Evening star., 1928-12-05
M'DAN|EL BETTER
AFTER COLLAPSE
Silver Spring Bank Robber
Soon to Begin Serving
15-Year Term.
By a STAFF Correspondent OF The Star.

By staff Correspondent OF The Star.
ROCKVILLE, Md, December S.
Hugh L. MCDANIEL, 32-year-old photog-
rapher, of Takoma Perk, Md, will be
taken from the Rockville Jail to the
Maryland Penitentiary at Baltimore
tomorrow or Friday to begin a 15-year
sentence supposed upon him by Mont
gomery County Circuit Court last night
after jury, celebrating Is minutes,
had found him guilty of robbing the
Silver Springs National Bank and
menacing employees with a pistol on
October q last. The prisoner was pro-
nounced nearly normal again, following
his collapse yesterday on hearing the
verdict
To the very end Mcdaniel insisted
that he was innocent of the daring
hold-up, and as sentence was imposed,
there was nothing about him to suggest
that he was the type of man capable of
robbing bank single-handed and then
walking out calmly with an armful of
money under heavy pistol fire from bank
employees.
Going over the evidence against him,
which he said was inconsistent and cir
cumstantial, Mcdaniel insisted that he
was innocent and declared he expected
a light sentence and an early parole
The maximum penalty is 20 years
The trio of judges returned to the
bench and Presiding Judge Hammond
Urner asked Mcdaniel if he cared to
MAKE any statement before sentence
was imposed.
Your honor" he answered, II still
say that I am not guilty and ask you
to have mercy on me-"
Isn't there anything else you care
to say" the judge urged. Mcdaniel re-
piled that there was nothing more.
Escorted From Room.
Mcdaniel was sitting down when the
15-year sentence was imposed, and
when the judge finished speaking the
convicted mans throat muscles con-
tracted spasmodically and he slumped
down in his chair. He began to slip
from his seat and one knee was touch
ing the floor when deputy sheriff
grabbed him by either arm and escorted
him from the courtroom. Mcdaniel did
not take a step on the short trip to the
sheritf's Office, his feet dragging across
the floor as the officers propelled him
along.
The prisoner was gripped with con-
vulSionS in the Sheriff'S Office and q
physician was called. The latter ad-
ministered heart StimulantS, and Nc
Daniel was taken to the Rockville jail
for the night.
During his talk with newspaper men
in the courtroom Mcdaniel described
himself as a man who had been able
to make but few friends during his
lifetime. This was the reason, he said
that he had been able to obtain only
four character witnesses. These in
cluded the woman at whose home he
lived, a young woman who said on the
witness stand that she was very fond
of him, the girls brother and social
welfare worker who had known him
for nine years. None of these was IN
the courtroom to tell Mcdaniel good
by after the imposition of sentence.
The States case against Mcdaniel
rested upon three principal points
identification by eyewitneSseS, the re-
covery of 81 .480. only $40 less than the
amount stolen, in his room, and the
finding of pistol similar to the one
used by the bandit in the basement
of the house where he resided.
The bandit was described as man
not wearing glasses and the defense at
tempted to prove that McDaniel's eye
sight was so weak he could not have
committed the robbery without his
glasses. and that he was with friend:
in Washington at o'clock of the
morning preceding the day of the rob-
berry. State witnesses had said that
the bandit who robbed the bank Satur-
day morning was the same man they
saw in the establishment on the day
preceding.
Identified by Witnesses.
The State produced four witnesses
who positively identified Mcdaniel as
the bandit. It was also proved that
five of the $40 bills found in the lining
of McDaniers coat had been received
at the bank on october 13. The State
was unable to trace the bills after this
date and Mcdaniel asserted that he got
them in change for a $50 bill at the
bank The cashier, however, said the
bill he changed for Mcdaniel was S.
one.
The State did not prove that the gun
found was the same one used by the
robber, but it did produce a Washing
ton firearms dealer who said Mcdaniel
had consulted him about buying weap-
on two weeks prior to the robbery. Nc
Daniel previously had testified he never
owned a pistol and never made any at
tempt to secure one.
From the witness stand Mcdaniel