Year: 2001
Type: article
Abstract: In Albany County, New York, in 1853, John Hendrickson was accused of poisoning his wife, Maria, with aconitine, also known as wolfbane.1 The circumstantial evidence was pretty damning.Their marriage was very rocky and Maria was planning to return to live with her mother.Hendrickson had numerous liaisons with other women and had seriously assaulted one of them.Witnesses testified to his unsavory character.In hindsight, the earlier death of their infant son appeared suspicious.Albany druggists tentatively identified the defendant as a purchaser of aconitine and testified that he had inquired about prussic acid, another poison.Other evidence contradicted Hendrickson's claim that he woke in the middle of the night to find Maria dead.The circumstantial evidence, however, was probably insufficient to convict, and a medical expert for the prosecution provided key evidence.James H. Salisbury was only twenty-©2001
Source: bepress Legal Repository
Authors: Neil Vidmar, Shari Seidman Diamond
Language: English
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1516614057