Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-09-24
L|ewd Magazine
Drive Is Stalled
InMonigorllery
Bethesda Newsstand
Operator Acquitted
In Six-Hour Trial

A MONTGOMERY County polict
campaign to purge newsstand,
Of magazines which featur,
nude or seu,i-clad women wa,
stalled today. It hit 4 roat
block last night when 4 sub.
stitute trial Judge, Samuel Cor.
don. sitting In Peoples Court
In Bethesda, acquitted Rudolph
Aron, SO, Bethesda newsstant
operator, Of q charge Of selline
lewd. obscene and indecent
literature.
His arrest was the result ot
what police said was a county.
wide check Of newsstands.
At the end OF q six-hour trial
Judge Gordon ruled that the
State had failed to prove that
the four magazines on which
the case was based were obscene
under Maryland law.
Witness Nof an Exn.rt
He pointed o,,t the states or,v
witness "a exnress an on;nion , ~,
the n,,hlicotio, ospvaarc ia n,
detective Marvin c,,,,ick-ua q, :
s.obyiously NOT an exnert y
Judge Gordo,,s decision came
after an Assistant states Attor-
ney. Andrew Starratt had MEAD
ed chat s.rnore and more ~ this
trash il filling I'm the news-
stands and firhtino Ire wav into
the home .
He charged the magazines
Contained .snrovocat,ve noses,,
and argued that the test of de.
termininr obscenitv sho,,Id he
based 81, what an asverape man.
thinks such publications .mirht
do "a society
The arguments az the defense
attorney water Norman were
stopped by the nudge who COM
fnented that athe state hasn't
shown ANYTHING "a satisfy the
court the napazines are
obscene ).
Earlier i Mr. Norman won
n naaior round IN the case when
the nudge r,,led o,,t as evidence
245 copies Of magazines con-
liscated by police from a cabinet
at the Aron Newsstand In the
center Of Bethesda.
Judge Gordon yielded to Mr.,
Moorman's arguments that the
stack OF magazines. which in
cluded IS different titles. were
obtained by means Of an illegal
search and seizure.
He told police they had ade-
ouate time to get a search war
rant in the four DAYS between
August 2 when Pvt. Gulick ex-
amined the contents of the cab
met and August 6 when Mr. Aron
was arrested at the newsstand
and the periodicals were seized.
Mr.. Aron testified that he kept
his supply OF certain" maga-
zines under lock and key In the
cabinet, but gave police the key
the night he was arrested.
reserved for adu,t.
"The church neonIe asked me
70 reserve the books for ad,,jts
no juvenile has ever gotten )
book out of It . he said
Pvt Gulick reported he mr..
chased the four magazines on
which the state bases its case atl
four different times The mac
azines were Modern Sun Bathinr
Man Cabaret and San Francisco
Confidential
Most AZ the trial Was devoted
to legal maneuyering until Pvt.
Gulick father of three small |
children, was brought under
sharp cross-examination by Mr..
Norman who led the officer
through a page-by-page critiql,e
Of the publication.
The policeman defined as sob
scene" any picture of a woman
Showing part Of her body not
ordinarily shown" but qualified
his definition by adding: II don't
say all nudes are obscene"
He protested several times.
TIN not an expert" and "I'm
not q censor"
Mr.. Norman displayed a vol
ume Of the Encyclopedias Brit
AMIGA which contained q photo.
graph Of Titian's painting Of a.
nude, The Woman on the Couch.
"Is that obscene?" he de-
manded.
"It's considered art" the off,
ram,Iv ~ Man shc,vr