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14 - Art of Cross-Examination by Francis Wellman · Art of Cross-Examination

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen of the Art of cross Examination by Francis Wellman.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter fourteen
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  Speaker 1: the cross examination of Jeremiah Smith by Sir Alexander Cockburn
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  Speaker 1: in the William Palmer case. It was the cross examination
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  Speaker 1: of a Birmingham attorney named Jeremiah Smith by Sir Alexander Cockburn,
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  Speaker 1: then Attorney General and afterward Chief Justice of England in
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  Speaker 1: the celebrated trial of William Palmer for taking the life
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  Speaker 1: of John Parsons Cook by poison, that finally turned the
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  Speaker 1: tide in this closely contested case against the prisoner and
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  Speaker 1: resulted in his conviction and execution. An observer of such
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  Speaker 1: long experience as Mister Justice Stevens said of this cross
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  Speaker 1: examination that quote it was something to be heard and seen,
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  Speaker 1: but incapable of being described. William Palmer, at the time
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  Speaker 1: of his trial, was thirty one years old. He was
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  Speaker 1: a physician by profession, but had for several years prior
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  Speaker 1: to his trial given up the active practice of medicine
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  Speaker 1: and had devoted all his time to the turf. His victim,
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  Speaker 1: John Parsons Cook, was also a young man of decent family,
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  Speaker 1: originally intended for the profession of the law, but after
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  Speaker 1: inheriting some fifteen thousand pounds, also betook himself to the turf.
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  Speaker 1: He kept race horses and betted considerably, and in the
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  Speaker 1: course of his operations, became intimate with Palmer. At the
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  Speaker 1: time of his acquaintance with Cook, Palmer had become involved
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  Speaker 1: financially through forging the name of his mother, a woman
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  Speaker 1: of considerable property, as endorser of his notes. These endorsements
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  Speaker 1: amounted to the sum of thirteen thousand pounds. He had
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  Speaker 1: effected an insurance upon the life of his wife for
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  Speaker 1: thirty teen thousand pounds, and the policies of insurance he
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  Speaker 1: had given as collateral on the forged notes. Upon the
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  Speaker 1: death of his wife, he was enabled to pay off
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  Speaker 1: the first notes, but shortly issued fresh ones to the
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  Speaker 1: tune of twelve thousand, five hundred pounds, had them discounted
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  Speaker 1: at the rate of sixty percent, and gave as new
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  Speaker 1: collateral policies of insurance of an equal amount upon his
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  Speaker 1: brother's life, which policies had been assigned to himself upon
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  Speaker 1: his brother's death, there being a year's interim between the
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  Speaker 1: death of his wife and brother. The companies in which
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  Speaker 1: the insurance had been effected declined to pay, and Palmer
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  Speaker 1: found himself confronted with suits upon these forged notes and
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  Speaker 1: the exposure of his forgeries. It was for the supposed
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  Speaker 1: intention of getting possession of Cook's money and race horses
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  Speaker 1: that he took the life of his intimate companion. The
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  Speaker 1: trial was held in the Central Criminal Court, London, May fourteenth,
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  Speaker 1: eighteen fifty six, Lord Campbell presiding, and has ever since
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  Speaker 1: maintained its reputation as being one of the most learned
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  Speaker 1: trials in the history of the criminal courts of the world. H. D.
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  Speaker 1: Trail in the English Illustrated Magazine gives a most graphic
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  Speaker 1: account of the incidents during the cross examination of Jeremiah Smith.
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  Speaker 1: Quote it was the riding that did it, exclaimed one
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  Speaker 1: of the greatest criminals of the century, in extorted admiration
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  Speaker 1: of the skill with which one of the greatest advocates
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  Speaker 1: of the century had brought justice in a winner by
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  Speaker 1: a short head in one of the century's greatest trials.
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  Speaker 1: Sir Alexander Cockburn is said to have been more proud
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  Speaker 1: of this tribute from the eminent sportsman and poisoner whom
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  Speaker 1: he hunted to the gallows post than of any other
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  Speaker 1: of the many triumphs of his brilliant career. And undoubtedly
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  Speaker 1: it has all the ring of one of those utterances
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  Speaker 1: which comes straight from the heart and attest their source
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  Speaker 1: by taking shape in the form of words most familiar
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  Speaker 1: to the speaker's lips. There is plenty of evidence to
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  Speaker 1: the critical attention with which mister William Palmer observed the
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  Speaker 1: jockeyship of the attorney in driving that terribly exciting race
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  Speaker 1: for life. Quote. There exists, or existed once a slip
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  Speaker 1: of paper about six inches long by an inch broad,
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  Speaker 1: just such a slip, in fact, as a man might
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  Speaker 1: tear irregularly off the top of a sheet of fool's cap,
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  Speaker 1: which bears this calm and matter of fact legend more
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  Speaker 1: impressive than the most impassioned prose quote. I suppose you
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  Speaker 1: think that the last witness did harm unquote. It is
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  Speaker 1: one of those notes which Palmer subscribed from time to
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  Speaker 1: time and turned over to his council to read and,
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  Speaker 1: if necessary, replied to. There is no sign of trembling
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  Speaker 1: in the hand that wrote it. Yet it was written
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  Speaker 1: this one just at the close of Sir Alexander Cockburn's
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  Speaker 1: memorable cross examination. It was the conviction of the expert
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  Speaker 1: section of the audience that when the Attorney General resumed
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  Speaker 1: his seat, the halter was knotted around the neck of
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  Speaker 1: the prisoner, too firmly to be loosed. There is little
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  Speaker 1: doubt that the doomed wretch read as much in the
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  Speaker 1: face of his counsel, and that the outward indifference of
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  Speaker 1: the hastily penned inquiry which he flung across to them
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  Speaker 1: must have caused a silent agony of doubt and dread. Palmer,
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  Speaker 1: of course, was not as well accustomed to observe the
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  Speaker 1: manners of the presiding judge as were the professional spectators
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  Speaker 1: of the scene. But if so, he would have drawn
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  Speaker 1: the worst possible augury from Lord Campbell's increasing politeness to
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  Speaker 1: him after this incident in the trial, a form of
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  Speaker 1: demeanor toward a prisoner which always indicated that, in that
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  Speaker 1: distinguished judge's opinion, his doom was certain. Yet, the cross
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  Speaker 1: examination of mister Smith, important as its consequences are said
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  Speaker 1: to have been, might easily be quoted as a very
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  Speaker 1: doubtful illustration of the value of this formidable engine for
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  Speaker 1: the extraction or supposed extraction of the truth, its effect
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  Speaker 1: upon the witness himself left nothing to be desired. From
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  Speaker 1: the point of view of the operator. No abbreviation, in fact,
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  Speaker 1: can give the effect of it. The witness's efforts to
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  Speaker 1: gain time, and his distress as the various answers were
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  Speaker 1: extorted from him by degrees, may be faintly traced in
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  Speaker 1: the report. His face was covered with sweat, and the
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  Speaker 1: papers put into his hands shook and rustled. These papers,
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  Speaker 1: it must be admitted, were some of them of a
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  Speaker 1: sufficiently agitating character. Mister Smith had had to confess, with
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  Speaker 1: great reluctance, that he had witnessed the assignment of a
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  Speaker 1: policy for thirteen thousand pounds by Walter to William Palmer,
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  Speaker 1: who was suspected and indeed as good as known to
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  Speaker 1: have been guilty of murdering him. He had had to
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  Speaker 1: confess that he wrote to an office to effect an
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  Speaker 1: insurance for ten thousand pounds on the life of a
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  Speaker 1: groom of Palmers, in receipt of one pound a week
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  Speaker 1: as wages. He had been compelled to admit the self
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  Speaker 1: impeachment of having tried, after Walter Palmer's death, to get
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  Speaker 1: his widow to give up her claim on the policy.
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  Speaker 1: The result was that Lord Campbell, in summing up, asked
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  Speaker 1: the jury whether they could believe a man who so
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  Speaker 1: disgraced himself in the witness box. The jury thought they couldn't,
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  Speaker 1: and they didn't. The witness, whose evidence was to the
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  Speaker 1: effect that Palmer was not at his victim's bedside, but
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  Speaker 1: some miles away at a time when, on the theory
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  Speaker 1: of the prosecution, he was substituting poisonous drugs for the
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  Speaker 1: medicine supplied to the sick man by the doctor, was disbelieved.
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  Speaker 1: Yet it is nevertheless tolerably certain, from other evidence of
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  Speaker 1: an unimpeachable kind, that Jeremiah Smith was speaking the truth.
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  Speaker 1: The text of the cross examination that follows is taken
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  Speaker 1: from the unabridged edition of The Times report of the
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  Speaker 1: trial of William Palmer, containing the shorthand notes taken from
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  Speaker 1: day to day and published in London in eighteen fifty six.
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General, are you the gentleman who took mister Miyant
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  Speaker 1: to Stafford Gale Smith? I am, Attorney General. Have you
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  Speaker 1: known Palmer long? Smith? I've known him long and very intimately,
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  Speaker 1: and have been employed a good deal as an attorney
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  Speaker 1: by Palmer and his family. Attorney General in December eighteen
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  Speaker 1: fifty four, did he apply to you to attest a
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  Speaker 1: proposal of his brother, Walter Palmer for thirteen thousand pounds
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  Speaker 1: in the Solicitors in General Insurance Office? Smith, I cannot recollect.
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  Speaker 1: If you will let me see the document, I will
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  Speaker 1: tell you, Attorney General. Will you swear that you were
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  Speaker 1: not applied to? Smith? I will not swear either that
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  Speaker 1: I was not applied to for that purpose or that
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  Speaker 1: I was. If you will let me see the document,
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  Speaker 1: I shall recognize my writing at once. Attorney General. In
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  Speaker 1: January eighteen fifty five, were you applied to by Palmer
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  Speaker 1: to attest a proposal of his brother for thirteen thousand
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  Speaker 1: pounds in the Prince of Wales's office? Smith, I don't recollect,
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General, don't recollect. Why thirteen thousand pounds was a
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  Speaker 1: large sum for a man like Walter Palmer, wasn't it
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  Speaker 1: who hadn't a shilling in the world? Smith? Oh, he
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  Speaker 1: had money, because I know that he lived, retired and
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  Speaker 1: carried on no business. Attorney General. Didn't you know that
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  Speaker 1: he was an uncertified bankrupt Smith? I know that he
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  Speaker 1: had been a bankrupt some years before, but I did
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  Speaker 1: not know that he was an uncertified bankrupt. I know
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  Speaker 1: that he had an allowance from his mother, but I
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  Speaker 1: do not know whether he had money from any other source.
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  Speaker 1: I believe that his brother, William the prisoner, gave him
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  Speaker 1: money at different times, Attorney General. Where in the course
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  Speaker 1: of eighteen fifty four, in eighteen fifty five were you
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  Speaker 1: living in Rugly Smith in eighteen fifty four, I think
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  Speaker 1: I resided partly with William Palmer and sometimes at his
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  Speaker 1: mother's Attorney General. Did you sometimes sleep at his mother's Smith? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General. When you did that, Where did you sleep Smith?
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  Speaker 1: In a room? Attorney General? Did you sleep in his
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  Speaker 1: mother's room on your oath? Were you not intimate with her?
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  Speaker 1: You know well enough what I mean Smith, I had
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  Speaker 1: no other intimacy, mister Attorney than a proper intimacy. Attorney General?
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  Speaker 1: How often did you sleep at her house? Having an
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  Speaker 1: establishment of your own at Rugely Smith? Frequently two or
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  Speaker 1: three times a week, Attorney General? Are you a single
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  Speaker 1: or a married man? Smith? A single man? Attorney General?
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  Speaker 1: How long did that practice of sleeping two or three
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  Speaker 1: times a week at missus Palmer's continue Smith for several years,
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General had you your own lodgings at Rugali at
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  Speaker 1: the time? Smith, yes, all the time, Attorney General. How
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  Speaker 1: far were your lodgings from Missus Palmer's house, Smith, I
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  Speaker 1: should say nearly quarter of a mile? Attorney General, Explain
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  Speaker 1: how it happened that you, having your own place of
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  Speaker 1: abode within a quarter of a mile, slept two or
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  Speaker 1: three times a week at Missus Palmer's Smith. Sometimes her
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  Speaker 1: son Joseph or other members of her family were on
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  Speaker 1: a visit to her, and I went to see them,
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General. And when you went to see those members
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  Speaker 1: of her family, was it too far for you to return?
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  Speaker 1: A quarter of a mile? In the evening? Smith? Why
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  Speaker 1: we used to play a game of cards and have
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  Speaker 1: a glass of gin and water, and smoke a pipe perhaps,
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  Speaker 1: And then they said it is late. You had better
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  Speaker 1: stop all night, and I did. There was no particular
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  Speaker 1: reason why I did not go home that I know of,
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General. Did that go on for three or four years? Smith? Yes?
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  Speaker 1: And I sometimes used to stop there when there was
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  Speaker 1: nobody there at all, when they were all away from home,
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  Speaker 1: the mother and all Attorney General and you have slept
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  Speaker 1: there when the sons were not there and the mother
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  Speaker 1: was Smith? Yes, Attorney General, how often did that happen? Smith?
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes for two or three nights a week, for some
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  Speaker 1: months at a time, and then perhaps I would not
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  Speaker 1: go near the house for a month, Attorney General, What
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  Speaker 1: did you stop for on those nights when the sons
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  Speaker 1: were not there? There was no one to smoke and
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  Speaker 1: drink with then, and you might have gone home, might
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  Speaker 1: you not, Smith? Yes, but I did not, Attorney General.
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  Speaker 1: Do you mean to say on your oath that there
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  Speaker 1: was nothing but a proper intimacy between you and missus Palmer? Smith,
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  Speaker 1: I do, Attorney General. Now we will turn to another subject.
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  Speaker 1: Were you called upon to attest another proposal for thirteen
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  Speaker 1: thousand pounds by Walter Palmer in the Universal Office? Smith?
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  Speaker 1: I cannot say. If you will let me see the proposal,
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  Speaker 1: I shall know, Attorney General. I ask you, sir, as
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  Speaker 1: an attorney and a man of business, whether you cannot
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  Speaker 1: tell me whether you were applied to by William Palmer
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  Speaker 1: to attest a proposal for an assurance for thirteen thousand
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  Speaker 1: pounds on the life of Walter Palmer. Smith, I can
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  Speaker 1: say that I do not recollect it. If I could
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  Speaker 1: see any document on the subject, I dare say I
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  Speaker 1: should remember it. Attorney General, do you remember getting a
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  Speaker 1: five pound note for testing an assignment by Walter Palmer
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  Speaker 1: to his brother of such a policy? Smith? Perhaps I might.
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  Speaker 1: I don't recollect positively, Attorney General handing a document to
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  Speaker 1: the witness? Is that your signature? Smith? It is very
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  Speaker 1: like my signature. Attorney General, have you any doubt about it? Smith?
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  Speaker 1: After considerable hesitation, I have some doubt. Attorney General, read
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  Speaker 1: the document and tell me on your oath whether it
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  Speaker 1: is your signature. Smith. I have some doubt whether it
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  Speaker 1: is mine. Attorney General read the document, sir. Was it
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  Speaker 1: prepared in your office? Smith? It was not? Attorney General.
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  Speaker 1: I will have an answer from you on your oath
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  Speaker 1: one way or another. Isn't that your handwriting? Smith? I
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  Speaker 1: believe that it is not my handwriting. I think that
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  Speaker 1: it is a very clever imitation of it. Attorney General,
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  Speaker 1: will you swear that it is not? Smith? I will.
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  Speaker 1: I think that it is a very good imitation of
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  Speaker 1: my handwriting. Baron Alderson, did you ever make such an attestation? Smith?
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  Speaker 1: I don't recollect, my Lord, Attorney General. Look at the
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  Speaker 1: other signature there, Walter Palmer? Is that his signature? Smith?
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  Speaker 1: I believe that is Walter Palmer's attorney general. Look at
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  Speaker 1: the attestation and the words signed, sealed, and delivered? Are
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  Speaker 1: they in mister Pratt's handwriting? Smith? They are Attorney General.
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  Speaker 1: Did you receive that from mister Pratt? Smith? Most likely
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  Speaker 1: I did, but I can't swear that I did. It
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  Speaker 1: might have been sent to William Palmer, Attorney General. Did
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  Speaker 1: you receive it from William Palmer? Smith? I don't know,
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  Speaker 1: very likely I did. Attorney General. Did William Palmer give
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  Speaker 1: you that document? Smith? I have no doubt he did.
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General. If that be the document he gave you,
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  Speaker 1: and those are the signatures of Walter Palmer and of Pratt,
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  Speaker 1: is not the other signature yours? Smith, I'll tell you,
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  Speaker 1: mister attorney Attorney general, don't mister attorney me, sir, answer
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  Speaker 1: my question. Isn't that your handwriting? Smith? I believe it
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  Speaker 1: not to be Attorney General? Will you swear that it isn't? Smith?
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  Speaker 1: I believe that it is not Attorney General. Did you
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  Speaker 1: apply to the Midland County's Insurance Office in October eighteen
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  Speaker 1: fifty five to be appointed their agent at Rugly, Smith,
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  Speaker 1: I think I did. Attorney General. Did you send them
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  Speaker 1: a proposal on the life of Bates for ten thousand
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  Speaker 1: pounds you yourself? Smith, I did, Attorney General. Did William
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  Speaker 1: Palmer apply to you to send that proposal? Smith? Bates
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  Speaker 1: and Palmer came together to my office with a prospectus
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  Speaker 1: and asked me if I knew whether there was any
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  Speaker 1: agent for that company in Rugly. I told him I'd
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  Speaker 1: never heard of one, and they then asked me if
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  Speaker 1: I would write and get the appointment, because Bates wanted
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  Speaker 1: to raise some money. Attorney General, did you send to
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  Speaker 1: the Midland Office and get appointed as their agent in
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  Speaker 1: Rugly in order to affect that ten thousand pound insurance
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  Speaker 1: on Bates's life? Smith? I did. Attorney General. Was Bates
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  Speaker 1: at the time superintending William Palmer's stud and stable? Smith
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  Speaker 1: He was Attorney General at a salary of one pound
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  Speaker 1: a week. Smith, I can't tell his salary. Attorney General.
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  Speaker 1: After that, did you go to the widow of Walter
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  Speaker 1: Palmer to get her to give up her claim on
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  Speaker 1: the policy of her husband? Smith? I did, Attorney General.
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  Speaker 1: Where was she at that time? Smith? At Liverpool, Attorney General,
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  Speaker 1: did you receive a document from Pratt to take to her? Smith?
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  Speaker 1: William Palmer gave me one which had been directed to him.
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General. Did the widow refuse Smith? She said she
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  Speaker 1: should like her solicitor to see it, and I said,
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  Speaker 1: by all means, Attorney General, of course, didn't she refuse
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  Speaker 1: to do it? Didn't you bring it back? Smith? I
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  Speaker 1: brought it back as I had no instructions to leave it.
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General. Didn't she say that she understood from her
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  Speaker 1: husband that the insurance was for ten thousand pounds? Mister sergeant?
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  Speaker 1: She objected to this question. What passed between the widow
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  Speaker 1: and witness could be no evidence against the prisoner. The
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General said that the question was intended to affect
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  Speaker 1: the credit of the witness, and with that view it
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  Speaker 1: was most important. The court ruled that the question could
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  Speaker 1: not be put. Attorney General, do you know that Walter
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  Speaker 1: Palmer obtained nothing for making that assignment? Smith? I believe
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  Speaker 1: that he ultimately did get something for it, Attorney General.
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  Speaker 1: Don't you know that what he got was a bill
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  Speaker 1: for two hundred pounds Smith? Yes, and he had a
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  Speaker 1: house furnished for him Attorney General. Don't you know that
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  Speaker 1: he got a bill for two hundred pounds Smith? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General. And don't you know that that bill was
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  Speaker 1: never paid? Smith? No, I do not, Attorney General. Now
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  Speaker 1: I'll refresh your memory a little with regard to those proposals.
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  Speaker 1: Handing the witness a document. Look at that and tell
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  Speaker 1: me whether it is in your handwriting Smith, it is,
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General. Refreshing your memory with that, I ask you,
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  Speaker 1: were you not applied to by William Palmer in December
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  Speaker 1: eighteen fifty four to attest a proposal on the life
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  Speaker 1: of his brother Walter for thirteen thousand pounds in the
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  Speaker 1: Solicitor's in General Insurance Office. Smith, I might have been
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General. Were you or were you not? Sir? Look
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  Speaker 1: at that document and say, have you any doubt upon
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  Speaker 1: the subject? Smith? I do not like to speak from
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  Speaker 1: memory with reference to such matters, Attorney General. No, but
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  Speaker 1: not speaking from memory in an abstract sense, but having
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  Speaker 1: your memory refreshed by a perusal of that document, have
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  Speaker 1: you any doubt that you were applied to? Smith? I
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  Speaker 1: have no doubt that I might have been applied to
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General. Have you any doubt that in January eighteen
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  Speaker 1: fifty five, you were called on by William Palmer to
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  Speaker 1: attest another proposal for thirteen thousand pounds on his brother's
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  Speaker 1: life in another office. Look at that document and tell
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  Speaker 1: me Smith, I see the paper, but I don't know
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  Speaker 1: I might have signed it in blank? Attorney General. Do
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  Speaker 1: you usually sign attestations of this nature in blank? Smith?
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  Speaker 1: I have some doubt whether I did not sign several
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  Speaker 1: of them in blank, Attorney General on your oath. Looking
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  Speaker 1: at that document, don't you know that William Palmer applied
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  Speaker 1: to you to attest that proposal upon his brother's life
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  Speaker 1: for thirteen thousand pounds? Smith? He did apply to me
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: to attest proposals in some offices, Attorney General? Were they
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: for large amounts? Smith? One was for thirteen thousand pounds,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Attorney General? Were you applied to attest another for the
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: like sum in the universal office? Smith? I might be,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Attorney General. They were made much about the same time,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: were they not? You did not wait for the answers
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: to come back to the first application before you made
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: the second, Smith, I do not know that any answers
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: were returned at all. Attorney General. Will you swear that
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: you were not present when Walter Palmer executed the deed
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: assigning the policy upon his life to his brother William Palmer.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Now be careful, mister Smith, for depend upon it you
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: shall hear of this again. If you are not Smith,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: I will not swear that I was. I think I
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: was not. I'm not quite positive. Very few of the
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: answers to these questions of the Attorney General were given
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: without considerable hesitation, and the witness appeared to labor under
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: a sense of embarrassment, which left a decidedly unfavorable impression
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: upon the minds of the audience. Attorney General, do you
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: know that the two hundred pound bill was given for
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: the purpose of enabling William Palmer to make up a
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: sum of five hundred pounds? Smith? I believe it was not.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: For Cook received absolutely from me two hundred pounds. If
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: I'm not mistaken, he took it with him to Shrewsbury Races,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: not the last races. Attorney General in whose favor was
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: the bill drawn? Smith? I think in favor of William Palmer.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: I don't know what became of it. I've never seen it,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: since I cannot state with certainty who saw me on
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: the Monday, But I called at the talbot arms and
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: went into cook's room. One of the servants gave me
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: a candle as well as I can remember. The servant
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: who did so was either Bond Mills or Lavinia Barnes,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: I can't say which. End of Chapter fourteen