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470 THE LEADER. CSatorD aT ,
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Scottish Ceiminal Trials. Narratives Fro...
" Whether justly or not > the laird ' s jealousy was roused , and he refused topermit his brother to be any longer a sojourner in his house . He was overheard reproachine- his wife and using an expression not very explicit , ' that she and the lieutenant were a * common as the bell that rings on Sabbath / The account he gave of the matter to a friend was , ' that he had forbid his brother , the captain , the house , on account of suspicions ; and he said that his wife was too much taken up in doing things for his brother , the captain , and not for himself ;? and that , at the same time ° he mentioned some differences he had with his brother concerning nioney matters / The wife expressed fierce indignation at the dismissal of the brother-inlaw , but it might have been called up as readily by the scandalous suspicions which it excited as by the loss of her paramour . Some of the witnesses said she openly threatened that her husband should have a dose , and her mother-in-law—a very aged woman—said she believed Catherine would stick at nothing , and warned the husband of his danger .
"In this state of matters , one morning , after having had some tea , the laird was suddenly seized with spasms and other evil symptoms , which accumulated until he was released from his agony by death , in a few hours . He exclaimed about sensations of burning and thirst—drank much water , and vomited painfully . He ' complained of a burning at his heart , as he called it ; and complained bitterly of pains in the brauns of his legs , and said they would rend ; and desired the witness to bind them up for him , which the witness ( Anne Clark ) accordingly did . That
there was a severe heaving at his breast and strong caw , and he cried , to keep open the windows to give him breath . That he was constantly in motion , moving his head , his legs , and his arms . That she observed in the afternoon he did not speak plain , which she supposed was owing to his tongue having swelled—but she did not see his tongue . That about an hour , or an hour and a half before his death , he had an intermission of the vomiting ; but that , at length , he was again attacked with a most severe press of vomiting , after which he fell back upon the witness , who was sitting behind him in the bed supporting him , and expired /
" That he had been poisoned by his wife , was a conclusion immediately adopted by those connexions who were not her friends . That we may judge in a general way how far the evidence was conclusive , let us follow the circumstances attested by the witnesses from the beginning . " James Carnegie , a surgeon in Brechin , remembered to have received an invitation from Lieutenant Ogelvie , with whom he was acquainted , to meet him at a tavern . This was on some day near the end of May—it was on the 23 rd of May that the lieutenant was forbidden his brother ' s house , and on the 6 th of June that the death took place . The surgeon found Ogelvie engaged with two friends—Lieutenant Campbell of his own regiment , and Mr . Dickson . He took the surgeon aside , ' and told him that he was troubled with gripes , and wanted to buy some laudanum from him , and at the same time told him he wanted to buy some arsenic ,
in order to destroy some dogs which spoiled the game / The surgeon was not sure if he could supply the articles wanted—he would seejwhen he returned to his surgery . When he did so , ' he found he had some of both , and put up a small phial-glass of laudanum , and betwixt half an ounce and an ounce of arsenic , both which he delivered next day to the lieutenant , after the witness had dined with him and Lieutenant Campbell next day in Smith ' s , That Lieutenant Ogelvie took him into another room away from Lieutenant Campbell , when he was to receive the laudanum and the arsenic , and then the witness delivered them to him . That the price of both was a shilling . That the arsenic was pulverised , and Lieutenant Ogelvie having asked how to prepare it , the witness gave him directions . He had sold of the same arsenic formerly to people for poisoning of rate , and heard that it
had the desired effect . He has been accustomed , when he sold arsenic , to take receipts from low people who bought it , but never from gentlemen ; and as the witness knew Lieutenant Ogelvie , and had a good opinion of him , he did not ask a receipt from him , although , when the lieutenant spoke about it first , the witness said to him , ' We used to take a receipt for arsenic ; ' that the lieutenant answered , ' See first if you have it , ' adding at the same time , ' very good / It might be inferred from this , that he hinted to the lieutenant his desire to possess an acknowledgment for the arsenic , but did not press his request on a gentleman and an further examination is curioussince it
acquaintance . The report of this surgeon ' s , shows how extremely uncertain and empirical any decision on the use of poison must have been at that time . He said he ' got his arsenic from a druggist in Dundee-but how long ago he cannot say , there being a small demand for arsenic at any time / When the surgeon was cross-questioned by Mr . Crosby—the prototvpe of Scott ' s Pleydell-he said he wrapt the arsenic up m the form of a pennyworth of snuff , but 'he cannot take upon him to say irom looking at arsenic , whether it be arsenic or not—nor can he say from the taste for he never toted it - but that he bought this as arsenic—hud the name marked upon it , upon the package—and heard from those he eold it to that it had killed rats / Lieutenant
" One of the chief circumstances bearing against Ogelvie , was Ins uneasiness about this purchase . It is pretty well known that , in Scotland , the most powerful instrument for detecting crime is the declaration of the accused , solemnly recorded before a magistrate , immediately after hin apprehension , and retained that at the trial it may bo compared with the evidence of the witnesses , and the ' whole history of the transactions as they are one by one developed . The declaration of a guilty man is almost sure to betray him by palpable inconsistencies ; and knowing offenders doom it their wisest policy to close their lips—a policy accompanied by the minor inconvenience of substituting a general suspicion for specific evidonce of guilt . But it is sometimes supposed that the inferences from the declaration and the evidence , as compared together , are too strictly interpreted ,
and that the accused is held as concealing or denying the circumstances ot the crime , when ho is only keeping out of view unfortunate appearances which ho fears may bo against him . A believer in Lieutenant Ogelvio ' s innocence would put such an interpretation on his statement , in his declaration , ' that within these two weeks ho was at the town of Brccliili , and in company with James Carnegie , surgeon of that place , but that he received from him no laudanum , or any other medicine whatever . ' No allusion is made to the arsenic . When Ogolvio wus apprehended , a certain Patrick Dickson was employed by him to go to the surgeon , ' and talk to
him that ho might not bo imposed on by anybody / Ho * wont and conversed with Mr . Carnegie , who informed him that ho hud sold the prisoner bouio laudanum and some arwenic , for both which ho received a shilling ; and the witness returned to Forfar , and communicated to tho pririoncr wlmt Mr . Carnegie had suid —upon which tho prisoner scorned to be under some concern , and scorned desirous to speak with Mr . Carnegie , without cither confessing or denying that ho had bought tho arsenic , for ho had only acknowledged buying tho laudanum on the Saturday before / And now ho was anxious to have an alteration made on hie
declaration ; but this could not be ^—he mighti make additions , but for what recorded litera scrijptq , manet . ' , Was " Such being the state of the case as to the purchase of the poison , let us how its destination and use are supposed to be traced . •"'¦¦ ¦ " A certain Andrew Stewart , a village tradesman , had casually mentioned t the lieutenant' that he had occasion to . visit Eastmiln on the following day . H ° stated that ' before he went off , / Lieutenant Ogelvie delivered to the wifoesg ^" ® phial-glass , containing something liquid , which he said was laudanum ; and also small paper packet , which he " said contained salts ; and that the morning of th * day preceding , the witness saw the lieutenant working among some salts—at least which appeared to the witness to be salts—Which were in a chest belonging to th ' lieutenant . That the phial-glass was round , and knows that there was anothe
phial-glass in his own house , which was square . That he is positive , as he has already deposed , that one phial-glas $ was delivered to him by the lieutenant and cannot say with certainty that two might not have been delivered to him by the lieutenant , but rather thinks he got only one ; and that , at the time when the above particulars were delivered to him , the lieutenant desired him to deliver them privately into Mrs . Ogelvie ' s own hand . That he did riot see the packet made un nor did he open it to see what it contained . That in the foresaid packet there was a letter directed for Mrs . Ogelvie , of Eastmiln , which letter was sealed both tvith wax and a wafer ; and that round the packet there was a loose paper of directions in what manner the laudanum was to be used . That when he-came to Eastmiln , on the Wednesday afternoon , he was carried into a room where old
Lady Eastmiln * was ; . that , within a short time thereafter , Mrs . Ogelvie , the prisoner , and Miss Clark , came into the room . That , at the desire of Mrs . Ogelvie , he followed her into the Easter room , where Mrs . Ogelvie having asked him if he ' had brought any word to her from the lieutenant , he delivered to her the several particulars above mentioned , which the witness saw her immediately put into a drawer in the room . That he did not see her read the letter at that time , but that she put the whole together into the drawer . That soon thereafter Miss Clark asked the witness what he had brought with him from the lieutenant to Mrs . Ogelvie , or ' if he had brought anything with him ? He at first said he had
brought nothing , but upon Miss Clark ' s pressing him with great-- ' earnestness , he at last informed her of the particulars he had brought . That , upon this , Miss Clark said that she was afraid Mrs . Ogelvie might poison her husband . That thereafter Miss Clark , in presence of the witness and the old lady , desired Eastmilh not to take anything out of his wife ' s hand except at the table ; to whiclv he answered that he would not . That the old lady joined with Miss . Clark in desiring Eastmiln to take nothing out of his wife ' s hand , but that the witness was at that time very much displeased with both , as ^ he then had no suspicion that Mrs . Ogelvie had any design against the life of her husband /
" The Miss Clark , whose suspicions were awakened , is the same of whom some account is already given . One of the strange mysteries of the case is , that this woman appears to have made up her mind , even before the arrival of Stewart and his package , that Mrs . Ogelvie was determined to poison her husband . She vented her suspicions to Stewart and to the old lady , and according to her own account , she set off to consult the parish : clergyman in the emergency , but did not succeed in finding him . Having now seen the evidence that the poison reached Eastmiln , let us see what light is thrown on the method in which it was used . ? ' On the day when the package had arrived , there had been high words between Eastmiln and his wife , and their Bubject was an extremely awkward one . She was occupied in making cambric ' ruffles for the lieutenant . She let it he understood that the material had been lef t behind by the dismissed brother-inlaw ; but a chapman or pedlar had just been dunning the laird himself for payment of an account for it , and thus it appeared that Catherine was incurring debts in her husband ' s name to decorate her paramour . The laird went forth sulky , spent the day with his tenants on the other side of the hill , and , returning in the evening in no better humour , went to bed without supping . " Next morning , breakfast was ready ' between eight and nine—a little sooner than ordinary / This was to accommodate Mr . Stewart , who stayed all night , and desired to depart early in the day . Mr . Stewart saw Catherine Ifairn pour out a bowl of tea , and walk from the room with it , saying that she was to give it to her husband , who was in bed- As sho went up stairs with the bowl , a servant had occasion to follow her . According to the evidence as reported , ' she followed her mistress up-stairs , wanting some beef out of the beef-stand , ana saw her go into a closet adjoining her master ' s room . That the witness followed her into tho closet , demanding tho beef ; but that her mistress bade hor go down stairs , as sho was not ready yet—and sho was always wanting something ; anc that Mrs . Ogolvie appeared to bo in a passion at her . That her master was as that time in bed , and that when tho witness was in the closet , sho saw Jaw . Ogelvie stirring about the tea , with hor faco to tho door ; but that sho did no see her mistress , when in tho closet , put anything into tho tea / # Soon af terwards , the rest of tho family sitting at breakfast , Mrs . Ogelvio mauo tho remark that the laird and Elizabeth Sturrock was well oft ; having got « w first of the tea . Anno Clark states that sho was startled and alarmed "J " announcement , and sho appears to have expected what followed . Ehsabietlio rock stated that Catherine Nairn camo to her , and saying tho laird had got breakfast * desired that she would say sho had got breakfast too , though sue not . Tho laird had gone out to tho stablo , and ho was seen immediately a wards , by Stewart , approaching tho house under palpable symptoms ot in agony . His wife wns tho first who announced at the breakfast-tablo -tm laird wns very ill . According to Anno Clark , sho flpoko with levity , ana , ^ t » hor weeping , said , ' Are you daft P' Then followed tho poor man s ° W . t death , as it has been already described . Ho did not , however , "apart ^^ leaving on tho evidence tho impression of what occurred to himself . A ^ brought him soino water in the sumo bowl from which ho had dmnic w but ho bade it bo curried out of sight , exclaiming , ' Damn that bowl , to ^ got my death in it already / Ho said , in tho hearing of another ^ J ^ nring . ho was poisoned—and that woman had done it / A neighbour ca uoj ^ ^ his agony , and asking him what ho boUevod to ail him , was niwworeu , goneJameswith no less than rank poison / -
, , ,,. „ ... , , , „ __ ...- „ .. ———— — ' '—— - ¦¦ ' - » - —~~~~ liiM critiitty * " It waH tho practice in Scotland to call tho laird simply by the "" " ^ -L ^ nd , ff " ' e . g . Eastmiln , and ae it was noqoasary to distinguish tho wifo from tno » ^ lantry awarded to tho former tno flattering prefix of lady , bo * ° r infttod . '' holpraato of tho ownor of a eouplo of hundred acres of bog and etono po a «« "
470 The Leader. Csatord At ,
470 THE LEADER . CSatorD aT ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 15, 1852, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15051852/page/18/
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