Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1920-01-08

l~.s' "HS. SHh 10 Oaugnter OF
Thomas Geary, who resides on the
Bays farm, near Mount Savage.
The county coroner held an inquest
and the verdict of the jury was THAT
Edgar Bryan Pownall came to his
death as the result of a stab wound
inflicted by Mrs. Kate Uhl, wife Of
Mervin Uhl, and the jury recommends
that the said Kate Uhl be held without
bail, for the action of the grand Jury
on the charge of murder.
Mr.. Uhl visited his wife in Jail on
Thursday. He is said to have ex-
pressed great regret over having oues
toned his wife's fidelity. He will
stand by her in her trouble. He said
he had entire confidence in the in
nocence of his wife, of whom he spoke
as a confiding country girl, "who loved
the ground" that he walked on. Mrs.
Uhl's brother and father also visited
her at the Jail. Mrs. Uhrs year-old
baby is in Jail with her. Her two old
er children are with her relatives at
Mount Savage.
Mrs. Uhl's defense will rest on the
unwritten law, and her attorneys, for
mer States Attorney David A. Robb
and Saul Praegar, express the opinion
that there will hasty acquittal. At
torney Robb said her character had al
ways been above suspicion.
The family and friends Of Pownall
take the stand that he was the victim
OF the Uhls, and that Mrs. Uhl enticed
him because Of her infatuation for
him. Thomas C. Pownall, father OF
Bryan, said that shortly before his son
was stabbed Mrs. Uhl invited the
young man TO her apartment. Be-
cause of the quarreling in the Uhls
apartment which he heard the night
before, he said he pleaded with him
not to go to the Uhl's apartment. He
said he told Mrs, Uhl 70 come to the
Pownall apartment and talk there to
his son, but that she refused to do
so.
Bryan, in response to the plead
ings Of Mrs. Uhl, started to their
apartment" said Mr.. Pownall. "She
was not apparently angry when she
asked him to visit her. She was smil-
ing and used coaxing tone. tried
to hear their conversation, but could
not. Almost Immediately Bryan left
her rooms, and while running past me
on the stairway told me Mrs. Uhl had
STABBED him. Hardly two minutes
elapsed from the time he left our
apartment before he returned stab
bed"
Mrs. VIM. E. Pownall, Bryan's aunt,
openly declared that Mrs. Uhl was in
love with him and that she killed him
because he refused to elope with her.
Only a few days before the killing"
she said, Mrs. Uhl told me that
Bryan was the dearest boy on the face
or the earth, but that her love for him
did her no good because she was mar
S'S was a. BOoh WOIldIl, ROOQ
wife and good housekeeper. Until
two weeks ago she worshipped the
ground her husband walked on, despite
the fact that he spent very little Of his
time at home. But lately change
came over her. A few nights before
the killing Uhl remained away from
home all night. The next night he
put his wife out of the house and lock-
ed the door because she refused to
put his socks on him. 81 let her back
in the house"
Other friends Of Pownall would
place the blame on Uhl. They saw
that Uhl falsely accused his wife SO
that he might have an excuse for leav-
ing her.
Young Pownall is we'll remembered
here by the students OF Shepherd Col
lege and by the people of the town.
His sister, Miss Nina Pownall, was
one of the most popular girls in the
school. She graduated IN 1915, but
Bryan did not finish the course. He
was in the aviation service during the
great war; There is much regret
here at the lamentable affair