Peter Gage is accused of abusing his elderly wife.

MILFORD, N.H. (AP) – Neighbors knew for decades that Peter Gage verbally abused his wife, Mary, and they suspected that more went on behind closed doors, a friend of the couple said Monday.

But Mary never confided in anyone, and police came and went from the house without arresting Gage until someone found Mary unconscious last month and called 911, according to neighbors and court records.

Now Peter Gage, 70, is accused of terrorizing his 75-year-old wife for nearly 40 years: choking her, beating her, locking her in a room without food or medicine and telling her not to call the police, “because if you do, you’ll be dead before they get here.”

The couple’s 42-year-old son, Lyman, also is accused of hitting his mother and threatening to kill her if she called police.

Father and son were in Milford District Court on Monday morning for preliminary hearings on the evidence in several assaults that allegedly took place in February.

However, Gage’s hearing on charges of attempted murder, criminal restraint, first- and second-degree assault, witness tampering and felonious sexual assault was postponed until Thursday. Judge Martha Crocker said that because he applied for a court-appointed attorney late Friday, the court was unable to assign one in time for Monday’s hearing. Gage is being held on $500,000 bail.

Lyman Gage waived his right to a hearing on a witness tampering charge, so that charge will be moved to Hillsborough County Superior Court. He is still scheduled for trial on a misdemeanor domestic assault charge April 14 in the District Court.

Lyman, who has a criminal history that includes convictions for second offense drunken driving and drug possession according to court records, is free on $10,000 bail.

His attorney, public defender Julia Nye, had no comment Monday.

Police affidavits and complaints say that after Mary Gage was taken to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua on Feb. 25, the staff asked police to investigate her injuries.

Police learned from the staff and from her medical records that Mary had suffered serious injuries in the past, including several broken ribs, a broken hip, a broken bone near her eye, a broken clavicle, and severe bruising on her breasts, according to a police affidavit.

Lyndeborough police Chief James Basinas said Monday that Mary Gage was still under medical care, but declined to say where. He said she was in good condition.

Police have no record of any calls about the Gages since Basinas took over the department last October. Basinas said investigators would be researching any records of past calls and interviewing neighbors. More charges are possible, he said.

The court has only one record of a prior charge against Peter Gage, for a 1993 traffic violation.

Neighbors and friends of the Gages in the courthouse Monday described Peter Gage as a belligerent man who verbally abused his wife, but took good care of his animals.

“I just came here hoping Peter Gage gets what he deserves,” said one woman who would not give her name.

Peter Lord, 50, of Wilton, who lived next door to the Gages and their three children for about 30 years after they moved to Lyndeborough in the late 1960s, said his family often called police because they heard the Gages fighting. When officers arrived, the yelling would stop, but before long it started again.

He said he has felt terrible since police charged Peter Gage and, like most of the couple’s neighbors, wishes he could have done more to help Mary.

“This was the kind of behavior you talked about behind closed doors,” he said. “You inferred it, but never saw it. … I never saw him raise a hand to her.”

He said Peter Gage was a retired engineer and Mary was an artist; both were well-educated and both “came from money.” They had two other children besides Lyman, a daughter who died a couple of years ago and another daughter in Alaska, he said.

“All her friends have tried for many, many years to help her … and she always said she was OK,” Lord said. “You couldn’t help Mary because she wouldn’t help herself. Mary became convinced everyone hated her and nothing could be further from the truth.”

Lord, who is now caring for the Gages’ two dogs and two horses, said he came to court in hopes of talking with Peter Gage and discussing what to do with the animals.

“If he had treated his family as well as he treated his animals, this never would have happened,” he said.

AP-ES-03-15-04 1540EST