The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1909-04-03
FREED ON
PERJURY CHARGE
Justice Jeffries Thinks There Is Evil
dence of. Fraud, But Prosecutor
Throws Up His Hands.

/ Against his own judgment, Police
Justice Jeffries, Friday noon. dismiss
! cd the perjury charge against DIR. Geo.
A. Fritch, In connection with the GER
I tificate ,hied on the death OF pr Ira
/ p. Collier. in 1906. on the recommenda'
4 ton of Assistant Prosecutor crane,
who expressed himself as satisfied be-
yond ali doubt thar there was no hope
lof conVicting the doctor before jury.
There Is no question in my mind.
said the court. but that this oraer
! (the Maccabees OF the Wor!d) mas
been defrauded. and believe there Is
prima facie evidence that the law has
been violated In the making out OF
the death certificate in this instance.
hut. I'm view OF the prosecutors atti.
ltude will discharge the defendant.
The case hinged almost entirely on
the testimony OF Dr. David r. Clark,
superintendent OF ST. Joseph's retreat
| in Dearborn. where DIR. Collier died
| Dec .. 1906, two or three days after
I being received as patient in the In
stitution. While the doctor testified
that he was satisfied that the imme-
date cause OF death was strangula-
/ ton. he made admissions that tended
10 materially weaken his testimony on
/ this point.
] II was on the assumption that the
real cause OF death was strangulation
and not Bright's disease. as reported
| by Or. Fritch to the Maccabees, that
/ the charge against tie doctor was
! tased, and while still asserting the
/ belief that this was the cause. DR..
! Clark admitted that there was room
! for a reasonable doubt, even In his
/ own mind, and testified that Or Collier
would have died in "a hours even II
! IL had not been for this spectacular
/ incident" as he referred 10 the pa
TENTS alleged attemri at suicide.
/ Dr. Clark testified that he found Or.
| Collier dead in bed with the cord OF
/ his bath robe wound once around his
neck and tied in a surgeons knot. The
dead mans hands clung 10 another
/ knot several inches below the first
/ and the rope between the two was
twistly tightly The doctors face
however. was not congested. as is al
most invariably the case where death
I results from strangulatIon Neither
4 was lutIe udIk rug dIuuuu Alic utNh
as would naturally be expected. only
crease in the neck where the cord
/ had bound the flesh Dr. Clark said
he had reached the conclusion that
stranguation was the immediate
cause OF death from merely super
| fetal examination. He had made no
postmortem.
And you didn't notify the coroner
asked Attorney Lodge for the defense
mo. that is where | was wrong"
DR. Clark said that when Or. Fritch
came 10 the retreat the following day
the latter mentioned the fact that de
ceased had considerable lite insurance
that might be invalidated ii the cause
OF death were given as strangulatior
and told him the widow would prob
ably see that be was we'll compensat
ed II that spectacular cause" did moi
appear However. DR. Clark says ne
made out a certificate giving the cause
as 'strangulation as an end process In
some obscure form Of delirum." This
certificate. he says, he handed TO FIR
Fritch. but what became of IL is not
known
Or. Golfers widow was in court but
was not called.