They Hanged My Saintly Billy (59 page)

Alderman
Sidney
was
hardly
to
be
envied:
as
the
sole
Rugeley man
present
in
that
distinguished
gathering,
and
one
whose father
had
opposed
the
Lord
Chief
Justice,
then
Mr
John
Campbell,
when
he
stood
for
Parliament
as
member
for
Stafford
in
1830.
Being
suspected
of
partisanship,
the
Alderman
must
needs dissociate
himself
absolutely
from
Dr
Palmer—the
son
of
his former
patron,
old
Joseph
Palmer,
the
sawyer—as
the
vilest of
vile
men,
wholly
untypical
of
Rugeley;
and
whimper
more excitedly
on
his
trail
than
the
Attorney-General
himself.
This prejudice
against
the
prisoner
supplied
seats
in
Court,
by
order
of Lord
Campbell,
to
all
the
medical
witnesses
whom
the
Crown called;
whereas
those
called
for
the
Defence,
however
highly
they might
rank
professionally,
must
stand
meekly
in
the
crowded aisles,
day
after
day,
during
the
eight
or
nine
hours
of
the
hearing!

Here
we
may
mention
that
the
book
bought
by
Hawkins
at Dr
Palmer's
sale,
and
produced
at
the
trial,
was
a
work
entitled
Manual for Students Preparing for Examination at Apothecaries' Hall.
It
contained
a
pencilled
note,
evidently
written
in
his
student
days: 'Strychnine
kills
by
causing
a
tetanic
fixing
of
the
respiratory muscles.'
The
Attorney-General
insisted
that
he
attached
no
great value
to
this
note;
but
did
so
in
an
apologetic
manner
which
left a
directl
y
opposite
impression
on
the
minds
of
the
jurymen.

It
came
as
a
general
surprise
that
two
further
witnesses
for
the Defence
were
missing:
namely
Eliza
Tharm,
who
could
have sworn
that
Dr
Palmer
did
not
make
up
the
pills
on
that
Monday evening
in
the
surgery
between
9
and
10.30;
and
old
Mrs
Palmer, whom
he
had
visited
in
Jeremiah
Smith's
company
at
about
10.15.
We
have
already
shown
why
Mrs
Palmer's
tongue
was tied:
the
Prosecution
would
have
put
in
the
shamelessly
lascivious

[224]
letters
she
had
written
to
Cornelius
Duffy,
and
represented
her
as a
woman
of
bad
character.

Let
Eliza
Tharm
tell
in
her
own
words,
as
she
told
us,
why
her tongue
was
likewise
tied.

ELIZA
THARM

When
dear
Mrs
Annie
Palmer
died,
the
Doctor
was
so
broken
in spirit
that
I
felt
exceedingly
sorry.
Indeed,
I
loved
him
with
all
my heart,
and
gave
him
all
I
had
to
give.
He
used
to
call
me
his
'little missus',
and
treated
me
very
sweetly,
though
he
said
he
was
not as
yet
in
a
position
to
make
me
his
wife.
Race-going
took
him away
a
deal;
and
that
he
slept
with
other
girls
I
knew—for example,
one
Jenny
Mumford,
whom
he
got
with
child
and
had to
buy
off.
But
that
he
loved
mc
best,
I
knew
also;
and
he
gave
me his
solemn
promise
not
to
go
with
any
that
had
a
nasty
disease.

Well,
among
his
friends
was
a
Miss
Bergen,
supposed
to
be
a respectable
girl,
who
had
written
some
very
randy
letters,
inviting
him
into
h
er
bed.
Says
I:
'Doctor,
don't
mind
me!
When you're
over
at
Stafford
with
Mr
Walter
and
can't
get
back
home to
my
arms,
well,
I
know
how
you
hate
sleeping
alone
.
..'

So
he
kissed
me
and
called
me
an
angel,
for
he
knew
what
I meant.

'But
mind,'
I
told
him,
'I
don't
want
to
hear
about
what
you and
she
do
together!
It
might
make
me
jealous.'

The
Doctor
comes
to
me
one
day
in
a
great
pother.
'Lizzie, my
duck,'
he
says,
'I'm
in
trouble
with
that
Stafford
girl.
She's in
pod
and
wants
me
for
her
husband.
But
I
promised
you
that
I wouldn't
marry
anyone
save
your
little
self;
so
here
you'll
have to
advise
me.'

'It's
no
business
of
mine,
Doctor,'
says
I.
'Do
as
you
think
fit.'

Well,
he
wrote
to
Miss
Bergen,
giving
the
name
of
an
abortionist
who
would
be
as
silent
as
the
grave;
and
the
baby
was turned
away,
with
nobody
none
the
wiser.
But
when
she
wrote that
her
'stomach
ache',
as
she
called
it,
had
got
better,
the
cold tones
of
his
answer
warned
her
she
had
no
hope
of
becoming
Mrs Palmer.
So
Miss
Bergen
threatened
to
show
her
father
the
letters he
had
written.
Now,
that
was
serious,
because
he
was
none other
than
Mr
Daniel
Scully
Bergen,
Chief
Superintendent
of
the Stafford
Rural
Constabulary!
First
the
girl
demanded
a
hundred pounds
for
their
return,
and
then
fifty;
but
in
the
end
she
settl
ed for
forty,
and
he
gave
her
the
halves
of
four
ten-pound
notes, undertaking
to
send
the
others
when
all
the
letters
were
safe
in his
hands.
The
money
he
paid
her
was
part
of
the
sum
that
he
had from
Mr
Cook
to
settle
bills
owing
in
London.
Well,
when Captain
Hatton
made
the
arrest,
Dr
Palmer
called
me
and
said privately:
'Lizzie,
pray
do
me
a
service.
Take
this
packet
to
Miss Bergen.
In
it
are
the
other
halves
of
those
four
ten-pound
notes. They're
no
good
to
me,
and
I'd
rather
keep
my
word
even
to
a bad
woman.'