The Washington times., 1935-12-06
MAXWELL GIRL
t DEFENDED BY
BOY FRIEND
BY DOROTHY KILGALLEN


NEW YORK, Dec. 8 UN.S).
"Edith Maxwell is no murderess-
she's q nice girl. She never took
q drink of anything stronger than
ginger ale. She was smarter than
most folks in her town, maybe
that's why they didn't like her.
But If she killed her dad it must
have been for good reason, and
she ought to go free"
A boy friend Of the convicted
hill-billy school teacher, who killed
her drunken "pappy" in self-de-
tense and was sent to prison for
IS years by a stern mountaineer
jury, came staunchly to Edith's
defense today in an exclusive in
terview.
why, Edith was a very quiet
girl" declared young EStill Bill"
Vaughn, who used to take the 81
year-old "curfew girl" to parties
in her home town. There wasn't
anything wild about her at ALL"
Too Smooth for Town
Vaughn, who is 28, hazel-eyed,
and extremely good looking, pic
tured Edith as q mild-mannered,
intelligent, rather serious girl, not
sophisticated according to city
standards, but much too smooth"
for the backwoods of Wise, Va.
"She knew more than her family.
They were nice enough people, very
clean and hard-working all right,
but they weren't up to Edith.
Edith could go anywhere and
know the right thing to do. Folks
in the town resented it because
she'd been away q lot and didn't
have the same ideas they did.
You see, girls in that part Of the
country have a little different
ideas from those up North here.
Their folks expect them to be
different. Well, Edith was a nice
girl, but she wasn't quite like
the others in the town"
First Men in 1881
Young Vaughn was interviewed
in the Long Island warehouse of
a department store, where he
works as a helper on a delivery
truck. His home town is Pineville,
KY, Just across the border from
Wise, Va.
"T met Edith for the first time
about four years ago." he revealed.
II was on my vacation, and I met
her at q party with some other
young people. Since then every
time I went down there I saw a
lot Of her.
"I didn't know her father very
well. He impressed me as being
a hard-working old man-but the
kind who'd take a drink every
time he got a chance, or every
time he had enough money to buy
one. Edith never spoke about him
being terribly strict, except on
one occasion when we were at a
party and she said, It's / o'clock,
Bill. better go home now or my
dad will have a fit
He's On Her Side
But she never told me she
had to be in before midnight.
certainly didn't bring her home
at 8 o'clock, every time"
Old "Pappy" Maxwell never up
braided him for bringing Edith
home late, Bill declared, al
though on more than one occa-
sion the pair slipped in after
curfew hour.
Most of the time took Edith
out we were with other people.
We seldom went out alone. We
never were engaged or anything
like that.
II could hardly believe it when
I read in the papers about her
killing the old man." Vaughn said.
''But I'm on her side, because she
was a nice girl. It seems hard to
picture her getting wrought up
enough to kill him; she always
seemed slow to anger.
"She hated being ssed,
though. Edith had a mind of
her own and she hated anybody
to tell her what to do. There
wasn't anything wild or gay about
her, but she'd get out of that
town any chance she got. I guess
the people in the town knew