Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-07-12
BOW|ES FREED BY
UNWR|TTEN LAW
Maryland Jury AcquitS Slayer
of Hubert PoSey.
VERDICT WAS NO SURPRISE
Representative Mudd Waves Aside
Legal Subterfuge.
MAKES AN EARNEST APPEAL
Only Five Minutes Required by
Jurors to Reach a Decision-Pros-
ecution Would Have Been
Content With Conviction
for Manslaughter.

AoF haHSiau SQLeT.
Solely upon the ground of the
"unwritten law and without the
employment of legal fiction or sub
terfuge, Mrs. Mary +. Bowie and
Henry Bowie were this afternoon
acquitted OF the charge OF murder, in
having caused the death, in Charles
county, Md, last January, OF Hubert
Posey, accused OF betraying Priscilla
Bowie. The verdict was no surprise
to the people of La Plata, who have
closely followed the trial, and last
night the prosecution indicated that
it would be satisfied with a verdict Of
manslaushter.
| Special Dispatch to The star
LA PLATA, Md, July IL Not guilty" is
the verdict of the jury in the case of Mrs.
Mary Z. Bowie and Henry Bowie charged
with the murder of Hubert Posey. Only
five minutes were required by the twelve
men to reach "A decision. They heard the
last of the arguments and retired to their
room at 1928 o'clock. a recess of an hour
| was ordered by the court and when the
| judges resumed the bench the jury was
| ready to report After a monetary delay
| they filed into the court room, entered the
box and at 1875 o'clock the foreman am
nounoed the verdict. The verdict was not
| a surprise to those who have followed the
| case.
A Pathetic Scene.
| The scene in the courthouse curing the
| earlier part of the day was most pathetic
| Priscilla Bowie was again in attendance
| and wept while Representative Sydney e.
| Mudd presented his argument for the de-
| Tense. MIR. Mudd made a powerful impress
sion upon those assembled to hear him and
| every now and then his references to the
| defenseless girl and the injury it is claim
| ed was done her by the murdered man
brought forth fresh sobs. The weeping
/ girl was brought into as great prominence
| as was the lawyer, who was defending her
mother and brother, and many women in
! attendance broke down and wept in SYM
| pathy with her. The girl was on the front
bench among the spectators, where she was
| easily seen py most of those present For
| the first time since she tegan attending
the sessions of the trial she was not ac-
! companied by her baby.
| Mrs. Bowie and her son Henry were as
| composed as they have been from the first
| day they answered to the charge of MUIR
der made against them. They were SO
! located that they could not see the sobbng
girl, and they hardly took their eyes from
| the eloquent lawyer.
Mr. Mudd made decided departure in
| his argument from the proceeding that
usually marks the defense in cases of this
| kind. He asked the jury to render its YER
| dict upon the "unwritten law and said
| there had been no purpose of becloudng
| the evidence by attempts To show by ex-
pert testimony or otherwise that the de-
PENDANTS were insane when they committed
| the act charged against them.
The Unwritten Law.
| IN his plea for the unwritten law Repre-
| sentative Mudd said: Gentlemen, we shall
| claim that these defendants were justified
| on what the newspapers have called the
| unwritten law. | shall in a few words
| refer to the difference between the written
| and the unwritten law. l shall call your at
| tention first to the law of Moses, and you
| are asked, may add, to pronounce judg-
| ment against these defendants on a charge
| to which your conscience should fail to
respond. Already your minds may be sub
| stantially made up, but will talk to for
/ tify you and justify our position in this
| case.
At this point Mr.. Mudd quoted author
tiles when showed that there can be no
| crime without evil intent
Il am quoting from law now-not senti-
ment from the human heart | vii! try
this case according to the common law"
| MI Mudd then dwelt upon the sanctlty
| of family ties.
The family in this county" he said rs
the nucleus. the foundation, and the nursery
OF the commonwealth. Years ago If a man
| betrayed your daughter, your only remedy
| was Il SUIT Tor damages, and the ground for
| your suit was the value of that daughters
services. 1t was a question OF that old
| Latin quotation, Per quod amssium serv-
| lett In other words, il was a question OF
| through which you lost her services. That
| was the old law but now il is different
| Under the old law relating to homicide you
| could not justify murder in Salf-defeDse,
! but the law has developed. and we propose
to show that this shooting WAS jusufable.
No Plea of insanity
Gentlemen, we have not resorted to what
! we consider as but little less than the sub
terfuge of medical experts to prove insan-
| ity We do not believe nor claim that these
| defendants are insane. We do claim that
by the very nature of the case. arising out
Of the terrible tension and anguish to winch
they were subjected by the outrage per-
pctrated upon this trusting Gir!, that they
were not, and ought not To tie considered,
as mentally. and ought not to be heid ie-
gally responsible, for their act as Tor crime.
II may be that this contention may as the
defense of insanity clearly and certainly IS.
naught but a legal fiction.
II do not deny that lawyers, and do not
deny NAT Jurors have, 10 large extent,
resorted to this fiction in order 10 find a
pathway from the rigid and inheXibie tech
rirafity of the law, to conclusions enforced
upon them by their own sense Of justice
and humanity.
But. assuming that it is admitted to be
A fiction, it would even from that stand
point be jGstiiable. That would not be
the only fiction in the law rcsorted to by
MT less Ia in ri. II n a