The New York herald., 1922-07-11
JUDGE STRONG HAD
TROOPERS AS GUARD
State Policeman Tells Also Of
Being Made to Serve
Subpoenas.

New York State police we're employed
as subpoena servers in the John Doe in
vestigation into road contracts con-
Quoted by Supreme Court Justice Selah
B. Strong last December at Mineola, al
though no public official received au-
thorization for their assignment.
They were obtained by Neal II. Van
De Water and acted under the direction
In spite of the fact that Mr.. vsu De
Water had no official standing other
than being counsel to the Nassau County
Association. the society which supplied
Justice Strong with evidence concerning
alleged Irregularities in the crusade for
better conditions in. the county.
These facts were brought out yester-
day through the testimony of Corporal
James Flynn at the hearing of the jerks
legislative committee. which is inquiring
into the official acts of Justice Strong.
Corporal Flynn said he was instructed
by Capt. John a. Warner, commander Of
Troop X, stationed at White Plains. to
go down to Mineola and report to Mr.
Van De Water for instructions" For
two months he and another trooper were
under orders to the Nassau County AS
sociation's counsel and had little. If any.
dealings with Justice Strong, he said
The presence of the troopers at the
Mineoa Court House, where they acted
as bodyguards outside the chambers OF
Justice Strong, was not explained on
the stand, but 1t was understood through
other sources that Mr.. Van De Water
had previously found no difficulty In OBJ
tanning the aid of the constabulary in
gambling cases in the county, and when
the road contract investigation arose he
communicated with the Superintendent
OF the State Police. who referred him to
Capt. Warner at White Plains.
Corporal Flynn testified that he re-
ceived no written orders from his su-
perior and kept no record of the work
performed for Mr.. Van de Water. Part
of his duty consisted in standing guard
at the door of the Justices chambers
and serving subpGnas on persons whom
the Justice wished to interview Capt.
Warner 1t was understood, will be called
to the stand. possibly to-day. to testify
to his part in the assignment OF the
troopers.
The contention Of the prosecution that
Corporal Flynn. acting under instructions
Of Justice Strong. had purposely served
a subpoena on James Stiles, a newspa-
per proprietor and president Of the South
Side Observer Company, five minutes be-
fore the time calling for his presence
was denied by the witness. He said he
had no conversation with the Justice re-
garding the service of the subpoena and
did not remember the Justice telling him
ito sweep down on him tStiles) at the
last minute"
That Justice Strong regarded the con-
tract for the construction of the new
Long Beach bridge as illegal was brought
out In the testimony Of Philip F. VIE
dersum, a confidential inspector to the
Comptroller and at times Acting Comp
troller of Nassau county. Mr.. Wiedersum
testified that during conversation in
the court house chambers Justice Strong
told him point blank not to pay any
more claims for the bridge work. and al
though he did not regard the verbal or
der of the Justice as binding and legal he
said It did have tn, effect Of holding up
the payments.
Later Comptroller Earl j. Bennett ad-
vertised several public hearings for the
benefit of those who objected to the pay
ment of the claims. and neither Justice
Strong nor any representative of the
Nassau County Association appeared as
objectors. The only person who ap-
peared in response to the notice. Mr..
Wiedersum said, was the attorney for
the contracting company. who came to
hear any possible complaints. Later the
bills were paid.