Mary Hardy—a verdict of Wilful Murder
having been found by the coroner's jury
against James Waddington, her stepfather,
and Ann Waddington, her mother. The jury
came to the opinion that they poisoned the
poor girl for the sake of seven pounds due
from a burial-club. They received the money
on the day of her death.

Of the carelessness with which poison is left
open to all hands in so many houses, and of
the ignorant needles mess which exists among
the mass of the people in respect of its danger,
there are innumerable instances. At Southwark,
the other day, Joseph Nye was
apprehended on the charge of wilfully administering
poison to Ann Gadding. When taken into
custody, he at once admitted it,—saying, "Oh,
it was only done for a lark!—there were others
in the room when it was done no harm was
intended! "A few weeks ago an inquest was
held on a man named Linkon, a bird-stuffer,
of Seven Dials, who returned home a few days
before, very ill from the effects of poison.
He said shortly before he died, that he
had put poison on a piece of bread-and-
butter, to kill mice, and had eaten it
himself by mistake. He told them the poison he
had used was arsenic, "but only as much as
would cover a sixpence." It was conjectured
from this reply, that possibly he had been
very hungry at the moment, and thought so
small a portion—only enough to kill a mouse
—would not hurt him. But the top of all
these instances of incorrigible carelessness is
that of the Page family, at Stowe Bardolph,
in Norfolk, in March of last year. Some
sugar was used at breakfast, which instantly
made Mr. Page feel ill, and excited his
suspicion as to some poison having by chance got
into it. So the sugar was economically
reserved for puddings! A pudding—as if to
test it at once—was made the same day; and
the medical gentleman who attended the
family—as if to make sure of prompt assistance,
should any little unpleasantness occur—
was invited to join them a dinner. He came;
and there sat down to table with him, Mr.
and Mrs. Page, their son, Mr. Page's two
sisters, and a governess. All eat of this
excellent and thrifty pudding, together with
four servants in the kitchen. Every one of
them was taken ill, and displayed the manifest
symptoms of having been poisoned. Of
the services of the medical gentleman which
Mr. Page thought would be so handy, in case
anybody felt a little uncomfortable, they were
utterly defeated, as he had hurried home,
feeling very unwell himself, and was quite
unable to return when they sent for him.
Mr. Page and his son died in the course of the
night; the rest, our note of the occurrence
says, "were likely to recover."

Dr. A. S. Taylor tells us, in his "Medical
Jurisprudence," that in the years 1837-8,
there were no less than one hundred and
eighty-five cases of poisoning, in England, by
arsenic alone! Of these the greater number
were fatal cases of murder and suicide. We
have not seen any statistics of the last year or
two, but we certainly think the number must
have increased with us. On the continent,
there occurs, now and then, some great and
striking atrocity of poisoning—as in the case
of Madame Laffarge, and more recently of
Count Bocarmé—which from the peculiarity
of the circumstances or position of the
criminals, produces a great effect; but we
fear that with us, there is a numerical
amount which far exceeds that of any other
country.

It is clear, that the "favourite" poison with
us is arsenic. Sometimes we hear of a deadly
oil or acid being used by persons of more
education than the majority; but our common
means of destruction is certainly the rat's
poison—arsenic. Why is this chosen? Is it
because people are not aware of any other,
or that because it is used in some household
operations, it is the first that occurs? Do not
people—we will not say reflect—do they not
know, or have they no sort of conception as to
the horrible agonies, whether slow or rapid in
result, which cause death by the agency of
arsenic? We will tell them (on medical
authority) what to expect.

The immediate action of arsenic when
swallowed, is to produce, from its acrid
qualities, a violent inflammation of the internal
lining (or membrane) of the stomach and
bowels. The gullet, stomach, and bowels,
which form in reality one continuous tube
(called the alimentary canal), are lined within
by a soft, velvety membrane, which is very
plentifully supplied with blood-vessels. When,
therefore, the arsenic is introduced, it irritates
this internal coat, and, by causing an excess
of blood to flow to the parts, and great
nervous irritation, it produces inflammation.
This inflammation extends from the inner
coat of the stomach and bowels to the next,
called the muscular coat, and the result is, that
the inflammation is accompanied by the most
violent spasms of the muscular coat, which
cause the most intense agony. The
consequence of this is violent retching and vomiting;
sometimes other exhausting distresses at the
same time; and the symptoms of poisoning by
arsenic are now very similar to those of
Asiatic cholera. But the arsenic is not got rid
of by these efforts. Inflammation, no remedies
can control, proceeds, and the inner
membrane (the mucous) becomes softened, and
disappears in large patches. Familiarly speaking,
the coats of the stomach are said to be
corroded–to be eaten away–and, in reality,
inflammation destroys the continuity of the
membrane, which becomes disorganised. The
sufferer experiences faintings, intense sickness,
diarrhœa, violent spasms, sense of
pressure, a choking in the throat, and a burning
thirst, which no drinking can allay. In short,
to use the words of Dr. A. S. Taylor, the
sufferer who has taken arsenic, has pangs and
tortures as of "a fire burning within his