Lilly Lawrence

Lilly Lawrence died from an illegal operation.

A doctor was tried for her murder but acquitted.

Lilly Lawrence had lived in Pontypridd with her father and a miner that had lodged at their house.

The doctor had lived in Pontsticill in Breconshire.

During Christmastide, 1920, Lilly Lawrence found that she was in trouble and the miner arranged an interview for her with the doctor at the New Inn Hotel in Pontypridd.

He said that when they met, the doctor asked him:

To which he said he replied:

He said that the doctor told him that his charge was £5, but that he agreed to accept 30s after he told him that he was out of work, with another condition that Lilly Lawrence should give £1 to the doctors housekeeper.

He said that the result was that an arrangement was made and he and Lilly Lawrence went to the doctors house in Pontsticill, near Merthyr. The miner said that he left Lilly Lawrence at the house and went to a neighbouring public house whilst Lilly Lawrence remained at the doctor's house.

He said that after some time elapsed, the doctor joined him in the public house and said:

He said that after drinking together they went to the doctors house where he found Lilly Lawrence and another woman, but that before they left, the woman suggested that she make another examination and for that purpose the doctor and Lilly Lawrence went upstairs.

He said that after they came down again that the woman gave Lilly Lawrence some pills after which they left the house together, he and Lilly Lawrence.

However, he said that two days later Lilly Lawrence developed an illness, and on 31 January 1921, she died in hospital from septic poisoning.

The doctor was arrested shortly afterwards and charged with Lilly Lawrence's murder.

Some pills, instruments and a number of letters were found in his possession.

A doctor in Pontypridd said that when he examined Lilly Lawrence that he found her symptoms were consistent with miscarriage and that she had been suffering from peritonitis. He said that she died on 31 January 1921 and that he carried out a post mortem examination on 2 February 1921, and found extensive evidence of peritonitis, but no evidence of any injury to any of her intestines, which were in good health except for the peritonitis.

He added that injuries found in certain internal organs were consistent with the use of instruments, but that he didn't think that the instruments could have been used by Lilly Lawrence herself.

A consulting surgeon at Pontypridd Hospital, said that he examined Lilly Lawrence on 31 January 1921 when she was in a very low condition and decided upon an immediate operation and found that she had an acute affection of the pelvis.

However, at the trial it was noted that Lilly Lawrence had told him that she had used a certain article herself.

The surgeon noted that if he had not performed the operation, she could not have possibly recovered.

Some of Lilly Lawrence's letters were also read out in the court.

The first was a letter sent from an address in Merthyr Tydfil, in which the writer asked the doctor to call at his house on a Sunday evening, as his sweetheart was in trouble and that the fee would be all right.

Two other letters of a similar character were also read out.

The doctor then addressed the jury on his own behalf.

He said that he had done nothing to Lilly Lawrence, accepting that the letters had been written to him, but saying that it was manifestly unfair that the letters had been read out in court  as it prejudiced the case against him and that he could not help people writing him such letters.

He also accepted that he had met the miner and Lilly Lawrence at the public house, but that he had only advised them to get married immediately. However, he said that Lilly Lawrence had said that she had been afraid to get married as she had had a child before and that the miner might throw it up to her later whilst in drink. He also said that the miner's evidence could not be depended on.

When the judge summed up, he said that the miner, if he had his deserts, would be in the dock with the doctor, noting that having got Lilly Lawrence into trouble he had deliberately set to work to get someone to perform a serious criminal operation.

However, after an absence of a quarter of an hour, the jury found the doctor not guilty of both murder and manslaughter.

The doctor was also tried for the murder of Agnes May Caswell, but similarly acquitted.