UNWRITTEN LAW TRIAL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 109, 4 June 1909, Page 4

UNWRITTEN LAW TRIAL

STORY OF A DOCTOR'S CRIME. At present, in Xe\v York, the pica of the "unwritten law 1 ' U' just as prominently discussed as in the days of the j trial of llarry Thaw. Tliiti time the ; defendant h not a fusliioirably-drcssed millionaire, but a plain-featured Slav wouura, Sarah Koteu, who asked the jury to acquit her of the charge of murdering Dr. Martin Aunpitz last summer., because, as she alLeges, the doctor wronged and deserted her. She pleaded guilty to tho technical charge of manslaughter. and, by. an arrangement between her counsel and the Public Prosecutor. she will eonie before the Court again to be sentenced to confinement for a limited period' in some, institution Where she will not be separated from her baby boy. "Her interests and public interests," declared the Prosecutor, '•'will be best served in that way." The case of Koteu is very similar to that of Josephine Terranova, a big-eyed Italian girl with the face of a Madonna, who als'o pleaded the unwritten law in New York ktely, and who was quickly liberated W a sympathising jury, hacked, as i» the present case, by an equally sympathising public. Unlike Terranova, Koten cannot appeal with a beautiful face, but she held affectionately in her arms a bubv boy born in I gaol, for whose sake, and not her own. as she said through her counsel, she [asked the Court to be" merciful. The ! baby crowed and cooed all the time.

By pleading guilty to the technical charge of manslaughter, couns'el advised her she could secure protection in a public institution until such time as she could work for herself and her child, and the plea of the unwritten Jaw was urged so successfully that the charge of murder was not even pressed. But for the dhild she would have asked for immediate liberty. Kolen wag born at Minsk, in Russia. Her father was n rabbi, and wlien he died, leaving a small legucy. ,<he sailed to New York to try to 'become a hospital nurse. A girl was wanted as a probationary nurse in the private sanatorium of' Dr. Anspitz. Three months she spent in the hospital, three months of hard, drudging work, but Anspitz, she said, courted her and promised to befriend her. One morning, s'lve said in her depositions, she awoke and became conscious of the fumes '»f chloroform in her room. Not long afterwards she learned that .she was to become a mother. The young woman said she went to Anspitz "and asked him to marry her, but he refused. She then went to the police court. Anspitz won the fjiiit. Th<> Courts gave her no justice, reasoned, and then she decided to >:etlle the matter heiself.

Aus<pitz was'summoned to Harlem by telephone one afternoon. With n'o thought of dimger he went there and ran nimbly up the steps. Koten, crouched in a comer, was waiting. Auspitz was about to press the electric button when the 'woman from llussia confronted him. She shot, and kept on shooting until he was dead.

All litis hi orv iv,-is told at the inquest and repeated at the trial. .Tows' throughout till 1 city had -uli^crilled a defence fund, and employed Mr. Abraham Now, a well-known counsel. to defend. Maiiy witnesses were prepared to tell what tliev know of Koteu and what they know of Auspitz, who had figured several times previously in somewhat similar charges, but they ivcre not called.