Evening star., 1944-11-28
bratcher Told
Of Using Drugs,
Witness Says
Court Studies PIeo
To Suppress
Previous Testimony

the second WltneSS 10 TESTIFY that
Everett M. (Washie) Bratcher,
Washington orchestra leader, had
admitted taking benzedrine tablets
before an induction examination last
year.
Jack Ender Of Station WWDC told
the jury in Federal District Court in
Alexandria, where Bratcher Is on
trial on draft evasion charges, that
the band leader confided to him one
night that high blood pressure could
be arranged" through the use Of
benzedrine tablets.
Meanwhile, Judge Robert N. Pol
lard had under advisement motion
to suppress the testimony yesterday
of Miss Betty Linney McHugh, 10,
platinum-haired blues singer, who
said she had been with Bratcher the
night before his examination In
August, 1943, and that he had told
her he intended to use benzedrine
to raise his blood pressure.
Wanted to Lead Band.
Under cross-examination, Mr.. En-
der, who said his radio name was
jackson Lowe, admitted that he had
ambitions at one time of taking over
Bratcher's Orchestra in the event
the band leader was inducted. The
night after Bratcher's examination
in August, Mr.. Ender testified, he
said he asked Bratcher how he had
made out at Fort Myer.
He said he was 4-F," the witness
related. II asked him whether it
was his eyes, and he said yes, and
high blood pressure" / told him,
you don't have any more high blood
pressure than have He said, well,
that can be arranged I asked him
If he meant pennies (benzedrine
tablets, and he said yes"
T. Edward O'Connell, Brachter's
attorney, asked Mr.. Ender why he
gave up announcing Bratcher's pro-
gram from the Hotel Washington.
The announcer explained that his
predecessor had received IS q week
from Bratcher to announce the two
half-hour programs week and that
the only reason WWDC kept Bratch-
er on the air was so the announcer
could get this S. He said he asked
to be removed from the program
after several weeks when Bratcher
failed to make the payments and
soon thereafter the station can
celled the program.
Miss McHugh testified that
Brs tcher asked her and another
woman to sit up with him all night.
She said the orchestra leader told
her he thought his eyes would keep
him out of the service, but that If
his poor eyesight was not sufficient
to cause rejection the benzedrine
tablets would.
She said Bratcher also tcld her he
was going to change into old clothes
before he went to Fort Myer because
many people were Jealous" of him
and he didn't want TO give the ap-
pearance Of putting on airs. She
said she did not see Eratcher ac-
tually take the benzedrine tablets
but that he told her he intended
to do so.
Offered Job, She Says.
That night, she said, Bratcher Of
fered her job as q singer with his
orchestra at SIS a week. She said
she guessed" she was gettingl
around $45 at the time. He told
her he would call her the next day
but she didn't hear from him for
several days. When he did call, che
said, he told her not to worry about
the job. That was the last she
heard from him. she testified.
Mr.. O'Connell objected to the girls
on the ground that Assist
ant United States Attorney George
Humrickhouse had agrecu not to
introduce testimony concerning sny
admissions of guilt on the part of
Judge Pollard said he also would
motion today that tes-
timony of Robert Chambers, phar-
macist with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, be suppressed. Mr..
Chambers testified that urinalysis
on Bratcher showed the presence of
o. of a milligram of benzedrine in
500 cubic centimeters. The witness
said, however, he was unable to ex-
plain how he arrived at this calcu-
lation, and that If he had made rec
ords of the analysis, they have since
been destroyed.
Bratcher was arrested last Febru-
ary, along with II other men
charged with similar offenses. The
others are still awaiting trial.