Murder, America

[Allen]

I have limited access to the internet right now, so I've been reading more than ever. I reread a book called Murder, America Homicide in the United States from the Revolution to the Present by Jay Robert Nash. ( Which incidentally is not so present it was copyrighted in 1980.) There are many interesting cases in this book. One of them I thought I would post some information about.

In 1847, Dr. Valorous P. Coolidge of Waterville, Maine murdered a wealthy man named Edward Matthews. Dr. Coolidge had very expensive tastes, and was accustomed to living in high style. His excessive spending eventually lead to borrowing money to keep up his lifestyle, even though he had a successful practice. Matthews made a loan to Coolidge in the amount of fifteen hundred dollars with the stipulation that it would be paid back in full in ten days, along with four hundred dollars interest.

Edward Matthews stated that he was going to sell a herd of cattle at the end of that month, and would make the loan from the proceeds of the sale.

After Mr. Matthews had left town to attend to the business of selling the herd of cattle, Dr. Coolidge set about buying prussic acid. He bought one ounce of the poison from a local apothecary, with a note to the druggist that the dose be made "as strong as it can be made." He then wrote to a physician in Boston requesting the same potion, with the same note as to the dosage.

When Mr. Matthews returned, Dr. Coolidge sent word for him to meet him at his office for the purpose of finalizing their transactionat at eight o'clock on that same evening. At six o'clock that evening, a student- helper of Mr. Coolidge named Flint arrived at the office and was told that Dr. Coolidge was expected a body to be delivered for dissection, and that it would arrive at eight o'clock that night. He was instructed to leave before the body arrived. When Flint heard the knock at the door at the appointed time, he went out the side exit and went to his boardinghouse where he played backgammon with the proprietors daughter for about an hour.

After growing weary of the game, Flint took a lamp and started for his room. Dr. Coolidge was waiting for him in the hall, and he requested that Flint come back to his office with him.

When they returned to the office Dr. Coolidge informed Flint that Mr. Matthews had shown up during his absence, and while partaking of some brandy, fell down dead.

page 57:

"I am going to reveal to you a secret that involves my life," Coolidge finally said to Flint in a low voice. "That cursed little Ed Matthews came in here, and went to take a glass of brandy, and fell down dead. He now lies in the other room. I thumped him on the head to make people believe he was murdered."

To make a short story even shorter, Coolidge convinced Flint to help him dispose of the body but he refused to carry the dead man any further than the cellar. Dr. Coolidge then cleaned up any traces of the foul deed from his office and swore Flint to secrecy.

When the body was found, by an odd turn of events, Dr. Coolidge was the one called upon to perform the autopsy. The Doctor later tried to sneak back into the operating room and dispose of the dead man's stomach. He was unsuccessful because he was interrupted by an attendant. He gave Flint a thousand dollars to hold for him and left town. Another doctor became suspicious and performed another autopsy. Prussic acid was found in the stomach. Prussic acid was discovered in the doctors office, and he ultimately went to trial and was convicted of the murder.

page 59:

" Flint was no help on the witness stand, relating exactly what had happened on the night Matthews died. The prosecution carefully pieced the killing together, stating that Coolidge had committed premeditated murder. He had inveigled Matthews to his office, given him a shot of brandy liberally laced with prussic acid- a drink that certainly killed his usurious financier - and then, apparently losing his senses, struck him several times on the head with a hatchet. He then rifled Matthews' pockets and took the fifteen hundred dollars.

Coolidge admitted the killing as it was reconstructed in court. He was sentenced to hang the following year, but, as he languished in Augusta jail, the inventive doctor somehow procured more prussic acid and committed suicide. To this day, Dr. Valorous P. Coolidge shared with only one other doctor- poisoner, Dr. William Palmer of Rugeley, England, the dubious distinction of having performed an autopsy on his own victim."

[augusta]

Ooh! What a good story, Allen! Thanks for sharing it. I hadn't heard of it before.

Yup. Prussic acid and a hatchet 'll get them every time.

Performing an autopsy on your victim. How convenient. It's amazing he was caught.

[diana]

Yes, thanks for that synopsis. I always get that case mixed up with the Parkman/Webster murder at Harvard in 1849.

Occasionally I wonder why, if she did indeed try to buy prussic acid, poor Lizzie was turned down. Some people seem to be able pop into their local chemists and toddle off with bottles of the stuff. Here's an item from an 1878 NY newspaper:

"TIRED OF LIFE.
Suicide of a Brooklyn Man by Prussic Acid.
He Goes to New Haven to Die - The Telltale Vial Found in his Pocket -
Imagination of a Deceased Mind - Interview with a Personal Friend of the
Deceased.
The suicide of Mr. A. N. WHITEBORNE, a resident of this city, is
reported from New Haven, Conn. Early yesterday morning his body was
found under the porch of the old State House in that town, death having
been caused by a dose of prussic acid. Firmly clenched in his right
hand was was an empty glass, and in one of his pockets was found the
phial from which he had poured the deadly drought." (New York obituary notices, February 1878)

http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/New ... Death.html

And in another instance, in January, 1845 John Tawell poured some prussic acid in Sarah Hart's glass of stout and she keeled over and died in minutes. He just purchased two bottles of a compound called 'Steele's Acid' which was used in the treatment of varicose veins. (His attorney mounted a defense around apple pips -- stating they contained prussic acid and Sarah had probably eaten a lot of fruit during the holiday season. Although this defence didn't fly -- the sale of apples in England dropped dramatically.)

http://www.btp.police.uk/History%20Soci ... 201845.htm

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/archives/aam/hate2.htm

[Allen]

Thanks for providing the links for the two cases. Very intereesting. The Parkman/Webster case is also mentioned in Murder, America. I just thought I would throw this in because it happened within Lizzie's lifetime. I wonder if Lizzie read about it, and if she did, what did she think? "The Place Murder Case" is one of the headlines in the New York Times, dated February 9, 1898. This is also a case I first read about in Murder, America.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_M._Place