for the defence. Palmer was found guilty on 27 May, after a trial which lasted twelve days. True bills for the murder of his wife and of his brother Walter had also been returned against Palmer, but, in consequence of his conviction in Cook's case, they were not proceeded with. He was removed from Newgate to Stafford gaol, outside which he was hanged on 14 June 1856. He was buried within the precincts of the prison in accordance with the terms of the sentence.
The trial excited an extraordinary interest, ‘enjoying the attention not only of this country, but of all Europe’ (Life of Lord Chancellor Campbell, 1881, ii. 344). Campbell, who summed up strongly against the prisoner, devoted fourteen continuous hours to the preparation of his address (ib. ii. 345). When the verdict was returned, Palmer wrote upon a slip of paper, which he handed to his attorney, ‘The riding did it’ (Serjeant Ballantine's Experiences of a Barrister's Life, 1890, p. 132). Cockburn greatly distinguished himself by his masterly conduct of the prosecution, and is said to have replied at the end of the case without the aid of a single note. The prosecution had to rely upon circumstantial evidence alone, but it is impossible to suggest any innocent explanation of Palmer's conduct. It was ‘proved to demonstration,’ says Sir FitzJames Stephen, ‘that he was in dire need of money in order to avoid a prosecution for forgery; that he robbed his friend of all he had by a series of devices which he must have instantly discovered if he had lived; that he provided himself with the means of committing the murder just before Cook's death; and that he could neither produce the poison he had bought nor suggest any innocent reason for buying it’ (General View of the Criminal Law of England, p. 271). The theory of the prosecution was based mainly upon the death having been caused by strychnine, though no strychnine was discovered in the body. The fact that antimony was found in the body was never seriously disputed. Probably there was some mystery in the case which was never discovered, for Palmer asserted to the last that Cook ‘was not poisoned by strychnine.’ Indeed, Palmer is said to have been ‘anxious that Dr. Herapath should examine the body for strychnine, though aware that he said he could detect the fifty-thousandth part of a grain’ (ib. p. 271). Possibly Palmer may have discovered some way of administering that drug which rendered detection impossible. His modus operandi throughout bears a curious resemblance to that of Thomas Griffiths Wainewright [q. v.]
In Mansfield and Nottingham there was a general belief that Lord George Bentinck was one of Palmer's many victims (Jennings, Rambles among the Hills, 1880, p. 144), but, beyond the fact that Lord George was in the habit of making bets with Palmer, there does not appear to be the slightest foundation for the belief. The authorship of ‘A Letter to the Lord Chief Justice Campbell,’ &c. (London, 1856, 8vo), in which his conduct of the trial was vehemently attacked, was disclaimed by the Rev. Thomas Palmer, the poisoner's brother, whose name appeared on the title-page.
[Illustrated Life, Career, and Trial of William Palmer of Rugeley, containing an unabridged edition of the ‘Times’ Report of his Trial for Poisoning John Parsons Cook, 1856; Central Criminal Court Proceedings, 1855–6, xliv. 5–225; Stephens's General View of the Criminal Law of England, 1890, pp. 231–72; Taylor on Poisoning by Strychnine, with Comments on the Medical Evidence given at the Trial of William Palmer, 1856; Taylor's Principles and Practice of Medical Jurisprudence, 1883, i. 100, 197, 377, 442–3, ii. 629–30; Pharmaceutical Journal, xv. 532–4, xvi. 5–11; St. Bartholomew's Hospital Reports, v. 241; Annual Register, 1855 Chron. pp. 186–92, 1856 Chron. pp. 387–539; Ill. London News, 24 May 1856; Serjeant Ballantine's Experiences of a Barrister's Life, 1890, p. 132; Staffordshire Advertiser, 15 and 22 Dec. 1855; Simms's Bibliotheca Staffordiensis, pp. 345–6 (with an elaborate bibliography); Greville Memoirs, 3rd ser., 1887, ii. 46–7; Notes and Queries, 6th ser. ix. 69.]
PALMER, WILLIAM (1802–1858), conveyancer and legal author, second son of George Palmer [q. v.] of Nazeing Park, Essex, M.P. for the southern division of that county from 1836 to 1847, by Anna Maria, daughter of William Bund of Wick Episcopi, Worcestershire, was born on 9 Nov. 1802. He matriculated at Oxford (St. Mary Hall) on 16 Feb. 1822, graduated B.A. in 1825, and proceeded M.A. in 1828. In May 1830 he was called to the bar at the Inner Temple, where he acquired a large practice as a conveyancer. In 1836 he was appointed to the professorship of civil law at Gresham College, which he held until his death on 24 April 1858. Palmer was a man of high principle and unostentatious philanthropy. He did not marry.
He is author of the following: 1. ‘An Inquiry into the Navigation Laws,’ London, 1833, 8vo. 2. ‘Discourse on the Gresham Foundation; or two introductory Lectures delivered at the Royal Exchange,’ London, 1837, 8vo. 3. ‘The Law of Wreck considered with a View to its Amendment,’ London, 1843, 8vo. 4. ‘Principles of the Legal Provision for the Relief of the Poor. Four lec-
