Evening star., 1948-12-06
Chambers Testifies> Hiss Waits>
Before Grand Jury in New York;
New Spy Evidence Hinted Here
Committee DELAYS
Press Meeting Due
To Developments

Whitaker Chambers, aVoWeo
former Soviet espionage agent,
testified today before a special
grand jury in New York as it
began an investigation of evi-
dence that secret State and Navy
Department documents were
slipped from State Department
files here in 1888.
AS Mr.. Chambers, now senior
editor of Time Magazine, went be-
fore the grand jury, Alger Hiss,
former State Department official,
awaited his turn to testify. Mr..
Chambers has charged-and Mr.
Hiss denied-that the former State
Department official was member
of prewar Communist under
ground group here.
The Associated Press reported that
the two men arrived within minutes
of each other and took their places
In the grand jury witness room.
Earlier, a Federal official reported
that Mr.. Hiss, now president OF the
Carnegie Endowment for 1nterna-
tional Peace, had been subpoenaed
by the grand jury which has been
investigating espionage for almost
q year and half.
Hearings to Open Here.
The grand jury renewed its in
ouiry as the House Committee on
Un-American Activities prepared to
open public hearings tomorrow on
what committee members described
as startling" information about
the operation of a prewar espion-
age ring here.
Much of the evidence Mr.. Cham
bers repeatedly was submitting to
the New York grand jury was gath
cred by the House committee last
week. 1t consisted of documents
and 10-year-old microfilms of secret
papers obtained from Mr.. Cham
bers.
Committee members said the doc
uments offer definite and shocking
proof" OF a Communist spy network
operating in the State Department
before the war.
Press Conference Postponed.
A press conference by committee
members to discuss the evidence was
scheduled for shortly before pm.
today and then postponed until 3
pm.
Robert Z. STRIPPING, chief commit
tee investigator. said the conference
was delayed because of important
new evidence.
Closed sessions with Undersecre-
tary of State Lovett, former Under
secretary Sumner Welles, and former
Assistan Secretary Francis B. Sayre
will precede the public hearings,
committee officials said.
The closed sessions, it was ex-
planned, will help the committee
decide whether the 10-year-old
microhlms of some of the docu-
ments or other top-secret data are
too hot" to be made public.
Representative Nixon. Republican
of California. a committee member,
described them as "damnaoly I'M
po-tant."
At the request of the Justice De-
rartment, the committee sent VIII
liam A. Wheeler, committee in
vestigator, to New York today to
present copies to the grand jury.
Expected to Testify.
Mr.. Wheeler was expected to
testify before the grand jury ano
describe how the film was found in
a hollowed-out pumpkin on the farm
of Mr., Chambers at Westminster
Md. Asked in New York why Mr.
Chambers, who is now senior editor
of Time magazine, had not disclosed
the microflm previously during tes-
timony before the House committee
Mr.. Wheeler replied:
Hes q Quaker and didn't want
to hurt anybody"
Flies Back to Washington.
Mr.. Nixon, who made a dramatic
plane trip back to Washington after
leaving a Panama bound ship yes
terday, conferred today with other
members of the House committee
and MIR. Stripping on the evidence
to be considered at the public hear
ing tomorrow.
While they were pouring over the
stacks of enlarged microfilms and
other documents, two State De-
partment security officers came to
the committee room to go over the
material.
United States Attorney George
Morris Fay, accompanied by Vim
cent Russo, who said he was in the
Criminal Division of the Justice De.
partment, also appeared to examine
the documents. Mr.. Fay went over
them last Saturday.
TIE State Department officials
were Sam Boykin, director OF thu
Office of controls, and Donald Mich
olson, chief of the division OF secur'
ity.
, Asked to Be Heard.
Asked if the committee called
them over, Mr.. Boykin replied:
I'VE asked to come over. We wers
not asked"
The State Department officials de-
(see RED INQUIRY, Page A-6o
BramuqIia 10 Leave Rome