“His symptoms were not in any way similar to those I should have expected to find from such poison. No, sir.”
Mason said, “Now I’ll go a little further with you, Doctor. You have stated that the man described his symptoms of poisoning?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And that his condition was compatible with such poisoning?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And that when you left the man at somewhere around three o’clock in the afternoon he was dead?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now then, if that is the case,” Mason said, “where did he get the meal of bacon and eggs that Dr. Hoxie found in the man’s stomach and which he estimated had been ingested shortly before death?”
“Do you want my opinion?” Dr. Renault asked.
“I’m asking you.”
“It is my opinion that his wife managed in some way, after I had left her alone with him, to get him to take some food, that that food caused his death.”
“In what manner?”
“I don’t know. I do know that I would not have approved a meal of that sort. The man was in a condition where he should have had liquids, no solids, nothing heavy. I had actually given him some intravenous nourishment.”
“How could a man who was dying from exhaustion and shock and debilitation sit up in bed and eat a meal of bacon and eggs?” Mason asked.
“I don’t know, I’m sure.”
“You can’t account for it?”
“I can’t account for it.”
“Would you say that the patient was in such a condition that he couldn’t have eaten bacon and eggs?”
Dr. Renault said, “There is no question but what the body on which the post-mortem was performed was that of the same man who had been my patient. I certainly would not have thought he could have eaten a meal of that sort. He undoubtedly was prevailed upon to do so. The meal was found in his stomach. Therefore he must have taken it. I simply wouldn’t have believed it was possible.”
“All right, let’s get certain things straight,” Mason said. “As a doctor you know that the man did not die of poisoning by cyanide of potassium?”
“I feel certain he did not.”
“You don’t know of your own knowledge that he ever ate any candy, do you?”
“Not of my own knowledge.”
“You don’t know of your own knowledge that he ingested any poison at all?”
“Well….well, I can’t swear to it, of course. I wasn’t there.”
“For all that you know of your own knowledge, Doctor, Edward Davenport may have contracted a typical case of food poisoning. He may have attributed that to poison which had been administered by his wife, and he may have been quite mistaken.”
“As far as I know of my own knowledge.”
“It is a frequent occurrence, is it not, Doctor, for a man to suffer food poisoning and to think that the food may have been deliberately poisoned rather than merely contaminated?”
“I suppose so.”
“Have you ever encountered such a case in your practice?”
“I—yes, I believe I have.”
“And you know that Edward Davenport didn’t die from cyanide of potassium poisoning?”
“I am certain he didn’t.”
“That’s all,” Mason said.
“Now just a moment,” Vandling said, as Dr. Renault started to leave the stand. “I want to question you, Doctor. I have talked with you before, have I not?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And at no time did you tell me that Mr. Davenport’s death was not due to cyanide of potassium poisoning?”
“You didn’t ask me specifically,” Dr. Renault said. “I will state by way of explanation that I felt his wife had administered poison, that the poisoning had been fatal, that in my opinion the man could well have died because of the after effects of that poison or that a second dose of poison could have been administered shortly before his death. I used the word poison. I did not say cyanide of potassium and you did not ask me. I told you specifically that in my opinion the man could have died solely because his system failed to rally from the shock of the effects of poison which had been administered in a piece of candy at about seven o’clock in the morning.”
“Yes, I guess you did,” Vandling admitted, “but you didn’t tell me specifically that he couldn’t have died from cyanide poisoning.”
“I wasn’t asked. I see no reason to come into conflict with some other physician unless the question is asked me under such circumstances that I cannot avoid answering. Mr. Mason asked me a specific question and I gave him a specific answer. I had determined that I would give that answer if the questions were asked and I couldn’t avoid it. I was with the man when he passed away. That death might have been due to some poison which acted upon the heart or it could have been due to the shock of the earlier poison, but the symptoms of death which I would have expected had cyanide of potassium been administered were not present, not at that time.”
“You know how much cyanide was found in the man’s stomach at the time of the autopsy?”
“I do,”
“And that was an amount sufficient to cause death?”
“Very definitely.”
“So that—now wait,” Vandling said. “If the man hadn’t died from cyanide poisoning he would have died from cyanide poisoning. I mean that he had enough cyanide in his system to have killed him even if you don’t think he died from cyanide poisoning.”
“I object to the question,” Mason said, “as being argumentative, as not being proper cross-examination, and as being completely ambiguous. The question is not what the man would have died from if he hadn’t died from something else. It’s a question of what caused his death.”
“I think so,” Judge Siler said. “I’ll sustain the objection to the question in that form.”
Vandling said, “Your Honor, this is a most peculiar situation. Dr. Hoxie is a very competent physician and toxicologist. He has testified to finding enough poison in the stomach of the dead man to have caused his death. He specifically names that poison as cyanide of potassium, a very quick acting, fatal poison. Dr. Renault now offers it as his opinion that the man did not die from cyanide poisoning. It is, of course, only his opinion.”
“He is a physician. He has given his opinion,” Judge Siler said.
“And he was your witness,” Mason added.
“Your Honor,” Vandling said, “I think under the circumstances the prosecution is justified in asking a continuance of this matter.
“I will state frankly that at this time the dismissal of proceedings in this case would not constitute a bar to a further prosecution. I could dismiss this complaint right now and arrest this woman on the same charge tomorrow.”
“Why don’t you do it?” Mason asked.
“I’m not ready to do it yet. I want to investigate the case a little further. I may state, Your Honor, that in a sense I am bound by the fact that, Dr. Renault is my witness. If I had simply placed Dr. Hoxie on the stand and shown the cause of death by the autopsy, if I had shown the presence of poison in the candy and the fingerprints of the defendant upon that candy, particularly after she had stated that she had never opened the box of candy, I would have established a prima facie case.”
“Do you want to ask me to bind the defendant over on the evidence in the case as it now stands?” Judge Siler asked.
“I don’t know, Your Honor,” Vandling said. “The situation is somewhat complicated. The record now shows that Dr.Renault was called as my witness and that he has now stated positively that in his opinion the man did not die from poisoning by cyanide.”