Dr. Wynekoop Diagnoses Self;
Expects to Die.
Dr. Wynekoop
Diagnoses Self;
Expects to Die
_____
Health Will Never Stand
Trial, She Says; Wants
No Medical Aid.
Chicago, Nov. 30 (AP).--Dr. Alice L. Wynekoop looked up from her Bible in the county jail today and told her jailers she would not live to go to trial for murdering her daughter-in-law, Rheta.
Frail, worn out by hours of police questioning, her hands shaking as they turned the pages of the Bible, Dr. Alice announced she is convinced her death is not far off.
The 62-year-old woman doctor admitted death might be "long and tedious," but she declared her health never would permit her trial. She indicated death would not be unwelcome.
Diagnoses Own Case.
"All the medical men in the world can't help me," she told the jail physician. "My case--I have diagnosed it. I don't need other medical aid."
It was her feeling that death was near, Dr. Alice said, that caused her to repudiate a "confession" in which she admitted shooting Rheta, wife of her favorite son, in the back as the girl lay dead on her operating table from chloroform self-administered.
Through sleepless nights since entering the jail, Dr. Wynekoop said she had read the Bible.
Her favorite passages, she said, were in the last chapter of Matthew, which says that those who would believe must have faith in a life hereafter.
Son to Be Arraigned Today.
"I read the chapter over twice last night," she told Dr McNamara. "After all, one must have faith. Without faith, life isn't even worth while. Whether my faith is right or wrong makes no difference."
In another section of the jail, Earle Wynekoop, her son, ate roast chicken, spoke of trying to "find the real murderer of Rheta after his release," and asked again to see his mother.
He will be arraigned in felony court tomorrow as a participant in alleged plotting of Rheta's death. He has not been indicted.
Source:
Unknown, "Dr. Wynekoop Diagnoses Self; Expects to Die," The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Friday, 1 December, 1933, p. 21.
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