Evening star., 1936-01-19
CHANGE Of VENUE.
TO Be REQUESTED
FOR MRS. LYDDANE|
Second Trial in Alleged Plot
to Kill Husband Up
January 27.
STATE WILL OPPOSE
MOTION OF DEFENSE
Former Rockville Bank Secre.
tary's Counsel Confers With
Judges on Move.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
FREDERICK, Md, January 18.-An
attempt to remove the second trial OF
Mrs. Anne Lyddane, pretty young
Rockville woman accused of con-
splracy to murder her husband. from
the community in which she lives Will
be made by her attorneys next week,
it was learned here today. The trial
is set for January q at Rockville.
Counsel for the 30-year-old former
bank secretary discussed the proposal
with Chief Judge Hammond Urner
and Associate Judge Arthur D. Will
lard of the sixth circuit in the pres
ence of the prosecution staff today
and the former declared at the con-
clusion of the parley that formal
motion for a change of venue Will be
filed at Rockville next Friday.
The conference was cloaked in an
air of mystery, the attorneys refusing
to discuss the nature of their visit,
but it was learned that a hearing on
the motion is to be called in the
Montgomery County Circuit Court at
2 pm. Friday, or Immediately after
the motion is filed.
Prosecution Opposed.
States Attorney James H. Pugh and
John E. Oxley, who assisted him when
Mrs. Lyddane was first tried ou a
charge of conspiring to murder her
husband, Francis S. c'Slom") Lyd-
dane, trial which ended with a dead
locked jury, informed the court that
the motion will be opposed by the
prosecution.
Discussing their reasons for asking
q venue change, State Senator Sted-
man Prescott and Kenneth Lyddane,
defense counsel, told the jurists that
in their opinion their client, who is
free on $4,000 bond, cannot obtain a
fair and impartial trial. in Mont
gomery County because of alleged SEN
timent against her.
It was further said that the con-
viction of John Martin Boland. Wash
ington underworld figure and code
fendant in the conspiracy charge, who
elected to be tried by the court for
the sixth circuit, comprising Mont
gomery and Frederick Counties, might
influence any Montgomery Jury picked
to hear the second trial.
Boland First Tried.
Boland was the first Of the two de-
PENDANTS to be tried at Rockville after
their arrests last April. but the judges
withheld their decision in his case un-
til after Mrs Lyddane's trial by tie
jury, by which she elected to be hearc
His conviction was announced and
he was sentenced to prison term Of
three years and nine months after the
jury. hopelessly engaged in a 6-6
deadlock in Mrs. Lyddane's case, had
been discharged.
The combination of circumstances
sentiment against Mrs. Lyddane in
the community in which she has lived
her entire life and the Boland convic-
tion-would prejudice a Montgomery
County jury, her attorneys fear.
They expressed confidence that they
can obtain an acquittal of their cliect
in some other county. They made no
suggestion to the court as to where
they would like to have the trial held.
in the event the venu motion is
granted, but declared they would like
it set "as far from Rockville" as pos
sible.
Accompanying the motion will be
an affidavit from Mrs. Lyddane setting
forth that she believes fair and im-
partial trial in Rockville is impos-
sible Her attorneys likewise will cite
the wide publicity given the case as
another reason it should be removed.
Arrests Cause Sensation.
The arrest of Mrs. Lyddane, Boland,
a Washington underworld character,
and others in connection with the
alleged conspiracy last April stirred
Rockville and its environs as one of
the most sensational cases in Mary
land police annals.
Three others were taken into
custody on conspiracy charges also.
John (Googy) Carnell, Rockville bar
tender and former Washington police
man. who was the prosecutions ace
witness, pleaded guilty to an indict-
ment naming him as a figure in the
conspiracy. He has not been sentenced
and he stated in open court he had
been promised immunity to testify for
the State.
Edwin j. Davis, described as
former Washington bootlegger, was
indicted. but has not been tried and
is ut liberty under $1,000 bond. The
NTH defendant, Harry Elmer Thomass
:. former convict. likewise was indicted.
but not tried. He Is under $1,000
bond. Their trials were postponed
until after Mrs. Lyddane's case is
finally disposed Of.
Carnell testified that Mrs. Lyddane
hired him to contact Washington gun
men and arrange to slay her husband,
then . bookkeeper in the Montgomery
County liquor dispensary system. but
now manager Of Rockville
restaurant.
Retains Faith In Wife.
Lyddane expressed belief in his
wife's innocence throughout the entire
investigation Of the case and Mrs.
Lyddane's first trial and sat by her
side throughout the hearing.