The Washington times., 1934-01-15
CRIME BLAMED
/ ON CREED FOR
INSURANCE
Defendant Attends Court In
Wheel Chair and Is Lifted
j. %o c|ond
By DOROTHY DUCAs

in a hurry to get her daughter
in-law Rheta insured because she
said Rheta was going to take a
trip out West" declared the
States attorney today in his open
ing address to the jury in DR..
Wynekoop's trial for her mother
in-law's murder.
Yet the State will prove that
no trip of any kind was ever
contemplated by the red-haired
Rheta, who lived with her mother
in-law, although estranged from
her husband, Earle, said Charles
S. Dougherty, the prosecutor.
Three months after the insur-
ance was taken out Rheta was
dead. and DR.. Wynekoop was the
beneficiary Of $4,000 worth of
insurance with double indemnity
clause for accidental death, the
premiums were paid although
those on DR.. Wynekoop's own life
and her sons were in default at
the time.
Bullets Bought
And the day the insurance
policy was delivered Earle Wyne.
koop, Rheta's husband, purchased
cartridges for his gun and de.
1ivered them to his mother,
These are the main points of
the States case against the
woman doctor, as outlined by the
prosecutor with calm earnestness.
His charges eliminated in a half.
strangled "Oh!" from the de-
fendant when Earle, her baby son,
was mentioned. It was the first
show Of fire she betrayed all
morning. The prosecution did not
demand the death penalty.
The opening speech described
a cold-blooded, carefully planned
crime, the details of which held
a court room SpellEound for al
most an hour.
No time was spent going into
the close relation between Earle
and his mother, no dramatics in
dulged in. Just recital of how
a young woman, unSuSpecting,
walked into trap, every spring
of which had been creased and
tested, for her undoing.
DR.. Wynekoop's friend, Julia
Mccarthy, an insurance sales
woman, will testify as to the
oman physicians anxiety to get
the policy signed quickly, it was
said.
Lifted to Stand (.
The woman physician, who was
so weak after a heart attack she
could not walk step, was lifted
from a wheelchair to her seat at
the counsel table after lengthy dis
cussion of the effect of this
"Strain" on her general condition.
At her side throughout the trial,
it was decided, physician must
be posted to watch her heart ac-
ton, lest death cheat the State.
Defense attorneys said the
woman had been advised by
physicians that any strain would
be dangerous, even that of being
transferred from her wheelchair
to walk across the room.
States attorneys protested all
her symptoms were subjective and
indicated they would like a
neutral physician to examine
her.
BY mutual agreement, however,
DR.. James Whitney Hall, alieniSt
who figured in the Loeb-Leopold
case, was called to the stand. He
testified he had examined the
elderly doctor this morning and
found her heart in bad shape.
He said:
ut is not performing its
duty properly, that is plain.
The heart is suffering an air
hunger, resulting in rapid
breathing. Her pulse is "a.
Normal pulse for her age is
around a."
DR.. Wynekoop's life is in
jeopardy during any physical or
mental stress, declared DR.. Hall,
and the transfer from wheel
chair to courtroom chair would
be strain, he said.
AS this procedure was adopted,
spectators stirred in their seats.
Judge Joseph B. David shouted a
warning that they were there ION
sufferance" and might be elected
at any time. He cried:
"This is no shOw-it is q
law suit"
There will be no display of
curiosity"
Several times had the pink
faced judge insisted upon ''no
dramatics" in this most dramatic
trial of years.
Gardner Witness
Burdine H, Gardner, Rheta's
father, here from the Indiana
capitol to aid the prosecution of
the case against the 62-year-old
woman doctor, will be the first
witness for the State.
Tense, worn with grief, and as
determined as the mother of
,ohilandering Earle Wynekoop her
self, Gardner said he would stay
in Chicago throughout the trial.
OF the case he had but this to say:
~ feel they are trying the
night person."