Labor Columnist
Blinded for Life
Bv Aeid Attaek
J
NEW YORK, UD—Victor Riesel,
labor columnist who for years
tried to shed light on labor racket
eering, has lost the sight of both
eyes. Sulphuric acid was thrown
in his face one month ago Sat
urday.
Four eye specialists announced
Friday they had been unable to
save the sight of ffie 41-year-old
Riesel, set upon early April 5 as
he left a Broadway restaurant.
A few hours earlier, Riesel had
made a' radio attack on labor
union racketeering.
Robert M. Hall, president of the
syndicate that distributes Riesel’s
■column to the New York Daily
Mirror and 192 other newspapers,
said: “There is no hope at all
now that Victor Riesel will ever
see again.”
Hall added Riesel will continue
his column with the aid of assist
ants.
Nearly $40,000 in rewards have
failed to turn up any clue to the
columnist’s assailant, described
only as a slender, black - haired
man wearing a blue and white
lumberjacket. The FBI as well as
local police have been conducting
an intensive manhunt.
MISSISSIPPI EX-GOVERNOR
DIES OF HEART ATTACK
JACKSON, Miss., I/Pi—Former
Gov. Fielding Wright, one of the
nation’s leading states rights ad
vocates and an unreconstructed
rebel in the south’s fight against
integration, died Friday night of
a heart attack. The 60-year-old
statesman was a candidate for
vice president on the States Rights
Party ticket in 1948.
The force of gravity at the sur
face of the sun is said to be 27
times greater than that at the
surface of the earth.
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If you have been wondering how
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Touch up with varnish stain to
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wax.
%
Death in Gas Chamber Decreed by
Jury for John Gilbert Graham
Defense Paints Graham
As Pathological Liar
By FRANK PITMAN
DENVER, UP—Death in Color
ado’s gas chamber was decreed
Friday night for John Glbert Gra
ham, 24, who confessed—then de
nied—dynamiting an airliner that
hurled his mother and 43 others
to death.
Seven men and five women
jurors deliberated 72 minutes be
fore returning a conviction of first
degree murder in the death of
Graham’s well-to-do mother, Mrs.
Daisie E. King, 55.
In his instructions to the jurors,
Dist. Judge Joseph M. McDonald
had advised they must determine
whether Graham’s confession was
voluntary before it could be con
sidered as direct evidence justify
ing infliction of the death penalty.
During the trial, FBI agents
presented oral and written con
fessions by Graham. Graham took
the stand in absence of the jury
to deny their truth. He said he
gave them under threats of the
FBI. He contended they threat
ened to arrest his wife for lying
and that he gave the statements
to protect her.
Graham, father of two, bit his
lower lip but otherwise showed
no emotion as Judge McDonald
read the death verdict. He told
reporters: “I’m innocent."
“Of course, we’ll appeal,’’ said
Charles S. Vigil, one of Graham’s
three court-appointed lawyers.
Judge McDonald granted the
defense 10 days to file a new trial
motion. Graham will not bo for
mally heard until that motion is
heard.
Graham took out two air trip
insurance policies on his mother’s
life naming him the beneficiary,
Each would have paid him $37,000.
He confessed to the FBI last
Nov. 13 that he slipped a 25-stick
dynamite time bomb into Mrs.
King’s suitcase before she left
Denver last Nov. 1 on a United
Air Lines plane for a trip to An
chorage, Alaska.
Forty-three other women, men
and children from 14 states died
with Mrs. King when the airliner
exploded 11 minutes after takeoff.
Graham’s 22-year-old wife broke
down and sobbed hysterically for
several minutes after the verdict
was returned. She was comforted
by a neighbor.
“I can never get used to a jury
coming in with the death verdict,”
said Dist. Atty. Bert M. Keating, I
who called 75 witnesses and pre
sented 130 exhibits in the state’s
Graham Asks Death
As Soon as Possible
.
DENVER, UP—Two conflicting
documents in the case of John
Gilbert Graham, 24, condemned
to death in an airliner bombing,
were on file in Denver District
Court today.
However, Dist. Judge Joseph
M. McDonald, who presided at
Graham’s three-week-long trial,
remained at his home. Court atta
ches said he wouldn’t be in court
today to consider the documents.
One is a signed affidavit in
which Graham, 24, states he wants
to die in Colorado’s gas chamber
as soon as possible.
The other is a request for a new
trial, filed by Graham’s court-ap
pointed lawyers. There has been
no indication when Judge McDon
ald may act on either.
Graham signed an affidavit in
his Denver County jail cell Satur
day which said in part: “I accept
the verdict of the jury and desire
that it be carried out with all con
venient speed. This is my wish.”
John J. Gibbons, one of Gra
ham’s lawyers, quoted the young
father as saying: “If that jury be
lieved that crazy confession, there
is no use going any farther.”
Charles S. Vigil, another court
appointed lawyer, said Graham's
request for a new trial is based on
36 points of alleged error in con
duct of the trial.
The motion, filed Saturday,
claims the court erred in refusing
to perjnit Graham to be tried
without a jury, in refusing to dis
miss the case on grounds no crime
was committed in Denver and in
refusing 14 legal instructions for
the jury submitted by the defense.
case.
In his closing argument to the
jury, Keating said:
“If this is not a crime for the
death penalty, where in the his
tory of the world was there ever
a case that merited the extreme
penalty?”
Vigil and another of Graham’s
lawyers, John J. Gibbons, painted
Graham as a “psychopathic liar.”
Vigil asked the jury: “What are
the lies and what the the truths?
If he’s lying in this statement <his
Confession to the FBI) he should
n’t be found guilty.”
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IN THE PROBATE COURT FOR THE
CAPE NOME PRECINCT, SECOND
DIVISION. TERRITORY OF ALASKA.
No. 1054
NOTICE OF SALE
IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF
HOWARD LYNG. deceased.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that,
pursuant to an Order of the above en
titled Court, duly made and entered upon
the 4th day of May, 1956, the following
described real property will be sold, for
cash, to the highest and best bidder, at
the office of the United States Commis
sioner and ex-officio Probate Judge,
which said office is located on the main
floor. East wing. Federal Building, at
Nome, Alaska; the said sale will be made
at the place above designated on Tues
day, the 5th day of June, 1956. at the
hour of two p.m. The Administrator
reserves the right to refuse any and all
bids.
NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN,that the
heiress of this estate has set a minimum
value of said property described below
at $1,100.00, and the Administrator is
directed to refuse any bids below that
amount.
The said real property to be sold is
described as follows:
The North l2 of Lot 11 in Block 30,
Nome, Alaska, together with a one.
story frame cabin dwelling located
thereon, and the contents therein.
DATED this 4th day of May, 1956.
JAMES PAPPAS,
Administrator.
Publ. May 7, 14, 21, 28, 1956.
Legal Blanks at The Nome Nugqel
Between the ages of 45 and 60
cancer causes the death of one
out of every three women who
die.
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