Dr. Robert Buchanan

Case details

Dr. Robert Buchanan was executed by electrocution at Sing Sing prison on July 2, 1895.

Background

Having divorced his first wife, Buchanan married Anna Sutherland, who was a brothel proprietress. He found that his patients and colleagues did not take kindly to this and threatened to transfer. Seeking an easy way out, he set about getting rid of his wife.

The offence

Anna became ill and died of a Cerebral Haemorhage. Buchanan was suspected of poisoning her. Suspicion increased when only one month later he remarried his first wife.

Investigation

An exhumation was ordered and the body examined. Quantities of morphine were discovered, and Buchanan was arrested and charged with her murder.

A New York reporter, Ike White, had heard rumors in May 1892 about the sudden death of a brothel keeper named Anna Buchanan. According to the death certificate, the madam had succumbed to a stroke, but friends of the dead woman were convinced that she had been poisoned by her husband, Dr. Robert Buchanan, so that he might acquire her $50,000 fortune. White uncovered that just three weeks after Anna's death, Buchanan had remarried his first wife, Helen, in Nova Scotia.

Further investigation revealed Buchanan as a debauchee who most nights could be found in New York's bordellos, drinking and carousing until the early hours, with effects that made inroads into his bank balance. White also investigated remarks allegedly made by Buchanan two years earlier during the trial of Carlyle Harris, a New York medical student charged with wife-murder. At first her death, too, had been attributed to a stroke, but pinpointing of the pupils had led investigators to detect a morphine overdose. Harris was convicted and sentenced to death.

Arrest

Buchanan was arrested after morphine was found during the exhumation and examination of Anna's body.

Trial

The trial opened on March 20, 1893, and was presided over by Recorder Smyth.

Charges

Buchanan was charged with her murder.

Defendants and court personnel

• Chief defense lawyers: Charles W. Brooks; William J. O'Sullivan
• Chief prosecutors: De Lance Nicoll; James Osborne; Francis Weliman
• Judge: E. C. Smyth
• Place: New York, New York

Date of trial

The trial was held March 20—April 26, 1893.

Evidence and forensic science

The trial was fought almost exclusively on forensic science testimony.

In Professor Rudolph Witthaus, the prosecution had one of the nation's foremost toxicologists. Witthaus analyzed the dead woman's organs and told the court how, using the Pellagri test, he discovered that:

"the body contained 1/10th of a grain of morphine in the remains,"
which he estimated was the residue of a fatal dose of 5 or 6 grains.

Chief prosecuting counsel Francis Wellman asked the witness if he knew any means whereby it was possible to disguise the pinpoint pupils so characteristic of morphine poisoning. Witthaus referred to his original report:

"Treatment of the eyes with atropine might very well eliminate the narrowing of the pupils which otherwise follows morphine poisoning."

Significance of prior remarks

Buchanan had followed the proceedings in the Harris case with great interest. He frequently referred to the accused as a "bungling fool" and a "stupid amateur," and boasted that he knew how to avoid the telltale pinpoint pupils.

Sentencing

Buchanan was found guilty and sentenced to die for first degree murder.

Outcome

Buchanan was electrocuted at Sing Sing prison on 2 July 1895.

Other details

Buchanan was accused of poisoning Anna so that he might acquire her $50,000 fortune. Anna's death had been initially attributed to a stroke, according to the death certificate.