Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-28
i0HLEND0RF TRIAL
! Defense Opens With State
ment for Physician.
OUTLINES TESTIMONY
TWO PHYSICIANS TESTIFY AS TO
CHARACTER OF WOUND.
They Say 1t Could Not Have Been
Caused by Instrument as
Charged.
OUTLINES TESTIMON Y
MARLBORO. Md. April

MARLBORO. Md. April Is. 1905
When court reconvened here yesterday
afternoon in the retrial of DR.. Joseph Z.
Ohlendorf on the charge of manslaughter,
MIR Roberts w. Wells, leading counsel for
the defense, made the opening statement TO
the jury. outlining what the defense pro-
posed to prove He began by characteriz-
ing the testimony introduced by the state
as a "farcical drama of suspicion" He
promised the jury testimony which would
aid them in acquitting the prisoner. Civ
ing the history of DR.. Ohendorf's life, he
stated that the defense expected to prove
by the testimony of number of neiShbors
who came in daily contact with him, and
whose family physician he IS. that ne
is skiltul physician, and would
also show his reputation for truth
and fair dealing to be excellent. The de-
Tense, he said. would also prove the good
order and decency of his lying-in hospital
at Brentwood. He said that it would be
shown by the most reputable physicians IN
Prince George county, the home OF the
accused who were present in court TO tes-
Fifty on behalf of the defendant, that the
theory upon which the state WAS proceeding
of circums tantial evidence. to be absurd
and prepOsterous. Referring to the nStru-
Ynent which the state claims DR.. Ohlendort
bought for the purpose of performing the
alleged criminal operation upon Madge
Hale. Mr. Wells declared that these same
physicians would give testimony proving
that il WAS an instrument used in the legi-
innate practice of medicine, and that no
such wound could by any reasonable prop
ability have been made by physician de-
String to produce an abortion with the in
strumcnt in question. He further declared
that the testimony of these physicians
would disclose the fact that there was no
conclusive proof that the woman died as
the result of an operation within the time
in which she is said 20 have been at the
Brentmar Sanitarium. and that the wounds
described in the autopsy made by DR..
Glazebruok in the city of Washington were
not calculated to impress the medical pro-
fession with the belief sought to be incul-
Gated in the minds of the jurors by the
state.
g. He declared that as a complete answer to
the whole effort of the state to prove that
this woman was under the absolute and
continuous care of DR.. Ohlendorf for four
teen days just prior to her death, and that
she was pregnant and had been delivered
of d child eight or nine months old, the de-
Tense would prove by four of the most rep
iutable citizens in Prince George county, men
who sat upon the cOrOner's inquest some
two years since which exonerated the pris-
oner at the bar, and who saw the deceased
in death. had also seen her in life ten days
prior to her death in the town of Hyatts-
Vile, more than a mile from DR.. Ohlen--
DORIS SanitariUm, and going in an opposite
direction from his sanitarium, when they
COnVerSed with her and observed that she
was a thin, pale, emaciated woman, having
absolutely no indications of the condition
in which the state claims she was.
By Washington Authorities.
Mr.. Wells went on TO say that the defense
would offer testimony to prove that suspi-
cion in reference to the death of this wo
man had been directed by the Washington
authorities at the time of her death TO Rob
ert Hale who il would be proved had mas
Queraded as her cousin. when, in point of
fact he was no relation TO her, and when
pressed by these authorities in their efforts
to secure the conviction of some one. be-
cause of the disclosures in the autopsy, shot
his wife and committed suicide
The defense, he said, would place before
the jury facts and circumstances tending to
q reasonable conclusion that this woman or
this man performed the operation, and that
Madge Hale went out to Brentmar to re-
cover from it, and that she died, as claimed
by DR.. Ohlendorf of some other cause.
probably encarditiS.
When Mr. Wells reached that part of his
opening statement referring to the Hale
man counsel for defense objected on the
ground that the court had already ruled
upon the question OF allowing anything
connected with the man to come into the
case, but Judge Brooke decided that the
TACT that the question arose in another way
does not affect the case, and it was per-
fectly proper for counsel for the defense to
state what he expected to prove.
The First Witness.
The first witness for the defense was Dr.
y. l.. Warning of Surrattsville Prince George
county. He testified that he had been prac-
uclng medicine for thirty-seven years and
mad attended many obstetric cases. The
question as to whether the wounds dis
closed at the autopsy would Indicate that
an attempt had been made to commit a
criminal operation was objected to by coun-
Sci for the state, and the court sustained
the objection. An exception was noted The
next question, as TO whether the instru-
ment referred to would have been used nv
any physician desiring to perform a crimi-
mai operation, was objected to- and the
court ruled the question ont The form ~
the question was changed, and again oh
Jected 10, and the objection sustained At
tilS point ME- Stanley, who was conducting
Hhe examination, desired to be relieved of
further questioning the witness but the
court heid that he must proceed Witness
stated that from the nature of the wounds
Inscribed by Dr. GlaZebrook as disclosed
at the autopsy, 1t was his opinion that the
woman might have died OF endocarditis
witness stated that it would have been a
Up a,, 80 IIHPoSsiDilIty TO have produced the
NouhuS with the instrument which DIR
OhIendorf Is alleged to have done a few
o3ys PRIOR 10 the death of Madge Hale.
Dr. I. A Fox of Beltsville. Prince
george county, was next examinad IL
resumed that the puncture as described nv,
br. GIazebrook would not necessarily have
passed through the blood vessel. Witness
stated that the instrument exhibited was
uSeu IN extracting a dead child and that
me wounds described by Dr. GIazebrooL
, could not have been made with the said
Instrument. u
DIT Chas. A. Wells of Hyattsvile testified
.itat the woman could have lived ten days
after the lnfiction of the vounds djsc,N.o5
by the autopsy.
Dr- VIM. IL Gibbons of Croome. Prince
george county. gave testimony substan-
Wells. III.
IL Is probable that the testimony of the
oeiehse VIII all be in Saturday morning
Anacostia and Vicinity.
Mrs. Mary l. Hitte wife of John TT
Hilte a resident Of