Evening star., 1923-08-08
KISS" IN KEPNER
| LETTER SENSATION
I State Tries to Introduce Al
legged Missive Sent Sister
of Dead Wife.
By a staff Corresnondent.

by staff Correspondent
FREDERICK. Md. August S.-A
mild sensation swept the circuit
court room here this morning when
States Attorney Aaron II. Andcrs,
opening the second days trial of B.
Evard Kepner for the alleged muir
der of his wife, Mrs Grace Simons
Kepner, attempted to introduce an
endearing letter the prisoner is al
legged to have written to his sistcr-in-
law. Miss Eleanor Houck. q few days
after his wife had been buried.
The letter, which heretofore had
offered in eVidenc" hy the state while
Miss HOurk was on the stand as the
prosecutors first witness oi the day:
Before counsel for the defense could
stop him States Attorney AndcrS eN-
plea from kepner for Miss HOuCk to
forgive him" and permit him I" stop
al her house on his way to Harris
burg and kiss her"
Warns of Intentions.
In his opening address yesterday
the prosecutor gave a warning that he
would fight to have the note accepted
as evidence, which he characterized
as "a letter a man mIgnt write to his
sister but which he was more likely
TO have written to his S~ eetheart
Hardly had the states attorney gotten
we'll into an explanation of ms reaS-
on for offering the letter Today. when
Leo Weinberg. chief counsel Tor the
defense. leJped to his feet and offered
strenuous objection that, for the pres
ent at least, the lnisSiNc was Irrelv-
want testimony.
States Attorney AnderS. Assistant
.t-.4
who was sent here by the state to aid
the prosecution, and the three judges
went into conference. which resulted
in the prosecution offcrin@. to with
draw the note for III" present II the
court would mark it Tor Identification
and permit them to again present 1t
III the trial, when they expect to put
witnesses on the stand IT, Curroborate
its contents.
Court Crowded With Girls.
This was tiapper day IN the circuit
court. Thu room was literally crowd
ed with Innocent faced, bobbcd-hair-
cd girls. sttll n their teens, and the
woman spectators, who again stood
IN line III the hallway waiting their
turn when the chamber had been
filled, outnumbercd the men at least
four TO one. As matter OF fact,
there We're few men III the room eA-
Cept those who had been called as
witnesses although the chamber was
packed to rtlowing and, besides
the crowd IN thu Railways. at least
another hundred sat on benches IN
the court ard. questioning every per-
son who happened TO leave the court
house as to the progress Of the trial
The first few moments pT the trial
were marked hy ii claSn between the
states attUrnctS and The three prose
cutting judges over the Fact that the
prosecution witness had not ar
riveG on time. When the court asked
States Attorney Anders ii he could
not pat some one else on the stand
he tlatly refused to change the order
he had arranged tor his witnesses to
appear. What might have proved an
embarrassing situation was saved at
that moment by Miss HUuck walking
into the courtroom. She was prompt
~ sworn and began what was to be
more than three full hours on the wit
ness stand.
Sister Describes Scenes.
Miss Houck told the court she and
were called home from d school en-
ercise in Frederick. She laid great
stress upon the fact that Mrs. kepner
had seemed i'll good spirits that day.
When Lizzie and l arrived home"
she said, we saw Nh iIepner running
around the house, telling every one:
oh, Grace has shot herself This
=
commit suicide. Once she tried to
hang herself"
1t struck me as funny he had never
before told us OF any such attempt.
but | was too much concerned over
my sister to think of any one else at
that moment"
Miss Houclh described how her sis
ter. who was supposed to have been
taking nap, was found lying in an
easy position on her bed. She was
NO ~
blood on the bed clothing. But she
said she noticed a pool of blood on
The floor, some feet away from the
place where her sister then lay. She
did see blood on her forehead hair
and hand. However the next moment
Miss Houck brought all three judges
suddenly to an erect sitting position
when she told how she had found the
empty shell OF the bullet that had
killed her sister, lying eight inches
from the foot of the bed, u consider
able distance from the dead woman's
head, through which it had torn its ia
tai wound.
Tells of Husbands Mood
when l went downstairs" the
witness continued, Il again was at
tracted by Mr. kepner. He was say
ing 10 some people: Grace was all the
time jawing at me over some money
L lost ! certainly am glad | hap
Npened to have a soda water with
coroner W God about fifteen minutes
before o'clock this afternoon Up
10 year ago, when / learned that
Mr.. hepnrr was going with other
women and neglecting my Sister. he
and | We're the best of friends. From
that time, however, | could never be
the same toward him. but l zealously
guarded my secret from my sister for
her sake"
Miss Houck remained unshaken
under pltiIess cross examination.
Time and again the court remon-
strated with Mr.. Weinberg, particu-
larly when he attempted to get the
witness to say that she was jealous
of Mrs. kepner- because she Miss
Houck) had never had an offer OF
marriage. Without the formality of
an objection the question was ordered
stricken from the testimony On
another occasio objection was
raised when Mr.. Weinberg asked the
. witness il she had not bitterly op-
posed her sisters marriage to Mr.
Kepner. The court sustained the OBJ
lection on the ground that the de-
fense was going too far into the past
on comparatively unimportant
subject
kepner sat throughout the testi-
Inony between MIR. " einbtrg and GUY
X. Moter, his assistant attorney. AL
though at times he seemed nervous
and flushed deeply when his love af-
fairs were touched. he bore UP well
pthrough the ordeal and walked stead
lily from the courtroom when recess
was taken for lunch. The trial is