The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1929-10-28
| TO5O Years
Jury VERDICT
FOR PANTAGES
Theater Magnate Is Found
Guilty of ASSauIting
Young Dancer.
MERCY RECON- MENDED
So Hours of DeIiberation
Required for Finding;
Sentence Friday.
BY GEORGE III. BEALE
limited Press StaH Ccrresnnn dent

United Press Stan Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 28.-Alexan-
der Pantages, for years the premier
Snowman of the west coast, played
a losing role in his greatest drama
and as a result must spend from one
to fifty years in San Quentin peni-
tentiary.
A jury of seven women and five
men late Sunday night found him
guilty of assaulting 17-year-old
Eunice Pringle. The prison term
was mandatory. The jury deliberat-
ed flfty-three hours.
The 54-year-old Greek multi
millionaire will be called before Su-
perior Judge Charles Fricke on Nov.
l for sentence. At that time, his
attorneys will present motion for
new trial and file notice of appeal.
The verdict was returned in the
courtroom in which his wife, Mrs.
Lois Pantages, was found guilty of
manslaughter a month ago.
The jury preferred the word Of
Miss Pringle, an amateur dancer
and former COED, to that of the
man who ran a small Klondike stake
into a $20,0OoOOO business.
Charged BIackmaiI
She claimed that Pantages on the
preteXt of giving her the footlight
career she desired, lured her into
his Office on Aug. and attacked her.
Pantages denied her charge and ac-
cused her of plotting to "blackmail"
him.
The scene which attended the
jury's verdict was dramatic. The
worn jurors had been out fifty-three
hours when it announced it had
reached a decision. When Judge
Fricke went to the bench, the ver-
dict was read by him as follows:
we, the jury, find the defendant
guilty as charged. We recommend q
prison term. We further recommend
the mercy Of the court"
PantageS took the verdict stoical-
ly. His head bent forward and he
cast his eyes down, but gave no
other sign that he had heard.
His daughter, Carmen, who recent
ly announced her engagement to
John ConSidine, motion picture pro-
ducer, collapsed.
His adopted daughter, Mrs. Dixie
Martin, became hysterical. His two
sons, Rodney and Lloyd, attempted
to comfort them.
Mrs. Pantages, released on bail
while recovering from the strain of
her manSlaughter conviction, was
too i'll to be in court.
Stayed in SecIusion
Miss Pringle was in seclusion at
her home, where she has remained
since the attack, except when she
was called to the courtroom to tes-
tify.
Before Pantages was led from the
courtroom Judge Fricke announced
that the jury's: 1--WE further recon-
mend the mercy of the court" could
have no bearing on the sentence.
The prison board, in setting the
length of the sentence, might con-
slider it, he said, but the term Of
from one to fifty years was auto
matte with the penitentiary recon-
mendation.
Judge Fricke released Pantages
an $4,000 bail and then remanded
him to cell in the county Jail. PAN
tages had no comment to make on
the verdict.
The act which led to Pantages'
trial took place in his downtown
theater building.
Ran Out Screaming
Miss Pringle ran screaming from
a conference room" into which she
had gone with the Snowman.
Her screams attracted police, who
arrested Pantages when she pointed
at him and said: That's the beast.
He attacked me-"
She gave vivid description, its
details unprintable, or what took
place
AS Miss Pringle was the leading
witness for the state, Pantages was 1
for the defense. Talking with q
heavy accent and gesticulating Wild
ly. he denied every accusation.