England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction; Married people -- Fiction; Mystery fiction
THE evidence of the doctors and the chemists closed the proceedings on
the first day of the Trial.
On the second day the evidence to be produced by the prosecution was
anticipated with a general feeling of curiosity and interest. The Court
was now to hear what had been seen and done by the persons officially
appointed to verify such cases of suspected crime as the case which had
occurred at Gleninch. The Procurator-Fiscal--being the person officially
appointed to direct the preliminary investigations of the law--was the
first witness called on the second day of the Trial.
Examined by the Lord Advocate, the Fiscal gave his evidence, as follows:
“On the twenty-sixth of October I received a communication from Doctor
Jerome, of Edinburgh, and from Mr. Alexander Gale, medical practitioner,
residing in the village or hamlet of Dingdovie, near Edinburgh. The
communication related to the death, under circumstances of suspicion, of
Mrs. Eustace Macallan, at her husband’s house, hard by Dingdovie, called
Gleninch. There were also forwarded to me, inclosed in the document
just mentioned, two reports. One described the results of a postmortem
examination of the deceased lady, and the other stated the discoveries
made after a chemical analysis of certain of the interior organs of her
body. The result in both instances proved to demonstration that Mrs.
Eustace Macallan had died of poisoning by arsenic.
“Under these circumstances, I set in motion a search and inquiry in
the house at Gleninch and elsewhere, simply for the purpose of throwing
light on the circumstances which had attended the lady’s death.
“No criminal charge in connection with the death was made at my office
against any person, either in the communication which I received from
the medical men or in any other form. The investigations at Gleninch and
elsewhere, beginning on the twenty-sixth of October, were not completed
until the twenty-eighth. Upon this latter date--acting on certain
discoveries which were reported to me, and on my own examination of
letters and other documents brought to my office--I made a criminal
charge against the prisoner, and obtained a warrant for his
apprehension. He was examined before the Sheriff on the twenty-ninth of
October, and was committed for trial before this Court.”
The Fiscal having made his statement, and having been cross-examined (on
technical matters only), the persons employed in his office were called
next. These men had a story of startling interest to tell. Theirs were
the fatal discoveries which had justified the Fiscal in charging my
husband with the murder of his wife. The first of the witnesses was a
sheriff’s officer. He gave his name as Isaiah Schoolcraft.
Examined by Mr. Drew--Advocate-Depute, and counsel for the Crown, with
the Lord Advocate--Isaiah Schoolcraft said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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