The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-16
DR.. BROUWERTAKESTHESTAND
SETERE CROSS-ExAMINATION BY
STATES ATTORNEY.
the Accused Denies That He Ever Gave
His wife Poison or ThRt RE Ever
Contemplated Divorce Proceedings
Does Not Know what Caused Her Death.

Contemplated Divorce Proceedings
Does Not Know what Caused Her Death.
Toms RIVER, N. j., Oct. iS.-Dr. Frank
Rrouwer spent long hours on the witness
stand this afternoon fighting single handed
the States attorneys who seek to hang
him on the charge Of murder. For six
DAYS the accused physician had Sat behind
the hedge Of his counsel, allowing them
to make the fight for him, but when his at
torney had finished examining him on
direct testimony this afternoon DIR. Brouwer
had to sit out Of the reach Of the favoring
advice and endure the cross-examination
OF the prosecution alone.
The courtroom was jammed. Fully two
hundred people strained the narrow con-
fines NJ the old chamber and endured the
heat aud the vitiated air without thought
FOR their comfort. For a week the curious
folk had seen only the broad back Of the
defendant az he sat within the rail. To
see his face and hear him talk in his own
defence was cause enough for the barber
to close shop and the schoolgirl TO cut
rotations and sit on the high back of
the last row of court benches.
Miss Hyer and her brothers, the most
persistent aCcusers OF the doctor, were
IN their places and Miss Dudley, the nurse,
and Miss McClenahan, the young woman
whose name has figured prominently in
the case, were sitting we'll down in front.
When Attorney Carmichael called the
name Of DR. Frank Brouwer at II o'clock
IN the morning there was a hum of excite
mont from the benches. The defendant
took the oath and seated himself in the
witness chair with hands folded and eyes
half closed. At first he answered the ques-
..,. 81 tho atfOrpav ipdiafipCflv and with
head bent over, but when his attention
was directed TO the charges made by Miss
Elizabeth Hyer the doctor sat up straight
and began to shoot back answers in a tense,
hard voice.
Miss Hyer testified that you once twitted
your wife on her poverty before she mar
rcd you, " said Carmichael. lis that true?
That il a falsehood, replied the witness.
'and his voice grew husky as he added,
we were both too poor before our marriage
70 permit Of my making any such insulting
remark. | would not think of saying such
a thing anyway
Again the witness barked out a denial
on the spur of Miss Hyer's name.
Il never told Elizabeth Hyer that 1 had
lost respect for my wife. never told her
! thought Of getting a divorce. Those
statements by her are untrue" Upon the
leading Of he counsel DIR. Brouwer then
detailed the Incidents of his wife's last ill
ness step by step. He declared that the
nature of the woman's commissions, az
testified to by hostile witnesses, was not
the nature Of the paroxysms as he had
seen them, and he pointed out the differ
cnces. He said that when his wife was first
taken i'll after partaking of a hearty meal
he treated her for acute Indigestion, that
later b. believed that she suffered from
uremic poisoning and that he had even
discussed the possibility of cerebro-spinal
meningitis as a cause of the malady with
Miss Dudley, the nurse.
The last seven days of Mrs. BrouweT
sickneas were variable ones, the witness
said. One day she would be better and
the next worse, On Sunday, september "a,
the dav before she died, she grew very
weak, but he did not believe that death
wss imminent at the time.
Carmichael brought his examination to a
close with a series Of questions framed to
bring a categorical denial 70 each oil the
accusations against his client.
did You ever at any time administer
arsenic TO your wifeP'
As God il my witness, no." replied the
witness, half rising from his chair and
Speaking each word with staccato empha-
sis. As the attorney put the same question
for s%trychnine and pounded glass the
physician answered shortly in the mega
tive.
Attorney Johnston, who has done most
or the cross examining for the prosecu-
ton. hegan TO inteTrogate DIR.
WAS your wife Jealous Of your atten-
tinns to other women"
why, no. She was curious, as any woman
might he. and wanted to know who came
Ia my Office and why. But l never gave her
Don't Won know" snapped Attorney
Johnston. that your wife was jealous OF
Miss M~cClenahan?"
No, / do not replied the witness.
The examiner mentioned the name Of
one Miss Kearns, whom the prosecution in
this case have vainly sought to find az a
witness. and asked questions concerning
the DOCTORS friendship with her. he re-
fused TO admit any relationship between
them that might have given Mrs. Brouwer
cause for jealousy. Johnston asked Lne
he would get a divorce from his wife.
receiving an answer in the negative the ex-
Hminor wanted to know II 1t wasn't a iacC
that Mrs. Brouwer had Threatened divorce
herself. The witness said that that was De-
you'd his know ledge.
Taking up the details Of DR.. BrOuwer'
administration to his sick wife ana ines
symptoms displayed by her at every stage
If her mortal illness. Johnston endeavored
o. force the witness into a confusion OF
testimony and a ~refutation Of the evidence
already nut in by the defence. In Some
points he was successful. The physician
HinliteO LndJ IL was TIC IuNC tlat NNSNNi
should prescribe and permit the nurses
TO prepare nutriment and emulsionsf for the
the patient. DIR. BrOu wer said that ne
had broken from this rule and prepared
the necessary compounds himself because
81 his sp~cial interest in the case and his
desire TO do all he could in the treatment.
He said that the peptonized milk he pre-
pared for his wife and which Miss Dudley
suspected as being a conveyance for strych-
nine was bitter because 1t had begun TO
sour because Of the lack Of ice and the
pepetin had changed to peptone, a bitter
substance, by he action Of decomposition;
Johnston asked DR.. Brouwer wherein ne
thought that tho symphonic manifested by
Mrs. Brouwer in her ooHvulsions had been
misrepresented by the nurses on the witness
stand The physician replied that the
nurses had erred in that they had stated
that the seizures were first in the legs and
feet. TwitchinG OF the facial muscles and
chickering's Of the eyeballs we're the hrst
symptoms displayed by the convulsions'
he said.
But all the symptoms were those OF
tetantic commissions, induced by strychnlne
and Characteristic Of strychnine were hey
p0t2"