Evening star., 1944-01-06
Eicher Studies Data
In Contempt Case
Against Publisher
Truth Of Statement
To Grand Jury on Gift
Of $4,000 Is Issue
BULLETIN.

Douglas M. Stewart, former
copublisher of Scribner's Com
mentator, was ordered today
by Chief Justice Edward c.
Eicher of District Court to
give true answers to the
grand jury investigating Sc
dition, concerning questions
relating to $4,000 he said he
found in his Lake Geneva
(WiS.) home.
Chief Justice Edward c. Eicher of
District Court today had under con-
sideration the question whether
Douglas NJ Stewart, former CO.
publisher of Scribners Commentator
and official of the defunct the Her.
aid of Lake Geneva, Wis, told the
truth to the grand jury investigat-
ing sedition when he disclaimed
knowledge of the source of $4,000
he said he found in his home under
mysterious circumstances.
Mr.. Stewart appeared in District
Court yesterday in contempt pro-
ceedings brought against him for
allegedly giving improper answers
before the grand jury which subse-
quently indicted 80 persons on Sc
dition charges. At the conclusion of
yesterdays hearings, Justice Eicher
announced he would take the case
under advisement.
The court was told by o. John
Rogge, special assistant to the At
torney General, that the defendant
testified before the grand jury that
he did not know the mysterious
benefactor who sent him money
totaling $4,000 in $40 bills.
Court Hears Story.
According to Mr.. Rogge, the wit
ness told the following story: Re-
turning home from his Lake &C.
neva Office of the P. g. S. Publish
ing Co., publishers of Scribners
Commentator, one day in August,
1941, he found $4,000 wrapped in
brown paper package on the hall
way floor of his home.
The following month he discov-
cred another $4,000, this time
placed in a black bag on the hall
way table. Later he found $4,000
in package on his Office desk.
Mr.. Rogge told the court that Mr.
Stewart used part of the money to
buy his way into a new publishing
firm, the Lake Geneva Publications,
Inc. The new firm published The
Herald, a weekly newspaper. The
prosecutor contended that this in
dicated that Mr.. Stewart knew the
persons who sent him the money to
finance the paper. -,...
Under his repeated questioning,
Mr.. Rogge declared, 'the witness re-
peatedly denied he knew who the
donor Of the money was.
Free Copies Sent Out.
During The Herald's weekly pub
lication from August S to Novem-
Der z, 1941, Mr.. Rogge said, at least
2s3 900 copies were sent free to per-
sons on a selected mailing list, in
cluding members of the armed
forces.
The Justice Department has de-
scribed the paper as being isola-
zionist, anti-British and anti-Rus-
sian. Among the papers contribu-
tors, it was said, was Ralph Town
send, since convicted on a charge
Of failing to register as japanese
agent.
Replying to Mr.. Rogge's charge,
Seth Richardson, who represented
Mr.. Stewart in the absence of the
latter's lawyer, said he believed the
former publishers story was out
landish but true
ut would have been easy for Mr.
Stewart to have concocted story
to tell the Grand Jury, but he chose
to tell the truth" he said.
! A bulletin in the Night Final Edi-
ton of The Star yesterday, an
nouncing that Justice Eicher had
taken the contempt action under
advisement, stated enormously that
Mr.. Stewart had been charged with
sedition. The Star regrets the
error.