Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 13.pdf/566

 A Study in the Fine Art of Murder. sion, the pieces of glass would certainly not have been found within the bottle, but scat tered over the floor and sticking into the deceased. Nor would the latter have occu pied the position of peace and repose in which he was found. Secondly, the theory of suicide—evidently an afterthought on the part of the prisoner, was altogether improb able. What object could Holmes have had in removing the body from the third-story front room, where he claimed to have found it, to the second-story back? Whatever be came of rubber tubing and towel? How could the prisoner, comparatively slight built as he was, have carried the heavy body of Pitezel downstairs, grasping it under the armpits and letting the feet drag, as claimed by him, without in any way disarranging clothing and general appearance? These are questions which, it would seem, might natur ally suggest themselves to any one. There were other improbabilities which an expert like the prisoner should have guarded against. At the moment of death, as is well known, a discharge occurs through relaxation of the involuntary muscles. If the theory of the defense vas true, how did it happen that such discharge was found in the room in which the body was discovered? How could the two ounces of chloroform, found in the stomach, have come there when his death was supposed to have occurred from the inhalation of the fumes? The prisoner con tended that there was an overflow from the mouth. But all students of anatomy are aware that for a liquid to flow from the oesophagus into the stomach of a person lying flat on his back, without first passing into the lungs (which in the present instance were found to be empty) it must have flowed up-hill. While this is possible when the subject is living and has consequent control over the muscles of the throat, the contrary is manifestly the case in a person deceased. The proposition is elementary that to permit a fluid to flow from its receptacle means

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must have been provided for the admission of an equivalent quantity of air. Hence, if the rubber tube had been constricted in the middle, only an amount of chloroform equal to the amount of air at the point of constric tion could have passed from the bottle—a quantity wholly insufficient to fill the stomach. Furthermore, taking into con sideration the extreme volatility of chloro form, and the consequent diminution that the drug would suffer while exposed to air during transit through the tube, it would appear extremely unlikely that any appre ciable amount would ever have arrived at the mouth of Pitezel. As is well known among medical men, chloroform on being adminis tered, primarily causes a feeling of exalta tion amounting almost to a spasm. Conced ing to Pitezel the possession of a will power almost abnormal, sufficient to enable him to remain quiet under the drug's influence up to the point of unconsciousness, it is incon ceivable that when the latter had super vened, violent contraction of the muscles would not have ensued. When taken inter nally, chloroform being an irritant poison, will produce considerable inflammation of the lining of the stomach, the absence of which in the corpse of Pitezel clearly demon strated a post-mortem administration. Such were some of the indications that pointed indubitably to the defendant's guilt. More over, could it be imagined for an instant that Pitezel, the uncultured and ignorant, as Holmes himself designated him more than once, could have designed so elaborate a scheme of self-destruction? But why did Holmes murder Pitezel? one is tempted to ask. For a man of his calibre, the deception of the insurance company would have been a comparatively easy task had he chosen to resort to the original plan of a substituted corpse. In the event of nonsuccess, the penalty would have been only a few years' imprisonment. The stakes were the same, the hazard less. It mav be doubted much whether the