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Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 155, 2 July 1901, Page 2

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DEATH OF MRS O'DOWD

TO-DAY'S PROCEEDINGS

DR. YVILKINS RECALLED

When the inquest wa» resumed at len o'rlock this morning, Mr Reed asked permission to recall Dr. VVilkins. Mr Kced: Yon recollect the 15th May? Witness: Yes. From noon of that day 1 want, you to give us a'list of Hie persons who wore there Unit day up till tour o'clock. The first was Mr VV. li. liurton, who came between twenty am! twenty-five minutes past 'twelve. The primary cause of liis coining to sec me was that he had found a Haw in the machinery that we had jointly constructed, lie came to me to have a loni? conversation about. Die machinery, as it involved a considerable expense. How long was ho with you? , lie came at twenty or twenty-five uiimit.es pasrl, twelve, and stayed till I twenty minutes to three. . While he was there had you other patients? Yes. About one o'clock a man came ■in to consult me for influenza. He was a. stranger to mo. McC Inside, of the No. 2 Service Company, was the second. Those were Ihe only two 1 I attended to while P.urton was there. ! The bell rang several times, and I asked the patients -a man and a woj man —to wait. Mrs Fletcher ennic about: five minutes aNer t lie man ; whom I have called a stranger. As soon as Mr Murton passed out of the ! waiting-room door t he other man came straight into the surgery, leaving Mrs Fletcher in the waiting-room.

How long was he with you?

Quite half an hour. Mrs Fletcher, who came next, musi have come into th« surgery nboiit. ten minutes past throe. She was with me about, twenty minutes. Who came next? Mr Freeman Martin, a planter from ITiji. lie came, three or four minutes after Mrs Fletcher left, lie had just arrived from Fiji (hat day. He stayed with me in consultation till live minutes to four by my watch. After turning off the gas and looking; up it. must have been just four o'clock when we left (he rooms. Mr Afar! in and I walked together down Shortlandstrect, parting at the corner. 1 went up Queen-Ktrect, and ho went down towards the wharf, Mil. MARTIN'S EVIDENCE, ('. IS. Button, solicitor, deposed that on .lune 24th Dr. Wilkins brought Mr. Martin to witness' oftie.e. Mr. Martin made a statement, which witness embodied in his own writing. Witness then handed the statement. either to Mr. Martin or Dr. Wilkins, and they took it away to pet it declared before a Justice of the Peace. The statements embodied in the declaration produced were made to witness by Mr. Martin.

In the declaration produced, Mr. Martin deposed that he was at Dr. Wilkins' ollice in Shortland-street on May 15, from between twenty and half-past ;> to t p.m. He went to the doctor to consult him about his eyes. The doctor at five minutes to 4 that day asked to be excused, as he, had an appointment with an engineer, and they left the surgery together, separating at the foot of Shortlandstreet. Witness saw no female at Dr. Wilkins' rooms while he was there.

The jury at this stage expressed a desire to have the evidence of Dr. Lindsay, who had been present at the post-mortem, and also to recall Dr. Lowe. Enquiry, however, elicited the fact that Dr. Lindsay would not return from the South till to-morrow, while Dr. Lowe was absent from his residence. in order to secure Dr. Lowe's attendance the inquest, was adjourned at. noon till 2 o'clock.

Witness added that Mr Martin remained in Auckland till last Wednesday, when he left for Fiji. Witness did not know till Mopday, 24th June, that he had definitely settled to go so soon. Witness said he would like him to stay and give evidence. Mr Martin replied that he would stay if witness particularly wanted it, but to do so would cost him several hundred pounds. Under the circumstances witness could not ask him to stay. Mr Martin suggested giving evidence on

affidavit.

Witness, continuing1, said that as his solicitor was aibsent from town he did not know how he could get the evidence taken. He went firsHi to 'the foreman of the jury (Mr Macky), who referred him to the Coroner. The latter was not at his office, and when later on witness called again he was informed that the Coi-oner, under the ■circumstances, preferred not to sec Mm. Mr Button, solicitor, then drew up a statement embodying Mr Martin's evidence, which was signed by Mr Martin before Mr F. L. Prime, J.P.

The Coroner said it was unnecessary to put this down, because no documentary evidence could be accepted.

Mr Reed: But I propose to tender it as an exhibit, attached to Dr. Wiltons' evidence.

The Coroner: You may tender it, but I shall not accept it.

Mr Reed: Will you allow me to call Mr Button as to the statement made to him by Mr Martin.

The Coroner: Oh, yes, and for this reason —'Mr Button being hero in the flesh can be cross-examined if necessary. That is just, the difference.

The re-examination of Dr. Wilkins was then resumed.

Mr Keed: Supposing an operation for abortion were performed, how long would the whole operation take?

Witness: I have on several occasions brought on an abortion by operation in order to save the life of a mother. Such an operation would be done fairly quickly if performed in thirty minutes from commencement to end. Tb say that the whole thing could be done in five minute's, added the witness, was perfectly absurd. A woman suffered considerable shock from such an operation. Tn reply to the foreman Dr. Wilkins said in his medical experience women had admitted to him having operated on themselves to procure abortion. lie knew in New Zealand, from hearsay, that it is v very common practice.

When the inquest was resumed Dr, Lowe was recalled.

The Foreman: Seeing that Dr." de dive Lowe, according1 to Ms evidence, was of opinion, that to attempt an operation on the deceased to relieve her of an apparent foetus would prove fatal, he must have been, aware of her very precarious conclitkm. aad <&«

cause of it. That being so, why did he not, as is customary in such cases, either communicate with the police department or arrange immediately for her depositions to be taken before a magistrate? Dr. Lowe: In my evidence, already n-iven, you will remember that I said \lis O'Dowd, in my opinion, though "very dangerously ill and suffering from peritonitis . was not at the point of death on the occasion of my visit at .cloven: o'clock on the Thursday evening (May 16th). Frequently, in private practice, we see female patients running a temperature of 104 or 105 decrees, with peritonitis present, due, without a doubt, to the. presence in the uterus of an aborting foetus, or the afterbirth, should the foetus have come away. If the medical man in : ,(tendance does not deem an iin.mediaU> operation advisable or necessary, then the treatment carried out as 1 carried it out in thisea.se is resorted to. (Merewitness described the treatment.) Dr. Lowe continued: Even when Mrs O'Dowd, who no doubt was surely cognisant of her approaching end, told mo she was dying, and repeated it emphatically, telling me she could not recover even then, as 1 have already .said in my evidence, 1 did not deem her to be dying. Had I thought death imminent then I would surely have communicated the fact to the police, to the magistrate, and to her spiritual confessor. My mind was too much taken up with the fact of Mrs O'Dowd's illness and the anxiety necessarily devolving therefrom to think about police or any legal matters in any serious light. Again, I say I did not know that deatli would take place at 5.10 a.m. on the following day.

(Proceeding.)