HORSES POISONED BY ARSENIOU3 ACID. 509 
Mr. Mitchell thought, from what he had seen of one of the 
mares when at work, that she was affected in a similar 
way. Upon examining her I found the symptoms were 
exactly the same as in the other two, with this difference, 
from her having been at work, some of them were more 
aggravated. She was removed into a box by herself, and 
treated in the same way. I then left for the night, promising 
to attend early in the morning. I took the stomach to 
Mr. Image, a surgeon in this town, who kindly analysed it 
for me, and he detected large quantities of arsenic. 
From this fact being ascertained, two of the horse-keepers 
who had the charge of these horses were taken into custody. 
Three of the horses belonged to one stable, and the fourth 
came from another. 
Saturday, April 26th. — I found that the chestnut horse had 
died this morning, and the brown mare was dying fast. I 
immediately made a post-mortem examination of the chestnut 
horse, when the same appearances presented themselves as in 
the brown horse examined the day before. The brown mare 
died about 12 o’ clock. The bay mare, which was the one 
that came home from work on the Friday, was suffering 
acutely, which she continued to do until Sunday night, 
when she also died. The two men were brought before the 
county magistrates, and from the evidence then given were 
committed to take their trial at the next Ipswich assizes. 
July 28th. — The men were put upon their trial at Ipswich, 
and the witnesses for the prosecution examined, when the 
judge dismissed the case, as he said there was no evidence 
against the prisoners to prove the administration of arsenic 
by them, or of malice either. 
I may be permitted to state, that Mr. Mitchell had, a few 
days before the occurrence of the death of the horses, ordered 
home a large cask containing arsenic and soft soap, in a 
liquid form, for the purpose of dressing his sheep, but to this 
the men had no means of access fairly. 
Your’s, &c. 
We annex an account of the trial, as given in the Suffolk 
Chronicle . 
“horse poisoning at culford. 
“ William Fetch , 24, and William Mur ton, 28, were charged 
with having administered poison to four horses, which died 
therefrom, the property of their employer, Mrs. Elizabeth 
Mitchell, at Culford. 
