The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1919-06-24
SAYS DR.. WILKINS.
DATED WIFE'S WILL

MINEOLA, L. l., June 24-David y.
Carvalho, handwriting expert, called
as witness by the prosecution at the
trial Of DR.. Walter X. Wilkins. in the
MIneola Supreme Court. charged with
wife murder, testified that a second
Will, drawn by Mrs. wilkins. was
dated October 20, 1915. in the hand
writing Of the defendant. who is named
in the instrument as beneficiary.
The testimony was introduced by
the district attorney to disprOve
statements by DR.. wilkins that he
was not cOgnizant of the existence of
such will until he found it while
searching through some trunks four
days after the murder of his wife.
I'VE are attempting to show said
Prosecutor Weeks, that the defend
ant not only knew Of the existence of
this second will, but that when his
knowledge OF its existence might
have been regarded as a motive for
his killing his wife he deliberately
set about TO invalidate the instrument
by removing therefrOm the attestation
clause"
Detective TestiheS.
Allen o. Meyers. a Burns detective,
testified that he had asked DR.. Will
kins if he knew of the existence of a
will
In answer to my question several
days after the murder" Meyers tes-
tilted, "the doctor told me that the
Long Beach police were trying to
frame him. He said he knew he was
suspected of killing his wife. He
kept saying to me: Where is the mo-
tive? Supply the motive His law
yer, Louis G. Friess, was with him at
the time. Mr.. Friess echoed the doc
tor. He wanted to know where we
were going to get a motive for the
doctors committing the crime.
II asked DR.. wilkins again"
Meyers continued. ''if his wife had not
left a will The doctor said he had
never heard of one. He said he had
never seen one. Mr.. Friess told me
he had been Mrs. wilkins attorney
for twenty years. and he said the only
will he knew Of was one dated 1908,
before she had met DR.. wilkins and
while she was the wife of Otto
Krauss."
Found Second VIII.
Later, the witness said, DR.. wilkins
found the second will. In the mean
time, in a trunk that had been twice
searched by detectives, disclosing
or interest, the OclCHudul udN
found the first will, dated 1903.
Dr. wilkins turned the second will
over to his attorney, Mr.. Friess, the
witness said, and FIVE days later Mr..
Friess, in turn, handed il over to the
district attorney. The day it was
placed in the hands Of the prosecutor
DR.. wilkins fed to Baltimore, shaved
his whiskers and registered at the
Hotel Joyce in that city as E. H.
Howe, Petersburg, W. Va.
after DR.. wilkins returned from
Baltimore and was under arrest"
Meyers testified, 81 questioned him
about that second will. He told me
he had found it four days after the
murder in his home in Manhattan. He
said he had not mentioned finding it
at that time because Mr.. Friess had
advised against it. He told me he had
never seen the will before the day on
which he had found il. He said when
he took it to Mr.. Friess to have it pro-
bated the lawyer told him the will was
not valid because it lacked an attesta-
ton clause"
Newspaperman Called.
Benjamin KOhler, a newspaperman,
was called to the stand and said that
DR.. wilkins had told him the burglars
who, he says, beat and robbed him
and murdered his wife had taken from
him Swiss watch his wife had given
him that belonged to her son by a
former marriage.
This watch, bearing the animals Of
Leon hrauss on the hunting case, was
found wrapped in a bloody towel con-
cealed ina sofa in the home of the
defendant in Long Beach. Although
two witnesses have testified that this
is the watch the doctor told them the
burglars took from him, DR.. wilkins
maintains that the watch and the
bloody towel were planted" by de-
.tectives from the district attorneys
office.
Upon the conclusion OF the testi-
mony the States case rested. Charles
y. Wysong will open for the defense
this afternoon, and DR.. wilkins will