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Otago Witness, Issue 2685, 30 August 1905, Page 41

A CURE FOR LEPROSY,

After 10 years' imprisonmem/in the great penitentiary of Lisbon, following a conviction for poisoning, Dr Urbjho de Freitas, one of the most distinguished of European physicians, has had his sentence of 25 years commuted by King Carlos to simple banishment from Portugal. Throughout his long confinement the doctor is said to have jealously guarded a secret he had discovered — an assured cure for leprosy. Accompanied by- his devoted -wife, he is now on his way to Berlin, where his arrival is eagerly awaited by all German students of the higher branches of medicine. When the doctor was first arrested all Lisbon received a shock. The, charge against him was of poisoning the five little brothers and sisters of his wife,

who stood between him and a large fortune. The evidence against Dr de Freitas was mostly circumstantial, but a number of incidents related by witnesses and the obvious interest he had in the death of the children convinced the jury of his guilt. Utter silence was part of his prison punishment, and his head was constantly enveloped in a coarse bag with slits for the eyes. It was thanks to the efforts of his wife that the doctor T vas eventually transported to Loanda, in Portuguese West Africa, where she was reunited to him. The European residents who had heard of his fame gave him an almost royal reception. During Holy Week the King signed the commutation of his sentence, and the doctor is now free to pursue his life-work. A man is now living at Ccimbra, in Portugal, who declared that Dr de Freitas, shortly before his arrest, cured him of leprosy.