Evening star., 1924-05-02
KNUTSON ACQUITTED;
HULL CASE DROPPED
Minnesota Representative Wins
Complete Exoneration in Airing
ton County Court.
CROWD APPLAUDS VERDICT
Upshaw Was Misquoted in Report
of His Testimony.
CROWD APPLAUDS VERDICT

One hour and five minutes of delib
Grafton by an Arlington County jury
brought verdict of acQuittal and
complete exoneration to Representa-
tive Harold Kutson of Minnesota late
Yesterday afternoon. after two days
trial in the Arlington County court
house before Judge Samuel G. Brent
of the circuit court. on an indictment
charging a statutory offense
Representative Knutson immediate
" asked permission of the court to
thank the jurors. which was granted
TT is just what I expected said he.
Il have been confident of the outcome
right along"
There was keen interest displayed
nv spectators in the courtroom
throughout the trial and the verdict
was a popular one.
other Case Dropped.
Immediately after the acQuittal
Commonwealth Attorney William
Cloth moved to nolle PROSE- a similar
charge against Leroy Hull. govern
rnent clerk, who was with Repre-
sentative Knutson on the night OF
March 9. when the arrest took place.
This was done.
Representative Larsen and New
ton, OF Minnesota, who conducted the
defense in association with STATE
Senator Frank Ball of Arlington
CountV, received a flood of congratu-
lations for their conduct OF their
case.
1t was reported that the jury took
only three ballots on the verdict
Argument to the jury started at l;4S S
o'clock The case was placed in It's
hands at S:55. and o'clock the YER
dict was reported.
Upshnw Was MisquOted.
Representative Cpshaw of Georgia.
in a letter to The Star. called atten-
tion 10 the report OF his testimony
on April so, which appeared in the
$50 edition of this newspaper. In
this account it was said that he re-
tracted a previous denial of sending
d message to officials in Arlington
County through a resident and eX-
pressing his interest in the case.
Il find in the story this subhead:
.Retracts First Denial" wrote Rep
resentative Cpshaw. THAT is exactly
what | did not do-for l had nothing
70 retract.' In response to the ques-
tion of the commonwe wealth attorney
as to a special message to him, re-
piled that | had asked Mr. Kelly to
let it be known as widely as possible
that l believed thoroughly in Mr..
knutson's innocence; that l had been
d IneInDeT Oh the same COIlIIiiiIlcS LOl
five years and had never known any
thing OF him unbecoming a gentle
man..
Some excitement occurred during
the taking of his testimony and the
comparative confusion clouded the
exact purport of Mr.. Upshaw's words
on the stand.
knutsOn Back in House.
Representative Knutson was on the
job again today at the Capitol
For the first time since his arrest
he attended a committee session,
participating in n discussion of the
Philippine problem before the insular
committee, of which he is a member.
knutson said he would go on the
floor later in the day, after an abb
sence of more than a month. and an
nounced that as soon as he could
attend to pressing matters here he
would return to Minnesota to make a
round of his district prior to the June
l6 primaries He is a candidate for
reelection.
The Minnesota representative was
kept busy today receiving congratu-
lations from his colleagues in the
HonSa