AUCKLAND SENSATION,

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 149, 5 July 1901, Page 2

AUCKLAND SENSATION,

(By Telegraph—Press Association.) Auckland, last night. Dr. Wilkins was brought up at the 'dice Court to-day, and charged with the aurder of Mary O’Dowd about May 17th. dr J. R. Reid appeared for the accused, .nd Ml- Tole for the Crown. The latter isked for an adjournment till Monday, vhich was granted, bail being allowed, iccused in £750 and two sureties of .£750 ?ach. CASE ADJOURNED. A QUESTION OF BAIL. [By Telegraph—Press Association.] Auckland, last night. Later.—Mr Tole said that ho was instructed by the Inspector of Police, who was anxious to dispose of the case as soon as possible, to ask for a remand until Monday next. Mr Reed said t.iat he had no objection to the remand, provided that bail was granted. He, personally, was prepared to go on at once. His Worship said that Mr Reed was not reasonable. Witnesses had to bo summoned. Mr Reed went on to say, in reference U the question of bail, that bail had beet granted in Melbourne on a murdei charge. Mr Tole said it was the practice . England not to grant bail in any charge; of murder. His Worship granted an adjournmen of the ease till next Monday. In regard to bail, His Worship said tha this was a somewhat difficult ease to dc cide. He was not aware whether th practice was to refuso bail in eases c murder of this kind. It was somowhn different from the ordinary kind of murde charges. If it was murder, it was simpl constructive murder, and it might turn out, as in the case of Regina v. Orpen, that the Judge might rule that it was only manslaughter, if it was anything. Taking these facts into consideration, and the fact that accused had practically been charged for some time, he thought it would be proper to admit him to bail, but it would have to bo very substantial. lie asked Mr Tole if he would name the sum ho thought sufficient for bail. Mr Tole said that lie would leave tiio amount to His Worship. His Worship then said that the bail would be : Accused in .£750, and two sureties of .£750 each. Accused was subsequently released on bail. (Special to Times.) Auckland, July i>. At the inquest on Tuesday afternoon the following re-examination of Dr Wilkins took place : Mr Reed : 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 bo done fairly quickly if performed in thirty minutes from commencement to end. To say that the whole thing could be done in live minutes, added the witness, was perfectly absurd. A woman suffered considerable shock from such an operation. In reply to the Foreman, Dr Wilkins said in his medical experience women had admitted to him having operated on themselves to procure abortion. He knew in New Zealand, from hearsay, that it is a very common practice. When the inquest was resumed Dr Lowe was recalled. The Foreman : Seeing that Dr. do Clive Lowe, according to his evidence, was of opinion that to attempt an operation on the deceased to relieve helot' an apparent foetus would prove fatal, he must have been aware of her very precarious condition and the cause of it. That being so, why did lie 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 given, you will remember that I said Mrs O’Dowd, in my opinion, though dangerously ill and suffering from peritonitis, was not at the point of death on the occasion of my visit at eleven o’clock on the Thursday evening (May 16th). Frequently, in private practice, wc see fcinalo pationts running a temperature of 101 or 105 degrees, 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 attendance docs not deem an immediate operation advisable or necessary, then the treatment carried out as I carried it out in this case is resorted to. (Here witness described the treatment.) Dr Lowe continued : Even when Mrs O’Dowd, who no doubt was surely cognisant of her approaching end, told me she was dying, and repeated it emphatically, telling mo she could not recover even then, as I have already said in my evidence, I did not deem her to bo dying. . Had I thought death imminent then I would surely have communicated the fact to the police, to the magistrate, and to hor 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 death would take place at 5.10 a.m. on the following day.