CANADA,
PROVINCE OF QUEBEC,
DISTRICT OF QUEBEC,

City of Québec.

SPECIAL SESSIONS OF THE PEACE.

(Preliminary Inquiry)

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Examination of DR. ANDRONIC LAFOND, of St. Jacques de Parisville,------------------

taken under oath on this twenty----fourth day of February, ----- in the year of Our Lord nineteen hundred and twenty, ---- in the City of Quebec in the aforementioned district, before the undersigned, Judge of the Sessions of the Peace, in and for the City of Quebec, in the presence of the accused Télesphore Gagnon.

Examined by Maître Arthur Fitzpatrick, Crown Prosecutor: -

Q. Doctor, how long have you been practising medicine in St. Jacques de Parisville?

A. Since 1910.

Q. And how long have you been a licensed physician?

A. Since 1910.

Q. Were you present when Dr. Marois performed the autopsy on Aurore Gagnon's body?

A. Yes, Monsieur.

Q. You heard the testimony given by Dr. Marois on the state of the body and the injuries he observed on the body?

A. Yes, Monsieur.

Q. Can you tell me if you are able to corroborate Dr. Marois' testimony?

A. Yes, Monsieur.

Q. You also heard Dr. Marois express his opinion on the causes of the injuries he observed on the body of the deceased. Can you say if you are able to corroborate Dr. Marois on those points as well?

A. Yes, Monsieur.

Q. Doctor, to be more specific, did you observe any injuries on the feet, on the ankles, or on the wrists and hands?

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A. I noticed some wounds on the feet, probably the wounds that were there.

Q. But more specifically, those that you observed on the hands and wrists, and on the feet, would you tell us if you share the opinion that these wounds must have been caused by the fact the deceased was tied up?

A. Yes, Monsieur.

Q. Now, Doctor, do you serve as the physician for the parish of Ste. Philomène, where the accused lives?

A. Yes, Monsieur.

Q. Would you tell us if, during the months that preceded the death of the deceased, you were called on, as a doctor, to treat the accused's child, who is dead?

A. No, Monsieur.

Q. Never?

A. No, Monsieur. I was called for on the day of her death, the 12th of February, by Madame Gagnon.

Q. Did you go to the home of the accused?

A. Yes, Monsieur.

Q. Were you alone?

A. There were others there. He had sent for the parish priest, and Monsieur Mailhot, who drove the priest.

Q. Monsieur Mailhot is a Justice of the Peace?

A. Yes, Monsieur.

Q. Were you able to examine the child's body?

A. Yes, Monsieur.

By the judge: -

Q. Was the child dead?

A. No. It was morning, and she died in the evening.

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Q. Was the child conscious when you arrived at the accused's?

A. No, Monsieur. She was unconscious.

Q. Was her stepmother there?

A. Yes, Monsieur.

Q. Was her father there?

A. No. The father was away.

Q. In the state in which you found the deceased, Doctor, was there anything that could be done for her?

A. No, Monsieur. Nothing could be done.

Q. Did you make any comments to the mother?

A. No, Monsieur. None at all.

Q. There was nothing that could be done?

A. No, Monsieur. Nothing could be done.

Q. When you saw the deceased, was she upstairs or downstairs in the house?

A. She was downstairs.

Q. Do you personally know where her room usually was?

A. No, Monsieur.

Q. Did you ask any questions to the family members concerning the state of the child?

A. No; I could see that there was nothing to be done.

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The Honourable J. N. Francoeur, K. C., declares that he does not wish to cross-examine the witness.

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This present inquiry is adjourned until two-thirty this afternoon, the twenty-fourth of February, 1920.