Evening star., 1949-02-01
Edwards Trial
Glen burniie
Killings Opens
Doctor Asserts Girl
ProbobIyWos CIubbed
Before Being Shot
By W. H. Shippen, Jr.
Sior Staff Corrsspendent

BALTIMORE, FeD. !. - Evidence
that 18-year-old Mary C.. Kline was
forced to her knees and dubbed
before she was shot through the
head was offered today at the trial
OF Thomas A. Edwards, q, colored,
who is accused Of numbering the
Glen Burnie girl and her compan-
ion. John H. Mahlin, Is, while they
were on date last September II.
Shortly after the trial began this
before three criminal court
judges, DR.. Earl L. Roger, assistant
medical examiner for Maryland,
testified the autopsy he conducted
revealed bruises on the girls knees
apparently made before her death.
Would these indicate that she
had been forced to her knees" DR..
Roger was asked.
"Yes. probably" was the reply.
DR.. Roger said there was no evil
dence that the girl had been GRIM
inally assanltd, although both bodies
showed considerable decomposition.
They were discovered three days
after the crime
The medical expert said both VIC
Tins had been killed by a bullet in
the brain. There were indications,
however, that the girls skull prob
ably was fractured before she was
shot through the head.
Mr.. Mahlan, Glen Burnie postal
worker, had been shot only once and
there were no further marks of vio-
lence on his body His companion,
however, had been hit on the left
index finger by bullet, possibly as
she threw up her hand in an in
stinctive gesture to protect herself
from the gun pointed at her head.
Toxicologist Testifies.
DR.. Henry c. Freimuth, toxicol-
ogist, testified bloodstains and other
clues in Mr.. Mahlan's auto-which
was found abandoned the morning
of September 18-indicated that he
had been killed in the front seat
Miss Kline, the witness said, ap-
parently had been slain in the rear
seat.
The greying, slender mother Of
the murdered girl, Mrs. j. Edward
Kline, told of the evening last Sep
tember when her daughter drove
away with Mr. Mahlan. The small
witnesses voice was too low to
carry through the crowded court
room, and one of the judges asked
that she be brought nearer the
microphone. She said Mr.. Mahlan
and her daughter had been keeping
company for 18 months.
The only jewelry her daughter
wore was white-gold wrist watch
and silver sea horse bracelet, Mrs.
Kline said. In response to questions.
the mother said that Marys jewelry
had not been returned to her.
Seen at Post Office.
George Washington Rogers. jr., a
letter carrier at Glen Burnie, told Of
seeing the couple at the post Office
and drugstore before they drove out
of the town about 9:15 pm. on the
night of their disappearance.
Edwards, a neatly dressed man
who wears narrow mustache.
pleaded not guilty to murder and
told the three judges he waived his
right of jury trial and preferred to
be tried by them. They are Judge
Robert France, presiding; Judge
Emory H. Niles and Judge Joseph
Sherbow.
Mr.. Mahlan's car, blood-spattered
and bullet-riddled, was found Sep
tember 10. Edwards was arrested
about two months later.
An announcement by Gov Lane
on November II said Edwards had
made a written statement to Balti-
more police.
Fifty-two witnesses have been
summoned for the prosecution, "a
for the defense.
Court-appointed counsel for Ed
wards are William J. McWilliams
and Ridgely P. Melvin OF Annapolis.