New-York tribune., 1919-03-22
Wilkins Pleads
Not Guilty of
Staying Wife
Physician Near Collapse as
He Is Arraigned Before
Justice Seeger, Charged
With Long Beach Murder
Stat Correspondence


MINEOI.A, L. J., March 81. Dr.
Walter K. Wilkins was on the verge
Of collapse to-day when he pleaded
not guilty to the indictment charging
him with the murder of his wife at
their Long Beach home the night of
February 27. Supreme Court Justice
Seeger accepted the plea
The accused physicians first night
in jail was sleepless. He WAS given
the freedom of the corridor and talked
almost continuously to Keeper Will
lam Combes- The prisoner said he
was innocent and spoke feelingly of
his wife Once he wept and retired
to his cell
Dr. Wilkins, when approached by re
porters, seemed eager to talk. Re-
ferring to story in early editions Of
the afternoon papers that the police
were eager to locate a young actress
who had boarded at hiss Sixty-ffth
Street home, ne said:
"The suggestion in that story is alb
solutely false There is no other
woman in the case 1t is absolutely
cruel to bring that suggestion Of an
other woman into it. ! am sixty-seven
years old, and from the time Of my
boyhood in Maine up to the present I
have lived bl&meless life.
Denies knowledge Of VIII
ut is enough when the evening Of
my life has to be spent in prison
cell under such charge as this, with
out seeking to attribute other things
to me- My wife WAS my companion.
She was my nurse. There is abso-
mitted such crime as is charged
against me- There is every motive for
me wanting her TO live"
The accused physician denied he
knew anything OF the second will of
his wife until ne found it after her
death. He said he always thought his
wife would outlive him because she
was robust and in perfect health and
he was semi-invalid
DR.. Wilkins said that some time age
ms wife became concerned about his
health and induced him to give up his
practice and devote all his time to the
management of her property. He said
tney lived on the income of the estate
While my wife vas living had all
any man could ask ne stated 81
mad the full enjoyment of her property
ano mad her love and compa nionship
ny her death | am left nothing. Could
anything be more absurd than to sus-
peet me Of taking her life %
ne told what happened the night OF
me tragedy. The same story was told
py tnc physician before to the police
ne denied Mrs. Wilkins had entered
the house before the murder and re.
moved her hat The nat. one of the
exD.0its brought before the grand jury
Fe1cerday, bore no marks of the ham.
'ner blows that fractured the woman's
skull.
Special Guard Provided
DR.. Wilkins admitted tho hammer
wnsch was used AZ the murder weapon
might have come from his home. Hs
SAID: N''
THE hammer and the piece Of lead
pipe might have been in the homse
ana ! ala not know anything about it,
! viii not say they were not in fhs
house, but ! will say that never saw
them there
The doctor denied all knowledge o,
the blood stained paper found in The
house. He was then returned to the
cell, special guard placed to pre-
vent DR. wilkins harming himself
During the night he had said that Il
Acpt in the cell long he would die.
Charles Wysong, counsel for the ac-
cured, said he would do everything in
MS power 10 bring about an enrfy
trial. Dr.. wilkins bag requested thai
Louis Friess, his legal adyixsr, be ap-
pointed trustee of his estate. 70 that