Evening star., 1949-04-02
More Suits Due
0verCut-0ff on
Phone Service
Fay Indicates He
Won't Ask Delay
In Any New Cases

page Of telephone service are
expected to be filed In District
Court by lawyers for some o.
the 800 locations suspected By
the United States Attorneys Of.
flee of having used phones TO,
gambling pursuits.
But United States Attorney
George Morris Fay declared he
will not necessarily" agree. al
he did in one such case yesterday
to delay the cutoffs pending q
court hearing April II.
II haven't heard of any further
petitions of that kind likely to be
filed but in any event will have
to see exactly what is in each
one" he said. 1--WE will consider
each one by itself. There will be
no blanket action on our part tc
request the telephone company tc
withhold the disconnections we
asked earlier this week."
He was referring to a move he
made yesterday after attorneys fol-
Nathan Miller. 1923 La Sale road
Avondale. Md, brought suit in Dis
trict Court seeking to enjoin the
telephone company from discon-
tinuing service at the Miller home
Hearing Scheduled April IL.
After a conference with Judge
David A. Pine, Mr.. Fay requested
the telephone company in Balti.
more to continue Mr. Miller's serv-
ice until the decision in this
court on the motion for prelimi-
nary injunction is handed down
April H."
The petition, filed by Attorneys
Myron G.. Ehrlich and Joseph Sit
nick for Mr.. Miller. sought tenn
porary restraining order to pre-
vent discontinuance of the service
pending further court action. The
petition that Mr.. Miller's phone
has been used to laid and abet'
gambling law violations.
AS a result of Mr.. Fay's original
request to the telephone company
Mr.. Miller had been notified his
service would be discontinued at
IL am. Tuesday.
The United States Attorneys
Office repeatedly has received
more than so complaints from
some of the 300 people whose
homes or buildings would be af-
fected by the requested telephone
cut-offs.
First Cut-offs Due Tuesday.
No petitions had been filed
when the clerks Office closed al
noon but several attorneys visited
the Office earlier today to examine
the form of the petition submitted
yesterday. They said they plan.
ned to file similar petitions but
might not be able to put them into
shape before Monday. The first
of the requested cut-offs of tele-
phones are scheduled for Tuesday
Legally, any such petition could
be filed up to 5 pm. today if an
attorney requested such emer-
gency action. Officials of the
clerks Office said. however. they
doubted this would be done.
Mr.. Fay indicated today he was
unworried by the prospect of
many suits similar to that of
Mr.. Miller. He viewed the Miller
matter as a temporary delay in
one instance until the court
hearing a week from Monday.
Many Types of Fronts"
In his original request to the
telephone company Mr.. Fay statec
that his office is in possession Of
competent evidence that the fol.
lowing number is beine
used in violation of the statutes
prohibiting gambling in the Dis
trict of Columbia"
The 800 locations he thus listed
for the requested telephone cut.
offs include a large variety o1
houses, apartments, business estab-
lishments and other places re.
garded as fronts" Mr.. Fay tolc
reporters at the time the letters
went out.
Meanwhile, the telephone com.
pany asked the Public Utilities
Commission to write into the
service standard section of the
company's tariff. effective April
18, a more detailed statement con-
cerning telephone service to estab-
lishments suspected of using tele-
phones for illegal purposes.
Revision Approved.
Chairman James L. Flanagan
said today the commission has
. approved the revision.
1T is not a new provision" he
explained. 1.-THE company has
, been following the same practice
) for some 20 years in respect te
such telephone service. The re.
vision we approved simply states
the procedure in more detail ano
includes it specifically in the
tariff"
On other fronts the antigam-
bling drive was reported to be
"quiet." Mr.. Fay said he knew
of no further raids or arrests
scheduled for today. The special
grand jury investigating gambling
will reconvene Monday. 1t re-
cessed yesterday after hearing
two United States deputy mar
shals who repeatedly took part in
mass raids March Is that resulted
in the arrest of "a men on gaming
charges.
Police raids early today resulted
In the arrest of man and woman
both colored. on gaming charges.