Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1915-07-15
MELVIN SOUDER HELD
ON SERIOUS CHARGE
Alias, "JOhn 7. Potts." Of EastpOrt
Charged With Ravish Of Mar
garet Potts Age l3.
HELD WITHOUT BAIL.
For Action Of Grand Jury at October
Term Of Court---A Local Case
Without Parallel.

A case. the horror Of which, from
an immoral standpoint, has never been
aired ia these courts, came no for a
hearing this morning in the magis-
trate's Office of Justice William +.
Minnick.
The prisoner at the bar was Melvin
Souder. alias John T. Potts" a mar
ried man, with wife and child, who is
held on the charge of ravishing child
now not fourteen years old, but which
condition Of affairs is alleged to have
existed since the girl was nine years.
The Potts family" has resided
for the past three years or mnre, at
Eastport, village across Spa Creek,
connected with Annapolis by a bridge.
That Souder, was Potts, the husband
Of the woman who posed as his wife,
some fifteen years his senior, and the
father of the two Potts childre1, one
an apparently feeble-minded boy and
one beautiful girl not Il years of
age was never doubted by most East
porters who knew the Potts family
and who dealt at their store There
has been comment, however, from
time to time, on the devotion of
Potts" (Souder) to his daughter"
Margaret, and some of the villagers
have criticised the mans undue famil-
iarity with the child, even il she were
bis daughter.
However, nothing came Of it all
until on July 2 when John j. Grgure-
vich, Special Agent in Charge United
States Department of Justice, came
here to arrest Souder, alias Potts, and
when the latter attempted to escape,
from an automobile, and was fired
upon by the detective, on Duke of
Gloucester street, Potts Tor S0udsr)
was taken to Baltimore, given a pre-
liminary hearing, but later brought
here and lodged in jail for a hearing
today before Justice Minnick.
Of such an unsavory nature was the
case that the magistrates Office was
cleared of all save the prisoner, his
young victim, the mother who has
been osing as the prisoners wife, a
sister Of the prisoner and one of the
child. local representative Of the
Parker Society for Protection Of
Chiliren from Cruelty and I'M
morality, and the lawyers in the
case, and police.
The prisoner, Souder, was represent
ed by counsel Lawyer Harry B.
Wolfe, OF Baltimore, and States At
tornsy Nicholas II. Green appeared
for the child
Justice Minnick after hearing the
evidence in the case held Melvin Sou
der (alias Potts. WITHOUT BAIL on
the charge Of rape for the action of
the Grand Jury at the October term
of Court.
To be held without bail is evidence
Of the seriousness of the offense. The
chiid's story was pitiful and she told
a straightforward tale Of how she had
been the victim of the man who posed
as her father for the last five years
or more. On June 80, Margaret Potts
ran away from her Eastport home to
her father in Baltimore, who lives in
West Baltimore, and told him all, say
ing she could not live the life any long
er Souder was arrested on July I
1t was brought out at the trial that
the girls mother had gone to Balti-
more to bring her back again. but she
refused to come.
The story is an old one, and had its
inception, so far as the public is con-
rerned. with the following published
Friday, May s. 90S (seven years ago)
| in the Baltimore News: