Part 17 (2/2)
”Yes, sir.”
”If you did not make any injections, as you have testified that you did not, how is it that you could have left this at the house?”
”I probably took it out of my bag, when getting out my laryngoscope and other instruments to treat the throat.”
”I see that this case not only contains the syringe, but also some small phials filled with tablets. What are those tablets?”
”They are various medicines used hypodermically.”
”Was there any morphine in this case when you last saw it?”
”Yes, sir.”
”How much?”
”There was a phial filled with tablets. Altogether eighty tablets, of one eighth of a grain each.”
”Please count the tablets remaining, and state how many there are?”
”I find forty-eight.”
”That is to say thirty-two pellets have been taken out?”
”Yes, sir.”
”Now, then, supposing that this is the identical syringe which the nurse saw Dr. Medjora using, and deducting the four pellets which she found in the bed, how large a dose must have been administered at that time?”
”I object!” said Mr. Bliss.
”It seems to be a mere matter of arithmetic,” said the Recorder.
”No, your Honor. That question supposes that the tablets missing from the phial were administered to the patient. Now there is no evidence whatever as to that?”
”Whether the missing tablets were administered or not is a question for the jury to decide. You may state, Doctor, how much morphine was contained in the missing tablets.”
”As there are forty-eight here, thirty-two are missing. Deducting four, that leaves us twenty-eight, or a total of three and a half grains.”
This was a corroboration of the estimate made by the experts, that three grains must have been the minimum dose administered, and if the jury should believe that these missing tablets had been given by the prisoner, it was evident that they must convict him. So that after all the prosecution did gain something out of the witness who had been forced upon them. They then rested their case, and court adjourned, leaving the opening for the defence until the following day.
CHAPTER VIII.
FOR THE DEFENCE.
When Mr. Dudley arose to open the case for the defence, the crowded court-room was as silent as the grave, so intense was the interest. He spoke in slow, measured tones, with no effort at rhetorical effect.
Tersely he pictured the position of his client, a.s.sailed by circ.u.mstantial evidence, and encircled by a chain which seemed strong enough to drag him to the dreadful doom which would be his upon conviction. But the lawyer claimed that the chain was not flawless. On the contrary he said that many of the links had been forged, and he dwelt upon the word with a significant accent, as he glance towards the prosecuting counsel; forged from material which was rotten to the core, so rotten that it would be but necessary to direct the intelligent attention of the jury, to the inherently weak spots, to convince them that justice demanded a prompt acquittal of Dr. Medjora.
<script>