FATAL FASCINATION.
LEADS TO DOMESTIC DRAMA. Resembling more a melodrama than actual life, a domestic tragedy has i,..,.„ enacted in Cumberland, Maryiind. I'.S.A. The alleged villain in ■■„,- piece was Edgar Kytil I'ownall, the ,-andsome nephew of a rich coal and lumber merchant, whose family he ( was visiting for lour weeks. In the Hat below him dwelt a happily-married couple with a year-old baby, whom the I'owimlls frequently visited. The beauty of the young matron, Mrs Kate Uhl, fascinated young Pownall. At night Mervin Uhl, her husband, was urgently summoned away by telephone on a bogus mission. The message was sent, it was alleged, by I'ownall, who. according to Mrs Uhl, entered a few
minutes after the departure ot her husband, locked the door, and prevented her escape. While she was struggling Mr Uhl returned, and accused his wife of infidelity. He ordered her to leave the house, and she vainly protested her innocence. Distraught, the hushand himself went away. His wife then
summoned i'ownall, who meantime had tied upstairs to his uncle's flat, and besought him to clear her reputation. I'ownall not only refused, but even persisted in his advances. The desperate young woman seized a kitchen knife and plunged it in her persecutor's breast. He died half an hour later. When the police arrived they found Mrs Uhl standing beside her sleeping infant's cot wringing her hands. The unwritten law is to be her defence, and public sympathy is on the side of the woman, who with her baby occupies a cell in Maryland Gaol. An I affecting scene occurred when she was
visited In prison by her husband, who begged her forgiveness for suspecting her of being unfaithful and driving her to the fatal act. The repentant husband declares that he lost control of himself v. hen he returned home and found young i'ownall with his wife in a room of which the door had been locked. Without waiting for explanations he ordered her to pack up ami leave she home and the children.
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Bibliographic details
Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 26 April 1920, Page 4
Word Count
336FATAL FASCINATION. Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 26 April 1920, Page 4
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