Evening star., 1936-07-25
TRIO IN SHOOTING
PLEAD NOT GUILTY
BootIeggers Charged With
Shooting O'Brien Waive
Preliminary Hearing.

Three Washington bootleggers con-
victed Of conspiracy in a sensational
liquor trial in United States Court here
in March pleaded not guilty in Police
Court today to charges of assault with
intent to kill Joseph E. O'Brien. %.
They waived preliminary hearing.
After taking under advisement the
request of Defense Counsel Harry
Whelan for reduction of bond, which
the trio-Samuel S. Monty" Mont
gomery, 35; Joseph Bond, %, and
George F. Tear, 23-furnished within
a few minutes after the charges were
filed yesterday afternoon, Judge Ed
ward M. Curran set the bonds at
$40, 1000 each instead of $4,000.
All three are now under $4,000 bond
each in the liquor conspiracy case. and
Tear is under an additional S2,500
bond on a charge of assault with a
dangerous weapon, the court point
ed out.
Testimony at the liquor trial In
March showed Montgomery as the
head of liquor ring which brought
more than 10000 gallons of illicit
alcohol into this territory weekly and
cost the Government over period
of several months more than $500 900
in uncollected liquor taxes. Bond
was depicted as his lieutenant and
Tear as a driver for the ring, which
had connections from Trenton, N j.,
to Petersburg, Va.
All three received indeterminate
sentences of from four mcnths to two
years. Montgomery a $4,000 fine and
Bond a $1,000 fine. They were con-
victed by jury which included Fed
eral employees and their case is on
appeal testing the constitutionality Of
the law which permitted Federal en-
ployes to serve on juries in the Dis
trict
Trial of the case required month
and the prosecution relied heavily on
evidence secured by tapping telephone
wires to show the extensive operations
of the liquor ring, of which Mont
gomery was said to be the head. OF
the "a indicted. 10 pleaded guilty,
two cases were uolle pressed and one
defendant died Sixteen of the 81
who went to trial were convicted. The
other five were acquitted.
Tear was also out on bond on an
other charge of assault with an auto
mobile on a police scout car, which
he allegedly attempted to prevent
from following a third car, suspected
of running liquor several months
ago. He and Bond were arrested in
Fredericksburg, Va. by State police.
and returned here for questioning in
the OgBrien case.
O'Brien, who was shot In both legs
in front of cafe in the 200 block of
Pennsylvania avenue southeast early
Tuesday morning, identified Mont
gomery, Bond and Tear as the men
in the car from which the shots were
fired, according to Inspector Bernard
Thompson, chief of detectives. The
Identification was made yesterday in
Providence Hospital where O'Brien is
recovering, and was the basis for the
charges filed in Police Court.
AS Thompson reconstructed the
shooting the trio drove up to the curt
near O'Brien and fired after he re-
fused to get into their car with them
Two other men with O'Brien fled and
remained in hiding, but yesterday one
of them, Harry Spike" Behrle, was
found by police and is being held as a
witness. Viola Jennings, 81, waitress
at the cafe where the shooting occur
red. was released after questioning.
but will be called as a witness.
Thompson ascribed the attack to q
dispute over territory" to be served
by rival bootleg gangs.