Evening star., 1948-09-28
Witness in Spy
Probe Accused
OF Perjury
Secret Testimony
Revealed Indictment
Of Four Is Sought
partial Tert Of Committee Re.
port on Page A-4.)
By Miriom Ottenbero

The House Committee on I'm
American activities today added
a perjury case to its demand
for prosecution of at least four
persons on charges of conspir-
ing to disclose atomic secrets.
Chairman Thomas told newsmen
the committee has received a COM
munication which definitely estab-
fishes the fact that one Of our wit
nesses committed perjury"
The witness who allegedly per-
jured himself was identified by Mr..
Thomas only as one of the New
York associates of Arthur Adams,
described by the committee as the
central figure in Soviet directed
atomic espionage ring.
Indictment of 4 Asked.
The committee, in a report bull
warked by nearly 200 pages of testi-
mony taken in secret sessions, de-
manded prosecution Of four persons
on espionage charges and forecast
that others might be cited for
perjury.
Mr.. Thomas told reporters today
that there is no question in the
minds of the committee that one
of the witnesses has committed per-
Jury. He said all the facts in this
case will be turned over immedi-
ately to the Justice Department.
The communication which he said
established the perjury case was a
letter written by the suspected per-
son himself, Mr.. Thomas said. The
letter, the chairman added, COM
pletely contradicted his testimony
before the committee"
Mr.. Thomas also announced that
Representative Vail, Republican, OF
Illinois and three members OF the
committees staff will go to Milwau-
kee Friday to take testimony lin
connection with one of the cases
that we mentioned in our report"
Mr.. Thomas said the Milwaukee in
quiry had to do with different case
than the New York perjury one.
Inaction Assailed.
In its report, the COMMITTEES
launched a blistering attack against
the administration for what it
termed the completely inexcusable"
failure of the Government to prose-
cute known espionage agents.
The committee built its atomic
espionage case on testimony OF un-
named intelligence agents as well as
the admissions Of one OF those it
accused of espionage conspiracy. The
testimony of the latter, John Hitch
cock Chaplin, was made public.
| Immediate prosecution Of the fol-
lowing persons for espionage was
demanded by the committee:
Chaplin, 35-year-old chemical en-
gineer, who worked on the atomic
bomb project at Columbia University
and the University of Chicago.
Clarence F. Hiskey. 36, research
chemist called to active duty as an
Army officer after working on the
atomic bomb at the two universities.
Marcia Sand, former wife of
Hiskey.
Steve Nelson, Is, Yugoslavian-born
naturalized American and avoWed
Communist Party official.
Scientist X" Mentioned.
A mysterious Scientist X"-iden-
titled only as a University Of Cali
fornia scientist-was brought into
the report as the person who gave
a secret formula to Nelson. The
committee demanded that Scientist
x" either be prosecuted forthwith
or cleared forthwith"
Testimony that Martin David
Kamen, IS, atomic scientist, gave In
formation to Soviet officials also was
made public, but the committee
found little If any evidence at this
time that his revealing Of classified
information was willful and delib-
crate"
Five other persons were named as
representing a Communist echelon
even higher than the highest
echelon of the open Communist