Chapter VII: The Case of Dr. Lamson

The only case on record in which the active principle of aconite has been used for the purpose of criminal poisoning is that of Dr. Lamson, who suffered the extreme penalty of the law for administering the drug to Percy Malcolm John, and thereby causing his death. The story is remarkable for the cold-blooded way in which the murder was carried out.

George Henry Lamson, a surgeon in impecunious circumstances, had a reversionary interest, through his wife, in a sum of £1,500, which would come to him on the death of his brother-in-law, Percy Malcolm John. The latter, a sickly youth of eighteen years of age, was paralysed in his lower limbs from old-standing spinal disease.

At the beginning of December, 1881, Lamson went down to the school where John had been placed as a boarder, and had an interview with him in the presence of the head master, professing at the same time a kindly interest in the youth and his health. During the interview he produced some gelatine capsules, one of which he offered to the head master in order that he might see how easily it dissolved in the mouth, and another he filled with a white powder presumed to be sugar and gave to his brother-in-law. Directly after seeing him swallow it he took his departure. Within a quarter of an hour, the boy became unwell, saying he felt the same as when Lamson had given him a quinine pill on a former occasion, also adding “My skin feels all drawn up and my throat burning.”

Violent vomiting soon set in, and he became unable to swallow. This was rapidly followed by delirium, and in three hours and three-quarters death ensued.

A post-mortem examination was ordered, and the organs of the body, together with the remainder of the capsules, and various pills and powders found in the boy’s room which had been sent to him at different times by Dr. Lamson, were sent for analysis. Meanwhile from information received by the police from another quarter Lamson was arrested and charged with the murder of his brother-in-law.

The trial began on March 9, 1882, before Mr. Justice Hawkins, the Solicitor-General, Mr. Poland, appearing for the prosecution, and Mr. Montagu Williams and others for the defence.

The Solicitor-General in his opening speech stated, that the post-mortem on the body revealed the fact, that the only sign of disease was the old-standing curvature of the spine and evidence of paralysis in the lower extremities. There was much, however, that called for remark in the condition of the stomach and other organs. The conclusion that the medical men came to was, that there was no natural cause to account for death, but that the state of the stomach indicated that death had resulted from poison—not what was called a local irritant poison, but some vegetable poison which had acted upon the nerves and other centres.

Dr. Stevenson, who, together with Dr. Dupré, had conducted the analysis, gave evidence, and began by stating that he had received besides the organs of the body, certain packets of pills, powders, sugar, etc. Working in collaboration with Dr. Dupré, he applied a modification of Stas’s process to the liver, spleen and kidneys, and the result obtained was an alkaloidal extract which contained a trace of morphine, and when placed on the tongue gave a faint sensation like that produced by aconitine. The contents of the stomach, treated by the same process, also revealed an alkaloidal extract which when tasted produced the same faint sensation as that of aconitine. “When placed on the tongue,” he continued, “the contact caused a burning sensation which extended to the lip, although the extract did not touch the lip. The character of the sensation was a burning and a tingling, a kind of numbness. It is difficult to describe. It produced a salivation, a desire to expectorate and a sensation at the back of the throat as if it were swelling up, and this was followed by a peculiar seared feeling as if a hot iron had been drawn over the tongue, or some strong caustic placed upon it.

“The effect of aconitine is a burning feeling extending down towards the stomach. It is a sickening feeling peculiar to this substance. I have never found it in any other alkaloid, and I have tasted a great number.

“With a portion of the alkaloidal extract,” Dr. Stevenson proceeded, “I made an experiment. I dissolved it and injected it beneath the skin of a mouse. The animal was obviously affected in two minutes. From that time onward it exhibited symptoms of poisoning and died in thirty minutes from the time of the injection of the substance. I then made a similar experiment with Morson’s preparation of aconitine, procured specially for this purpose. I dissolved it in the same solution that I had used for the extract and operated with it on the mouse in the same manner. The effect was indistinguishable from that of the extract.”

This same experiment was repeated with extracts made from the different organs, and each time the same result was obtained. On analysis of the vomit an alkaloidal extract was again obtained. Dr. Stevenson applied this to his tongue and found it had a very powerful result, the effect lasting markedly for six and a half hours. On an injection being made into the back of a mouse it was severely affected in two and a half minutes and death resulted in fifteen minutes. “Parallel results,” he stated, “were obtained with aconitine. In my judgment the vomit contained a considerable quantity of aconitine. Approximately, it was not less than one-seventh and not more than one-fourth of a grain. There has only been one fatal case that I know of in which aconitine has caused the death of a human being, and the quantity that proved fatal—the quantity that actually caused death—was known not to be less than one-thirteenth of a grain.”

Dr. Stevenson then described the results of the analysis of the various powders, pills, etc., that had been handed to him. In the sweetmeats, cake and sugar he found no trace of poison at all. He then turned to the quinine powders, of which there were fourteen. “My attention,” he said, “was called to one by Dr. Dupré. It was a little different in colour, as also were two others, and was obvious to the trained eye. An analysis of one revealed 0·83 gr. of aconitine and 0·93 gr. of quinine.” On testing one of the pills also, he came to the conclusion that it contained 0·45, or nearly half a grain of aconitine.

The capsules were handed to the judge, who remarked that the half grain took up barely one-tenth of the space in the capsule.

In the course of the trial it transpired that the prisoner had become possessed of aconitine a few days before the crime was committed. On the 11th of November he had been to a chemist in Oxford St., and had a prescription made up consisting of atropine and morphine. On the 16th he called again and asked for a grain of digitalin, saying it was for external use. The liquid in the bottle was found to be discoloured, and the assistant, fearing it might be impure, refused to supply it. A few days later Dr. Lamson called again and asked for some aconitine. The assistant, knowing this was a poison of a very dangerous character, declined to supply it and advised him to go where he was better known.

Dr. Lamson then went on November 24th to a firm of chemists in the city and asked for two grains of aconitine. Asked for his name, he wrote George H. Lamson, Bournemouth, and the name being in the Medical Directory, he was duly supplied with the required amount. When the name of Dr. Lamson appeared in the newspapers in connection with the death of Percy John, the assistant who had supplied the poison drew the attention of his employers to the circumstance, and the police were communicated with.

Mr. Montagu Williams, for the defence, urged that the results of Dr. Stevenson’s and Dr. Dupré’s experiments were consistent with other causes and suggested that the extracts which were so fatal to the mice might contain certain animal poisons, the result of decomposition. He contended that it had been admitted that very little was known of aconitine, and that therefore these tests were not to be relied upon. The proper verdict, he submitted, would be the Scottish one of “Non Proven,” and as that was not possible in England, the prisoner was entitled to an acquittal. He reminded the jury of the weak state of the boy’s health, and the general expectation that he would not live long.

The judge, in summing up, said the question for the jury to decide was whether they were satisfied the deceased came to his death by poison, and if so whether the poison was administered by the prisoner. It was for the prosecution to prove the guilt of the prisoner, and if they failed to do so the case was at an end. The trial lasted for six days, and after the summing up, the jury retired, returning after an absence of twenty-five minutes, with a verdict of “Guilty.” The judge then pronounced sentence of death on Lamson, which was duly carried out on August 28, 1882.

According to evidence at the trial, it is probable that Lamson had made several previous attempts on the boy’s life with aconitine in the form of pills and powders, which he had given him under the pretence of prescribing for his ailments. The money to which he was entitled on the death of John doubtless supplied the motive for the crime.

Lamson, as a medical man, no doubt knew that there was no chemical test for aconitine, and that it would not be likely to be detected during the post-mortem. In fact, there was nothing to show after the autopsy that the cause of death was not natural, and it was only the few words uttered by the dying boy, alluding to his sensations, which gave the clue to the scientific investigators.

The difficulty of proving the presence of a rare vegetable alkaloid in the body after death was, no doubt, duly considered by Lamson when he fixed on aconitine as the medium for his evil design, but science proved the master of the criminal, and the evidence of the instrument by which the crime was committed was proved indisputably.