A CHARGE OF MURDER.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13917, 20 March 1909, Page 7

A CHARGE OF MURDER.

TRIAL OF DR. E. J. GOODE.

After we went to press yesterday afternoon the trial of Dr. E! J. Goode on the charge of having murdered Mrs. . "tenner at Waitara on December 14 taras continued in the Supreme Court,, before Mr. Justice Chapman. Mr. T. S. Weston, Crown Prosecutor, assisted by Mr. C. H. Weston, prosecuted. Mr. C. P. Skerrett, K.C., with kirn Mr. A. H. Johnstone, appeared for the. defence. - v A NEPHEW OF ACCUSED. George H. M. Goode, sheepfarmer, residing at Manawa Station, Te Nui, deposetl that his father's name was George Goode. He was a medical, practitioner, and a full brother- to accused. He, died in Callan Park Mental Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales. The certificate produced was one of the death of witness's father.' The cause of death, which occurred on February 12, 1902, was given as colitis, . exhaustion following on melancholia. The prisoner's age was 61. Witness had never met accused until he was subpoenaed for the present trial. To Mr. Weston : Witness was 17 years old when his father died. His people lived at Camba, forty miles from Sydney. He was not quite certain how long his father was in the hospital. He believed it was from four to eight months. Witness's father was 60 years old at the time of his death. Witness had a brother and sister, both of whom were alive and well. Witness never suffered from any complaints. His grandfather died at some time in the eighties. He was not in a position to say whether his grandfather was 84 or 94 years old at the time of his death. Witness had, he believed, some aunts in England, but he knew very little about them. Until his father entered the hospital, he believed, he was a particularly strong^ healthy manElizabeth Taylor, jwife of Herbert Taylor, a veterinary surgeon- at Waitara, stated that she saw Dr. .Goode about 10 a.m. on Sunday, December 13. Accused came to her house, and asked for Mr. Taylor. Witness told him that Mr. Taylor was not in, but would be home. by dinner time. Dr. Goode then asked her to tell v Mr. Taylor to call at his house on his return. - Ac- ; cused was outside the house while witness, was at the corner of the verandah. After a while 1 accused looked up toward the Camp Hill. .Witness looked to see what he was gazing at, and saw some people going up the hill. Witness asked him why they were going there*. He replied that they were going there to have whisky -and bowls. Accused then said there was a MAN ON TBEB WINDMILL.' Witness could not see any man there, and asked accused what a man would be doing there. Accused replied that the man was watching. "What could he be watching?" asked witness. "They're ajifays watching me," replied accused. Dr. Goode aad^taaS "tney" were* always : |I hB* j |jh# Pl fl&Sf behind, his house, watching Bim. l< Adci^sed seemed; all right. - -" „ Herman Schultz, farmer, of Waitara, deposed that he called at Dr. Goode's house on December 13 last, to get a mixture for a cold. This was . between 12 and 1 p.m. Dr. Goode was "the worse of 'drink.'* He gave witness a mixture, telling him to take it hftme and take it, and if it did not cure him to return, and he (Dr. Goode) would give witness something that would kill him. Witness , was with accused for about an hour. Accused was very talkative, and seemed excited. Whenever he left the room Goode would talk to himself.- .He spoke loudly and g^tunblihgly. Witness took' the medicine home with him, but did not drink it.- Accused was pretty badly in' liquor. '.. ' • To Mr. Weston : Accused told witness he had "four bottles of whisky in him" then. This was the first occasion he had known" Goode to be drunk. Witness had known him for about two years and six months* * Mr. Weston : Do you lcnow what was in the mixture? (No answer.) Mr. Skerrett^ Well,' he didn't taste it. Witness (holding the bottle towards Mr. Weston): Well, here's the bottle. You can taste it if you iike.—(Laughter. Accused smiled.) In further cross-examination witness said that accused spoke much about novels he had read. , He behaved as a gentleman. While in his dispensary he also mumbled to himself. ' Witness did not drink the mixture because he did not think Goode was fit to dispense medicine at that time. Witness had called accused to his house only once, about twenty-eight months ago. # Herbert Taylor, veterinary practitioner, Waitara, stated, that he saw Dr. Goode about 1 p.m. on Sunday, December 13, in accused's dispensary. Accused told witness he had a dog that he wanted destroyed. Apcused was in drink. The talk turned on foxes. Accused said people were watching him, and cautioned witness to beware of them. Witness was with him about half an hour. On leaving he arranged an appointment for the following day. The next day (Monday) witness called at Goode's house shortly after 1 p.m. Mrs. Goode opened the door and asked witness to return in fifteen or thirty minutes, as the doctor had not finished his lunch, Witness about half-past one. Accused was looking very Dad, and very much, under the influence Xii drink. He was in bis shirt sleeves. Goode was excited. He took witness into the surgery in a very excited ways and asked him if he had poisoned the dog. He then proposed that they should have a drink, and they sat down. There was a whisky bottle on the table. Accused started' walking round the table, and said, "This is no good to us." He pipk»d up the whisky bottle, waved it, and then threw it on a sideboard. Goode then said "Come into the diningroom and have a drink there." Witness tried to get out of it. He then said "You'll have to have a drink with me ; come on." Goode grasped witness by the back of the neck and by the coat, and "shoved" him into the diningroom. There accused closed the door and the windows, locking the former, and pulled out two tumblers pretty well full of whisky. Accused drank his neat, while witness put some soda water in his own after emptying some out. Almost at once Goode suggested another drink. Goode insisted on it. Witness _ spilt as much as he could out of his own glass, but ;Goode drank his off. Then accused began talking about

POX-HUNTING again. He sat on a chair as if astride a horse, and suggested that witness should jump over the table with his chair. Accused was whooping and hollaring, like a person hunting. They remained in the diningroom about fifteen or twenty minutes. Accused was rambling from one topic of conversation to another and then retelling stories. A little later Goode_^suggested another drink, but witness refused point-blank. Accused was* holding witness by the lapels of his coat, and pushing him about. Then he picked up the whisky bottle, and tried to pour some of the whisky down witness's throat. They fell to the. floor together. After getting up, and after more conversation, accused lurched and fell by the side of the table. Witness then unlocked the 4oor and got out of the room. Witness had the impression that Goode's condition was very like delirium tremens, or bordering on it. Witness left about 2.15 or 2.30 p.m. Accused was very loth to let witness go. He spoke about stopping and making a night pf it. Witness left after snaking hands with Goode. He had known accused for five years, and had seen him drunk on various occasions. Witness also gave evidence of accused's delusions. ( To 4 'Mr. Weston : Goode was quite Explicit in his directions about the dog. In reply to further questions by Mr. Weston, witness tjaid that Goode refused to have his dog poisoned with poison procured from Mr. Ogle. To Mr. Skerrett: When witness entered the room Goode's eyes and countenance attracted witness's attention. Goode was very excited. SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE. Robert Martin Beattie, medical superintendent of the Avondale Mental lospital, Auckland, deposed that he had been in charge of that hospital for about twelve years. He had been there altogether about fifteen years. In that time he had had some thousands of cases under his observation and care. On February 8 last witness examined Dr. Goode in the New Plymouth gaol. Firstly he examined accused physical condition. Goode gave witness the impression that he was a chronic alcoholic. He , had tremors in the facial muscles, and in the hands, his face was flabby .and showed large" blood-vessels, his eyes had lost - their lustre to a large extent, his heart had an impure first sound and an accentuated second sound, his bloodvessels generally showed a thickening of their walls. His speech was thickened. His hands also had a constant restlessness. Up to this time Dr. Wylie was, present. He then left, at witness's request, so that witness could make an Independant mental examination- Accused's, whole intelligence was impaired. He seemed simple and childish in Ms replies to questions. His power of grasping even simple questions was very small, and his power of expressing answers also small. There was a general mental confusion and a considerable impairment of memory. Goode was. also suffering from delusions of persecution and*, suspicion, and witness found that he had at any rate one hallucination. Witness concluded that the man 'was undoubtedly insane, and that he^ WB*s 5 suffering from chronic alcholic insanity. -*, Witness . would have certified to this effect. The seat of the trouble was certainly of some months* duration, and probably of some years duration. -Some of Goode's delusions had reference to persons who, to witness's knowledge, had not been practising in the district fox some years. Witness considferAl-, from, the state of .'accused's dementia" tsa& it must have been in existence for some considerable time. In all cases of chronic alcholic insanity where delusions were present outbursts of violence were liable to occur. Persons" suffering in this way were always classed as dangerous patients iri asylums, and put under careful supervision. Witness, cited instances where 1088 of memory had followed cases of homicide and homicidal impulse in cases of chronic albholic delusional ' insanity. A man with a family taint of insanity was more prone to this form of mental disease.' The fact that Dr. Goode's full-brother was a lunatic would make prisoner predisposed to such mental disturbance, particularly in ; conjunction with the fact that accused was as wit- ■ ness had noticed, of a ' HIGHLY- NEUROTIC TEMPERA- " • - * * * MENT 1 . • Assuming that Dr. Goode had had bouts of excessive, drinking, that his full-brother, died in a lunatic asylum, that he 'suffered from delusions of per secutidn, and of being watched, an ) that an impulsive,, murder had taken place, he would say # that Dr. Goode was insane at the time and that he did not know the nature and quality of this act. He had- been insane for some time, and the drinking of alcohol would eiaggerate tils condition: This, state was called taxema. There were other causes of taxema, r such as morphia, chronic constipation, ' etc. / For 'ess than two days' drinking would have the effect of inducing the condition leading up to the crime: Witness had no doubt whatever that Dr. Goode was suffering from an actual mental disease. Delusions were a symptoni of several forms Of insanity. Delusions of persecution were a symptom of a dangerous disturbance. - Delusions of persecution were ahfiost' invariably associated with chronic alcoholic insanity. It was a usual occurrence for people suffering from even acute forms ,of mania to recognise places and people about them. It was a common occurrence for a man suffering from chronic alcoholic insanity to carry on business, even' a highly complex business. If • a person suffering from alcoholic insanity had access to alcohol, the sexual desires would be stimulated. Sexual desire in a perverted mind frequently was an evidence of mental disturbance. Witness examined accused on Monday last. Pis physical condition had improved somewhat, considerably, and his mental condition' had also improved. Witness could not be sure that he was still suffering from delusions, as witness could not get him to speak clearly or fluently enough. Witness,, from his previous examination was, however, convinced that' 1 they were still there. The main point was that witness on his first examination would have had no hesitation in certifying.- him as insane; on the second occasion he would have considerable doubt. The change was due to the hygienic life* he had been leading and the abstention from alcohol. At present he. was in the .early slagoe of alcoholic dementia* , Witness was very doubtful whether a person who had once become insane from alcohol ever had the power .to abstain from it voluntarily. Alcoholic insanity led to disorganisation of the brain cells, which therefore lost their power. A person who was insane was more likely to take alcohol than one who was sane. Ir* such a case it took less alcohol to affect the nervous system. Alcoholic habit? may be a consequence of insanity. There was nothing inconsistent with insanity in the fact that Dr. Goofte

reloaded his revolver after using it. Witness was quite cortain that. GOODE WAS NOT FEIGNING. \ He had no doubt about it at all. ! To Mr. Weston : There was no proof of an hereditary taint in a family in a fact that one man died in an asylum as a result of melancholia. There was no epilepsy in the present case. There might be cases where the loss of memory was only partial. Such a case would not make witness suspicious. Witness would say that the disease had not advanced so very far. Witness was of opinion that loss of memory in Goode's case was complete. Goode remembered nothing between the lime that he prescribed for a man named Schultze and his arrest. To His Honour: Witness had never heard of Dr. Goode before this tragedy. To Mr. Weston: Dr. Goode's memory was very defective even with regard to recent events of his daily life in the gaol. Practically all alcoholics were untruthful and deceptive. Witness had the impression that Dr. Goode knew very little of insanity. Witness would not admit that Dr. Goode knew who he was. The loss of memory was not due to accused having received two severe blows on the head. The blows were not sufficiently severe. Besides, such loss of memory would not last. Even if Goode's loss of memory were only partial witness would still consider him insane. Witness would not admit that accused would know what he was doing when he dfd things of which he had a partiai recollection. To his Honour: If accused bad been questioned ten minutes -after the tragedy, while the frenzy lasted, he would not, in witness's opinion, be able to give an account of it. While the frenzy lasted his mind would, not be in any condition to know what he had done. He might be able to remember an hour afterwards. It was very hard to say. His memory and faculties might have returned earlier had he been assaulted earlier. To Mr. Weston : It was a notorious fact in private hospitals that when a person was violently assaulted after a frenzy, his memory would partially return. The presence of Constable Price at the Waitara police station three hours after the tragedy would be a sufficient stimulus to make Goode remember Price calling on him at the surgery five or ten minutes after the tragedy. The memory could be revived by a sufficient stimulus. Witness put down as an allusion the remark made by accused to Mr. MilHngton, in gaol, that he wished Mr. Millington to see the police "about a revolver this woman had in her house." Witness pointed out that there was no revolver in Mrs. Klenner's house. A strong stimulant might make accused remember the tragedy. It would have to be very strong. The sight of Mrs. Klenner on her death-bed might have brought back to accused's mind the events of the tragedy, "but they did not. Mr. Weston detailed the story of the tragedy, and asked witness to "put his finger" on the point where accused did -not know what he was doing. Witness replied that he could not. To .Mr. Skerrett: The . homicidal frenzy was not of long duration. Thecompletion of the act, or a short time afterwards, was generally co-existent with the , passing of the frenzy. Patients had. struck witness and apologised a moment afterwards. This was more common among epileptics, but witness had come ' across other cases. Dr. G-opde's remark about the "drip^ drip, drip," from his jiigjular^ when it was not bleeding, was an irrational one. Witness's opinion was that at the time accuseds, didl all the acts mentioned, he was a chronic alcoholic lunatic, and incapable of reasoning atiy act involving intellectual processes. Witness did not coxae down '• specialty to New Plymouth to make his first examination of Goode. He happened to be spending a • holiday here. Witness formed a strong opinion that Goode's symptoms were not feigned. He did not then know that his statements were going to be used at all itt this case. TcT'lris Honour: The tcot'oi firing a shot into himself would have the effect of bringing a man to himself for the time being, as a blpw from a stick would. . At 5.45 p.m. the court adjourned till this morning.