Upon Newton's testifying that the Doctor asked him one day to describe the effect of strychnine on a dog and say whether its presence in the stomach could afterwards be detected—though having himself, as the Prosecution showed, a precise knowledge of poisons, whereas Newton was young and ignorant—Serjeant Shee, who should have rejected this as an improbable fiction, made the mistake of accepting it in support of his case. The Prosecution had called George Bate (despite Serjeant Shee's protests against the irrelevance of the matter) to give evidence about Dr Palmer's attempted insurance of his life for twenty-five thousand pounds. With this witness in the box, Serjeant Shee now contended that the strychnia was bought at Hawkins's shop to poison certain dogs which, as Bate knew very well, had been worrying the Doctor's broodmares. However, Bate (or so Inspector Field has privately assured us) bore a grudge against Dr Palmer for having plotted his death; and though forced to admit that The Duchess of Kent had slipped her foal, pretended ignorance that the same thing had also happened to Goldfinder ten days before. He would give only artful and evasive answers to any of the questions put by Serjeant Shee, though he had been in charge of the Doctor’s stables at the time of these mischances. Here is a sample of the cross-examination:
SERJEANT SHEE. Can you give me any notion of these mares' value?
BATE. I don't pretend to tell the value of the stock.
SERJEANT SHEE. Do you know that one of them sold for eight hundred
guineas ?
BATE. I have heard so.
SERJEANT SHEE. Were any of them in foal shortly before or at the
beginning of November ?
BATE. I cannot say. I should suppose there were some in foal.
A witness who behaved in this sullen way would have been sternly rebuked by most judges and ordered to give fair and proper answers. But the Lord Chief Justice was seen to smile; and his smile widened as Bate adroitly parried Serjeant Shee's subsequent questions.
SERJEANT SHEE. Had any complaint been made about the dogs going
into the paddock?
BATE. I think I once said to Harry Cockayne: "The turf seems a good
deal cut up here; how is it?'
SERJEANT SHEE. What did you see on the turf that induced you to
make that observation ?
BATE. I saw it cut up, which I supposed to be the horses' feet, for they
couldn't cut it up without they galloped.
SERJEANT SHEE. Did you attribute that to anything ?
BATE. Why, yes, I attributed it to the mares' galloping about. [Laughter.]
SERJEANT SHEE. Had you any reason to think they had been run by dogs?
BATE. I never saw any dog run them.
This was no answer to the question, but it much amused the Lord Chief Justice. The exchange continued:
SERJEANT SHEE. Did Harry Cockayne keep a gun in the stable? BATE. I have seen one there.
SERJEANT SHEE. Did he keep a gun, which belonged to his master, for
any purpose?
BATE. I have seen a gun at the paddock.
SERJEANT SHEE. Did it belong to the master?
BATE. I cannot say.
SERJEANT SHEE. Did you ever see it used?
BATE. NO.
SERJEANT SHEE. Was it in a condition to be used?
BATE. I never had it in my hands to examine it.
In the end, Bate stood down without admitting that Dr Palmer had complained about the hounds, or threatened to poison them, or ordered Harry Cockayne to use the gun. According to Harry's belief, Bate had himself revengefully introduced hounds into the paddock; and Harry, if called, could at least have testified to the hounds and the gun. His sworn deposition concerning them, made at the inquest, lay before both the Lord Chief Justice and the Attorney-General. But though Serjeant Shee counted on cross-examining Harry, whom the Prosecution had subpoenaed as a witness, he found himself checkmated. The Crown lawyers kept Harry under their thumb, yet never put him in the witness box; and, as soon as the case for the Prosecution was over, smuggled him out of Court and away to Staffordshire, where Captain Hatton told him to fie low if he knew what was for his advantage.
Serjeant Shee lost two other important witnesses—one of them being Will Saunders, the trainer from Hednesford. When the Grand Jury held the inquest at Stafford, Saunders had deposed on oath that Cook sent for him, on the Monday afternoon, thirty-six hours before his death, gave him ten pounds on account of a £41 6s. debt, and excused himself for not paying the remainder— because of having handed Dr Palmer all his cash to settle urgent business affairs in London. This evidence, collusive though it may well have been, would have decidedly weakened the Crown's case that the Doctor had stolen Cook's money. The Crown lawyers, therefore, engaged Saunders to give evidence on their behalf, refrained from calling him, and then packed him off out of Mr Serjeant Shee's reach.
The third important witness was a man by the name of Allspice, who drove Dr Palmer in a fly from Stafford to 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.