The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1930-08-01

written were OF American make, L learned
that the Hoffman Type Foundry Company, of
New York City, manufactured type of the kind
used in printing the letterheads of these Wha-
len documents. Among those who had been
buying this kind of type from the Hoffman
Foundry was one Max Wagner of 204 East
Tenth Street. | called upon Mr.. Wagner, in
troduced myself as reporter and asked if he
had any type similar to that on the letterheads
of these photostatic copies which Mr.. Whalen
released to the press. He said he had. ! asked
him if he had ever seen these letterheads be-
fore, and he said II do not remember-why, is
it a crime to print a letterhead?"
1t was these sentences that made me accuse
him of having printed these letterheads. He
consistently denied it for over an hour. asked
him if he knew what the word Moscow meant
and he said he did. I asked him if he had
ever printed letterhead with the word Mos
COW on it for a date line. He replied 81 do not
remember" l asked him if he knew what the
word Comintern meant He said he did. asked
him whether he had ever printed letterhead
with that word on it. He again replied that
he did not remember. By that time he was
quite worried and he asked me what business
| had questioning him.
l took out my police card, card issued to
reporter by the police department. and showed
it t him. In large type on this card is printed
the word reporter V gner said, "Well, why
did you not tell me you were from the police
department, instead of saying you are from
the Graphic. asked if that would make any
difference l assured him that Police Commits
sioner Whalen would be very interested in
knowing whether he printed those letterheads.
After this ! asked him again whether he had
printed them. And again he replied that he
did not remember. turned to him and said:
lL.L l.
remember whether you printed these docu-
ments? He said he would. He took sheet of
paper, and l told him to write out his state
ment that he did not remember printing those
letterheads. Wagner wrote slowly in longhand
and when he finished | told him to sign it.
The statement was utterly worthless evil
dence, but figured on the psychological effect
of signing statement stating that he did not
remember printing those letterheads. put the
atement in my pocket, IMPLIES of the
type and samples of other bits of printing
:, ;ch he had done with that type. l noticed
that Wagner was growing more and more
nervous as tt time went on.
Suddenly he turned to me and said, ''You
do not look like one of the ordinary detectives.
You do not shout at me and browbeat me and
threaten to hit me. | see that you are gen.
tleman. Now I will tell you something if you
will give me your hand that no harm will come
to me-"
Russian Ordered Letterheads
gave him my hand, and assured him that no
harm would come to him if he told the truth.
He said Give me that paper" referring to his
signed statement. l gave it to him and he tore
it up He then turned to me and said eyes, /
printed those letterheads, but you must protect
me. / have got wife and children"
asked him for whom he had done the job.
He said that some four months before,
Russian came to his shop and ordered three
different kinds of letterheads, telling him
TO set them up
asked Wagner if he knew who the man
was. Wagner said he did not, but that he
would recognize him if he ever saw him again.
Wagner described the man as Russian about
forty years old, tall, somewhat dark and clean
shaven, and of ve-. neat appearance. Two or
three days after this order was given, said
Wagner, the Russian appeared again and took
three or four sample copies of the proofs. That
was the last Wagner saw of this Russian and
of the proof letterheads, until he saw them in
the newspapers, purporting to be documents
issued from Moscow.
asked Wagner if he had completed the
printing job and he said he had not, because
the man never o. KID the proofs. / then asked
him whether he had any other proof of letter
heads left. He said he thought he had some in
huge drawer containing several thousand
throwaways, leaflets, etc, printed in English
and Russian. told him wanted those letter.
heads if he had them He said he would look
for them that night and give them to me the
next morning.
The next day was a Friday, I believe, the
day on which Commissioner Whalen was to
appear in executive session before this COM
mittee to present his evidence.
told Wagner that the next day would not
do and that l must have them that night.
Wagner searched for them and dug out two
| letterheads which Congressman La Guardia
| placed before in the hands of the Rules Com
mittee for its use and the use of your COM
| mittee.
| told Wagner that l wanted him to sign on
| the back of one of the letterheads that he had
| printed them four months ago. Wagner did
| so, and his confession is on the back of one Of
the letterheads now in possession of the Rules
| Committee or of this committee.
| Shown Whalen
After obtaining the blank letterheads and
Swain at his home and told him what had.
| Swain told me to meet him at the office.
showed Swain the letters and the confession
and Swain notified Martin Weyrauch. We de-
bated the ACCESSIBILITY of breaking the story
at the same time that Whalen appeared before
your committee in its executive session, but
we finally concluded that in view Of the impor-
lance Of these documents it would look as tho
the Graphic had deliberately permitted the po-
lice commissioner to go to Washington and to