The Washington times., 1920-02-08
Freed Wife Goes TO Home of
Parents At Mt. Savage,
Maryland.
TAKES CHILDREN WITH HER
Fatf r28 r. sC3HciLaS
& F4waa 81
testimony.
(By Staff Correspondept.)

CUMBERLAND, Md, Feb. s.
Repulsing her husband, who on the
witness stand in her defense barred
his intimacy with other women,
Katherine Uhl, freed yesterday by
a jury Of the staying Of Edgar
Bryan Pownell, twenty-three years
old, former member of the United
States Aviation Section, today is at
the home of her father, Thomas
Geary, at Mt. Savage, Md, sur
rounded by her three children and
happy friends and relatives.
Repentcd of Judgment.
Mervin Uhl. her husband. is In Cum
berland. 1t was his threat to expose
her, to deprive her of her three chill
dren, when he claimed to have trap
ped her in a compromising position
with Pownell, that led to the staying.
But, believing he had wrongly judged
his wife, and being moved by spirit
of repentance. he took the witness
stand and told of his reckless e5-
lcapades with other women and 10 at
tempt to impress the jury with the
fact that the accused woman always
had been a faithful wife and mother
Although he was In, the court room
when he was bitterly condemned by
counsel for both sides for his treat
ment of his WIFE Uhl seemed undis-
turbed. And. when his wife left him.
leaving with her children and friends
and her father to go TO Mt Savage
in an automobile, he said he hoped
his wife would become reconciled to
him-that for the sake of their chill
.dren he intended to plead for an
other chance.
Although it had been generally
predicted that Mrs. Uhl would b
freed, 1t took the jury just one Eo"i
and fifteen minutes to reach a verdtc'
of acquittal. The vote was unanimous
on the first ballot.
Judge Stops Applause.
When the talesmen filed into the
Jury box, Mrs. Uhrs face remain !
expressionless She gazed at cGrl
man as be took his seat and WI,
the foreman, Hugh Kelso, a mine
married and the father of six t1,l-
dren, of Frostburg, Md, was ash"
If the jury had reached verdict, be
answered:
"Yes-that the defendant Is nc:
guilty"
courtroom leaped to their feet ana
were about TO applaud the verdi
when Judge Henderson announce
| that il any demonstration was mad
those responsible would be arrested
| for contempt of court.
The defendant. now a free woman
was the least affected. She remained
the cool, unemotional woman who's
life had been held in the hands o.
those twelve men. She did not hsc
| to thank them, but sat in chair
clinging to her twelve-month-old
| baby Virginia.
Father WeePs OF Joy.
But while his daughter had been
| saved from the gallows, or probably
penal imprisonment, the most affecte1
person in the courtroom was her
| father. Thonss Geary, who wept OF
| 10y. Women rushed to the defendant,
many planted kisses on her cheeks,
! others seized her by the hand and
| kissed the babies, who had been In
the courtroom all through the trlar
Never before was a scene. enacted
/ in the Allegheny county court as that
| when the jury brought in it's word or
| acuuittal to this mother OF three chil-
| dren and the wife of a man who had
revealed his unfaithfulness, his cruel
| idea that a wife Is a slave in the
home.
The pressure of the spectators be-
came so great that Mrs. Uhl had to
plead with the court attendants to
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