Veil of Doubt, page 30
“So you spoke to the reporter this morning?” he asked.
She shook her head. “You told me not to.”
Powell blew out an exasperated breath. “What about Dr. Moore’s testimony this morning?” he asked, watching her face. “And your neighbors? Like Mr. Gill, were they lying, too?”
She looked at him blankly. “What are you talking about? What neighbors?”
“Mr. and Mrs. Slack. Colonel Nixon. Mrs. Jones. Your neighbors who refuted Dr. Moore’s testimony.”
“Dr. Moore wasn’t in court this morning.”
“Mrs. Lloyd,” Powell said, anger giving way to pity. “Dr. Moore testified most of the morning. Don’t you remember what he said?”
“I—” She brought her fingertips to her lips. “I wasn’t in court until this afternoon.”
He spoke gently. “If you weren’t in court this morning, Mrs. Lloyd, then where were you?”
“Here in this cell, I suppose. Although I can’t say that I know that for certain either.”
“Do you remember speaking to me and Mr. Foster during the midday dinner hour?”
She shook her head. “Why does this happen to me? Why can I not lift this veil that obscures my memory so?” Biting her bottom lip, she closed her eyes and brought her hands to her face.
Powell reached for her shoulder. “I wish I knew, Mrs. Lloyd.” He lifted her chin so she would look at him. “I need the truth, Mrs. Lloyd. About the huckster. About Dr. Moore.”
Emily raised her eyes to his. “I’ll tell you whatever you wish to know.”
• • •
Powell stepped onto the brick walkway from the jail’s entrance, wind whipping the flaps of his overcoat, his thoughts whirling. In all his life, he had never encountered anyone like Mrs. Lloyd. A confounding mystery, she was. How could he trust her word when she herself had no recollection of her conversations or her whereabouts half the time? Let alone any awareness of what the truth might actually be. Yet somehow he believed her to be innocent. He looked up at the darkened angry sky, wanting to ask the Lord for guidance. Clouds of indigo and gray gathered and moved briskly with the wind as moonlight struggled to break through. After a moment, he shook his head and lowered his gaze to the street.
“No,” he said aloud. “I won’t.” Shoving his fists in the pockets of his coat, he turned west on Market Street, and headed home.
Chapter 33
“And you believe her?” Janet asked as she poured tea for the three of them. Her father, Dr. Jack Fauntleroy, had been at court every day and had joined his daughter and son-in-law for supper earlier that evening.
“For some unbeknownst reason, I do,” Powell said, watching as she set the pot on the table and took a seat next to her father.
“And she had no recollection of the morning or the evening prior?” Jack asked, spooning sugar into his cup.
Powell shook his head. “None.”
“Surely she is playing on your sensitivities,” Janet said. “I don’t think you appreciate how manipulative women can be when it comes to getting a man to believe what we want.”
“I disagree, darling,” Powell said. “I’ve enough experience to see through those kinds of charades. There is something else going on with Mrs. Lloyd that perhaps Dr. Berkley missed.”
“I thought we agreed that her state of mind should not be of concern at this point in the trial,” Janet said.
“But I can’t ignore the truth, Janet,” Powell said. “Without it, I’m blind. How else can I defend her if I don’t have the truth to guide me?”
“What you are describing could be attributed to a certain hysteria that induces an amnestic state,” Jack said. “I’ve seen it in children who have witnessed a horrific event. And in young soldiers during the war.”
“Dr. Berkley mentioned that as well,” Powell said.
“Memory loss?” Janet asked.
“More like memory repression,” her father replied.
“Would she be cognizant of the hysteria afterward?” Powell asked. “Would she at least know that she had been in an amnestic state?”
“Sometimes a person is aware when the hysteria comes on. And it doesn’t always cause amnesia. It can put them in a state of agitation just as easily as it could bring on melancholy or amnesia. Other times, the person doesn’t express any outward symptoms of hysteria and has no memory of the episode at all.”
“I still believe it’s a memory of convenience,” Janet said, blowing on her cup’s rim.
“Think of it as sleepwalking,” Jack said. “Even in a dead sleep, we can have consciousness of self and can know who we are. But that consciousness of self can also vanish in sleep. We forget who we are, become someone else, then remember that we are sleeping and thus dreaming and wake back to our reality. This could be the explanation of what we witnessed today in the courtroom and aligns with what Mrs. Lloyd told you this evening.”
“You’re saying that she might have been sleepwalking?” Powell asked.
“In a crude sense, yes. And most certainly attributable to a latent hysteria that Dr. Berkley warned could be triggered by an event that would excite her mind. I suppose the stress of the court proceedings would qualify.”
“Why now, Pa?” Janet asked. “Why wouldn’t she have descended into such a trance earlier? Like when she was arrested or when Mr. Kilgour was interrogating her at the inquiry? Why wouldn’t Dr. Berkley or Powell have spotted her daydreaming before now?”
“Self-preservation is a peculiar duty, I suppose. When a man is in a reverie, he has no circumspection, nor any manner of attention to his own interest. And yesterday it appears that whatever prior experience Mrs. Lloyd had with that huckster brought on her need to defend herself from it.”
“Are you thinking this huckster may have defiled her in some manner?” Powell asked. Janet put the cup back on the saucer, wide-eyed.
“Possibly,” Jack said. “But she won’t tell you. Like a bad dream, she either can’t remember or doesn’t want to.”
“If Dr. Berkley missed this,” Janet said, looking at Powell, “then it is not your fault if she is, indeed, insane. You made the best decision about how to defend her based on what you knew at the time. You can’t be faulted for what you didn’t know.”
“I don’t think sleepwalking or daydreaming or whatever it was that we witnessed today constitutes the legal definition of insanity,” Powell said.
“I agree,” Jack said. “Mrs. Lloyd’s ability to wake from these spells seems to support Dr. Berkley’s assessment. Insanity occurs when the consciousness of oneself becomes completely lost to the dream—and the ability to understand right from wrong is lost with it.”
• • •
The clock in his chamber beat like the tedious click of a metronome. Facing the window, Powell shut his eyes tightly and tried to force the monotonous ticking from his ears and thoughts from his mind. The darkest day of any trial is the day the prosecution closes, he told himself. And while it was normal for him to be nervous on the eve of the defense’s presentation, tonight’s uneasiness was more than the usual jitters. Ordinarily, he relied on prayer and the truth to steady him. Having given up his talks with God, he was relying on the truth and his own wit to guide him. Tonight he had confidence in neither.
Frustrated, he opened his eyes and rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. Above his head, shadows of branches moved rhythmically in an erratic waltz to the clock’s beat. It was like sleepwalking, he thought, recalling his father-in-law’s explanation of Emily’s gaps in memory. Powell could understand how she might forget parts of the trial. Even Matt slept through some of it! And he could understand her wanting to forget. But she wasn’t sleeping when Gill arrived at the jail. She had told Powell that a neighbor was visiting at the time, yet when Powell checked the visitor log, the only two names on the register were Gill and the Herald reporter the next morning. I’ll have JW ask Freddie tomorrow if there was another visitor. Powell heard the grandfather clock in the dining room chime twice. He drew air deep into his lungs and released it slowly. He needed sleep. And perhaps he needed to listen to his wife’s sage counsel for once. Emily’s state of mind wasn’t relevant any longer, and he needed all his focus on her defense. Drawing another sigh, he pulled the sheet under his chin and rolled away from the window onto his side. He squeezed his eyes closed again, trying to catch a few hours of sleep before court tomorrow and the opening of his case for the defense.
Chapter 34
Saturday, October 26, 1872
Nearly double in size from the previous day, the crowd packed into the gallery quieted as Powell rose. Sun streamed through the court’s hazy windowpanes, illuminating particles of dust floating in the air. For the first time since the trial began, it wasn’t raining. The day was bright.
With a lift of his chin, Powell announced his first witness. “The defense calls Dr. Graham Ellzey.”
As his cousin took the stand, Powell looked over at Emily Lloyd. Once again, she was wearing the black mourning dress with a veil. The veil, he thought, recalling her words from the day before. “The veil obscuring my memory.” He glanced down at his notes. You have to rely on your own agency now and have no room for distraction. Focus. Lifting his head, he approached the witness stand.
“Dr. Ellzey, would you please state your occupation and qualifications for the court,” Powell said, positioning himself on the far corner of the witness stand so that Graham was in the jury’s direct line of sight.
“I am a physician, and I specialize in the application of chemistry to my medical practice. I am a graduate of the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the University of New York and received my medical training at the University of Virginia.”
“You were present in the courtroom during the testimony of Professor Tonry, yes?”
“I was.”
“In your professional opinion, how would you assess Professor Tonry’s process for analyzing the stomach and contents of Maud Lloyd?”
“I would have to say that overall I found Professor Tonry’s methods satisfactory,” Ellzey stated. From the rumblings in the courtroom, Powell guessed that Ellzey’s concurrence had come as a surprise to more than just the state’s attorneys.
“That said,” Ellzey continued, “I do not believe that his process was precisely accurate for separating arsenic from other compounds.”
“How so?” Powell asked.
“As counsel pointed out during its cross-examination, in his initial test, Professor Tonry had not eliminated bismuth from the arsenical compounds. Further, I am not satisfied that the professor had adequately eliminated moisture from the crystalline. Moisture, of course, would impact the ability to accurately quantify the amount of arsenic present in the sample.”
“I see,” Powell said. “But am I understanding you correctly? You agree with the professor’s conclusion that there was, indeed, arsenic in the stomach of Maud Lloyd?”
“I do.”
“And why is that, Dr. Ellzey?”
“It is only logical that Professor Tonry would find arsenic in the stomach of the child because arsenic was in the bismuth she was prescribed.”
Gasps rushed from nearly everyone in the courtroom.
“Objection!” Kilgour bellowed, nearly knocking over his chair as he jumped to his feet. “Does counsel have some proof of this outrageous claim?”
“If Your Honor would allow Dr. Ellzey to explain?” Powell asked the judge.
“I’ll allow it,” Keith said. “Overruled. For now,” he followed up, his brow arched. Powell nodded and looked to Dr. Ellzey.
Ellzey turned toward the jury. “On two separate occasions prior to this hearing, Mr. Harrison provided me samples of bismuth obtained from Dr. Randolph Moore’s store. Using the Marsh apparatus, I tested a small portion of each sample and achieved the dull dark spots that could only be attained if arsenic was present. Later I conducted a more thorough analysis to quantify the arsenic present in the bismuth powders Maud was prescribed. In each case, arsenic was present in the bismuth salts. Two days ago, I acquired forty grains of bismuth from Dr. Moore’s pharmacy directly. Having brought the Marsh apparatus with me from Richmond, I conducted three separate tests on thirty grains of the bismuth sample. In every instance, I achieved the same results.” Ellzey handed Powell three porcelain plates. “In each case, the matte spots appear, providing clear evidence of the presence of arsenic in the bismuth.”
“And you are certain?” Powell asked.
“I am positive,” Ellzey said as Powell showed the plates to the men empaneled on the jury. “There is no compound other than arsenic that makes spots on porcelain like those.”
Powell walked over to the prosecution table and gave the plates to Orr. As he walked by the defense table, JW handed him a scrap of paper decorated with pink flowers, faded leaves, and a bright-green trellis.
“Dr. Ellzey, do you recognize this?” Powell asked as he held the paper so that both Ellzey and the jury could see it.
“Yes. It is a cutting of wallpaper that I removed from the bedroom where Maud Lloyd and her sister, Annie Lloyd, slept.”
“Can you explain to the court the significance of this wallpaper taken from little Maud’s room?” Powell asked as he showed the jury the paper.
“When I was first contacted by the defense to provide chemical analysis testimony in this case, I asked Mr. Harrison if there was any green wallpaper in the Lloyd house. You see, arsenic is used in dye to create the bright color we all know as Scheele’s Green. While the arsenic in the dye typically remains stable and causes no harm, sometimes the dye can become unstable, and the arsenic released and breathed through the lungs.”
“What can cause the dye to become unstable?”
“Moisture or dampness will cause the dye to deteriorate. The age of the paper is also a factor. As the wallpaper disintegrates, the arsenic will discharge into the air. When Mr. Harrison confirmed that, indeed, there was wallpaper in the child’s room, I asked him to provide me a sample. I conducted the same analysis used by Professor Tonry and confirmed the presence of arsenic in the wallpaper. Upon my arrival to this town three days ago, I visited the defendant’s home. The house was very damp and had a musty smell. I retrieved a second sample of paper from the child’s bedroom. As you can see, the paper is brittle, indicating that it has been on the wall for a very long time. I cut a sample from the wall and took it to the Harrison Law office. Much like the analysis performed on Dr. Moore’s bismuth, I used a soot flame to burn the paper and forced the gas through the Marsh apparatus. It produced arsenical spots on the porcelain.” He held up a porcelain plate with the telltale distinctive black markings. Powell took the plate from him and showed the jury.
“In your professional opinion, could the child Maud Lloyd have experienced the effects of arsenic poisoning from the wallpaper in her room?”
“It definitely is a possibility. She most probably inhaled it, but considering the amount of delamination, she may also have consumed it, as a child might.”
Powell handed the wallpaper and the plate to Orr and returned to the front of the courtroom.
“Dr. Ellzey, you were present in the court when Dr. Moore testified that he had prescribed eighteen grains of bismuth to Maud Lloyd. As a chemical expert as well as a physician, can you give the court your experience using bismuth as a medicine?”
“Bismuth is used to treat various ailments of the digestive system. For example, I have used it to treat chronic diarrhea in adult patients. It is a metal with chemical properties similar to arsenic and antimony and produces a metallic taste in the mouth. In its purest form, bismuth is very toxic. This is why the concentration of bismuth in the salts must be carefully assessed before prescribing, as it is fairly easy to administer too much of the pure metal. This is why I test bismuth when I receive it from my distributor. As a matter of practice, I test every chemical compound that comes into my pharmacy for the presence of toxins like arsenic, antimony, and the like.”
“That sounds like a lot of work,” Powell added with a glance at the jury.
“Those of us in the practice of medicine swore an oath to do no harm. I believe it is our duty to ensure just that.”
“I see. Do you often find contamination of the medicinal compounds you purchase?”
“Occasionally.”
Powell shifted his stance. “You stated that you have used bismuth to treat patients. Have you treated patients that were poisoned by bismuth?”
“Indeed I have.”
“And how would you describe symptoms in those patients?”
