Evening star., 1949-02-02
PoIiceDescribe
Finding Pistol in
Edwards Home
Glen Burnie Murder
Trial Told of Effort to
Find Buyer Of Gun
By w. H. Shippen, Jr.
Stor Stoff Correspondent

BALTIMORE, Feb. 2.-Discovery
OF a $3.50 caliber automatic pistol ir
the home of Thomas A. Edwards
after he had denied ownership o1
such weapon was described today
at the trial of the 23-year- old COL
ored laborer charged with the mur-
der of young Glen Burnie couple
last September.
The three judges who are hearing
charges that Edwards shot to death
Miss Mary C. Kline, 18, and hel
friend. John H. Mahlan, Is, a postal
employe, were told that Edwards ad-
mitted ownership of a $3.50 caliber
automatic, but insisted he had sold
the weapon to a fellow worker in
Baltimore several weeks before the
couple disappeared on the night OF
September II.
Sergt. Frank j. Bitak of the Bal
timore detective force, testified that
he and other officers arrested Ed
wards in Baltimore on November 8
and took him to the Waterloo State
Police Station.
Pistol Found in Home.
Later in the afternoon, he said
he went to the home of Edwards
parents near Glen Burnie with
Sergt. Charles A. Maine of the
State police.
I'VE found foreign make auto
matte on shelf in a closet along
side piano in the kitchen of the
Edwards home" the witness said
He added the defendants mother
and father and young girl were
in the house at the time. Asked to
describe the weapon, Sergt. Bitak
replied
1T was of Cechoslovakian make
and $50 caliber.'
He identified the pistol handed
to him by the prosecution as the
anne weapon.
One of the judges asked, Did you
ave to search for this gun, ser
eant?"
The witness replied in the mega
i've. He said he was told of the
',;act location by another officer at
ne Waterloo station.
Force, Violence" Denied.
The prosecution is laying the
'roundwork for an attempt to in
roduce Edwards own statements
READY made to police and an
ounced last November by Gov.
ane. 1t was believed that the
2urt-appointed defense attorneys
ould put UP vigorous fight to ex-
lde any admissions attributed to
iwards by the Investigators.
About IS Baltimore detectives and
licemen of the State and Anne
.undel County forces repeatedly
ere asked today if they had used
orce or violence" against Edwards
lille in custody or made him any
:comises Of immunity. The reply
ias in the negative in each case.
At one juncture the defense coun-
sci, William j. McWilliams, asked
after 1t. George Brayan OF the
Baltimore homicide squad, told of
interviewing Edwards at the Fern
Gale police station October 12:
Was this the occasion when you
slapped the prisoner around?"
Tried to Find Buyer of Pistol.
1t. Brayan replied that at no time,
> his knowledge, had the defend
ant been mistreated.
Police testified today that twice
IN october they went with Edwards
20 his place of employment at Bal
timore export firm to help him
locate the man who, Edwards said,
had bought his $3.50 automatic The
officers said Edwards told them he
did not know the name of the man,
but believed he was a stevedore. On
neither occasion were they able to
locate this person.
The prosecution, through the tes-
timony Of Robert A. Frazier, fire~
arms Identification expert with the
Federal Bureau of Investigation in
Washington, this afternoon sought
to link the gun found in Edwards
home with an exploded shell said to
have been located at the spot where
the bodies were found.
No Motive Disclosed.
No evidence Of motive for the
brutal Staying has come out as yet.
The girls badly decomposed body
bore no indication of criminal as
sault, according to medical testi-
mony received yesterday.
The young postal employe, who
had been dating the girl for the
previous 18 months, had only two
81 bills and some odd change on
him. This was still on his body
when he was found.
Officer William S. Street of the
Anne Arundel force told how he
inspected the death car on the day
after the murder as it stood deserted
near the old Annapolis road near
Lipin's Corner. This was on the
morning Of September 10, and the
bodies were not discovered until two
days later, near the Chesterfield
road, at least Is miles from the car.