Evening star., 1938-05-25
LANGD0N, FREED
IN 70 MINUTES,
HAzY ON FUTURE
Greets AcquittaI in Limerick
Death by Shaking Hands
With Prosecutor.
IL MONTHS IN JAIL
ENDED BY VERDICT
Ex.Policeman, No Longer Wanted
on Connecticut Charge, Holds
No Hard Feeling
Rv w. H. SHIPPEN. Jr.

BY w. H. SHIPPEN. Jr.
Former Patrolman Robert F. Lang
don was a free man today by verdict
of a jury which deliberated some 70
minutes upon testimony begun 10
days ago
The acquitted man strode from the
District Courthouse shortly after the
jury found him mot guilty" in the
seven-year-old murder of Beulah Linn
erick. 10, pretty party girl of pro-
hibition days.
The verdict was returned at 8'l5
o'clock last night. A moment later
the tall, heavy-set defendant was on
his feet shaking hands with friends,
-wishers and various others who
came within his reach.
II want you to know there are no
hard feelings" Langdon exclaimed,
shooting out hand to grasp that OF
Assistant United States Attorney John
]. Wilson, who a few hours before,
had demanded his conviction on a
first-degree murder charge.
Wilson Smiles Wryly.
Mr. Wilson accepted the handshake
with a smile that seemed a bit wry.
Langdon received more hearty con-
gratulations from E Russell Kelly, his
defense attorney, who was appointed
by the court, and fought the pro-
tracted case without compensation,
and from the attorneys brother and
associate, William Kelly.
alter Langdon faced a battery OF
camera men at the Courthouse door
as the patrol wagon which was to have
taken him back to Jail in case of his
conviction pulled away without him.
He laughed and said:
II don't know where I'll go from
here. But I'll find some place. Maybe
I'll go to the movies. Maybe I'll have
q drink-the first in IA months
For IA months Langdon has been
In custody. He was arrested in Con-
nectucut in March, 1887, on charge
of attempting to derail passenger
train on the New York, New Haven g.
Hartford Railroad. A jury disagreed
at his first trial and he was awaiting
q second hearing when indicted here
last February for the Limerick murder.
Authorities in Connecticut nolle
pressed the charge after Langdon
agreed to waive extradition and return
to washington to stand trial.
Two ace investigators of the local
police force, 1t. Floyd Truscott and
Detective Earl Hartman, had been
working on the Limerick murder mys-
for the last 18 months. Langdon was
indicted after the detectives located his
estranged wife, Mrs. Rose Langdon, in
, New York City, and reinterviewed her.
Testimony Banned.
The defense, however, succeeded in
banning Mrs. Langdon from the stand
on the ground that anything Langdon
might have told her about the murder
was a confidential communication be-
tween husband and wife.
The defense apparently scored an
other point when a Government wit
ness said he heard two shots, instead
of one, coming from the direction of
Beulah's home at 18 Nineteenth street
Sc. on the morning of the murder,
December 81, 1880.
The witness was milkman who
heard the shots while making de-
livery at neighbor's house between
2:30 and 2:45 am.
In his closing argument, Mr.. Kelly
pointed out that the Governments wit
ness heard two shots fired in rapid
succession on the morning of the mur-
der. The prosecution rested part of
its case on the contention that Lang
don killed Beulah Limerick with one
shot and day or more later fired a
second shot into the mattress on which
the body was found in an effort to
confuse investigators.
Mr.. Wilson told the jury that the
milkman might have been confused
or might have heard an echo leading
him to believe two shots were fired.
The prosecution produced two po-
licemen who said they sat in at the
switchboard at No. precinct on the
morning of the murder and received
three calls from Langdon from patrol
box near the Limerick home On each
occasion, they said, Langdon asked to
be marked up" as having telephoned
from other boxes on his beat.
} Defense Stresses Duty.
In his closing statement, Mr.. Wilson
contended Langdon killed Beulah
Limerick because she had threatened
to expose him for having persistently
annoyed her, while the defense insisted
Langdon was merely fulfilling his duty
as a patrolman by remaining in the
vicinity of the Limerick house to keep
it under observation. Testimony was
produced to show that complaints had
been made to police that the house
was freQuented by disorderly persons.
The case reached the jury at 4:50
pm, and the IL men were taken to
supper SIS minutes later. The jury
returned at 1880 o'clock and in IS min
utes announced they had reached a
verdict. Judge Daniel w. O'Donoghue
arrived at 8:15 o'clock to receive the
verdict.
The finding was announced by Fore
man Harry L. Selby, a bank cashier
p THAT closes the case as far as I
am concerned" Mr.. Wilson said.