Evening star., 1934-08-21
Tense Court Room Hears
Gangster Accuse Conn
rade of Firing Shot.
ESCAPE TO CAPITAL
IN TRUCK DESCRIBED
Flight Halted by Policeman and
Second Killing Saved When
Gunman Turned Yellow"
BY the Associated Press.


participant in the daring twilight
hold-up of a Federal Reserve Bank
truck here last March testified in
genZa, on trial for his life, fired the
shot that killed E. M. Huband, the
| truck driver.
While a tense court room listened.
Arthur Misunas, frankly admitting
that he was the machine gun man,
said that the fatal shot was fired by
Legenza.
"Who shot Huband?" Common
wealths Attorney T. Gray Haddon
| asked.
George Davis" the gangster re-
piled. Davis" was one Of Legenza's
aliases.
Gun Play Feared.
Misunas said that after the gang
had escaped to Washington in truck
| laden with egg crates, he asked his
comrades in the crime why they had
shot Huband. They told me-" he
said, that they thought the man
went down to get a gun when he
| grabbed the emergency brake"
Misunas, who was rigidly cross
examined by defense attorneys, who
| questioned his motive in testifying for
| the State, said that on the day Of
the robbery he changed coats with
| Robert Mais-another defendant in
the case-"because Mais' coat was
larger and could put the machine
| gun under the coat"
Chagrined when they found that the
4 - at I lAA
checks, Misunas said they hurriedly
left for Washington. En- route, tha
truck, driven, he said, by big George"
Phillips. was stopped by State motor
| cycle officer. Misunas, sheltered be-
hind the egg crates, said he whispered,
Now Is the time to shoot"
Says Pal Turned Yellow.
"But Davis" he continued, turned
yellow when he saw a man with q
gun and told US not to shoot"
The witness said he was very much
relieved when he learned the officer
had stopped the truck merely to cau-
tion Phillips against speeding.
Commemorative Attorney Haddon
asked for the death penalty whether 1t
found that Legenza actually pulled
the trigger that fired the shot that
went through Hubands head or
whether he was aiding and abetting
in the five-man twilight hold-up.
Shift in Hold-up Plan.
In his opening statement Haddon
said the State expected to prove that
the five persons who were arrested in
the case first became acquainted last
Fall and planned to rob Broad street
bank near the scene of the murder,
but while observing the bank for pur-
poses of their plan changed the course
of their crime upon seeing the daily
trips Of the Federal Reserve Rank
truck lat approximately 6 pm. He
said these men with one or more
women rented an apartment In Rich
mond on about December 19 and
made frequent trips back and forth
between Richmond and Washington
until after the murder.
The prosecutor said that robbery
at the State Planters Bank in down.
town Richmond scared them back to
! Washington on March 2, but they
came back to Richmond March 5 or
6 and went to see If their apartment
was "hot.' Legenza, who is called
Davis in the indictment, removed his
laundry. saying he did not want to
leave any traces Of himself. Hadden
said the Commonwealth would show
| that minute plans and details were
worked out for the robbery, including
the parking Of two automobiles which
stopped the truck, the mailing Of a
fake package at an uptown post office.
the parking Of a planted" car on the
outskirts Of the city, and the loading
of truck with egg crates so placed
trip to Richmond.
Coroner Describes Wound.
Coroner j. M. Whitfield was the first
witness. He said the man was shot
straight through the temple in a way
| that indicated that the bullet came
from the rear of the truck, crashing
! against the upper forward rim of the
truck cab directly over the steering
| wheel
Benjamin Meade. the colored helper
| for Huband, described the hold-up
and shooting, saying the bullet came
from the rear and pierced Huband's
head, the fatally wounded man top
pling on his shoulders.
The trial was moving quickly, the
court today having sworn in the Jury
| after Judge John L. Ingram overruled
motion to dismiss the whole venire.
The next witness was Mrs. Leonora
Fontaine, a French Canadian who
spoke with pronounced accent. On
direct examination she told a COM
plicated story of frequent trips between
Richmond and Washington Of the
men arrested. She said on the morn
ing of March 8 Legenza left early from
their apartment in Washington. Be-
fore he left, she said, he told her
to get his laundry and press his two
suits, that he was going to New York
the next day. He returned to the
apartment that night while she was
listening to the radio. He came In,
she said, just as they were ANNOUNCE
ing the hold-up and murder in Rich
mond.
He snapped of the radio. His face
was white. He asked me to make
him some coffee" she testified.
She testified also that the truck
had been purchased previously by one
member OF the quintet.
Mrs. Fontaine was the "girl friend"
of big George" Phillips, slain leader
OF the tri-State gang.