The Desperate Attack on an English Doctor.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 242, 18 February 1888, Page 8 (Supplement)

The Desperate Attack on an English Doctor.

The following are particulars of tho affair which occurred at Cordova lately. Dr. Middleton, who for several years past has been the family physician of Lord Deratnore, arrived in Cordova with the latter en route for Tangiers, where they purposed passing the winter. On leaving his hotel to post some letters Dr. Middleton was accosted by a gipsy, who offered to show him the way, but the offer was declined. After posting his letters Dr. Middleton proceeded to the cathedral —an ancient Moorish mosque — being still dogged by the gipsy, who persisted in following him to tho top of the tower. Once there, the gipsy suddenly threw an arm round Dr. Middleton, who was standing close to the parapet. The attack was made from behind. Dr. Middleton, finding that the man was endeavouring to strangle and rob him, dropped his stick, drew a revolver and fired two shots over his shoulder, one of which entered the gipsy's mouth, the other taking a downward course through his body. The shots were fatal, and, covered with blood, Di\ Middleton doscended and gave notice of the occurrence to the police. He was arrested, but was released on bail for £4,000. The gipsy, called Heredia, hadthe worst of reputations, and a most significant fact isthathe was companion two years ago to an Englishman visiting the cathedral tower, who wasfounddead at the foot. The case was then supposed to be one of suicide, but looked at in the light of Dr. Middleton's experience it is now viewed differently. Every detail of the occurrence having been placed before Sir Clare Ford by Lord Deramore, the Minister obtained the order of the authorities in Madrid for the immediate release from prison of Dr. Middleton. It is to the credit of tho officials at Cordova that every consideration was shown to the doctor during his imprisonment. The trial will take place in about a month, and the verdict is almost certain to be one of justifiable homicide.