SENTENCED TO DEATH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14824, 30 October 1911, Page 5

SENTENCED TO DEATH.

CASE OF DR. PEACOCK.

MURDER OF MARY DAYIES.

The hearing of the charge against Dr. Samuel Peacock of having, about August 16, at East Melbourne, murdered Mary Margaret Davies, 27 years of age, was concluded in Melbourne last Tuesday.

Accused made a statement, but not on ; oath, as follows:—"I am 72 years of age. I have practised my profession for 40 years. About the second week in August a young woman, giving the name of Mrs. Nelson, called at my place and consulted me. I advised her to enter my hospital for a little while as a patient. This she consented to do, and she came back a day or two after and entered the hospital. On August 9 she paid me five guineas for the first week in advance, and that was all the money she ever gave me. Poke, who I then understood was her husband, called and saw her two or three times. At the end of the week I told her that it was the rule of my hospital to pay in advance, and the woman then appeared much disturbed, and said she was not married, and that the man who had visited her was the cause of her trouble. But ho appeared to have : deserted her, and had not brought her money. I told her not to distress or ; worry herself-, but she might remain in the ; hospital for a little till she was stronger, j She continued to be distressed, and on [ August 25 she came downstairs with her ; dress basket, and said she had decided to leave. She said that it was not her fault' that she had not been able to pay me, but , she' had left her jewellery in her room, and that was all she could do. She then i went away. _ | " I never saw Poke after August 17 until ! he was brought in by the detective on the : night of August 29. I denied to the detec- : tives that the girl had been at my hos- j pital, because she came to me as a married , woman, and I consider that, professionally, j I was bound to preserve her secret. I now recognise that it would have been better if I had thought less of her and more of myself, and frankly told the detective!:, all I knew. I never told Poke that the girl was dead. I never told' Poke that before she died she had a fit of screaming, nor that I had disposed secretly of the body, and that I had burnt the clothes. The instruments found in my house had been in my possession for 13 years. I did not burn any clothes, and know nothing of the whereabouts of Mary Davies after she left my hospital." The jury, after being out four hours, brought in a verdict of guilty. In passing sentence of death the Chief Justice said the prisoner had been found guilty of a particularly dangerous and heinous offence. He proposed to state a case which might be possibly regarded as showing something which might avert the consequences of this verdict from him. He thought, however, that there was nobody who had contemplated the case for some time who was not satisfied that he was guilty. The prisoner had prostituted the great profession he had practised to'the vile and sordid destruction of young lives —a very audacious defiance of the law. If it should appear to the Courts hereafter, upon consideration of the technical aspects of this case, that the verdict should standi he thought that the prisoner would do well not to look too earnestly for mercy. He did, not know what would happen in that direction—it would rest with the Governor and his Ministers; but he thought that the indignation of the community they represented and expediency due' for the protection of the community, and its young girlsand, indeed, not only its young girls, but its married women—would induce them to take a strong, resolute view of the prisoner's conduct, and of this sentence. His Honor then passed sentence of death.