n the case as coroners' juries have been
sitting upon similar cases ever since English jurisprudence advanced to
the stage of not executing people on suspicion. There was the same dank,
solemn atmosphere of the morgue, the same density of intellect and
understanding, the same owl-like gaze of stupidity that passed muster
for wisdom, the same perfervid desire to get a certificate on the public
treasury without undue mental or physical effort, the same ambition to
give a duly impressive but harmless verdict, that must have
characterized the first empaneled jury of this nature. Never by any
possibility could these original qualities have deteriorated, and it
would require a wild stretch of the imagination to note any traces of
improvement.

The reading of the verdict of a coroner's jury has never been known to
disqualify any person from serving on a trial jury in a murder case by
unduly influencing the opinion, or arousing the passions of such
involuntary candidate for the jury box. No jails have been stormed or
revolutions started by the verdict of an American coroner's jury, and
New York was not destined to have its sensibilities too harshly jarred
by a sensational verdict in this case.

After solemnly sitting for hours, the jury found that "Said Emma Bell
came to her death from the effects of hydrocyanic acid administered by
some person to the said jurors unknown, and whether said hydrocyanic
acid was administered with felonious intent the said jurors cannot at
this time ascertain."

The facts established by the jury were, that the woman was dead; that
hydrocyanic acid had killed her; that the cause of death was so evident
that it was only necessary to examine the contents of the stomach; that
apparently none of the candied fruit had been disturbed, as the box was
even full and the top layer as smooth as when first packed; that a
chemical analysis proved that no poison of any kind was in any of the
candied fruit in the box; that no vial could be found on or near the
woman after death, and that a thorough search of the apartment failed
to disclose any of this or any other kind of poison; that the woman was
quite alone in the apartment when death took place and was only
discovered by the janitress at ten o'clock at night, at which time she
entered the apartment, having been invited to sleep there during the
absence of the child in the country, whither she had gone a few days
previous to this for a week's stay; that Mrs