ten o'clock at night
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 can not 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. Bell had been doing her own work for several months and taking in fine sewing . But ambitious newspaper reporters bent themselves to this new task , as is their custom in all matters of public concern , _ i. e. _ , to outrival the most noted expert in the line of that particular phase of public endeavor uppermost at the time . Theories were advanced in the daily papers that made Sherlock Holmes seem like a novice in detective work and Lucretia Borgia a mere infant in the skillful administration of poisons . The regular detectives , both public and private , were aroused by the mystery that shrouded the case .