In the Central Criminal Court, on Wednesday, Robert Salmon was
tried on a charge of having caused the death of John Mackenzie, a mariner who resided in Ratcliffe, by giving him a quantity of Mon.. son's pills. It was alleged against the prisoner, that although he was not licensed as a medical practitioner, he had prescribed for the deceased and ordered him to take seventy-five pills in less than twentyfour hours. The evidence proved the prisoner's ignorance, and that the deceased lost his life in consequence of the quantity of pills injudiciously administered by the prisoner. For the defence, several witnesses deposed, that they were in the habit of taking vast quantities of Morison's pills, with a beneficial effect. John Poole, a stonemason in Goswell Street, said that he had taken a thousand of the pills in twenty days. Richard Grant, a tavern-keeper in Harp Lane, declared that he had once taken one hundred pills at a dose, and ninety for several days together. Jane Peacock, who lived with Grunt, told the Court that her usual dose was 112 pills at night. Another witness deposed to having been cured of a complication of dreadful disorders by taking doses of from 100 to 160 pills. George Pearson, of Ratcliffe Highway, had taken 20,000 pills (which cost him 221.), in the space of two years. Many other witnesses swore to their being in the habit of swallowing enormous quantities of this medicine. It was stated to be made up of aloes, gamboge, cream of tartar, and assabrads. The Jury found the prisoner guilty of Manslaughter ; but recommended him to mercy, on the ground of his not being the maker, but only the seller of the pills. The trial lasted more than twelve hours.
The whole of the ashes at the late fire in Burlington Arcade are undergoing a careful sifting; which has already been the means of recovering various portions of jewellery.
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