's was bad enough to condemn him for any crime charged against him: from petty larceny to High Treason; and if Serjeant Shee had pleaded that his client bought the strychnia from Messrs Hawkins for the purpose of poisoning one of the Earl of M's, or the Duke of D' swiftest and noblest horses, such a plea would necessarily have been construed as an invitation: 'Pray, hang this villain!' Be that as it may, a tacit agreement was reached over the nightly turtle-soup and pineapples consumed at the Guildhall during the trial, that no person of honour could dare support Dr Palmer, even in the name of abstract justice; for surely a man capable of doctoring a gallant thoroughbred would not hesitate an instant before murdering a score of plebeian bipeds? To poison foxhounds was an equally grave crime; and this explains why Serjeant Shee respected the feelings of all good fox- hunters in Court by referring to 'the dogs' in his cross-examination of George Bate, as though diey were not foxhounds, and therefore sacrosanct, but common and savage mongrels!
Alderman Sidney was hardly to be envied: as the sole Rugeley man present in that distinguished gathering, and one whose father had opposed the Lord Chief Justice, then Mr John Campbell, when he stood for Parliament as member for Stafford in 1830. Being suspected of partisanship, the Alderman must needs dissociate himself absolutely from Dr Palmer—the son of his former patron, old Joseph Palmer, the sawyer—as the vilest of vile men, wholly untypical of Rugeley; and whimper more excitedly on his trail than the Attorney-General himself. This prejudice against the prisoner supplied seats in Court, by order of Lord Campbell, to all the medical witnesses whom the Crown called; whereas those called for the Defence, however highly they might rank professionally, must stand meekly in the crowded aisles, day after day, during the eight or nine hours of the hearing!
Here we may mention that the book bought by Hawkins at Dr Palmer's sale, and produced at the trial, was a work entitled
It came as a general surprise that two further witnesses for the Defence were missing: namely Eliza Tharm, who could have sworn that Dr Palmer did not make up the pills on that Monday evening in the surgery between 9
