The San Francisco call., 1898-12-16


 tated an unpleasant proceeding and have reached the courts, nothing was done
 And the purpose of the robbery is plain-Very plain, to the prosecution. The skull and membranes will be used in an attempt to prove that all the expert testimony of the State is not in conformity with the facts, and that the blows on the head did not cause Lil- Hans death. The prosecution has felt safe, as seven doctors in good standing had made a thorough examination of the skull and were prepared to testify to its condition, so that if by any chance the bruised bones and mem branes showing adhesions should be brought into court and should not agree with the expert testimony there would be any amount of evidence to support the theory that the girl was killed by bruises and that she was sus- pended to the bedpost after death.
 Much surprise has been expressed that the defense did not have repre- sentative present at the autopsy, but that its representatives should prefer to go to the Morgue after the body had
 
 of the physicians employed by the Dis- trict Attorney.
 The possession of the skull is of vital importance to the defense. If, when 1t be drought into court, the pathologi- cal conditions of the bones and mem- branes do not agree with the testi- mony of the doctors, the whole struc- ture of the prosecution may fall to the ground. The State has already proved that Lillian did not die by hanging, and this fact depends upon the conten- tion of the prosecution that the girl died from meningitis, caused by blows on the head, and that these blows were inflicted by Brandes with his wife's knowledge.
 For nearly a week Attorney Bennett has been surprising everybody by the persistence with which he had piled the medical witnesses with ques- tions relating to the adhesions of the membranes to the brain of Lillian Brandes, and the nature of the bruises. Hour after hour the defense has asked questions showing that he has been exceedingly well coached in all the de- tails of the condition of Lillian's head
 
 -"The taking ay ay of the top of the skull and the membranes is a most sig nificant incident" said one of the ex- perts in the case tonight. "The case really stands or falls upon the silent testimony of the girls skull. It was found that the membranes were in famed to such an extent that there were adhesions to the brain covering large surface. Dr. Buteau testified that about nine inches of the surface of the brain was attached to the membrane. This, of course, produced meningitis, and ultimately death. Between the two tables of the skull, immediately over the adhesions, free blood was found. This could only have been caused by blow.
 There are blood vessels between the tables of the skull and on Lillian's head the force of the blows had burst several and the free blood was very plain. Now, if the skull should get into careless hands and should ever be washed the blood would at once disap- pear. and even the membranes might be removed from the condition in which we found them. This might even be done unintentionally, but it would causN the skull to present an appear ance vastly different from that in which it was at the time of death, and this would form the basis for a very power- full argument before the jury. For sev- eral days we have known that there was a purpose in all this cross-ex- animation, but l did not know until to- day what the secret was"
 The defense certainly knows now what is the basis of the case for the prosecution. All the testimony that has been put in has tended to prove one pOint-that Tillians life went out as result of blows on the head. This proof depends entirely on the expert conclusions derived from the patholog- ical conditions of the girls head and other organs. Should Dr. Woolsey as- sume charge of the medical end of the defense a lively scientific fight will en- sue. ,Dr. Woolsey is a very experienced surgeon, and his long connection with railroad damage cases has made him a practiced witness.
 Between some of the doctors en- ployed by the District Attorney and pr. Woolsey there has been for years bit ter professional rivalry, and Dr. Wool sey is always ready to pick up the gauntlet for a scientific battle. It is surmised that Attorney Bennett has drawn much of the surgical lore with which he has astonished the court for a week from the storehouse of Dr. Woolsey. Certain it is that there has been a very careful and thorough foun- dation laid by the defense for holding up its end in the trial In the Superior Court.
 Another explanation of why Woolsey should interest himself in the case suf- ficiently to go to the length of robbing the poor child's coffin is the fact that Bennett is a brother-in-law of his med ical partner.
 There has been much other testimony brought out by the defense that will materially help its case if it should suc- ceed in showing that the testimony cov- ering the skull is not borne out by the actual condition of the skull. It has been testified that Lillian had but one lung and the usefulness of that was practically destroyed by pleurisy. This would naturally produce a weak con- stitutiOn and the defense has drawn