Evening star., 1938-06-30
SCHE|D CASE Jury
HEARS WITNESSES
TELL Of Staying
Police Car Without Lights
During Chase, State
Testimony Shows.
PAIR WHO SAW SHOOTING
HEARD q OR g. SHOTS
Ballistics Expert Is Questioned
by Defense as to Exactness
of His Science.
BY w. H. SHIPPEN. Jr.
STAR Correspondent of The Star

Stan Correspondent of The Star
ARLINGTON COURT HOUSE, June
S0.-Eye- witness accounts of the slay-
ing of Theodore B. Daugherty, WASH
ington musician, were given today at
the trial of Edwin Scheid, 23-year-old
suspended Falls Church policeman ac-
cused Of shooting Mr. Daugherty to
death on Lee Highway early on the
morning of March 20
The prosecution witnesses were
Marvin A. Poole, huckster, and his
sister-in-law, Mrs. Cecil Rawlings,
} whose automobile was forced off the
highway just before the shooting
started by police car which was
running without lights as it passed
Mr.. Daugherty's automobile.
Mrs. Rawlings. who was driving Mr..
Poole's car, said the oncoming police
car was in the middle of the highway
and forced her from the road as the
officers passed Mr.. Daugherty's ma
chine. She said she heard a screech
of tires on the pavement and the two
automobiles came to halt behind her
machine with the police car just in
front Of Mr.. Daugherty's sedan.
Heard -Four or Six" Shots.
II was so frightened I screamed"
Mrs. Rawlings said. A moment later,
she added, she heard -four or six"
shots fired in rapid succession.
In the police car were Scheid and
Herbert Knox, "a, also under suspen-
sion from the Falls Church force.
=, Knox is charged with aiding and
abetting Scheid in the shooting, and
will be tried later if Scheid is con-
vcted.
Mr.. Poole explained he was riding
on the rear seat of his automobile with
his wife and child when the oncom-
ing car forced them from the highway.
Both Mr. Poole and Mrs. Rawlings
were positive the police car had no
lights. Mr.. Poole said the police car
had stopped Immediately in front of
Mr.. Daugherty's sedan and the latter
motorist backed his car and started
around the police machine on the
right.
Then the shooting started" Mr..
Poole said. Il could see the fashas
coming in rapid succession. They
looked like flrecrackers going off,"
After Mr.. Daugherty's automobile
passed on, Mr.. Poole said, he saw two
men standing on the side of the high
way in the light of street lamp Mr..
Poole and Mrs. Rawlings turned the
car around and drove back to the
scene Of the shooting. The witness
said he knew Knox and planned to
take him to task for forcing his car
from the highway.
Ballistics Expert Testified.
Defense Counsel Frank l.. Ball was
sustained when he objected to this
was not on trial.
One of the bullets hit Mr.. Daugherty
in the base of the skull, and his ma
chine careened from the highway.
coming to a halt against a tree. Mr..
Daugherty died without regaining
consciousness. Through the testimony
late yesterday of 1t. John Fowler,
ballistics expert of the Washington
Police Department, the prosecution
sought to show that the death slug
came from Scheid's service revolver.
Scheid was said to have fired several
shots, while Knox discharged his gun
only once.
The defense is seeking to show that
Mr.. Daugherty was hit accidentally
when the officers fired at his tires as
he tried to run them down on the
highway. The policemen said they
had chased Mr. Daugherty four miles
from Falls Church to arrest him for
speeding.
1t. Fowler maintained through sew
eral hours of grilling that he was
positive" one Of two bullet pieces
taken from the dead mans brain was
fired from a new Colt revolver bearing
the serial number "439938" Com
monwealth Attorney Lawrence w.
Douglas has assured Judge Walter T.
Mccarthy he will introduce evidence
to show the weapon in question was
the service gun of Oficer Scheid.
Microscope Set Up.
The IL men in the jury peered
through comparative microscope
which 1t. Fowler set up with the
lenses focused on fragment of
the death slug and q section of a
test bullet fired from gun "439938."
The bullet which killed Mr.. Daugh-
arty passed through shatter-proof
section of glass of his automobile and
entered his skull The bullet split and
only two parts were recovered from
the brain of the slain man.
These fragments were identified by
Coroner w. c. Werburn of Arlington
County as those taken from the body
during an autopsy.
1t. Fowler told the jury weight
test showed that perhaps a third OF
the fatal bullet was missing. The
prosecution expert was cross-examined
at length by Defense Counsel Ball,
who sought to show that ballistics was
not an exact" science.
The Washington police lieutenant
testified that In his opinion ballistics
was q precise science and that in GER
tain instances bullets could be traced
to the gun which fired them in a posi-
tive manner.
The defense, according to Mr.. Balls
opening statement to the jury, will
prove that Scheid and Knox shot to
debate Mr.. Daugherty's tires after he
tried to run them down on Cherrydale
Hill.
Drunk Driving Charged.
Mr.. Ball told the jury that Mr..
Daugherty, at the time he was hit
in the head by bullet, was driving
while drunk, speeding and driving
-fecklessly. He said the defense will
prove that Scheid fired at the tires
Of Mr.. Daugherty's car while lying fiat
on his back after being knocked
down.
Mr.. Douglas asked the jury for 1