The daily papers of Tuesday and Wednesday told of a shooting affair which occurred in a hotel in Columbus, New Mexico, early Monday morning of this week and which resulted in the death of a former Coldwater physician - Dr. W. Doster - also of the shooting of a woman said to be his wife. It seems that Dr. Doster was stationed at Camp Furlough, near Columbus, having been transferred to that camp from Fort Riley where he had spent nearly two years as a member of the army medical corps with the rank of lieutenant, but lately he seems to have attained to the rank of captain. According to the dispatches, Dr. Doster and his wife were stopping at a hotel in Columbus and on Sunday night they quarreled, and as the doctor arose early Monday morning the woman drew a revolver which she had concealed under her pillow and shot him, death resulting shortly afterwards. After shooting the doctor, it is said that the woman turned the revolver upon herself and fired. According to a later dispatch, the woman claims that she was shot by the doctor. The woman's wound was not considered critical and she may recover. It is stated that the quarrel between Dr. Doster and the woman who claims to be his wife was caused by the discovery by the woman of some correspondence between the doctor and a woman in California.

The identity of the doctor's slayer has not yet been definitely established as far as has been learned here. Dr. Doster's first wife died in this city a little over three years ago and it was not known here that he ever remarried.

Dr. Doster practiced his profession in this city for about three years prior to September, 1917, when he went to Fort Riley and joined the army medical corps, as stated above. He was the son of ex-chief justice Frank Doster of Kansas, who is now a resident of Pasadena, calif. The doctor was a graduate of the Kansas Medical College in Topeka, and had undisputed qualifications as a physician and surgeon. He was a resident of St. John, Kans., for a few years before coming to Coldwater.

Deming, N. M., May 9. - The case of Mrs. Maude Musgrove, accused of murdering her common law husband, Capt. Wade Doster, United States Medical Corps, came to a dramatic end this afternoon when District Judge Raymond R. Ryan accepted a plea of guilty to second degree murder.

Not in many years has a more touching plea been heard in the courts of New Mexico than that made in Deming Sunday afternoon by Judge Frank Doster, of Pasadena, in asking clemency for the woman who had slain his son, Dr. Wade Doster. So touching was the elderly judge's appeal that Judge Raymond R. Ryan of the district court did not feel ashamed to shed a tear in charity, with the hundreds of persons who packed the court room when Mrs. Doster was sentenced.

On March 8, 1920, Mrs. Doster, common law wife of Capt. Wade Doster of the medical corps, U. S. A., shot and killed him in Columbus, N. M., following a night of quarreling according to evidence introduced at the recent trail in Deming. It was brought out that Mrs. Doster, who had been intimate with the young army officer for nearly three years, had signed a contract to remain away from him in consideration of money to be paid her at the time of the signing of the contract and by the month thereafter.

As the killing occurred in Luna-co., the case was tried at Deming, the county seat. J. S. Vaught was the prosecutor, and R. F. Hamilton and Fred Sherman, attorneys for the defense. Raymond R. Ryan was the presiding judge. Frank Doster, former chief justice of the supreme court of Kansas, who about four years ago moved to Pasadena, Calif., from Topeka, Kans., assisted in prosecuting the case. After the jury had disagreed as to what should be done with Mrs. Doster and after she pleaded guilty to second degree murder, Judge Doster made an appeal for clemency.

This appeal, characterized by Judge Ryan as a masterpiece in both literary quality and sentiment, has been requested by eastern papers complete. It follows:

"If your honor please, before sentence shall be pronounced on the defendant, may I have the privilege of a few words. I hope that I shall not surprise you or any one who may hear me when I state that I desire to ask for such mercy in the imposition of the sentence as the law will permit your honor to exercise. Probably I have no justification for this plea of clemency except the justification of the wounded heart. That wounded heart does not incline me to ask for a severe penalty, but, on the contrary for such consideration as the law will permit to be exercised.

"What I may say does not proceed from a belief in the defendant's innocence. On the contrary, I am quite well satisfied of her guilt; but I am free to acknowledge before your honor and before the defendant and her counsel, that so far as extenuating circumstances go, there is much that may be urged in her behalf. I do not have justification for the conduct of my son towards this unfortunate person. On the contrary, I feel the weight of his guilt. That guilt was not great enough to justify the taking of his life, but it may be sufficient to justify as least sympathetic reasons in favor of a limited penalty.

"I think I know much about the case; I know something about it of a nature that could not be admitted in evidence. The technical rules of law would forbid. While that knowledge that would be excluded is not a knowledge that admits justification of the defendant for the deed done, it nevertheless is considered by me in connection with that which did appear from the lips of the witnesses on the hearing. I pass, however, from that to say that I believe that considerable of the defendant's story was true; some of it, I know, was false. All of it was highly colored and exaggerated, but I do not hold such exaggeration against the defendant. She was on trial for her life and the instinct of self-preservation was strong in her as probably it would be in the case of all of us to say and do whatever could be done to mitigate the severe penalty of the law.

"The defendant has finally admitted in open court her guilt of the murder of my son. A jury, sitting on her case, did not disagree as to the performance of the act by her, but only disagreed on the question whether she acted under an insane impulse to its commission. The majority of the jury, as I have heard them state in open court, believed her guilty of the first and highest degree of murder. Her conviction of that degree of crime or a severe sentence for the degree of crime to which she has now confessed, would not undo the past. It would not heal the wounded hearts of my aged wife nor my own. It would not restore to us our son.

"We have now reached a time in life when domestic affliction, not only the loss of our son, but recently from the loss of a beloved daughter, mellows our hearts and inclines us to charity, to pity for the unfortunate - even those who have wronged us so grievously as has the defendant. May I ask your honor not only for myself but on behalf of my family to view the case of this unfortunate woman with as much charity as can be and to temper her sentence and the law with as much mercy as it will allow. I ask your honor not to go beyond the minimum limit of imprisonment in the disposition of your sentence."

"The turn which this trial has now taken is a most unusual one. This court represents the sovereignty of the state of New Mexico, and its decision in this case must, as expressing that sovereignty, represent the majesty of the law. It is the genius and boast of the law that it works with inexorable regularity; its rules apply to all persons and actions alike. This is said because the evidence in this case before the court and which should influence the court in its judgment now to be made, proved beyond a doubt, indeed proves by the facts admitted to be true by the defense, that the defendant in this case killed the deceased under such circumstances as to constitute murder in the first degree.

"The only defense interposed was that the defendant at the time of the commission of the act, was insane and lacked criminal responsibility for her act. This was the only defense possible. The evidence already adduced by the state in its case in chief was of such character as to preclude any other defense. I do not mean to criticize counsel for the defense in this regard. I desire to state that the defendant has had the benefit of as skillful a presentation of the case in her behalf as it was possible for legal talent to present. In presenting such defense, the court acknowledges that they performed a duty which they owed to this court and to their client.

"I have no doubt of the sincerity of the medical experts stating their opinion as to the insanity of the accused, but the condition of mind which they attributed to her at the time of the commission of the act, viz., emotional temporary insanity, is not recognized in the law. Public policy cannot give to emotions which are of anger and revenge the character of insanity which relieves of criminal responsibility. While that issue had to go to the jury, to this court the claim of insanity did not address itself seriously.

"I know of no appeal that could possibly be made which could prompt this court to take the action it now intends to take other than the plea just made in view of what I have just stated as to the character of the case. I have observed the conduct of Judge Doster since this case first came to trial. I cannot forego expressing admiration for it. He served a long and distinguished term as chief justice of the supreme court of Kansas; he has been a practicing lawyer for 50 years; his conduct displays habits and characteristics which are peculiarly an ornament to the legal profession, and, observing him, it is a matter of pride to the profession that he has acted as he has. The court cannot be unmindful of the things he has said, cannot be untouched by the appeal he has made. It is because of this appeal, because of it alone, that the demands of justice are to go, it may be admitted greatly unsatisfied. The leniency which the father of the deceased in this case has so beautifully and touchingly demanded of the court, will be granted."

The sentence of the presiding judge was that the slayer of Dr. Doster should serve a term of three years in the New Mexico penitentiary - the minimum sentence for second degree murder.

Also see:

NOTICE OF CALL AND TO APPEAR FOR PHYSICAL EXAMINATION
The following named persons are hereby notified that, pursuant to the Act of Congress approved May 18, 1917, they are called for military service of the United States by this Local Board. -- The Western Star, August 2, 1917.

More information on Frank M. Doster:

A Populist Survival: Judge Frank Doster in the 1920s by Michael J. Brodhead, Kansas Historical Quarterly, Winter, 1968 (Vol. 24, No. 4), pages 443 to 456. (Includes a photograph of Frank Doster.)

Guide to the Frank Doster Collection Frank Doster correspondence, and miscellaneous writings, Kansas Collection, RH MS 9, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas. Abstract: "Doster was a member of the Kansas House of Representatives in 1872, judge of the 25th judicial district, 1887-92, and Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court, 1887-1903. The collection is made up of photocopies of Doster's speeches, correspondence, and other writings, dating from 1913-1933. The speeches are arranged chronologically, followed by the correspondence (1922-1932), miscellaneous writings of Doster (c.1913-1930's), and eulogies written in honor of Roster after his death in 1933."

Biography: Frank M. Doster from Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc., Vol. I, pages 534-535. "On June 22, 1901, the following statement appeared in the Kansas City Star, 'He expounded the law as he found it and as he learned it from celebrated jurists who have gone before him in America and England. No judge was ever more impartial, and to the corporation and the humble citizen alike he has given equal and exact justice. More than a learned judge, Judge Doster is a man of scholarly attainments, and his opinions have a classic flavor seldom found on the dry pages of court reports.' One able lawyer said, 'He is a credit to the state, a credit to the bench and a credit to his profession.' "

Resources for Doster family history and genealogy research:

Doster surname message board at RootsWeb

Doster surname message board at GenForum

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Thanks to Shirley Brier for finding, transcribing and contributing the above news articles to this web site!

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