Chapter XX: The Agra Poison Mystery

One of the most remarkable cases of criminal poisoning in the annals of Indian justice was brought to light in December, 1912. There was living in Agra at that time, a Lieutenant Clark, who was an officer in the Indian Subordinate Medical Department, and his wife, Mrs. Clark, a lady of about fifty-five years of age. Both husband and wife were Eurasians.

On the night of November 17, Mrs. Clark was found in the bedroom of their bungalow badly wounded and died shortly afterwards of her injuries. She had apparently been stabbed to death with a sharp instrument. Her husband informed the authorities that she had been murdered by a native, and suspicion fell upon a servant named Buddhu who was at one time employed by the Clarks.

During the official inquiry which was called to investigate the matter, Miss Clark, the daughter of the victim, said she saw her mother sitting up in bed bleeding profusely from several wounds. The lamp was low in the room and she was unable to recognize any assailant. The whole affair seemed to be shrouded in mystery until the police brought to light a correspondence between Lieut. Clark and Mrs. Fulham, the wife of an Assistant Examiner of Military Accounts, who had died under suspicious circumstances in the previous October. This correspondence showed a connection between the deaths both of Mrs. Clark and of Mr. Fulham, and Lieut. Clark was arrested on November 29, and charged with the murder both of his wife and Mr. Fulham.

Mrs. Fulham was also charged with the murder of her husband and Mrs. Clark, and Buddhu, the native servant, was also arrested. The latter offered to give evidence, and testified that Lieut. Clark had given him three powders that he was to place in Mrs. Clark’s tea, and promised him fifty rupees when he had done it. The witness took the powders and asked what they were for, and was told that they were aperient medicines. At the same time Clark threatened to throttle him if anything leaked out. He gave the powders as he was told, and then left the service of Lieut. Clark immediately.

Miss Clark stated that her father was very violent with her mother at times and had been very intimate for some time with Mrs. Fulham. Mrs. Clark had objected to this and as a result quarrels had taken place. Twice, the daughter stated, her mother had been taken ill after a meal, and referring to one of these attacks in a diary Mrs. Clark kept, she wrote that the cook had put something in her tea.

Mr. Harry Clark, a son, declared that he was aware that his mother was having poison given her and obtained possession of some of the powder and had it analysed by a surgeon, who said it was a “slow poison.” His mother had told him that she would be poisoned, and he tried to persuade her to go away with him, but she refused, without giving any reason.

Major O’Meara, a civil surgeon in Agra, who examined the body of Mrs. Clark, was of the opinion that she had been attacked with a heavy weapon and that the blows had been deliberately given by a man. A second son of the accused stated that his father had told them that their mother had been given more than one dose of arsenic, but she proved poison-proof, so that he made no secret before his own family of his intention to get rid of his wife at the first opportunity.

In one of the letters discovered, written by Mrs. Fulham to Clark, which was dated April 22, 1911, was the statement:

“You are very thoughtful in sending me more powders; I was going to ask you for more, as I have only three left. I do not think these powders are having any effect. You say they must be given regularly and then you say you cannot administer them to ‘Mrs. C.’ as regularly as you would like to. She will need much more than that. Tell me plainly what you think.”

An Assistant-Surgeon named Linton told how, when visiting Clark’s bungalow one evening, Harry Clark showed him a white powder and asked him whether it was poison. He tasted it and concluded it was a compound of arsenic, and told young Clark it was a poison and would be fatal in about twenty minutes.

In a statement made by Mrs. Fulham that was read she explained her friendship with Clark, and said:

“I believe Clark must have the power of hypnotism. He made me and my husband do whatever he wished. He won my affection completely from him. On arriving at Agra my husband was suddenly taken ill. Clark went on his bicycle and fetched Captain Dunn, who arrived just in time to see my husband expire. Clark once told me he had given his wife enough arsenic to kill ten men, but she recovered. My husband became very ill and paralysed and helpless, and died on October 10, 1911. Clark gave him several injections before fetching Captain Dunn, and used a hypodermic syringe filled with something from a small bottle.”

From the evidence of these letters it was apparent that both the accused conspired in April, 1911, first to poison Mr. Fulham, the poison being sent to Meerut from Agra by Lieut. Clark, and that Mrs. Fulham wrote to Clark duly acknowledging the receipt of the poison, and sending him reports of its effect upon her husband. In one of her letters she alludes to an attempt to poison her husband with “Tonic Powders,” which were believed to be a name for a deadly alkaloidal poison which Clark had brought from Calcutta. Another preparation was twice tried previously, but was unsuccessful because Fulham refused to drink the tea in which it was placed because of its peculiar taste.

Mrs. Fulham wrote to Clark on the subject, “This will take a hundred years to kill him.” Mr. Fulham became very ill and was taken to hospital, but recovered, and his wife wrote to Clark telling him how the attempts had failed and they must try to find another way.

Fulham then went on a visit to Agra, where he was taken very ill after dinner and died shortly afterwards. Clark himself wrote the death certificate, stating that he died of “general paralysis of three months’ standing.”

In another letter from Mrs. Fulham to Clark on May 20, 1911, she stated:

“I administered the powder you left. There was no result. I shall begin in earnest on Monday and inform you of the results.”

On May 23 she said:

“I again have news for you. I administered a full dose yesterday. Hubby returned the tea untasted. He said there was bad medicine in it. This shows that jalapine is readily tasted. The fates are against us. All our attempts are bitterly frustrated. I feel so disappointed, not so much on my account as on yours. What is the best plan of operation in the future?”

On May 27 she wrote:

“You assure me you are determined to win me at any cost. Come what may, I will help you to achieve that end.”

On June 11 she said:

“Hubby is very ill with symptoms of cholera. All blame masonic dinner, but you and I know. I cannot bear to see his suffering.”

On June 27 she wrote:

“A powder is hard to administer, as my husband takes no food prepared by me, and makes his own cocoa; but I am still doing my best.”

Mr. Fulham’s little daughter, a child of ten, told the Court a pathetic story of how her father became ill after dinner on the day on which he died. He was previously quite well, but had dinner in the garden, her mother and herself taking the meal out to him. Afterwards her father complained of illness and went to bed. Lieut. Clark was there at the time. She went to see her father in his room later on and going into the dining-room afterwards, she saw Clark take a red box off a shelf and take out a glass needle. He opened a paper and poured out a white powder into a wineglass of water and filled the needle. She watched him then go into her father’s room and seem to push the needle into his heart, arm and shoulder. Shortly afterwards there was a funny gurgling noise from her father. She went to the bedside wondering what it could be, and found him lying on his back and the noise continued. He was breathing heavily and then he died. Clark came in and felt her father’s heart, but returned immediately to the dining-room and said to her mother, “Gone.” After that he went out on a bicycle to fetch Captain Dunn. When the latter arrived Clark pretended he did not know her father was dead and said he brought Captain Dunn to see how Fulham was.

Lieut. Clark volunteered a statement in which he said that Captain Dunn was consulted when Mr. Fulham was brought to Agra and advised the injection of ether, digitalin and strychnine, which was to be kept handy and used immediately an attack was coming on. The injection he gave Mr. Fulham as described by the child was ten minims of this mixture. Half an hour later he made a second injection and then went off on his cycle to fetch Captain Dunn. The bottle was labelled “Hypodermic injection” with the prescription fully inscribed and it was kept in Mrs. Fulham’s room, where it remained until the time of her arrest. It had been stated that he purchased arsenic, atropine and cocaine from different chemists in Calcutta in 1911. He admitted he made these purchases to treat a patient suffering from rheumatism and neuralgia, and as they did not prove effective, he sent to Calcutta for five grains of gelsemine for another preparation which was harmless. This accounted for the whole of the five grains of gelsemine which he purchased in 1911. He bought fifty-four grains of gelsemine and other drugs in 1912, which he had used, and gave the names of the patients whom he had treated with the medicines in order to prove he habitually prescribed it for certain diseases.

He also stated that he purchased 118 grains of cocaine in 1911 and described the disposal of it and also of the thirty grains of atropine, which he said he had used in a liniment.

A letter from Mrs. Fulham to Clark was read, asking if the “new powders were tasteless?” since Mr. Fulham refused his food with the other powders. In a former letter she describes her husband’s frequency of vomiting and, after stating what the hospital doctors thought about his case, she added “but you and I know.”

Mrs. Fulham, on being asked by the Court whether she wished to say anything about this matter, declared that she did not know what the powders she gave to her husband were composed of, but that Lieut. Clark told her that they would make her husband slightly ill, otherwise she would not have given them to him.

Dr. Gore, Assistant-Chemist and Bacteriologist, stated that Clark came to his laboratory in October and asked him for some cholera cultures, saying that he wanted to use them on animals in order to test a cholera specific. He told Clark that animals did not get cholera, and therefore he did not give him any of the cultures. Finally he put him off with some harmless water organisms, as he thought to place cholera cultures in Clark’s inexperienced hands would be a most risky proceeding.

On the Saturday before his wife’s death, Clark came to the laboratory again and asked for more cultures and said that he had tried them on fowls, cats and dogs which had contracted cholera and they had been cured by his specific.

Major O’Meara, who made the autopsy on Mr. Fulham, stated that he found the remains in a remarkable state of preservation; it was well known that certain poisons, especially arsenic, assisted in the preservation of the body. He was certainly of the opinion that Mr. Fulham’s symptoms were compatible with chronic arsenical poisoning, probably given in small doses over a long period. Taking Mrs. Fulham’s statements in her letters to Clark into consideration, describing her husband’s condition, it would appear his whole nervous system and brain were wrecked, and following the administration of a powder, paralytic symptoms developed. Asked if a dose of any poison would produce such symptoms, Major O’Meara replied, “Yes, a certain group of poisons, one of which is atropine.” A mixture of atropine and cocaine would also produce symptoms of heat-stroke; he considered the fatal dose of gelsemine to be one-sixth of a grain, or less, if administered hypodermically, and would cause rapid death.

According to the evidence of the analyst, he failed to find any alkaloid in the remains after making tests for strychnine, gelsemine and atropine, but he found slight traces of arsenic in the thigh bone.

The investigation of Mr. Fulham’s death having been completed, two natives named Sukhia and Ram Lal were placed in the box and charged along with the other three prisoners.

Buddhu, the native servant of the Clarks, then made a confession. He said that he had first worked for four months with Mrs. Fulham, when one day she spoke to him at her bungalow and said she would give him something to put in Mrs. Clark’s food and would pay him fifty rupees. He had refused to do it. Later on Lieut. Clark came into the lamp room in the hospital and took a lamp chimney from him, from which he made powdered glass. He made it into three powders and told him to give it to Mrs. Clark, for which he was promised fifty rupees. When Mrs. Clark became very ill Clark warned him to be careful not to put the powder in the children’s food. Ten days later Clark gave him a bottle and told him if he did not give it to Mrs. Clark he would drive him from the hospital, and on that day he poured the contents into his mistress’s tea, after which she was sick.

Later Clark asked him to come to Mrs. Fulham’s bungalow, where he also met him, and after sending the other servants away, they both asked him if he would arrange to kill Mrs. Clark. Buddhu said he would tell them later and afterwards saw Sukhia and asked him if he could do anything. Sukhia replied, “I cannot do it for a hundred rupees, I want more.” He then took Sukhia to the Fulhams’ bungalow, where Clark was, and he and Mrs. Fulham conversed at length with Sukhia, who asked for payment before he did the work. Clark replied: “You will get the money when the work is done.”

Eventually it was arranged to give Buddhu the money and let him pay Sukhia.

At ten o’clock on the same night, Clark came to the hospital and showed Buddhu six sovereigns and ten rupees and asked if his fellows were coming to the bungalow. Buddhu replied, “When the moon goes down.”

He met Sukhia and Ram Lal that night, together with another man named Mohan who brought a large knife, which Ram Lal took. Mohan kissed and worshipped the knife and then sharpened it on a stone.

About one o’clock they all went to Clark’s bungalow. Buddhu waited on the verandah while the other four went in at the back door, which they tried to open, but a dog barked. They returned to the verandah, and again went towards Clark’s bedroom, but the dog was still barking. Just at that moment Clark rode up on his bicycle. The four men told him to look after the dog, and they would at once finish the work. Ram Lal opened the door, and Clark entered and took out the dog, which was shut up in the outhouse. Clark then rode off, telling the men to enter the house when he had gone. About half-past one the four men went in, Buddhu waiting outside. Shortly afterwards Ram Lal came out, saying he did not know which was Mrs. Clark and which was the daughter. Buddhu pointed out Mrs. Clark’s bed, and then the other two men brought in the lamp. Ram Lal and Sukhia stood behind the curtain, near the daughter’s bed, and, while Budhakanjore took the lamp, the other man gave the memsahib a heavy cut. Directly she shrieked, the man gave another cut, and she writhed and rolled over the bed.

All the four men then left. Buddhu heard the daughter cry out, and then ran off. When he reached the main road the other four men demanded money. Buddhu took them to the hospital and told them to wait. He then went back to the bungalow, where he saw the daughter crying and Clark standing by. Buddhu told Sukhia not to worry about the money, as Clark would pay next morning. Ram Lal came to the hospital eight times in the morning for money. Buddhu told Clark, who asked him to take the men to Mrs. Fulham’s bungalow, but the same evening Sukhia still complained of not having been paid. Buddhu did not know what happened after that, as he was arrested.

The trial of this extraordinary case took place at Allahabad, on March 1, before the Chief Justice. Clark confessed that he was wholly and solely to blame, and that Mrs. Fulham was acting under his directions. He sent her the drugs and she gave them, under his influence.

With respect to Mr. Fulham’s death he said:—

“At first I intended making him sick by giving him small doses, so that he should have to leave the country. The last dose made him very ill and he was brought to Agra in a dying condition. I was sorry for his condition, that is why I killed him. I simply administered four drachms of antipyrine before dinner and this killed him. The injections I gave him after dinner were ether, digitalis, and strychnine, but the dose was too small to counteract the effects of the antipyrine. I gave him antipyrine because Fulham was a wreck and I wanted to finish him off. The injections were given only on the pretence of doing something for him. I knew they wouldn’t do any good.”

The Chief Justice.—“I understand you intended to kill him. Did you kill him?”

Clark.—“Yes, I took pity on his condition.”

Mrs. Fulham was next questioned. In reply to the Chief Justice regarding the administering of the poison to her husband she said, that Clark suggested making him ill. She gave half or quarter doses because she dared not give the fatal dose. The heat-stroke suggestion came from Clark. Mrs. Fulham further said that she had no explanation to offer regarding her letter suggesting that Mrs. Clark must also be removed. Questioned regarding the incidents on the day Mr. Fulham died, she said she put nothing in his dinner, but saw Clark administer a dose of medicine before dinner. She also saw Clark give injections.

At the conclusion of Mrs. Fulham’s statement, counsel for the prosecution said that Clark had admitted that he was criminally responsible for the death of Mr. Fulham, and it was for the jury to decide whether his story was true, or whether he had made the statement with a view to saving Mrs. Fulham. Regarding the latter, counsel reminded the jury of passages in her letters. The prosecution did not wish unduly to press the case against her, and he only asked the jury to act on the plain English wording of the letters. If the jury were satisfied that she had been a consenting party to the murder of her husband, they must also convict her.

The four Hindus were found guilty of the murder of Mrs. Clark; Lieut. Clark and Mrs. Fulham were found guilty in both cases and were sentenced to be hanged. Mrs. Fulham’s sentence, however, was eventually commuted to penal servitude for life.