New-York tribune., 1919-06-30
DIR. Wilkins,
Wife Slayer,
Hangs Self
Continued from page I

afternoon has not yet been made pub
lie. Immediately upon his death his
cell was locked and no one was allowed
to enter. Later in the evening Corones
Walter i. Jones arrived, and all of the
dead mans effects were turned over to
him.
William Won Welsen, the only one OF
the jurors who found DR.. wilkins
guilty who could be reached last night
shouted "My God! What do you think
of that" when told of the physician s
suicide.
"ic is guilty, all right" he added
HE saved the county some money. l
have slept we'll ever since l did what
did. l think have done Justice"
Wysong Expected 1t
Mr.. Wysong, asked last night
whether his client had ever said any
thing to lead to the belief that he
might commit suicide, said:
II FULLY anticipated it,"
He told me-" the lawyer continued
that he was prepared, when he went
to Baltimore, to write to an under
taker to take charge of his body and
have it cremated DR.. Wilkins said
that he was going to send the under
taker $50 for his trouble. He then
told me that he decided not to kill
himself because he did not want to
die under a cloud.
II thonght DR.. Wilkins might de-
| stroy himself if he got the oppor-
tunity, but l never dreamed that he
would get the opportunity.
Il shall always believe in his in
rccence.'
District Attorney Weeks, who prose-
cuted him, refused to discuss the sui
wilkins, said he believed the suicide
to have been the direct result of an
'abominablc verdict"
81 have talked to many citizens not
directly interested in Dr. Wilkins's
case" he said, "and | have been told
that 1T was generally regarded as un-
talr. l am certain that he was inno-
cent"
Was Closely Guarded
Sheriff Seaman, who was notified at
once of the suicide, was much agitated.
Never in the history of the jail"
ne said, has so close watch been
KEPT upon prisoner. l do not under
stand how 1t could have happened"
among the hardware stores of Mineola
and Hampstead to learn where the
rope with which DIR. Wilkins killed
himself was purchased.
Since he was locked up Friday night
he had received no visitors, save the
prison chaplain and another minister,
the Rev. Mr.. Eppisch. All day to-day,
keepers say, he had been in an ap-
parently serene mood. His MONDAY
NlnnQr bo 1,oo
eaten since entering the Jail
Autopsy To Be Performed
The body was taken late tonight to
Cornelrs morgue, in Hempstead where
Dr.. II. M. Warner and Dr.. Cleghorn
Will perform an autopsy.
Until the arrival of the Coroner.
Waiter P. Jones, the dead mans cell /
was locked and no one was permitted |
to touch his effects. Coroner Jones
received all the papers and documents
OF the physician, including the three
letters he wrote just before killing
himself
One of these was addressed to N.Y.
Wysong, who said the doctors last
message was that he was innocent.
that he had been malgned and mis-.
Judged; that he was only an old man
who had loved his wife dearly and
that his love had been reciprocated.
that inasmuch as the end was near at
hand he preferred to be his own exc
cutioner
Asks To Be Cremated
Dr. Wilkins inclosed in the Same on
velope with Mr. Wysong's letter note
TO- the Rev. George F. Groves, an
Episcopal clergyman of Port Washing
ton, and another to Mrs. Elizabeth
Muller, now living at Monticello, N.
y, former neighbor, which appealed
to her to care for his pets.
The letter to Mr.. Healy was the
longest 1t covered ten closely writ
ten pages and was concerned chiefly |
wit. the physicians impressions of the
trial, with much uncomplimentary com
ment upon the witnesses who appeared
against him.
The third envelope was addressed to
Sheriff Seaman. In it the doctor asks
that his body be cremated
There is $50 in my clothes which
you can use for this purpose" he wrote.
blood still lives. She is daughter by /
a former marriage and is in Los An |
geles.
Night of the Tragedy
On the night of February 27, Mrs.
ooI~ w i4hiAS WAS pedCen to death in !
the yard of her home at Long Beach,
to which she had returned late thar
evening with her husband
Sfe was struck over the head re-
peatedly with a hammer. DR.. Wilkins
who alarmed the naighbors and
brought them to her aid, said he had
er tered the house, had been set upon
by burglars mnd knocked down. and
that one of the gang had rushed out
and killed his wife hocor.o -
screamed.
FOR a time the police and county
ofhclals searched for the alleged bur
glars. Later, certain clews discovered
IN the wilkins home turned their cf
iorts IN another direction Private
detectives aided in the rnvcstipation
and during the early part of March
Dr. wilkins, while actually free
man. was continually under survcil-
lance.
On March Is his nerve broke and he
vanished. Immediately thereafter
warrant was obtained for his arrest
on charge Of murder. On March 10
ne teiegraphed to his attorney that he
was coming back. That evening he
was arrested in the Penrs ylvania Sta /
tion, few minutes r. he had
stepped from the train that brought
nm back from Baltimore
Insisted He was Innocent
lie insisted then. as he continued 10
= 10 up 10 the time Of his death that