Evening star., 1933-12-18
CANCER CURE CASE
-
! !. TESTIMONY BEGUN
:33 Witnesses Called in Be.
half of 2 Doctors Charged
With Death.
BY STAFF Correspondent of The Star.


ROCKVILLE, Md, December 1S.-
Presentation of testimony in the case
.of DR.. Harry r. Street, Washington,
sand DR.. Sherwood Ferris, Chevy Chase,
.charged with manslaughter i'll the death
sof Mrs. Cora Britton of Mays Landing,
en-. j., in a Baltimore hospital last May
"a, began in Circuit Court here before
associate Justices Charles w. woodward
sof Montgomery County and Arthur D.
sWilard of Frederick County shortly be-
sfore noon.
A Jury was chosen in less than an
shour this morning and the trial began
after short opening statements by
Estates Attorney Stedman Prescott and
Joseph c. CisseI, chief defense counsel:
y Prescott told the jury he expected
to prove that the "black Salve' WIN
(which the defendants treated Mrs
Britton for a cancer of the breast was
sthe immediate cause of her death. He
said he would show the salve to be
compound of zinc chloride, lone 'ot the
sworst burners known to chemistry,
DIR. Britton Testifies.
DR.. Roland L. Britton, husband OF
the dead woman, the first witness
called by the State, told the jury under
examination that he was shocked ana
Snaralvzed" when, two weeks after he
drought his wife to washington 10 De
treated by DR.. Street, he discovered
aher condition. This was five weeks be-
fore his wife was taken to the Baltl-
more hospital on April 2. He said he
had been opposed to her taking treat
sr,ent from DR.. Street from the first, al
though he said DR.. Street had told hlm
that treatment identical to that Whlcn
he proposed to give Mrs. Brltton nao
proven successful in numerous other
cancer cases. .5
. Miss Fave ]. BuSSard, a trained
nurse. who had known Mrs. Brltton Tor
several wears before her death, told OF
> being called in to care for the woman
while she was at the Chevy Chase home
sof DIR. Ferris, to which she was taken
sduring the treatment by the defendants.
Miss Bussard described Mrs. BrlttonS
scondftion as critical.
Defense BIames Pneumonia.
Cissel indicated his defense would be
based upon the fact that Mrs. Brltton
died four weeks after leaving the care
sof Doctors Street and Ferris. He tolo
fthe ilry he would show Mrs. Brltton 5
death was caused by pneumonia ana
sother complications which set IN as
sresult O fan operation performed after
she went to the hospital in Baltimore;
5 Mrs. Britton died after being treated
sbv the two physicians with a secret
medicine that deVours cancer ana the
: doctors were arrested after Baltimore
: coroners jury held that the woman
.. died as the result of criminal con-
AnI fNan
sduct, gross malpractice and brutal treat
: ment' at their hands.
. Thirty-three Defense Witnesses.
: Counsel for Doctors Street and Ferris
Z have summoned 33 witnesses, 1nclud1ng
q a number of Carroll, Howard, Baltl-
more, Frederick and Montgomery Coun-
: tv residents who claim to have been
= cured of cancer by the defendants,
while 16 witnesses have been summoned
> by the State. VA,
= Among those who will be called to
: the stand by States Attorney Prescott
are the physicians who attended Mrs.
Britton in the South General Hospital
at Baltimore, autopsy physicians anu
chemists who testified before the cor
oner's jury in Baltimore
Associate Judges woodward and Will
= lard of the sixth judicial circuit are
. presiding at the trial. Chief Judge
. Hammond Urner of Frederick was un-
= able to attend because his own court
: is in session.
Mrs. Britton, wife of Dr.. Roland L.
Z Britton Of Mays Landing, died in the
: Baltimore hospital approximately a
month after she was taken to that in
sstitution from DR.. Ferris home in
sChevy Chase, where she is alleged TO
. have BEEN under treatment nine weeks
: for cancer of the breast.
= Charged with Manslaughter..
. DR.. Street, who conducts the Wash
= ington Cancer Sanitarium at 14l4
. Girard street northeast, and DR.. Ferris
we're arrested on warrants charging
. manslaughter after the Baltimore
. coroner's jury communicated its find
= ings to Montgomery County authorities
s"for such action as they deem proper
: in the premises"
: The two physicians were remanded
r, to the grand jury and released under
> bond when their case was heard in
Police Court They were indicted by the
/. grand jury at the November term of
. Circuit Court,