1871 - The Wharton Trial. Van Ness Poisoned!

Sensationally scandalous events shocked Baltimoreans in June 1871 when former Pastimes Base Ball Club player Eugene Van Ness was poisoned! The incident lead to the investigation of Elizabeth Wharton, the landlord of another poisoning victim a few days before, retired U.S. Army General William Scott Ketchum. Van Ness worked as Elizabeth Wharton’s accountant at Alex Brown & Son and had gone to visit the ailing Ketchum, who was also a client, at Wharton’s boarding house. After sharing a glass of beer with Wharton and a few of her friends, Van Ness became violently ill and was unable to leave. One of the guests noticed a white substance in the glass that was later identified as Tartar Emetic, a toxic poison. Elizabeth Wharton was called into suspicion immediately as the recent mysterious deaths of her husband, and both a daughter and son, had never been satisfactorily explained. Eugene Van Ness eventually recuperated, but the much older General Ketchum died on June 28th causing a fervent uproar from a community who howled for immediate justice. 

The investigation dragged on for weeks as forensic evidence was thin as rumors and hearsay circled through the press. Elizabeth Wharton was finally charged on July 12th, the day before she was booked to leave on a ship bound for Europe. Ketchum’s body was autopsied and after a thorough analysis, a lethal dose of poison was discovered in his system. The defense argued that Ketchum died of natural causes and that the case was purely circumstantial, while the prosecution sought to prove that he had owed Elizabeth Wharton money as the motive for murder. The prosecution presented conflicting supporting medical evidence, which the defense was able to refute, and after a long deliberation, the sympathetic jury found Mrs. Wharton... Not Guilty!