Widow Certain Cigarettes Killed Mate, Smoking Trial Told

The widow of a smoker wept softly on the witness stand Tuesday and declared she believes that her husband was killed by cigarettes.

“Cancer, emphysema and all the rest of his diseases were caused by cigarette smoking,” Elayne Galbraith said during intensive cross-examination by a lawyer for R.J. Reynolds.

Galbraith has brought a $1-million wrongful death lawsuit against Reynolds, manufacturers of Camel, Winston and Salem cigarettes, claiming that the firm is liable for the death of her husband, John Galbraith.

Elayne Galbraith told the court Tuesday that she knew the death certificate attributed her husband’s death in 1982 to arteriosclerotic heart disease and pulmonary fibrosis, but she remained adamant in her statement that cigarettes were the real killer.

Reynolds attorney Thomas Workman, focusing on other possible causes of John Galbraith’s death, had the widow enumerate the foods she fed her husband, implying that cholesterol may have been the culprit.

At another point, he stressed that Galbraith drank excessive amounts of coffee and large quantities of alcohol. Galbraith denied that her husband drank either substance to excess.

She wept as lawyers paused during Workman’s probing cross-examination to approach the judge’s bench on a legal question. Wiping her eyes, she declined a recess.