Evening star., 1954-01-18
Doctor Attacks
Insanity Plea
.ByDickerson
Jury at Rockville
Hears Psychiotrist
In Robbery Trial

su NOOOSsy 'lOt
A psychiatrist told the jury in
the trial Of Thomas E. Dickerson
today that Dickerson was sane
when he held up a Chevy Chase
loan Office last July.
Dickerson, 80. is pleading in
sanity.
He and Mrs. Hilda Gray
Humphrey are charged on five
counts in the $640 robbery Of
the Regional Finance Co. Office
on Wisconsin avenue. just north
of the District line.
Mrs. Humphrey. 80. also
pleaded not guilty. Her argu-
ment is that she did not know
Dickerson planned a holdup
when he ordered her to drive
him to the finance Office.
Her lawyer told the Mont
gomery County Circuit Court
jury of eight men and four
women in Rockville that when
she learned Dickerson had COM
mitted the holdup. he silenced
her by threatening to kill her.
State Psychiatrist on Stand.
DR.. Jacob Morgenstern, chief
psychiatrist for the State Mental
Hygiene division, testified for the
prosecution.
He said he examined Dicker-
son in Rockville Jail a week ago
last Thursday.
Dickerson was sane then, DR..
Morgenstern said, adding that
he could only conclude that
Dickerson also was sane when
he committed the holdup.
Dickerson's lawyer. Barnard r.
Welsh, earlier told the jury the
robbery went off approximately
as the prosecution described.
Another doctor, William
Welsh. Rockville physician but
not psychiatrist, testified Dick
erson was insane in August
when he was committed to
Spring Grove State Hospital.
Dr.. Welsh said he could not
say whether Dickerson was mem
tally responsible now or whether
he had been sane during the
holdup.
Prosecutor Describes Crime.
Assistant States Attorney
Thomas M. Anderson presented
Montgomery County's case.
Dickerson entered the finance
company Office, produced a pis-
tol, scooped S640 into briefcase.
and returned to his companion
waiting in the car, Mr.. Anderson
said.
The Office manager, Milton E.
Thompson, 26. of 5000 Wheaton
road, Kensington. jotted down
the car tag number. The cars
title holder is Mrs. Humphreys
husband, T/Sergt. Robert A.
Humphrey, then stationed in
Japan.
The soldier was in court today.
He returned to the Unit2d
States on an emergency leave
when his wife was arrested.
Mr.. Welsh told the jury that
Dickerson was insane and could
not realize his actions serious
ness or consequences.
Treatment Not Completed.
The lawyer emphasized that
Dickerson never completed med
ical treatment after he was
committed to the Spring Grove
State Hospital last fall.
Dickerson was put away in
that mental institution after he
tried to cut his wrists and hang
himself in Rockville Jail,
He escaped from Spring Grove.
Recaptured in Kentucky. he
broke out of Jail there. When
the FBI put him on its list of
most wanted criminals. agents
seized him in Verdunville, W. Va,
December 81.
Mrs. Humphreys lawye-: told
the jury she refused to accept
the loan Office booty Dickerson
offered her.
The attorney. James H. Pugh.
said she was so frightened by
Dickerson's threats she was in a
daze. Mr.. Pugh said Dickerson
never told her he intended hold
ing up the loan Office but merely
ordered her to drive him there.
"She sat there in the car read
ing a book" Mr.. Pugh said. She
didn't leave the motor running
and she didn't speed away"