SUPREME COURT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17035, 8 May 1923, Page 8

SUPREME COURT.

CRIMINAL SESSIONS. The criminal sessions of the Supreme i Court were continued to-day, his Honor Mr Justice Adams presiding. ALLEGED FALSE PRETENCES. Alfred Lewis, a young man. was charged with having on Jul\ 23. 1921, at Christchurch. obtained £33 from Flora. Hill by falsely representing that I he could cure her deafness. Mr Donnelly prosecuted. and Mr ; Alpers appeared on behalf of the ac- | cused. who pleaded not guilty. In opening the case Mr Donnelly ?aid i ill*- accused carried on business as a i general healer at 246. Hereford Street, i Foi some years he had inserted in the j newspapers advertisements announcing that deafness could be cured. He read several of the advertisements to the jury. The activities of the accused, he said, were not confined to deafness. He professed to be able to cure diseases no matter what their nature and no j matter how .serious. When the police interviewed the accused it was a seer- 1 tained that he was about- twenty-five ! years of age. and had had an ordinary j public school education. On the brass ! plate outside his establishment his name was prefixed to the. letters M.r.D.S., which were interpreted i as meaning Member of the Ool- | U-gc of Drugless Physicians. This institution was located somewhere in j Chicago, and accused acquired the ! diploma of this institution after writing to it a couple of times. Accused stated that he had been practising since lie was seventeen. He stated that he had about 450 patients. In the case concerned in the present charge, the woman suffered from hereditary deafness. She had been deaf .since birth. Her case was absolutely hopeless and incurable. Nothing that could have been done by any medical man could have availed in the least. The accused told her that he could cure her deafness. She paid j him £ls down, pursuant to an agree- I ment with accused, and was to make 1 further payments of £2 a month. In j all she paid him £33 The accused j did not do her the slightest good. The j i accused, Mr Donnelly submitted, was j ' a quack and a humbug, preying on • the weaknesses of such people as the ■ i woman concerned in. this case. Ac- j tema-tic method of fraud. No matter ! ; who went to him, he was ready to • declare he could effect a cure. It j ! was the £SO which he charged, said i counsel, that was the important matter ! with accused and not responsibility to j the patient. Dr A. O'Brien, specialist in diseases | of the ear, said he examined Mrs i Clements (formerly Miss Hill) in Feb- ! ruarv this year. Her case was a bad j one. It was not known bow this par- , j ticular type of deafness arose. It was a. type that got progessively worse j through life. It was an absolutely j incurable type. It could be diagnosed ; by a person with special training Many general practitioners could not diagnose it-. Witness could not cure a case such as that of Mrs Clements. To Mr Alpers: Tt would be extremely easy for a man not possessng medical qualifications to diagnose Mrs Clements’s case wrongly. Air Alpers: I believe medical science does not now entirely scorn sugges-tion?^—-No. sir. Reputable practitioners have sent pa- | tients to Goue, for instance?—l believe j I And reputable practitioners may have .sent patients to Air Hickson in New j South Wftles? —Yes. And reputable, or perhaps less reput- ; able, practitioners in New Zealand may ; send a patient to Ratana?—l would not. j | call them disreputable. ! Tn fact, there is more in suggestion i : than is dreamt of in our philosophy, j doctor?—Oh, yes. Everybody uses sug- j j gestion. . Most of the practices that you and I call quackery, are they not based on ! | suggestion?*—l suppose they are. If a quack does succeed in any of the cases that come,* before him, and | that success is due to suggestion. ( might he not think the cures are due ! to his skill? Air Donnelly: That is a question for | the jury. His Honor: He might say what ho thinks, but he is only sovereign of his own mind. Air Alpers (to the witness): The term quack does not necessarily mean rogue? j - 1 think some quacks believe in themAlr Donnelly: That is auto-sugges-tion ! Dr L. S. Whitton said he had exam- ; ined Mrs Clements and agreed with Dr , O’Brien as to her condition, which he j considered quite incurable. Replying to Air Alpers. witness said that if a person went to a doctor with i an incurable complaint it was the duty of the doctor to tell the patient or his ; relatives. Charles Craze, advertising clerk emi ployed by the “ Lyttelton Times” Comi pany, and Frederick H. Wall, advertis- ! iug clerk employed by the “Press” ‘“Company, gave evidence as to the rei ceipt of advertisements from the ac- ; j cused. Maggie Jones said that in July, 1921, Airs Clements (then Aliss Hill) was liv- ’ i ing with her. Witness saw one of ac- | cused’s advertisements and went with Mrs Clements to see him. Accused said he could cure the deafness. His charge [ for doing so would be £SO. Accused treated Alts Clements on a number of Flora Clements repeated the evidence she had given in the lower Court. Sergeant Quarterinain said that on February 9. 1921. he interviewed the accused. Accused said his - age was twenty-five. He was born in Christchurch. The case in which Alfred Lewis is . charged with false pretences in connection with a claim to cure deafness came before his Honor Afr Justice Adams, and a jury of twelve in the Supreme j Court this morning. Air Donnelly proI scented, and Air Alpers appeared for j tho accused, who pleaded not guilty. i Medical evidence was called to show . that tho woman whom Lewis undertook lfc to'cure was incurable. \ Accused stated to witness that at the s ago of fifteen he had communicated ‘ with the College of Drugless Surgeons and. after the second letter, they had sent him his diploma.. He. had been practising since he was seventeen. Ac- ? t cused stated that be issued diplomas himself to students who took instruction from him. Tn the telephone list 6 : his name was followed hv the letters * F.S.. D.P.. H.. which witness was in- • formed stood for “ food specialist,” v drugless physician.” and “hydropathic.” ’ ; Air Alpers, in opening the ca.se for j the defence admitted that the woman i\as incurably deaf. The accused, he ’■ ; said. Mas mistaken in his diagnosis of 1 : the ease. Evidence would be called to - j show that there were cases where the j accused had succeeded, j Thomas Fee. a Methodist minister. ’• i said that a little over four years ago * j lie visited tho accused. He was suf- “ j fering from general ill health, but his hearing was not affected at that time. Later he developed noises in the left ,l } ear and was going deaf in the ear. At e I the time be was being treated by Lewis ** j for his other complaints and asked 1 .ewis if he could do anything for hi*

ear. Lewis said he thought he could. Witness described the treatment given by Lewis. As a result of the treatment- the hearing improved. Hubert W. G. Armitage, a clerk, said that: in 1921, he saw Lewie* who treated him for general debility for three months. At the end of the treatment witness felt quite well. H arriet. Wills, said she consulted the accused, in 1922 for a number of ailments. She had, in thirty-eight years, | seen over a dozen medical men. Air Alpers: Were you improved as a result of the treatment Lewis gave you?—Afv word! Ask anyone who knows me. Neighbours passed me in the stree i and didn’t recogni se me! Witness added that Lewis had done mere for her in a few months than the dozen doctors had done in thirtyeight Years. Henry J. Jeffcote also gave evidence of a cure effected in his case by Lewis. Olive Marshall said that for some years she suffered from deafness. She Mas treated by Dr O'Brien, who told , her that her deafness could not be j cured. Later she visited the accused, | who treated her for deafness and for j her general health. She improved ! wonderfully. She visited Dr O’Brien i again and he told her that he /had 1 never known anyone to get right in such a case as hers before. She did not tell Dr O’Brien t-hat Lewis had treated her. (Proceeding).

YESTERDAY’S SITTING.

George Evans was found guilty of false pretences in issuing valueless cheques and was remanded foi sentence until Thursday. Ernest James Abernethy and Sydney Edward Loose were charged with Wreaking and entering the shop of Louisa Matilda Gregory. Cashel Street, on December 25 last, and stealing a quantity of jewellery valued • at £3115 o« 6d. The jury were away seventy-five minutes and returned with a. verdict against both prisoners on the charge of theft. Sentence was postponed till Thursday. A verdict of guilty was returned against Cyril Eugene Walden and Norman Wilson, who were jointly charged that on February 13. 1923. they stole ■from the City Hotel. Christchurch, goods and jewellery to the value of £77 •5s 6d, and £3 in money. They were remanded until Thursday for sentence.

DUNEDIN SESSION

(P*b Press Amoctatk>».) DUNEDIN, May 8. The Supreme Court opened this j morning. Air Justice Sim was wel- ] corned by the Law Society. Richard Pickard Jones, who pleaded guilty. to indecent assault on a. boy was fined £2O. Counsel’s statement showed that the accused had an excellent war record, having gone with the Alain Body as a commissioned officer. He. had been drinking heavily. The Judge said that the assault was not very- serious. Archibald Campbell Sim pleaded guilty to obtaining £4B from the Tapanui Racing Club Via’ falesly representing the trotting mare Dora Derby to be the mare Travlace. He was remanded for sentence till J after the case against James Proct-or Nicholson had been heard in connection with the same offence.