New-York tribune., 1910-06-24
PRESENTMENT A SECRET
Judge 0'SuIIivan Holds Papers
Handed in by Grand Jury.
CRITICISM FOR REYNOLDS
Court, Without Naming Him, Re.
Dukes Whitman's Assistant for
Statements to Newspapers.

Judge O'Sullivan left court last evening
without making public the presentment
handed to him yesterday by the Rockefeller
grand jury in General Sessions, containing
the result Of its investigation of so-called
| white slave traffic. The document was
the same one which he refused to accept
two weeks ago on the ground that he was
entitled to know its character before ac-
cepting it.
AS neither John D. Rockefeller, jr, fore
man of the grand Jury, nor any one else had
advised him of its contents Judge O'Sullivan
announced that he would not file the pre-
sentiment with the clerk until he had had
a chance to examine It,
He said at the same time that it would
not be made public until it was filed, and
sealed any avenues of information as to
the nature of the presentment by the an
| nouncement that any person making 1t
public before II was so filed by him would
be punished for contempt Of court.
The request Of the grand jury to be dis
missed WAS refused by Judge O'Sullivan.
who directed attention to certain matters
in the minutes which he asked the jurors
to investigate further, adjourning the jury
one week for that purpose.
In accepting the presentment Judge
O'Sullivan read a long typewriter state
ment in which he referred to "a gentle
man who has come into the District At
torney's office for the purpose Of assisting
the grand jury In this Investigation
Taken As Drive at Reynolds.
This was accepted by every one ac-
quainted with the facts as referring to AS
sistant District Attorney James B.
Reynolds, who has worked with the Rookie
feller grand jury in the last six months.
It was Mr.. Reynolds who gave out to the
newspaper men the story of the purchase
by his agents Of young girls for immoral
purposes. one Of whom was said to have
cried for a Teddy bear and the other for
her doll. They later turned out to be
twenty-four and twenty-five years of age
one of them a married woman with a child
At the same time Mr.. Reynolds spoke of
an eleven-year-old child whom his agent
had seen in the possession of Belle Moore
the negro woman who was later convicted
of selling two women for transportation to
a disorderly house in Seattle. For days the
police searched for the eleven-year-old girl
but she was never found.
Referring, 1t was supposed, to this inter
view with Mr.. Reynolds, Judge O'Sullivan
said to the grand jury yesterday: Re
ports in the public prints detailed condi-
| tions of the most brutal depravity-children
held in the slavery of vice by human mon
sters. and perhaps murder committed to
conceal other Infamous offences
Judge O'Sullivan referred to these state
ments as imprudent in the light of the fact
that 'all the arrests under the indictments
| had not been made" and the conditions
rnIa Or .ta
Instructions as to Secrecy.
THE Judge inquired of the foreman If
the members of the grand jury had been
especially cautioned upon the urgent neces-
sity for secrecy" said Judge O'Sullivan On
this point. He replied that they had been.
Believing that. beyond the arrest of the
defendants, farreaching results would be
served by discreet silence, the judge ad-
vised your foreman to keep the indictments
in his own custody until the following
Tuesday,"
printed.
Because of this incident Judge O'Suln-
van said he objected to Mr.. Reynolds writ
ing the grand jury,s final report. and so
Informed Mr.. Rockefeller, fntimating that
the facts would be strictly adhered to.
Although the foreman. said Judge O'Sul-
livan, promised to advise with him. the
first intimation that he had that the re-
port was ready was two weeks ago, when
It was offered to him In court
When presenting the report yesterday Mr..
Rockefeller In a few words said 1t was the
grand jury's response to the courts charge
to make a certain investiga ton, through
out which the jurors had kept in touch
with Judge O'Sullvan.
Neither District Attorney Whitman nor
Mr.. Reynolds would say anything in reply
to Judge O'Sullivan's criticism. ''WilI the
grand jury take up the matters referred
to in the minutes by Judge O'Sullivan?"
Mr. Rockefeller was asked
rs there anything else we can do?" he
asked In return, with an air of resigna-
ton.
Although Judge O'SulIivan NAV DELAY
publication of the presentment for a short
time there is good authority for the state
ment that 1t will be made public in the
near future