Evening star., 1950-06-15
3Points Raised
In Rehearing Of
Edwards Case
Timing Is Questioned
By Defense; Troopers
Story Also at Issue
BY the AsSceiotsd Press

BALTIMORE. June l5.-A close
piece of timing and the story Of
a state trooper who quit in dis
gust came under fire today at the
second murder trial of Thomas A.
Edwards.
At stake are these points:
/. Can the State use oral admis-
sions made by the 26-year-old
colored man to prove that he
killed John H. Mahlan and Mary
Kline on September II. l94SP
2. Did an Anne Arundel County
policeman make an improper
statement to Edwards which in.
validateS the oral admission?
3. Was a proper search made at
the spot where the bodies were
discovered and why didn't 1t turn
up a cartridge case which was
found later and became a vital
link in the circumstantial evi-
dence against EdwardSP
Harbaugh Center of Argument.
John j. Harbaugh, the trooper
who quit, was the center of the
argument over the latter two
points.
The timing involves a l0-to-l2-
minute period when Edwards was
under questioning on November
II, 194S. by Capt. Henry ]. Kriss.
Baltimore's chief Of detectives.
The defense contends Edwards
didn't have time in that 10 min
utes to make the statements at
triouted to him by Capt. KrisS.
At the end of 10 minutes, the
policeman handed Edwards a LETT
ter in which a convict said it is
wise always to shoot square with
the police. Edwards later made q
full confession, on the basis Of
which he was convicted II months
ago and sentenced to hang.
Held Improper Inducement.
Maryland'S Court of Appeals
ruled. however. that showing him
the letter was an improper in
1t invalidated the con-
fession and ordered a new trial.
AS the new trial went into its
fourth day this morning. the
was trying to get the
oral admission into evidence.
Trooper Harbaugh'S testimony
yesterday stood in the way.
The former trooper first became
a controversial figure several years
ago when the death Of a Salisbury
truck line operator resulted in q
manslaughter charge against him.
Trooper Harbaugh had arrested
the man for drunken driving and
was taking him to jail atop the
Wicomico County Courthouse in
Salisbury when fight broke out
in the elevator.
The trooper was acquitted Of
manSlaughter several months later
in a trial at Elkton. but was trans
ferred to Anne Arundel County.
Quit in January.
In January this year, he quit
the State police force, saying he
had gotten better job and was
disguised with the way some
people were trying to carry out
justice in the county"
Trooper Harbaugh said the
Mahlan-Kline investigation was
one of the things he had in mind.
The State abandoned Trooper
Harbaugh as witness at this
point and the defense quickly took
him over.
He was asked about report he
made on lonely search of the
spot of Chesterfield Road west Of
Annapolis where the bodies were
found.
Harbaugh said he had borrowed
an old window screen. With q
tire wrench and his flashlight, he
went to the clearing by himself
at 2 am, about ten hours after
the bodies were found.
He pulled up grass and weeds
and dug down two to three inches
in the ground where the bodies
had been. he testified. He found
Case Found by Farmer.
A Prince Georges County farmer
visited the scene out of curiosity
five days later and found an
empty cartridge case at the point
where the girls body had been.
There Is no argument that the
cartridge was fired by the $50
Czech pistol found at the Edwards
home in Marley Neck almost eight
weeks after the shooting. The
defense contends. however, that
some one picked up the cartridge
case at Edwards home, where he
had done a lot Of target shoot
ing, and planted it in the Chester
field clearing. II it had been
under Mary Kline's body. the de-
fense argues, Trooper Harbaugh
or one of the other investigators
would have found it.
Scientific examination Of the
slugs taken from the bodies failed
to match them with the Edwards
gun. so the cartridge case is the
only direct link between the gun
and the slayings.
AInvandvia frhonl Namad