The Notting Hill Mystery

by Charles Felix

  SEASONABLE WEATHER!--The thermometer has, for the last four days, neverbeen lower than eighty degrees in the shade. We wonder what our friendsin England would say to singing their Ch... rols in such a....

  The remainder is torn off, but the missing syllables are clearlyCh_ristmas Ca_rols, and this shows clearly that the paper must havebeen published after the departure of the James Baines on the 28thNovember. Richard Brown must therefore have come home either in theLightning or the Emma, the earliest of which reached Liverpool on theevening of the 24th March. The 25th of March therefore is the earliestdate from which our examination need commence.

  2. From Mrs. Troubridge, mother of the young woman to whom RichardBrown was married during his stay in England, I learned that the youngcouple sailed for Sydney in the Maria Somes. Mrs. Brown was unable togive me the date of this vessel's departure, but a search through thefile of the Times for April, 1856, shows that she left Gravesend on the23rd of that month. The period to be analysed is therefore confined tothe interval between the 25th March and the 25th April, 1856.

  3. During this period, as we learn from Mrs. Brown's statement, RichardBrown was at home every day except Saturdays and Sundays. These wererespectively, 29th and 30th of March, and 5th, 6th, 12th, 13th, 19th,and 20th of April.

  4. Dr. Marsden, in his evidence, states most distinctly that he did notsee Madame R** until at least "one clear day" had elapsed after herattack. Dr. Marsden's visits take place on the Monday and Friday ofeach week. Madame R**'s seizure therefore did not occur on a Sunday.This reduces the days on which it may have happened to the 29th Marchand 5th, 12th, and 19th April.

  5. From Mrs. Troubridge's evidence we learn that Mrs. Brown and thewhole party slept at Gravesend on the Saturday night previous to thesailing of the Maria Somes. Mrs. Brown was therefore absent from townon the 19th April. The issue is thus narrowed to the 29th March and the5th and 12th April.

  6. From Mrs. Brown's statement we learn that on the Saturday and Sundaypreceding the wedding her son's friend Aldridge slept at the house. Thewedding took place on the 14th April. On the 12th April, therefore,Mrs. Brown was not alone. The only days, therefore, on which theoccurrence, as described, could have taken place are the 29th March and5th April.

  At this point I feared for some time that my clue was at an end.This would, however, have been most unsatisfactory, as the possibleerror of a week in point of date would have seriously detracted fromthe trustworthiness of the entire case. The only possible chance ofdetermining the point seemed to lie in ascertaining the precise dateof the servant's dismissal, and it at length occurred to me that thismight be accomplished by means of the police records of the courtbefore which she was carried. From them I found--

  7. That the offence for which she was discharged was committed onSunday, the 30th of April. On the 29th, therefore, she was still inMrs. Brown's house. The only day, therefore, on which Madame R**'sfirst seizure could have taken place as stated during Richard Brown'sstay in England, and on a night when Mrs. Brown was alone in the house,was the 5th of April.

  The importance of this date, thus fixed, you will, I think, at onceperceive.

  [Footnote 1: 1856, R. H.]

  [Footnote 2: Clearly so. The Baron was in Dublin on 25th Feb.--R. H.]

  [Footnote 3: This portion of Mrs. Brown's evidence affects moreparticularly the part of the case to be hereafter referred to in Partvii.; but I have thought it best to preserve it intact.--R. H.]

  [Footnote 4: Comp. journal of Mrs. Anderton, 25th May and 10th June._Vide_ Section III. 3.]

  [Footnote 5: These extracts will, of course, be chiefly interesting tothe medical profession, and may be passed over by the general reader.Some details are necessarily excluded. The notes, also, relating to thetreatment adopted by Dr. Marsden, not materially affecting the questionat issue, which is concerned only with the symptoms of disorder,are omitted as irrelevant, and therefore confusing. _Vide_ note tostatement of Dr. Watson, Section III., 2.]

  [Footnote 6: 7th June.--R. H.]

  SECTION VI.

  1.--_Memorandum by Mr. Henderson._

  We have now arrived at a point in this extraordinary case at whichI must again direct your attention to the will of the late Mr.Boleton. By this will 25,000_l_. was, as we have seen, bequeathedto Miss Boleton (afterwards Mrs. Anderton), with a life interest,after her death, to her husband. At his decease, and failing childrenby his marriage with Miss Boleton, the money passed to the secondsister, whom, as I have before said, we may, I think, be justified inidentifying with the late Madame R**. It seems, at all events, clear,both from the circumstances attending the marriage of the Baron, andfrom the observation made by him at Bognor to Dr. Marsden relative tothe pecuniary loss he would have sustained by the death of his wife,that the Baron himself believed and was prepared to maintain thisrelationship, and that the various policies of assurance effected onthe life of Madame R**--to the gross amount of 25,000_l_., the exactsum in question,--were intended to cover any risk of her death beforethat of her sister. This is all that we need at present require. Whatimport should be attached to the degree of mystery with which the wholeaffair both of the marriage and of the assurance seems to have beenso carefully surrounded will, of course, be matter for considerationwhen reviewing the whole circumstances of the case. It is enough forour present purpose that the Baron clearly looked upon his wife as thesister of Mrs. Anderton, and calculated upon participation, throughher, in the legacy of Mr. Boleton. The lives of Mr. and Mrs. Andertonthus alone intervened between this legacy and the Baron's family, andwe have thus established, on his part, a direct interest in theirdecease.

  On the death of Mrs. Anderton, under the circumstances detailed in anearlier portion of the case, the life of her husband only now stoodin the way of Baron R**'s succession, and it is important to bearthis in mind in considering, as we are now about to do, the variouscircumstances attendant on the death of that gentleman.

  The chain of evidence on which hangs, as I have so often said, the solehypothesis by which I can account for the mysterious occurrences thatform the subject of our inquiry, is not only of a purely circumstantialcharacter, but also of a nature at once so delicate and so complicatedthat the failure of a single link would render the remainder altogetherworthless. Unless the case can be made to stand out clearly, stepby step, in all its details, from the commencement to the end, itsisolated portions become at once a mere chaos of coincidences, singularindeed in many respects, but not necessarily involving any considerableelement of suspicion. It is for this reason that I have, as beforestated, endeavoured to lay before you in a distinct and separate formeach particular portion of the subject. Hitherto our attention has beenentirely occupied with the death of Mrs. Anderton, and with variousattendant circumstances, the bearing of which upon that occurrencewill be more clearly shown hereafter. We have now to consider the verysingular circumstances attending the lapse of the second life--thatof Mr. Anderton--intervening, as we have seen, between Mr. Boleton'slegacy and Madame R**.

  For the purpose of this inquiry, I propose adducing pretty much thesame evidence as that given at the inquests held on the bodies of Mrs.and Mr. Anderton. The final result of the former of these inquestswas, as you are aware, a verdict of "Died from natural causes," thoughthe case was at first adjourned for a fortnight in order to admit of amore searching examination of the body, during which time Mr. Andertonremained in custody in his own house. In the latter case the jury,after some hesitation, returned a verdict of "Temporary insanity,brought on by extreme distress of mind at the death of his wife,and suspicions respecting it which subsequently proved to have beenunfounded." Our present concern, however, being with the conduct of theBaron rather than with that of Mr. Anderton, I have omitted portionsnot directly bearing upon this part in the matter, and have endeavouredto procure such additions to the evidence of Doctor Dodsworth andothers as might serve to further elucidate the subject of our inquiry.

  I now therefore lay before you this portion of the case with especialrefere
nce to its bearing upon the proceedings of Baron R**.

  2.--_Doctor Dodsworth's Statement._

  I was in attendance on the late Mrs. Anderton during the illness whichterminated fatally on the 12th October, 1856. I was first sent forby Mr. Anderton, on the night of the 5th of April[1] in that year.I found her suffering apparently from a slight attack of Englishcholera, but was unable to ascertain any cause to which it might beattributed. There was nothing to lead to any suspicion of poisoning,indeed this seemed to be rendered almost impossible by the length oftime that had elapsed since the last time of taking food and that atwhich the attack commenced. This was at least three or four hours;whereas, had the symptoms arisen from the action of any poisonoussubstance, they would have shown themselves much earlier. This is onlymy impression from after consideration. No idea of poison occurredto me at the time, nor should I now entertain any were I called into a similar case. I prescribed the usual remedies for the complaintunder which I supposed Mrs. Anderton to be suffering. They appeared tohave their effect, though not so rapidly as I should have expected.The symptoms appeared rather to wear themselves out. I visited herseveral times, as the debility which ensued seemed greater than, underordinary circumstances, should have followed on such an attack. Abouta fortnight later she had a fresh seizure, of a very similar kind.This time, however, the symptoms were aggravated, and accompanied byothers of a more alarming character. Of these the most conspicuouswere nausea, vomiting, violent perspiration, and increasing tendencyto diarrhoea. The patient also complained of great sinking of theheart, and of a terrible lowness of spirits, almost amounting to aconviction that death was at hand. In the course of another fortnightor three weeks there was a fresh recurrence of the symptoms. Thetongue, which in the former attacks had been clammy and dry, was nowcovered thickly with dirty mucus, and there was a greatly increasedflow of saliva. The condition of the tongue became greatly aggravatedas the disease progressed, the mouth and throat becoming ultimatelyvery sore, with great constriction of the latter. The abdomen wasdistended, and very tender to the touch, the liver also being veryfull and tender. Pulse low and rapid, decreasing in fulness as thedisease progressed, and reaching finally to 130 or 140; and thedepression of spirits and sinking at the heart considerably increased.The patient appeared to be daily losing strength, and at each attack,which seemed to return periodically at intervals of about a fortnight,the same symptoms appeared more severely than before. Mr. Andertonseemed to be in the deepest distress. From the time when the symptomsfirst became serious, he hardly ever left her side, administeringboth food and medicine with his own hand. So far as I am aware, Mrs.Anderton took nothing of any kind from any other person throughout thegreater portion of her illness. I have heard her say this herself, inhis presence, shortly before her death. For the last few weeks shetook scarcely any nourishment, and could with difficulty swallow hermedicine. The principal cause of this difficulty lay in the extremenausea which followed any attempt to swallow, but it was greatlyincreased by the painful and constricted state of the throat, whichwas extremely rough and raw, and rendered swallowing very painful. Asthe disease progressed the vomited matter became strongly colouredwith bile, and was of a strong yellow colour. The opression on theheart also increased, until at length respiration was almost impeded.The heart and pulses also gradually lost power, and latterly the lowerportion of the body was almost paralysed, the limbs being stiff, andthe whole frame, from the waist downward, very heavy and cold. Thepatient also suffered from severe cold perspirations, as well as fromheat and irritation of the upper portion of the body, and from entireinability to sleep. A very remarkable feature in the case was, thatnotwithstanding this general sleeplessness, each fresh attack of themalady was preceded by a sound slumber of some hours duration, fromwhich she appeared to be aroused by the return of the more activesymptoms of the disorder. I tried all the usual remedies indicated bysuch symptoms, but without any permanent effect, and I was a good dealperplexed by the anomalous appearance of the case, and especially byits intermittent character, the symptoms recurring, as I have said,with increased severity, at regular intervals of about a fortnight. Imentioned my difficulty to Mr. Anderton, and asked if he would wishfurther advice. At his urgent request I consented, though with somehesitation, to meet Baron R**, who holds, as I was given to understand,a regular diploma from several of the foreign Universities, but whosepractice has been of a somewhat irregular character. I first consultedwith him on the 12th July.[2]

  [Dr. Dodsworth here details at some length how he became convinced ofthe Baron's great skill and knowledge of chemistry, and was finallypersuaded to meet him in consultation.]

  After examination of the patient, however, and some conversation as tothe nature of the symptoms and of the remedies employed, I had somedifficulty in drawing from him (the Baron) any expression of opinion.He appeared, however, to agree entirely in the course hitherto pursued,and after some further conversation we separated. The consultation tookplace in Mrs. Anderton's dressing-room, and in passing by the wash-handstand on his way out, the Baron suddenly took up a small bottle whichwas standing there, and turning sharply upon me, asked "if I hadtried that?" On taking it from his hand, I found that it containedtincture of tannin, a preparation much used for the teeth. I wassomewhat startled by the suddenness of the question, and replied in thenegative, on which the subject dropped. On my way home, however, I wasagain struck by the peculiarity of the Baron's manner in putting thequestion; and on thinking the matter over, the idea suddenly flashedacross me that tannic acid was the antidote to antimony, and that thesymptoms of poisoning by tartarised antimony, to which attention hadjust been drawn by Professor Taylor, in the case of the Rugely murder,closely resembled in many respects those under which Mrs. Andertonwas then suffering. At the first moment this supposition seemed toaccount for all the mysterious part of the case; but on reflection thedifficulty returned, for it seemed impossible that the poison couldhave been administered by any one but Mr. Anderton himself, and Ifelt it still more impossible to suspect him of such an act, in faceof the evident and extreme affection existing between them. On maturereflection, however, I determined on trying, at all events for a time,the course suggested by the Baron, and accordingly exhibited largedoses of Peruvian bark, together with other medicines of the same kind.My suspicions were at first increased by the improvement apparentlyeffected by these remedies, and I took occasion to ask Mr. Anderton,in a casual way, in presence of the nurse and one of the servants,whether he had any emetic tartar or antimonial wine in the house.The manner of his reply entirely removed from my mind any idea thateither of those present at least had any knowledge of such an attemptas seemed implied by the Baron, and on seeing that gentleman a day ortwo after, I questioned him as to the true bearing of his suggestion.He disclaimed, however, any such meaning as I had been disposed toattribute to his words, stating, in a general way, that he had beforeknown great benefit to accrue from the exhibition of such medicines insimilar cases, and expressing a hope that they might be successful inthe present instance. Something, however, in his manner, and especiallythe great stress laid upon careful watching of the patient's diet whileunder this course of treatment, led me still to fancy that he was notso entirely without doubt as he wished me to believe; but that, on thecontrary, his suspicions pointed towards Mr. Anderton, his friendshipfor whom made him desirous of concealing them. This opinion wasconfirmed by the recollection of another apparent instance of suspicionon the part of the Baron, to which, a few days previously, however, Ihad not at the time attached any importance. I accordingly continuedthe bark treatment, determining, should any fresh attack occur, to takemeasures for investigating the matter; for which purpose I gave privateorders to the nurse, on whom I knew that I could thoroughly depend, toallow nothing to be removed from the room until I had myself seen thepatient. The beneficial effects of the bark continued for about ten ortwelve days, at the end of which period I was sent for hurriedly in themiddle of the night, the disease having returned with greater violence
than at any previous attack. Having done what was in my power toalleviate the immediate pressure of the symptoms, I took an opportunityof privately securing portions of the vomited and other matters, whichI immediately had submitted to a searching chemical analysis. Notrace, however, of antimony, arsenic, or any similar poison, could bedetected, and as the tannic acid appeared now to have lost its remedialpower, I came finally to the conclusion that its apparent efficacyhad been due to some other unknown cause, and that the suspicions ofthe Baron were altogether without foundation. I continued the formertreatment, varied from time to time as experience suggested, butwithout being able to arrest the progress of the disease, which I aminclined to think must have been constitutional in its character, andprobably hereditary, as I learned from Mr. Anderton that the patient'smother had also died of some internal disease, the exact symptoms ofwhich, however, he was unable to call to mind. Towards the close of thecase the patient was almost constantly delirious from debility, and theimmediate cause of death was entire prostration and exhaustion of thesystem. I wished Mr. Anderton to allow a _post mortem_ examination,with a view to discovering the true nature of the disorder, but heseemed so extremely sensitive on the subject, and was in such a stateof nervous depression, that I forbore to press the point. The Baronalso seemed to discourage him from such an idea. Subsequently anorder came for an inquest, and I then assisted at the analysis whichfollowed, and which was performed by Mr. Prendergast. We found notraces of antimony in any part of the body or its contents. The reportof Mr. Prendergast, in which I fully concurred, will show the resultof the analysis. Looking at that, and at all the circumstances of thecase, I was, and still am, convinced that Mr. Anderton was perfectlyinnocent of the crime imputed.