Wessel v. Lavender

171 S.W. 331, 262 Mo. 421, 1914 Mo. LEXIS 175
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedDecember 2, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 171 S.W. 331 (Wessel v. Lavender) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wessel v. Lavender, 171 S.W. 331, 262 Mo. 421, 1914 Mo. LEXIS 175 (Mo. 1914).

Opinion

BROWN, C.

This is an action by plaintiff for five thousand dollars actual damages and five thousand dollars punitive damages for ravishing her on April 16, 1908, while she was unconscious. She was, at the time of the injury complained of, married, about thirty years old, and lived with her family, consisting of husband ■ and two children — Dalla, a girl ten years old, and Earl, a boy of six. The defendant had been their family physician for twelve years. His age is not given, but the fact that he graduated at the Washington University Medical School in 1865 indicated that he had arrived at the age of discretion. Mrs. Wessel had suffered from an ovarian trouble for which Dr. Lavender had been treating' her- It caused her much pain at times, and he had been called to relieve her, and on the particular occasion in question he was called for the same reason, and administered the usual sedative by hypodermic injection. What is charged to have occurred is stated in the petition as follows:

“That on the said 16th day of April plaintiff’s husband was temporarily absent from his home and not expected to return for a period of ebout . . . days and the defendant knew that plaintiff’s husband was so absent and was not expected to return for said period of . . . days; and so knowing, defendant being in the course of his treatment of plaintiff for her sickness in her bed room in the presence of said minor children, administered to and caused to be taken by plaintiff, under the belief, on the part of plaintiff, that the same was necessary for her proper treatment for said sickness, a dose of medicine. That defendant having administered said medicine, plaintiff being then and [423]*423there sick and in bed, under the influence of said medicine, became and was unconscious, and that shortly thereafter plaintiff regained consciousness and upon regaining consciousness, defendant, then plaintiff’s physician as aforesaid, was in bed with plaintiff, engaged in the act of committing sexual intercourse upon the body and person of plaintiff; that at the time defendant was undressed and plaintiff’s minor children were absent from the room; that at the time when plaintiff as aforesaid discovered defendant in said act of violating her person, she at once separated her person from that of defendant, and thereupon defendant left plaintiff’s bed and put on his clothes and departed. ’ ’

On the trial the plaintiff testified in substance that on Monday evening April 13, 1908, she was suddenly seized with a painful aggravation of her trouble and called Dr. Lavender, who administered a hypodermic injection which relieved her. He also attended her the next day for the same purpose, but did not come Wednesday. On Thursday evening after retiring she was seized with a very painful attack and sent for Mrs. Struebe, a neighbor woman, and for Dr. Lavender. There was at the time, in addition to her own family, a young girl about fifteen years old staying in the house to assist her. She slept in a large room with two beds, one of which was occupied by this girl and her daughter, while the little son occupied the bed with her. Mrs. Struebe came and then the Doctor, who administered a hypodermic injection and sat by the bed to await its effect. It did not relieve her and he administered another. The two girls had, after the arrival of Mrs. Struebe, been sent to bed in a room across the hall and the boy had been placed in the other bed in Mrs. Wessel’s room. Shortly after the administration of the two injections she became tired and went to sleep, the Doctor then being seated at the bedside and Mrs. Struebe at the foot of the bed. She [424]*424awoke with, a smothering sensation, and found the Doctor in the bed engaged in the-commission upon her of the act charged in the petition. She then said: “What in the dickens are yon doing, doctor?” and called for her daughter. The Doctor said: “The kids aren’t in here.” She then called Mrs. Struebe and the Doctor said she had gone home. She said, “You get in the hall and call those kids out of there, you call them.” He was then dressing and told her to be quiet, ■that it was not so bad. She asked him again to call the children. When he had completed his toilet he picked up his grip and she cried again two or three times to call the children, but he walked back into the kitchen and then returned to the bed and said: “Look here, Mrs. Wessel, now if you ain’t quiet I will give you another dose of medicine.” She then shut up mighty quick and kept still. He asked her how she was feeling and she said all right, and asked him again to call the children. He then went out and the two girls soon came into the room.

She further testified that the next morning the doctor called at her home,- and coming into her room, shut the door and sat down near her bed. She asked him what made him do that to her the night before. He said it was not so bad, and not to make a great big halloo about it. After some talk in which he attempted to excuse himself, she called him “You dirty,'nasty, stinking thing,” and threatened to tell her husband. He tried with much talk to persuade her not to “make a great big howl about little or nothing, ’ ’ but she kept on fussing and he kept on arguing that it would ruin his reputation and that a murder might come of it. She insisted that she was going to tell Mr. Wessel, and after the fuss had lasted quite a while he said: “Well, I am willing to pay for the dirtiness and harm: it don’t make any difference how much it will cost, if it costs me $1000', just so you won’t tell him.” She vowed and declared for a while that she would, and finally [425]*425said she would see about it. He said: “All right, Mrs. Wessel,” and then after they had quarreled a little longer he went home. This talk lasted from half past six or seven o’clock that morning until half past eight or nine o’clock. In the afternoon he came back and after shutting the door asked her if she agreed to it. After they had argued a while, she said: “If you are willing to pay what I ask you, I will agree to it, to take the money.” He said: “All right, Mrs. Wessel, are you honest?” She said, “Yes, honest to Grod,” and they shook hands on it and made the agreement that he was to pay. She-was not to tell her husband or anybody else. This .final conference took about an hour. No amount, was mentioned other than stated above.

Doctor Lavender testified that at the time of his call on the night of April 16, 1908, he stayed until Mrs. Wessel had gone to sleep after the administration of the second hypodermic and then went home, and that everything she testified to as having occurred afterward was purely fabrication, without any foundation in fact, and that he never had heard of any complaint of the kind until February 6, 1909, when she came to him with a bill as follows:

“ Marthasville, Mo., Feb. 4, 1909.
“To Dr. C. L. Lavender ................. $500 for taking the advantage of me Mrs. Wm. .Wessel while I was under the influence of medicine.”
On this paper were written by Dr. Lavender the following word and figures: “2-6-08. Eeceived $60.”

Mrs. Wessel testified that when she made the bargain with the doctor he said he could not pay her until the first of the year, so that she waited until about the middle of January before saying anything more to him about it. In the meantime she was making monthly payments on the family doctor bill which he then told her had nothing to do with her bill against him, which he wanted her to make “reasonable.” This induced [426]

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Bluebook (online)
171 S.W. 331, 262 Mo. 421, 1914 Mo. LEXIS 175, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wessel-v-lavender-mo-1914.