TRIAL OF CAPTAIN JARVEY.

Evening Post, Issue 41, 27 March 1865, Page 2

TRIAL OF CAPTAIN JARVEY.

Andrew Jarvey/ examined by -Mr. Pr6h- * dergast : lam a son of the prisoner, and 13 years of age. I have been living in G orge street for about three months past with a . lady named Miss' Little. My two brothers and sister live there also. Before we came to George street we lived in a house in Haversham in which my mother . died. After my mother died there were living in the house myself, my two brothers, my little sister, and the lady who is with us now lived there a short time up to the time we left the house. We then all went to George street. Cross examined by Mr. Smhh : I recollect the illness of my mother before she died. I was present when she was taken ill first. I do not recollect her saying anything to my father then. I went up to the room where • my mother died about half an hour previous to her death. I had seen my mother in fits before, in Tasmania. There was no difference between my mother's illness of which she died and the fits she had taken previously. In her last illne ; s she appeared to be in great pain. She was not speaking to father, but only moaning. That is just what she used to to do in fits in which 1 had seen her previously. , • . The Judge : You say you were in the room half an hour before your mother died. Did you continue in the room all that half-hour ? —Yes. . By Mr. Smith : I was in,%he kitchen before [ mother was taken ill s and was taking- particular notice of what was' done there during the time and after. I saw what my father I and mother were doing there after tea. They were sitting talking and drinking brandy and , water. The brandy came from a bottle \v hieli was taken out of the o.upboard by my sister Elizabeth Anne. That was before she put my brother to bed. She poured some brandy into glasses, and left the bottle standing on the table. I am sure that she mixed the liquor. She ponied hot water into glasses from the kettle which she took off the « fire. I was in the room until my mother .was taken ill, and I saw father take her upstairs. lie-examined by Mr. Prendergast' : I was : in the he'droom until father sent me for Mra. Lumb, and my sister was in the room also. I did not hear my mother speak at ali. The illness my mother then took was the same as she had in Tasmania. She lay on the * bed moaning as if in pain, and stiffening her fingers and feet. I did not observe that she did anything with her arms. Father went out after I went for Mrs Lumb. I carng back to the house with Mrs. Lumb, and I theri saw two glasses standing on the table downstairs, and one upstairs, in which brandy had been -J used. The glass upstairs had been used to - t give mother brandy and water to refresh her when she was in the fit. I saw my father give it her, and she drank a little. She did not speak after that, but lay quite quiet for about five minutes, and then commenced moaning and stiffening her fingers. She did not look at me while she was doing this, but lay on her back looking up at the roof. Her „ eyes were open. That was about half an hour after mother was taken upstairs. Father , and sister assisted her upstairs. Sue seemed . to have no difficulty in breathing. I did not see her gasp for breath. While in her fits in Tasmania she had no difficulty in breathing. Both father and mother finished their glass of brandy and Water, and they ! sat talking for about half an hour after that. . They had only one glass of brandy and water each, and they were about five minutes in . drinking it. A little while after that mother complained of a pain in her chest, and said " I have got my old complaint coming oa me," and then she took very ill, and father thought she was taking a fit. Father and sister bathed mother's bands for about five minutes, and then (hey lifted her upstair*. When I came back to the house with Mrs. Lumb the brandy bottle was standing on the table. Mrs. Lumb did not go into the kitchen before Bhe went upstairs. I will undertake to swear that she did not come into the - kitchen and say she wished to go upstairs. It was into the front parlour that she came. The Judge here informed Mr. Prendergast that he was opening up fresh matter whichwas not touched upon in the cress-examina- . tion. He might proceed, but he would *llow Mr. Smith to cross-examine again. Mr. Prendergast iutimated that he would -proceed no further. • ¦ By the Judge : You cay Mrs. Lumb, when she came in with you, did not go into the - kitchen, but went upstairs at once ?— Yes." Where was your father then ? — He had ' gone to town for Dr. Hardy. It being now past six o'clock, the Judge informed the Jury that as this was a capital charge they could not be allowed to 1 go to their homes, but the Sheriff had made 1 every arrangement for their comfort in the i Shamrock Hotel, where they would be accommodated until the trial was over. Medical evidence was tendered by the proecution, to show that the symptoms exhi-

* jted by the deceased were those usual in , c ises ot poisoning by strichnine, whilst the cross-examination was directed to elicit the admission that the symptoms were quite consistent witli the hypothesi of death from natural causes, such as hysteria or tetanus. It was shown that Mrs. Jarvey had been subject to fits, and had found relief from them by bleeding ; thatin one instance Oapfain Jarvey had restored her to consciousness by bleeiling her, after the medical attendants had failed to do so, and that on the evening of the deceased's death he had gone for ratdical assistance ; had left word that immediately on its arrival the deceased should be bled as before j and on his own return had severely censured the surge n who had first come for not having resorted to this remedy. Another class of evidence was adduced which lent grea'. weight to the case against the prisoner. He was proved to have purchased poison on two occasions at the shop of a chemist, for the alleged purpose of destroying rats on board his vessel. On the first occasion the poison given him was a mixture of strychnine and corrosive sublimate. This he complained did not kill the vermin, and he supposed only made them sick. He was then supplied with pure strychnine—a few evenings before the death of the wife took pace. The nwner and second steward of the Titania gave evidence to rebut the assumption that the poison had been obtained for the purpose alleged. On this point the case suggested by the prosecution was, that the steamer was clear of rats, and that no poison had b<en laid down on board within the knowledge of the pergong who must neces. sarily have been cognisant of the fact had it taken place. Perhaps the most important evidence adduced at the trial is that of Dr. Macadam, the chemical analyst, whose evidence bears upon the actual discovery of strychnine in the stomach sent to him for* examination. Dr. Macadam was under examination when the last accounts left Danedin.