Blandy, Mary, 1720-1752 -- Trials, litigation, etc.; Trials (Murder) -- Great Britain; Trials (Poisoning) -- Great Britain
Dr. Lewis came that evening, and Miss Blandy was sent into her
chamber, under a guard, and all papers in her pocket, and all
instruments with which she might hurt herself, or any other person,
and her keys, were taken from her, that nothing might be secreted; for
it was not then publicly known that Mr. Blandy was poisoned, and they
thought themselves accountable for her forthcoming. On Monday night
the deceased mended again, and grew better and worse, unaccountably,
as long as he lived. On Tuesday morning everything growing worse, he
became excessively weak, rambled in his discourse, and grew delirious,
had cold, clammy sweats, short cough, and a deep way of fetching his
breath; and he observed upon these occasions that an ulcerous matter
issued from his fundament. In the midst of all this, whenever he
recovered his senses he said he was better, and seemed quite serene,
and told him he thought himself like a man bit by a mad dog. "I should
be glad to drink, but I can't swallow." About noon his speech faltered
more than before; he grew ghastly, was a shocking sight, and had a
very bad night. On Wednesday morning he recovered his senses a little
and said he would make his will in a few days; but soon grew delirious
again, sunk every minute, and about two in the afternoon he died.
The doctor tells you he then thought, and still thinks, that he died
of poison; that he had no symptoms while he lived, nor after he was
dead, but what are common in people who have taken white arsenic. He
then read some observations which he had made on the appearances of
his body after he was dead; that his back and the parts he lay on were
livid; the fat on the muscles of his belly was loose in texture and,
approached fluidity; the muscles of the belly were pale and flaccid;
the cawl yellower than natural; the side next the stomach and
intestines brownish; the heart variegated with purple spots; there was
no water in the pericardium; the lungs resembled bladders filled with
air, blotted with black, like ink; the liver and spleen were
discoloured, and the former looked as if it had been boiled; a stone
was found in the gall-bladder; the bile was very fluid and of a dirty
yellow colour inclining to red; the kidneys were stained with livid
spots; the stomach and bowels were inflated, and looked liked they had
been pinched, and blood stagnated in the membranes; they contained
slimy, bloody froth; their coats were thin, smooth, and flabby; the
inside of the stomach was quite smooth, and, about the orifices,
inflamed, and appeared stabbed and wounded, like the white of an eye
just brushed by the beards of barley; that there was no appearance of
any natural decay at all in him, and therefore he has no doubt of his
dying by poison; and believes that poison to have been white arsenic;
that the deceased never gave him any reason why he took the same sort
of gruel a second time, nor did he ask him. He tells you, as to the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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