JURISPRUDENCE. 
407 
Mr. f. Burns, a grocer, in Baltimore, died a horrid death in that 
city, a few days ago, in consequence of poison communicated to his system 
fro?7i a horse afflicted with glanders. During the administration of med¬ 
icine, Mr. Burns thrust into the animal’s mouth his hand, a finger of 
which had been previously cut, and the flesh laid open. 'Through this 
wound the virus was absorbed, and mortification supervened. A sur¬ 
geon was called upon to amputate the diseased member. Perceiving, 
however, that the poison had penetrated to every portion of the unfor¬ 
tunate man’s system, he declined performing the operation, and stated 
that no earthly skill could save his life. Ajter lingering in great agony, 
death closed the scene. 
In view of these facts, with reference to the ability of communica¬ 
ting this disease from the horse to man, and in view of the additional 
fact that this nefarious business is continually indulged in, I feel justi¬ 
fied in moving for the severest penalty. 
Mr. Price :—While I have been practising in this Court I have 
never known a case, presented for the first time, where the party 
charged with the offence has been punished with imprisonment. The 
first offence is generally regarded as cautionary. The evidence against 
this man is very slight, so slight, indeed, that I did not believe there was 
sufficient to convict him. He tells me that he bought the horse only 
half an hour before he was taken up, that he was going to send him to the 
skinner’s. The horse spoken of by the witness McGinness is not the 
horse for having which this prisoner has been tried ; that horse can now 
be seen working in South Fifth Avenue. 1 think, under the circum¬ 
stances, it is very hard that this man should be selected to be sent to 
the Penitentiary, and for what reason I cannot see. 
If it took the surgeon fifteen minutes to ascertain whether the 
horse had glanders or not, certainly a casual observer could not deter¬ 
mine that question in less time. Surely he could not say at a glance 
what the disease was : it may have been a cold, which would, perhaps, 
cause the horse to have a running at the nose. A violent cold has 
oftentimes the effect of producing a thick mucous running at the nose, 
sometimes yellow and sometimes green. The best evidence of a horse 
having glanders is from the sores on his legs. This horse was not in 
that state, whereby a casual observer may have noticed it. The defend¬ 
ant had only traded another horse, for which he got fifty dollars and 
this horse. He was about to send the horse to the skinner’s when it 
was seized. He did not know he was committing any crime. He states 
further—and I shall ask the officer of the Society to contradict him in 
