Fourteen
IThe inquest took place two days later. It was the second time I had attended an inquest in this partof the world.
The coroner was an able middle-aged¹ man with a shrewd glance and a dry manner of speech.
The medical evidence was taken first. It established the fact that death was the result ofpoisoning by physostigmine, and that other alkaloids of the Calabar bean were also present. Thepoison must have been taken some time on the preceding evening between seven o’clock andmidnight. The police surgeon and his colleague refused to be more precise.
The next witness was Dr. Franklin. He created on the whole a good impression. His evidencewas clear and simple. After his wife’s death he had checked over his solutions in the laboratory.
He had discovered that a certain bottle, which should have contained a strong solution of alkaloidsof the Calabar bean with which he had been conducting experiments, had been filled up withordinary water in which only a trace of the original contents was present. He could not say withcertainty when this had been done as he had not used that particular preparation for some days.
The question of access to the laboratory was then gone into. Dr. Franklin agreed that thelaboratory was usually kept locked and that he usually had the key in his pocket. His assistant,Miss Hastings, had a duplicate key. Anyone who wished to go into the studio had to get the keyfrom her or from himself. His wife had borrowed it occasionally, when she had left thingsbelonging to her in the laboratory. He himself had never brought a solution of physostigmine intothe house or into his wife’s room and he thought that by no possibility could she have taken itaccidentally.
Questioned further by the coroner, he said that his wife had for some time been in a low andnervous state of health. There was no organic disease. She suffered from depression and from arapid alteration² of moods.
Of late, he said, she had been cheerful and he had considered her improved in health and spirits.
There had been no quarrel between them and they had been on good terms. On the last evening hiswife had seemed in good spirits and not melancholy³.
He said that his wife had occasionally spoken of ending her life but that he had not taken herremarks seriously. Asked the question definitely, he replied that in his opinion his wife had notbeen a suicidal type. That was his medical opinion as well as his personal one.
He was followed by Nurse Craven. She looked smart and efficient in her trim uniform and herreplies were crisp and professional. She had been in attendance on Mrs. Franklin for over twomonths. Mrs. Franklin suffered badly from depression. Witness had heard her say at least threetimes that she “wanted to end it all,” that her life was useless and that she was a millstone roundher husband’s neck.

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