Evening star., 1942-05-19
Saw Nothing Wrong
In Removing Files,
Witness Testifies
CrondoII Says He Had Nc
Orders to Keep Civil
Service Dotu Secret

Harlan G. Crandall. one of the
five defenants on trial in District
Court on charges Of Illegally re-
moving thousands of personnel rec
ords from the Civil Service Com
mission. where he formerly worked,
testified today he did not believe
he did anything wrong" in con-
nection with the part he played in
the case
First of the defendants to testify,
Mr.. Crandall admitted he removed
the documents and said he made no
effort to canceal his activities. He
did not regard the records as con-
fldential, he testified, because they
had not been sworn to by the Gov
ernment employees who supplied the
information they contained. He
also said no instructions had been
given him to keep the data secret.
Mr.. Crandall testified he returned
a number of the records.
Supervisor of Control.
At the time of the alleged removal
of the records in the fall of 1910,
Mr.. Crandall was supervisor of con-
troll in the interdepartmental place
ment service of the commission,
unit that was engaged in compiling
information relative to qualifications
of Government workers for reassign-
ment to defense agencies. The rec
ords, which the Government charges
were removed unlawfully, contained
such data.
Mr.. Crandall said he was paid $50
for the records he took away from
the commission by the Standard
Business Service, a firm which was
engaged at the time in selling lists
of prospects to mail order houses
and other commercial establish
ments. He admitted. however. he
expected to receive so per cent of
the profits from the sale of lists
compiled from the civil service rec
ords.
Uncertain on Use.
The witness testified he was not
certain of the nature of the in
formation taken from the commits
sion records by Standard Business
Service, but expressed the belief it
related chiefly the names. addresses,
height. weight and hobbies of the
Government workers.
The Government rested its case
yesterday afternoon and counsel for
four of the five defendants subSe-
quently made futile effort to have
the court order a directed verdict
A. c. Camp, Werner J. Orbach,
Mr.. Crandall and Miss Kath-
crime Kay. The fifth defendant
Lawrence L. Hayes - so far has
failed to make such a plea.
Justice Morris, in overruling the
motions for a directed verdict, an
nounced that Mr.. Camp and Mr..
Orbach would be given another op-
portunity to renew their plea after
he has made further study of the
Governments evidence.
Seven Counts Dropped.
Originally the indictment con-
tained IA counts. Seven of them,
which alleged theft of the records,
were dropped early in the trial be-
cause the defense contended no evil
dence had been introduced that the
records were not to be returned
after the desired information had
been procured from them. The re-
naming seven on which the trial
progressed alleged illegal removal.
The last one the court ruled out
mentioned date not covered in
the indictment.
Final evidence introduced by As
Sistant United States Attorney
Charles B. Murray before resting
the Government case was a signed
statement given agents of the Fed
eral Bureau of Investigation by
Miss Kay. She was, according to
the Government. former Office man.
ager Of the Standard Business
Service.