MARY KELLY, examined by Mr. BODKIN--I was a patient in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, and saw Agnes Sennet take the pills, which were intended for another patient. I saw her take two pills only. After taking the pills she went and sat down by the fire, and in about three-quarters of an hour she was taken ill. She fell back on the floor, and a nurse and I lifted her into bed. The nurse cut her clothes off, and she never moved after she was put upon the bed; she was just like a poker. She never spoke after she fell.
CAROLINE HICKSON, examined by Mr. JAMES--In October, 1848, I was nurse and lady’s maid in the family of Mrs. Serjeantson Smith, at Romsey, in Hampshire. On the 30th of that month Mrs. Smith was unwell, and some medicine was sent to her in the afternoon, about six o’clock, by a Mr. Jones, a druggist in Romsey. Shortly after seven o’clock next morning I saw her take about half a wineglass of the medicine. About five or ten minutes afterwards I was summoned to her bedroom, and on entering I saw her leaning upon a chair, and I thought she had fainted. She appeared to suffer from what I thought spasms. I went out and sent for Mr. Taylor, surgeon, and on returning to the bedroom I found some of the other servants assisting to support Mrs. Smith. She was then lying on the floor and screaming very much, very loudly, but did not open her teeth. She asked me to have her legs pulled straight, and I found them drawn up very much. She still screamed as if in great agony, and requested some water to be thrown over her, which I did. Her feet were turned inwards. I put a hot-water bottle to them, but this had no effect. Shortly before she died she said she felt easier, and her last words were, “Turn me over.” I did so. A few minutes after this she died. She was conscious, and knew me during the whole time. From the time she took the medicine until she died would be about an hour and a quarter.
Cross-examined by Mr. GROVE--From the time I first saw her in the spasms she could not sit up at all. It was a continuous, recurring fit, and lasted about an hour. She only seemed easy for a very short time before her death. Her teeth were clenched during the whole time.
Mr. FRANCIS TAYLOR, examined by Mr. WELSBY--I am a surgeon at Romsey. I was summoned one morning to the house of Mrs. Serjeantson Smith. I arrived between eight and nine o’clock, shortly after she died. I saw the body then. The hands were clenched; the feet were contracted, turned inwards; and the soles of the feet were hollowed up. This appeared to have been from recent spasmodic action. The limbs were remarkably stiff. The body was still warm. The eyelids were totally adherent, almost to the eyeballs. I made a post-mortem examination three days after death. The contraction of the feet continued, but it was gone off somewhat from the rest of the body. No trace of disease was found. The heart was contracted and perfectly empty, and the blood was fluid. I analysed the medicine Mrs. Smith had taken. It originally contained nine grains of strychnia, and Mrs. Smith had taken one-third. As the truth was so apparent, only a very general examination of the stomach and bowels was made, but still sufficient to find traces of strychnia.