Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-03
COLLINS BRANDS
"SPY" STATEMENT
AS ABSOLUTE LIE
U. S. Attorney Denies Grand
Jury Stenographers Took
Perjury Notes.
REMINDS POLICE BOARD
THAT JURY Thanked HIM
Declares Woman Juror Called Fore
man Merritt Chance "Hypocrite"
After Congratulations.

William H. Collins, assistant United
States attorney, who presented the Nc
Pherson case to the July grand jury,
today branded as an absolute lie''
statements in the grand jury's report
that stenographers were present in the
grand jury room for the purpose of
taking testimony for use in possible
perjury proceedings against certain"
witness.
The denial of Collins was made be-
fore the special police trial board sift-
ing the charges of inefficiency against
Inspector William S. Shelby and Lieut..
Edward j. Kelly when he took the wit
ness stand this afternoon as one of the
principal witnesses for the defense.
Recalls Vote of Thanks.
At the very outset of his testimony
Collins pointed out that the grand jury
gave him rising vote Of thanks for the
fair and impartial manner" in which
he presented the Mcpherson case and
Immediately afterward adopted the SEN
sational report excoriating Shelby and
Kelly and attacking the United States
attorneys office.
Collins related how, after he had fin
ished presenting the case to the grand
jury, the % members stood up in trib-
ute to the manner in which he had
handled the case and said that some of
them even clapped their hands to en-
phaSize their appreciation. Merritt o.
Chance, foreman Of the grand jury, Col
Inns said, then came up and congratu-
lated him and declared that no hard
feelings" existed.
AS soon as he had left the grand jury
room, Collins declared, Mrs. Dolores B.
Marmion, a woman member later told
him that Chance drew from his pocket
the report criticizing the police inveSti-
CATION of the case. Mrs. Marmion, Col
Inns said, told him that she turned to
Chance and said:
Called Chance "Hypocrite."
you are terrible hypocrite. You
have just shook that boys hand. Now
you attack him.
From Collins testimony also emerged
a new version of the incident when
Shelby told the grand jury that he
thought former Policeman Robert j.
Allen and Mrs. Roy Heayrin should be
was being questioned at length concern
ing the stories told by Allen and Mrs.
Heavrin when one of the grand jurors
asked the police officer what he thought
of those two witnesses. Shelby replied,
according to Collins, that he believed
they were two damnable liars who
ought to be indicted for perjury"
MY recollection" Collins continued,
"was that Shelby's answer was re-
sponSive to the question Of the grand
juror"
Mrs. Marmion, whose name Collins
injected into the trial board proceed
ings, was the member of the July grand
jury which caused the indictment
against Robert A. Mcpherson to be
nolle pressed because she was drawing
pension from the Government.
George M. Hall, member of the July
grand jury and the fourth grand Juror
to testify for the defense, testified that
the jury was stampeded into adopting
the sensational report criticizing Shelby
and Kelly. In addition, Policeman
George s. Weber. who has been de-
tailed at the United States attorneys
office for the last 10 years to take
statements Of Government witnesses
Tor the grand jury, disclosed that for
the first time in this period he was
evtcted from his office adjoining the
grand jury room during the Mcpherson
investigation. The doors of the Office
were closed and locked, Weber de-
clared, on the orders Of Merritt o.
Chance, foreman Of the grand jury.
Failed to Count Hands.
In discussing the grand jury's report
attacking Shelby and Kelly, Hall pointed
out that the committee of six, which
drew it up, was given no details as to
its scope by the grand jury and that
when it was adopted Foreman Chance
failed to count the hands when vote
was taken, but announced Immediate
ly after the hands were raised that the
report had been carried. Hall also cor
roborated much OF the testimony Of
the three other members Of the July
grand jury who preceded him on the
witness stand.
The name of Mrs. Roy Heavrin of
the Park Lane Apartment was again
injected in the proceedings by Head
quarters Detective Charles j. P. Weber,
who testified that she denounced former
Policeman Robert j. Allen and praised
Lieut.. Kelly in his presence one day,
and the following day completely re-
versed her story when she testified be-
fore the grand jury.
The morning session of the trial
board was comparatively brief, an ad-
journment having been taken at 1870
o'clock until l o'clock this afternoon,
when Assistant United States Attorney
William H. Collins took the witness
stand.
George S. Weber said that in his 10
years experience he has never known
a detective to submit a written state
ment to a grand jury unless it was In
the nature of a confession from a de-
PENDANT charged with a crime. His
duties consist ordinarily, he said, of
taking statements from all Govern
ment witnesses appearing before the
grand jury, but in the Mcpherson case
he was relieved of this task He said
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