4 
THE CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST. 
May, 1880. 
working of the association, to be submitted at the next meet- 
ing to be held at Menzie’s Hotel on the 1st July next: — Messrs. 
J. P. Vincent, G. Mitchell, T. C. Dobson and W. T. Kendall. 
I mb Jftagisteml. 
BALLARAT ASSIZE COURT. 
Monday, 25th May. 
(Before His Honour Mr. Justice Stephen.) 
MANSLAUGHTER. 
Edward Mortensen, on bail, pleaded not guilty to the charge 
of having, on 9th October last, feloniously killed one Ellen 
Harrington. Mr. Finlayson, who held the brief for the 
Crown, prosecuted ; and Mr. Molesworth, instructed by Mr. 
Watson, appeared for the defence. 
Catherine Harrington, a little girl aged thirteen years, and 
daughter of the deceased, gave evidence showing that on 9th 
October last, after she came home from school, her mamma 
sent her to Mr. Mortensen’s shop between six and seven o’clock, 
and when she got there she saw the boy, and subsequently Mr. 
Mortensen. The latter asked her what she wanted, and she 
said two worm powders for an adult. Prisoner said, “All 
right,” and got a mortar, and put in it some brown stuff and 
some white stuff like sugar, and mixed them up, and, after 
putting a little more white stuff into the mortar, put the stuff 
into two pieces of paper, which he then put into an envelope 
and labelled. Witness took the powders home, and gave them 
to her mother, who was sitting in the kitchen, in the presence 
of Mr. Ewins and the other children, who were in the house. 
Witness shortly afterwards went out of the house, and returned 
in five or ten minutes. Nobody but witness herself handled 
the packet from the time the prisoner gave it to her till she 
gave it to her mother. About five or ten minutes after witness 
returned her mother “ took bad.” Her mother put her hands 
to her head, and, saying she was giddy, lay down on the sofa. 
She turned quite yellow, and in a short time was unable to 
move. Witness then went and called a neighbour, Mrs. 
Savage. Cross-examined — Her mother was never very well ; 
generally had headaches. 
Adolphus Mortensen, son of the prisoner, gave evidence 
showing that he knew of an accident in his father’s shop, 
some time in May, he thought. It was caused by an inside 
door slamming, three or four bottles being thereby knocked 
off the shelf. One bottle was broken, but he did not 
know whether the stoppers came out of other bottles. Wit- 
ness collected the contents that were spilled, and put 
them in a bottle, and wrote “santonine” on it. That 
word had been written on the broken bottle. Witness 
placed the newly-labelled bottle on the shelf. His father 
was away at the time, but returned in half an hour. Wit- 
ness did not tell his father of the accident till several days 
afterwards; then said that the slamming of the door had 
knocked down the “ santonine ” bottle, and that he had 
replaced it. After Mrs. Harrington’s death the prisoner asked 
witness whether any other bottle had been thrown down ; and 
on his replying in the affirmative, prisoner asked him to point 
out the bottles ; but so long a time had then elapsed that wit- 
ness had not a distinct recollection of the bottles in question. 
Witness did not remember if a bottle labelled “ Strychnine” 
was amongst those which fell down. Cross-examined — Did 
not know the difference between strychnine and santonine. 
There were some bottles marked “ Poison” in his father’s shop. 
These bottles were kept in a shelf behind larger bottles. Wit- 
ness fancied that the santonine was put on the same shelf as 
the bottles labelled “ Poison.” Witness replaced all the bottles 
that fell, but did not recollect whether any of them were 
marked “ Poison.” The bottle in which he placed the santo- 
nine was quite clear, and was like the bottle two inches by one 
inch produced. All the poison bottles he had seen in his 
father’s shop were sealed. 
The court here adjourned for an hour. 
On the court resuming, Thomas Ewins, miner, gave evidence 
showing that at the time of the death of Mrs. Harrington he 
was boarding with the deceased. Remembered the little girl 
bringing in the papers of powders referred to. Witness saw 
the deceased take a powder out of the paper the little girl 
brought in, and mix it in an eggcup with a knitting-pin, and 
sip a little of it, saying it was bitter. She handed the eggcup 
to witness and the two children. Witness refused to take it, 
and the deceased then offered it to the children, who tasted it. 
The deceased then drank it off. Witness went away and 
returned in about three-quarters of an hour, and the deceased was 
then dead. He gave the packet to Senior-constable Crowley. 
Edward Stubbs, a boy twelve years of age, who was living 
at the house of the deceased at the time of her death, deposed 
that the deceased gave him the mixture in question to taste, 
and it was bitter. 
A Mrs. Savage, who had been called to see the deceased, 
described the condition in which witness found her. The 
deceased was apparently in great pain, and her face was dis- 
torted. The deceased lived only for half an hour afterwards. 
She was dead before the doctor arrived. 
Ellen Gartside, Errard-street, deposed that when she went 
to the deceased’s place she saw a powder on the table ; gave it 
to Mr. Ewins. 
Senior-constable Crowley gave evidence showing that when 
he went to the deceased’s house on the night in question the 
deceased was dead. He received the packet and envelope now 
produced from Mr. Ewins. Showed the packet to Dr. Bunce, 
who took one-fourth of the powder. Witness gave the rest of 
the powder to the Government analytical chemist. At the 
post-mortem examination witness received the stomach of the 
deceased from Dr. Radcliffe, and took it to the Government 
analytical chemist. 
Dr. Radcliffe gave evidence showing that when he arrived 
at the residence of the deceased on the evening of her death 
he found the body warm. He tasted the powder given to him ; 
it was very bitter. Witness here gave a description of the 
appearance of the deceased at the time the post-mortem exami- 
nation was made, showing that all the indications denoted 
that the deceased had died from poisoning by strychnine. He 
also said that he put the stomach of the deceased into a pre- 
pared jar, and gave it to Senior-constable Crowley. His 
opinion was that death was caused through poisoning by 
strychnine. The ordinary dose of santonine for an adult was 
from 2 to 5 or 6 grains ; 8 grains should not be given in less 
than two days. After the death of the deceased the prisoner 
came to witness to consult him as to the proper quantity of 
santonine to be given for a dose. Witness referred him to the 
authorities on the subject. Prisoner said he had taken a 
drachm of santonine and mixed it with jalap, and gave it in 
two powders. Witness thought the prisoner said a drachm, 
not half a drachm. Witness said it was a large dose. Subse- 
quently to this witness saw the prisoner at his own house. 
Asked the prisoner how the occurrence could have taken place, 
and he said he had given santonine. Asked the prisoner if he 
had strychnine at the shop, and he showed witness a small 
bottle which was sealed with red sealing-wax. Asked where 
the! santonine was, and the prisoner brought from the same 
shelf a paper with santonine, and broken glass in it. Witness 
said that could not be what was in the powder shown to him. 
Prisoner accounted for the appearance of the santonine by an 
accident which had occurred in the shop when he was away. 
Half a grain of strychnine taken at once had been known to 
kill. Cross-examined — The prisoner might have said half a 
drachm of santonine ; at this distance of time witness could 
not be certain. 
Dr. Bunce, who assisted at the post-mortem examination, 
gave corroborating evidence as to the appearance of the 
deceased’s body, and went on to say that the prisoner had 
called at his place and asked to be allowed to be present at the 
post-mortem examination, and witness said it was not usual 
for a person to be present under such circumstances. The 
cause of death was obviously poisoning from strychnine. 
Cross-examined — Never used santonine. 
Wm. Johnson, Government analytical chemist, gave evidence 
as to his receiving the powder and the jar referred to. 
Examined the powder first with a microscope, and detected a 
number of crystals, and tested them chemically, and they 
proved to be strychnine. He proceeded to weigh the entire 
powder ; it weighed nearly 15 grains. Witness weighed out 
10 grains, and separated the strychnine and weighed it. The 
result was grains of strychnine. The 2£ grains not 
accounted for had the general appearance of jalap. Santonine, 
when pure, was white. The brown powder could not have 
been santonine. Next examined the stomach by Stas’s process, 
and extracted the strychnine now produced in the glass. 
Estimated roughly the weight at 2 grains. Half a grain would 
generally produce death. The twentieth part of a grain was a 
dose for an adult. Santonine was an old remedy. It was not 
considered a poison in the ordinary sense by Taylor . San- 
tonine had the appearance of strychnine. 
