They Hanged My Saintly Billy (67 page)

the lord chief justice
(nodding wisely to the jury).
He
is
asked,
on

the
assumption
that
both
witnesses
are
speaking
the
truth.

sir benjamin brodie
(uncomfortably).
I
must
say,
I
thought
that
the

description
was
clearly
given.

S
erjeant shee
.
On
which
of
the
two
would
you
rely,
supposing
that

they
differed—the
chambermaid
or
the
medical
man
?

the lord chief justice
(in injured tones).
This
is
hardly
a
proper

question.

mr
baron
alderson
.
It
is
a
proper
observation
for
you
to
make,
Brother
Shee!

The
question
was,
of
course,
disallowed.
But
surely
it
had
been most
properly
put?
If
Sir
Benjamin
had
answered
that
he
relied on
Elizabeth
Mills's
untrained
observations,
then
the
jury
would have
set
the
fact
against
their
memories
of
certain
most
disingenuous
answers
given
by
thi
s
witness
when
questioned
about her
meetings
with
Messrs
Stevens
and
Gardiner.
If,
however,
Sir Benjamin
had
answered
that
he
preferred
Dr
Jones's
testimony, the
inference
would
have
been
that
Cook
died
from
natural
causes.

We
believe
that
this
ruling
by
the
Lord
Chief
Justice
did
more to
hang
Dr
Palmer
than
any
other.
Yet
it
is
an
axiom
of
the
Law, dear
to
all
Englishmen,
that
in
any
criminal
trial,
the
presiding Judge
is
'prime
counsel
for
the
prisoner'.

Serjeant
Shee
's
speech
for
the
Defence
was
eloquent
enough. He
could
show
that
Dr
Palmer
and
Cook
owned
a
racehorse
in common;
had
contracted
certain
debts
jointly;
and
trusted
each other
to
lay
money
on
horses.
The
brotherliness
of
their
relations was
suggested
by
a
letter,
produced
in
evidence,
which
Cook wrote
Dr
Palmer
from
Lutterworth,
on
January
4th, 1855.

My
dear
Sir,

I
went
up
to
London
on
Tuesday
to
back
St
Hubert
for
£50,
and my
commission
has
returned
10
s
/1
d.
I
have
therefore
booked
£
250
to
£
25
against
him,
to
gain
money.
There
is
a
small
balance of £10
due
to
you,
which
I
forgot
to
give
you
the
other
day.
Tell
Will Saunders
to
debit
me
with
it
on
account
of
your
share
in
training Pyrrhine.
I
will
also
write
asking
him
to
do
so,
and
there
will
be
a balance
due
to
him
from
me.

Yours
faithfully,

J.
Parsons
Cook

But
Serjeant
Shee
attempted
too
much.
Cheshire's
and
Pad-wick's
testimony
proved
conclusively
that
Dr
Palmer
had
forged Cook's
signature
to
a
paper
and
got
for
himself
the
money
Coo
k
won
at
Shrewsbury.
Granted,
Cook's
murder
could
have
benefited
him
neither
in
the
long
run
nor
in
the
short,
since
liabilities to
the
amount
of
twelve
thousand
pounds
were
outstanding;
yet the
evidence
of
fraud
was
plain.
A
plea
that
Dr
Palmer
had
taken advantage
of
Cook's
natural
sickness
to
rob
him
would
have been
a
safer
one.
Dr
Palmer
would,
it
is
true,
have
received
a
very severe
prison
sentence
in
consequence;
but
the
crime
of
forgery, which
he
had
admitted
on
oath,
already
made
him
liable
to
that.

Serjeant
Shee
surprised
the
Court
with
a
most
remarkable
statement.
'I
believe,'
he
said,
'that
truer
words
were
never
pronounced
than
those
uttered
by
the
prisoner
when
pleading
"Not Guilty"
to
this
charge.
I
will
prove
to
you
the
sincerity
with
which I
declare
my
personal
conviction
of
his
innocence—when
I
meet the
case
foot
by
foot.'

The
Attorney-General
replied:
'You
have
just
heard
from
my learned
friend
the
unusual
and,
I
may
add,
the
unprecedented assurance
of
his
personal
faith
in
his
client's
innocence.
When
he made
it—and
I
know
no
man
in
whom
the
spirit
of
truth
is
more keenly
alive—he
gave
expression
to
what
he
sincerely
believed. But
what
would
lie
diink
of
me
if,
imitating
his
example,
I
at
this moment
revealed
to
you
upon
my
word
and
honour,
as
he
did, what
is
my
personal
conviction
from
a
meticulous
review
of
the whole
case?'

The
Attorney-General
could
not,
it
seems,
forget
his
private conversation
with
Frank
Swindell,
who
had
accused
Dr
Palmer
of 'doctoring
him
for
death'
at
Wolverhampton
Races.

Among
the
witnesses,
other
than
medical,
called
for
the Defence
and
present
in
Court,
were
George
Myatt,
the
Rugeley saddler;
John
Sergeant,
a
racing
man;
and,
finally,
Jeremiah Smith.
Myatt
testified
that
he
had
been
at
The
Raven
Hotel
on the
night
when
Cook
complained
of
the
brandy,
and
that
nobody could
have
doctored
Cook
s
brandy
and
water
without
his
knowledge.
He
also
testified
that
a
great
many
people
fell
sick
at
the Shrewsbury
Meeting,
and
that
Dr
Palmer
himself
had
vomited violently
out
of
the
carriage
window
on
his
return
to
Rugeley by
the
six
o'clock
express.
Cook,
Dr
Palmer,
and
himself
had then
discussed
the
prevalence
of
these
symptoms
and
thought
that
the
Shrewsbury
water
supply
must
have
been
tainted.
Myatt swore
that
Cook
had
been
very
drunk,
even
before
he
took
the brandy
and
water;
and
that
Cook's
words
were
not:
'It
burns
my throat
dreadfully,'
but:
'There's
something
in
it.'