Evening star., 1946-04-13
1en-Day Delay Is Seen
Before Inquiry Board
Reaches Gill Verdict

NS0Su1SS Viii VIuIVI
It's hearing completed after %
days OF testimony, an inquiry board
Will begin deliberation Monday on
whether to restore Howard B. Gill
to the job of superintendent of the
Districts penal institutions, now
under investigation by Congress.
After hearing final arguments at
lacking and upholding the Board of
Public Welfare and its suspended
penal superintendent, Walter M.
Bastian, chairman of the inquiry
board, said it might take 10 days to
reach a verdict.
The inquiry board will report to
the District Commissioners, who
have final authority to dismiss or
retain Mr.. Gill. The board will give
its findings to the attorneys in the
case and leave them for the attor-
neys or the Commissioners to make
public, he said.
Indifference Charged.
Assistant Corporation Counsel
Chester H. Gray concluded rebuttal
arguments for the Welfare Board
late yesterday by charging that Mr..
Gill had shown during the hearing
"a bland indifference to his real
responsibility"
Accusing Mr.. Gray of IAN unfair
responding argument" Mr.. Wilson
retorted that nothing in this hear
ing has anything to do with his fit
ness" as proven or disproven in the
charges and suggested that the
Corporation Counsel's argument
would more properly apply to Edgar
Morris, chairman of the Welfare
Board.
1.-The Welfare Board chairman
swore before you he had read the
minutes of two meetings of his In
stitutions Committee" Mr.. Wilson
said. Then he was told there were
no minutes. If you consider Mr..
Gray's criticism, suggest you con-
slider that"
Called "Scapegoat."
Mr.. Wilson argued that the We'll
fare Board picked Mr.. Gill as the
"scapegoat" for the November "a
escape of five felons from the Dis
trict Jail and that it recommended
his dismissal on the basis of "un-
Ineligible generalities" because it
could not openly charge him with
responsibility for the escapes.
Told the charges were not suffi-
eiently specific, it had "to support
its action backhandedly by assem-
bling these charges" he said. Ray
L. Huff, welfare director, helped the
Welfare Board trump up charges
Ito support his predetermined effort
to get rid of Mr.. Gill;" he added.
Recalling that Mr.. Huff failed in
an effort to get rid of" Mr.. Gill
six weeks before the jailbreak, Mr..
Wilson charged he leaped at the
next opportunity and helped prepare
charges he knew to be false, charges
refuted by the documentary evi-
dence offered by the Welfare Board.
Declars Huff "Too Smart"
"Mr. Huff is too smart fellow to
have taken the stand in this case"
MIR. Wilson said. "As long as he
could get the citizenry of the District
to do his bidding and use Jail guards
las his pawn, why should he? He
knew any first year law student
could successfully and devastatingly
destroy his charges of insubordina-
ton. He wasn't going to open him
self up to that. He wanted to stay
on the payroll. If five citizens were
willing to do his work for him,
that's their funeral says Huff"
The welfare director could have
been on and off the stand in the
time his counsel used to give legal
arguments why he did not have to
testify, said Mr.. Wilson. Had Mr..
Huff given Mr. Gill information he
received from the police in Septem-
Der, the November "a escapes never
would have occurred because Mr..
Gill would have dismissed Lawrence
A. Howard, Jail guard discharged
after the break, according to Mr..
Wilson.
Mr.. Wilson referred to the testi-
mony Of Chief of Detectives Robert
j. Barrett that he told Mr.. Huff
that Howard was smuggling letters
for prisoner giving details on how
to blow up safes in the District.
Charges against Howard growing
out of the November "a break were
nolle prossad, but Congressmen have
asked that the case be reopened.
Sees "Pettiest Trivia"
He referred to the charges as "a
miscellaneous assortment of the pet
tiest trivia" and, even If proven,
insufficient to justify removal. While
the Welfare Board charged that Mr..
Gill could not get along with his
guards, it, did not charge that he
couldn't get along with the board,
Mr. Wilson pointed out
In his rebuttal argument, Mr..
Gray accused Mr.. Gill of working
for Gill, not for the Welfare Board.
He may be an expert penologist but
not an expert administrator" he
said.
The Welfare Board has yet to get
a proper report on the November "a
escapes because Mr.. Gill kept put
ting it off, he said. The penal
superintendent failed to see that
Jail discipline had been deteriorat-
ing for some time or to recognize
the "pent-up Illustration" Of his
guards, Mr.. Gray continued.
On a charge that Mr.. Gill abusive
ly and uhjustly reprimanded his
staff, Mr.. Tray noted that Mr.. Gill
himself had said that news spread
through the Jail grapevine in s.
minutes. 1t is highly probable that
the humiliation of the resident, SUI
perintendent and the guard force
reached the ears of the inmates, he
said, lowering their respect for their
officers.
In answer to criticism of the We'll
fare Board, Mr.. Gray noted that 1t
serves the public without pay in a
District where they have no vote.
"This is a peculiar city," he OBJ
served, that is why you are sitting
on this board. That is why we have
a Board of Public Welfare"
While the charges separately
might not be sufficient, collectively
they 90 demonstrate Mr.. Gill's in
efficiency and insubordination, he