New-York tribune., 1920-11-18

Lockwood committee, pleaded not
guilty yesterday. His bail of S25 0ao
was continued. Edmund l.. Mooney,
his. counsel, viii appear before Judge
i Mulqueen this morning to argue on the
date for the trial Robert s. John
stone, prosecuting the case. announced
:. he would ask that the case be placed
on the preferred calendar, so that the
trial NAV be speedily disposed Of.
Brindell was indicted on three
counts. He is accused of attempting
$ to extort 81 500 from Jacob Fradus, i
!, general contractor, on April l6 last.
I The first count charges that Brindell
{ attempted to obtain the money by dis
4 rupting an operation of Fradus's at
: Seventh Avenue Thirty-sixth, Thirty
: seventh and Thirtyeighth streets. The
) second charges that he attempted to
get 'he money by threaten ng to call
: strike and prevent Fraduss carrying
: out contract he had o do the work
I on he seme operation, while the third
+ charges that Brindell threatened TO
) prev 1t Fradus from obtaining compe-
I tent iaporers to do the work.
3 The witnesses nleI.ion q in cornec-
s tion with thu ,ndictrnca. are george II.
Z Clarke, an engineer employed by the
: Rollins; Saul Singer, owner of the
building for whom the particular job
: WAS Icing done; Samuel B. Donnel!y,
5 Franklin Nevius, attorney for Fradus,
I and t'radrs himself
!. The circumstances surrounding the
! crime charged in the indictment were
: nearly all disclosed at the hearing OF
1 the committee on November rs. At
!. that TIME Fradus declared that his
Z $500 0C0 business had been ruined By
I Brindell and that he eventually was
driven into bankruptcy. He said that
{ Brindell demanded $4,000. and when
: he refused to give up he could get no
2 more wrecking contracts from the large
: construction companies because thes
s Informed him they could not do bust
Z ness with any one who did not sign an
! agreement with Brindell as to the en-
{ ployment of men agreeable to the labor
{ leader
He testified that he at last gave
Brindcll $1,000 for the agreement re-
ferred TO.
F.. $500 Deal Cited
) The $500 controversy, ne said,
grew out of a contrSc. ns had drawn
up on February l3 to do demolition
( and excavation work on building for
the Garment Center Realty Company
ut the Seventh Avenue address. He
said he had fifty steam shovels at work
ard had purchased numerous trucks,
, when suddenly all the engineers we're
called off by Brindcll.
He went to see the labor leader at 12
( St Marks Place. Brindcll, he said, in
sisted on seeing his contract. When
Fradus refused to show 1t Brindeli
you viii never do this Job ~ asked
him." continued Fradus, what was the
troub e, and he said You know this
organization is not run on cha k
want you to produce $4,000 if you
went to go ahead with this job'
Fradus said he saw he "was up
e. against it" and he went to see Frank
i'm Nevlus. his attorney, who was un-
able to help matters.
Fradus said he then went 10 Clark
Of the Holbrook, Cabot e. Rollins
firm, with whom he was acquainted and
/. who re thought had C siderable in
fiuence in the labor world.
!. ark said he made an appoiutmen nj
with Brindell over the telephone and
later met him at his office. The tes-
timonv Of Clark runs as follows:
J. Q.-Did he make any propo it.on to
you as TO the terms on which ne would
.allow Fradus to go ahead? Ale did
1t was cash proposition.
O know t. at, but how much? A
81, 90, to the best of my recollection
:, Q.--Is that the best you could dc
v j. nm Al did not try to jew him
down.
Q.-Did he tell you why he wantet
81 500? Ale said he wanted it foI
. hmse f. One reason he gave was thai
there was no general contractor on tht
bui ding He. meant by thai, | suppose
I that there were no intermediate profits
4, and he might as well be the inter
mediary.
O. What was his next reason? A.
Tha' he wanted the money He thought
he ought to have rake-of on it.
!. Q.-Ile was perfectly brazen about
+ it? Al never knew of a situation
like that before; | never hearC of i.
or saw it.
Tells of Paying $1,000
The circumstances surrounding the
+ alleged payment of 1000 to Rrindell
+ are told by Fradus as follows:
Q.-You say you found you were ur
against it? Al found was ur
against it. | had big organization
fifty automobiles, and everything was
taken away from me-: had to pay
bills and notes came due; | was no
able to pay. | had to sell out my stuff
to make everything good. and | fount
myself up against it, seeing that
could not get any work in New Yorl
to pay anything.
Q.-Did you tell him you were W
against it? Al did.
Q-What did he say? Al said
"What did I ever do. to you that yo,
threw me out of business" He said
"You know this place has got to get
little money, and you have to be goot
fellow to get anything out of here, ou
of this office" | was figuring on jo|
in Sixty-fourth Street for the Fradu
Contracting Company. After &C
: through and lost everything my sol
went into little business for himself
: and he formed little company in New
York, and am working for him, tryinl
t. make a living. | went to Brirdcll
{ ard he did not know anything abou
that SO | said: 81 am figuring en-
job with the Underpinnng Foundatio
. Company. VIII you classify nae to d
/ some kind of work." He said: "Wha
. do you mcnn?" said Il want tn
excavating down there
. Q.-HoN big a JOB was that? A
About 100000. He says: eyes, pro
vidcd you viii produce said "Wha
dc you mean?" He said GIVE me
Z thousand dollars and Will give you
f Letter"
+, O.. Did You pay the thousand dol
: lars? Al did; paid in one-hur
. Gred- dollar bills then and here.
I, Q.-When and where was this? A..
+ ri hit in St Marks Place, ngny in hi
( Office.
+ The Brindell Indictment had bee
= held OFT, 1t was explained. because