Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1913-07-11
ARREST FOLLOWS
THE INQUEST
Harold Smith Held in Connection
With Girls Death.
IS HELD IN $4,000 BAIL
Gas Company Manager Is Held as an
Accessory. Before and After the
Criminal Operation.

L
Harold Smith, general manager or
the Home Gas company, OF Salisbury,
Md, was held by the coronars jury
rs an accessory before and after The
fact to the illegal operation that le-
suited in the death of Florence Vain
wright.
Smith, who is about forty years old,
! married and prominent in business in
Salisbury, was arrested and held In
$4,000 bail.
Florence Wainwright, twenty-four
years old, was bookkeeper of the gas
| company. Her body was found in the
office of the gas company on Friday
night, June 20. A medical examina-
ton showed that death had been caus-
ed by an illegal operation performed
few hours before.
Smith was arrested by Roy Z.
Smith, the sheriff, in the gas Office and
he was arraigred before Squire Gov
ington, also the acting coroner Of Ss!-
| isbury. The accused man seat ;"r
| Colonel Marion Humphreys, nanas,"g
director of the gas company, to eu;r:
bail for him.
Smith declared that he was innocent
| of the charge and that every ,h.nS
would come out all right.
| The verdict of the coroner's jury on
which the warrant. for Smith was
based reads substantially as follows,
according to William S. Powell, cne Of
the jurors:
eve, the jury, find that Florence
Wainwright came to her death in or
about the Office of the Home Gas COM
| pany as the result of criminal oper-
alton performed, and hold Harold
Smith accessory thereto both before
and after the fact"
II drove them to the tall timber and
] am satisfied" said Powell. 81 would
never have signed the verdict If they
had not put Harold Smiths name in
it."
Smiths name was freely used in the
case since Miss Wainwright died. He
lives in Camden avenue, Salisbury,
with his wife and two children.
Powell, the Juror, explained some
side lights of the inquest on Friday
night which are startling, if true. Ac-
cording to Powell, the jurors were de-
liberating when a verdict was sent to
them asking them to sign it. 1t read
in substance as follows, according to
Powell:
1--WE, the jury, find that Florence
Wainwright came to her death from
an operation at the hands of person
or persons unknown to this jury"
Powell said he refused to sign the
verdict, and that Ralph Williams, an
other juror, also declined to be bound
to the verdict. The states attorney
said he did not write out any verdict,
and no one can be found to say who
| did. Powell does not know, he said,
| where the verdict came from.
| 81 stood alone in the fight" he said,
"the others being in favor of returning
| verdict whitewashing the suspects
and hushing up the affair. The inquest
was improper from the fact that it was
| star chamber affair. We had no
sooner started to deliberate than we
received what is termed petition ask
ing us to bring in blanket verdict
covering up the facts of the case. The
evidence, however, was clear on GER
tain points, and l refused to yield from
my position
Powell declared that the operation
was performed in the gas Office be-
tween 2 and o'clock in the afternoon
of June 20.