Dr. Pritchard, the surgeon of Glasgow accused of poisoning his
wife and her mother, Mrs. Taylor, has been fully committed for Dr. Pritchard, the surgeon of Glasgow accused of poisoning his wife and her mother, Mrs. Taylor, has been fully committed for trial, and the case promises to be one of unusual interest. On the -one hand, it is alleged that Mrs. Pritchard and her mother both suspected foul play ; that the food and medicines administered to the former were twice tasted by a maid, who twice suffered all the symptoms of poisoning by antimony ; that antimony in some quantity has been found in the body of Mrs. Pritchard ; that Dr. Paterson, who attended Mrs. Taylor, refused to give a certificate, that Dr. Pritchard gave one himself, in which he falsified the cause -of death ; and that he denies having administered or purchased ,antimony for any purpose whatever. It is, moreover, proved that he is a person of immoral habits. On the other hand, no adequate motive has yet been suggested for the murder of the wife, who was not in the way of his intrigues, and still less for that of the mother. If she was poisoned the first murder must have been com- mitted to facilitate the second, a motive almost without a precedent in the history of crime. A great conflict, too, is expected among toxicologists as to the possibility of antimony being administered unintentionally, and a diary kept by Dr. Pritchard has been seized containing some singular entries.
Previous page
