New-York tribune., 1920-08-10
Statement by House Com
mittee Says Leader of
Giants Mistook Fellow
Member for Old Enemy
Six Men i'm Grill
At Time of Fight
S1avin, in Hospital With
Fractured Skull, Injured
After Leaving the Club

John &. Slavin, the retired actor
who was taken to St. Luke's Hosni4a]
Sunday morning seriously injured
after night of strenuous peace-mak
Ing in the company of John McGraw
and other members of the Lambs, was
iii "a perfectly normal condition" when
ne left the Lambs, according to
statement given out by the house COM
mlttee yesterday.
Raymond Slavin, the injured mans
son, is said to have told members of
vestigation of his fathers injury that
ne learned from hospital attendants
that two of his fathers teeth had been
knocked out.
Confirmation of this statement was
not to be obtained at the hospital. Dr.
II: M. M. Lyle, the surgeon in charge
OF Mr.. Slavin's case, said his patient
had a horizontal scar at the base of
the skull, with abrasions of the skin
and symptoms indicating a fracture of
the bone. The scar was such as might
be caused, he said, by falling on the
cage or step or on curb.
Slavin Slightly Improved
Mr.. Slavin's condition is regarded as
some"hat improved, and there was said
last night to be some ground for hope.
OF his recovery. He has been uncon-
sclous most of the time since his ad-
mission to the hospital. QUESTIONING
OF the patient during his brief period.
Oh consciousness is forbidden by his
physicians. ~ -'
The statement of the house commit
tee OF the Lambs concerning the af-
fair follows: viz
AT the time Of this alteration. on
sunday morning, there was no one in
Ihe grill room, with the exception of
l, nan dozen persons at the most, and
there was no altercation-just friendly
salS' Mr. McGraw came into the club
anu "istook a certain member for a
man with whom he had had a differ
ence. He grossly insulted this mem
per- was very violent and abusive and
provoked quarrel, in which the club
member was on the defensive.
:, After the difference had been set
tled Mr. Siavln endeavored to persuade
ms friend Mr.<M cGraw into a taxicah
ana took him away from the club. Mr..
olaVlh mad at no time any part in the
aisefcatlon except as peacemaker. and
lclt the club in a perfectly normal con-
dition" W.
Detectives, club attendants and men,
the manager Of the Giants imagined he
recognized an old enemy in fellow
club member were interrogated in
the course of the Investigation
by che house committee. At the
close of the meeting it was an
nounced that the shepherd of the Lambs
had been asked to call meeting of
the executive committee to take up the
matter.
Investigating Committee
The members of the house commit
tee conducting the inquiry are George
Howells,. who is chairman; A. o.
Rapley Holmes, Milton Royal and
John Milton. They had decided, they
said, not to make public the name of
the man whom McGraw mistakenly as
sailed, who, presumably, is responsible
for the black eye which McGraw had
when he got home.
A report that William H. Boyd,
formerly leading man with Ethel Barry
more and more recently in film plays,
was one of those with whom McGraw
quarreled, elected no comment from
Graw, who had been a member of the
Lambs for about four years, was sus-
pended recently, following a dispute
with Walter knight. Fellow Lambs
said that the grudge behind Sunday
mornings encounter was of longer
standing than that.
Earlier in the day statement was
issued at the Lambs calling attention
to a resolution adopted by the club
declaring traffic in liquor to be not only
a violation of the law, but an infrac-
ton of club rules, and due cause for
discipline by the council. 1t was said
in the statement that the official closing
hour at the club was 2 a. m.
The District Attorney took charge
of the official inquiry yesterday and de-
tectives, whom their superiors in the
department had assigned to the case,
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