The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-11-23
DORRIT WILLING TO
DIE IF NECESSARY
Gross Examination Brings Out Parts of
Other Letters to Douglas Wood
hOuse-IgnOred by Parents.


Dorrit Stevens Woodhouse completed
her third day on the witness stand in the
Chittcnden county court yesterday by
reading excerpts from her own letters to
her husband. Carries Douglas Wood
house. in which She expressed her will
ingneSS to die in event of the failure of
plans for the illegal surgical operation
TO which she testified Tuesday she sub
mitted few days after her marriage.
Postmarked envelopes introduced with
these letters indicates that they We're
written in July, 1920. the month fol-
lowing the union of love" in which she
testified she and Douglas, then a serg-
cant in the signal corps, were joined
when he came to Burlington on leave
from his post in Maryland.
With trembling hands Mrs. Wood
house received one of these letters writ
ten on sheet of blue monogrammed pa
per. from Atty. Y. \. Billiard, and iden-
tilted il as her own handwriting. Then,
at. the request OF the attorney, she read
these words, which she had written to
Douglas after she learned that she was
approaching motherhood;
If things fail, we must think of some
way to do away with my body. At the
same time | wouldn't much care. We
all have to die sometime anyway. 1t
means n doctor and you must find Il good
one, for it is more serious than the nor
mai birth Of a child.
From another letter. Mrs. WoOdhouse
read at the direction of the attorney:
Il know YOU care nothing for me, but
without you, you know what / would
do
Those words are in your handwrit-
ing and expressed your feeling ut that
timeT" he inquired.
No, sir" replied Mrs. WoOdhouse.
That is not my feeling. / haven't really
an explanation as to why i wrote it"
Douglas, dear, YOU haven't said you
loved me for Il whole month" was the
third quotation which the witness was
called on to read.
why did you write thatt" asked the
Cross-examiner.
Mrs. Woodhouse explained that she
was very much upset at the time over
something that had happened while
Douglas was in Burlington" She said
that she really did not believe that he
had ceased to care for her and said that
she believed he had sent his love in some,
of his letters and kilograms.
From the time you learned you were
in 4 delicate condition isn't it true that
you urged Douglas to have something
done?' demanded Attorney Billiard.
No l don't think So"
Did you write to Douglas at one time
something about some doctor far away,
Doug where we will neFer go. in Phila-
delphia? p"
Il don't remember. l might have
The lawyer then produced letter IN
which this quotation appeared and
which the witness read.
did you at this time have occasion
to use q doctorT' he continued.
Not at that time. l expected to
have later"
And did that refer to an Illegal oper-
atom
Turning from the subject of the opera
., T1Ylf apH sl~a H
house if she and her aunt had had a con
Nersation at the Merchants National
bank of which Lorenzo Woodhouse Is
president during which you or your
aunt said that they had you nailed to
the cross and that you were going down
to New York and Douglas must marry
you The witness replied that she had
no recollection of such a conversation.
Cross-questioned as to her meeting
with her father-in-law at the Long
branch. y. J., hospital, where Douglas
was Ill with typhoid fever. Mrs. Wood
house asserted that the defendant had
ign red her.
she said.
Asked why she had not notified her
husbands parents of their sons illness,
Mrs. Woodhouse answered: They had
refused To talk to me personally j
didn't think they would talk TO me over
the telephone. Mr.. Woodhouse never
condescended to speak to me-
You never tried to make him talk to
you, did you?" asked Attorney Bullard'
I did my best the plaintiff an
swered.
When Douglas went to Florida with
his parents after his illness, his wife
was not allowed to accompany him, ac-
cOrding TO Mrs. Warehouses; testimony.
She said that Douglas told her of his
contemplated journey and informed her
that his family said Il couldn't go with
him."
Mrs. Woodhouse testified that she had
not kissed her husband or lived with
him as a wife since May. 1920. after she
had learned of his affair in Washington
with Mrs. lillian Hendrick Mcclellan.
The cross-examination of Mrs. Wood
house was then suspended to permit DR.
{. II. Beecher, who attended her in
June. 1920, to testify TO her condition
at that time lie said he found her III
a condition of extreme nervousness and
mental depression
The only woman who controls Lon