Evening star., 1949-06-08
'FredericMarch'
Name Stirs Fight
AT Cop|on Trial
Defense Seeks Identity
OF Person Mentioned
On FBI Spy Report
By james J. CuIIinone

Frederic March," whose name
was typed on one of the Justice
Departments data slips" found
In the purse of Judith Coplon.
brought Government prosecutors
to their feet shouting objectio..s
at her espionage trial in rSsrict
Court today.
Defense Attorney Archibald
Palmer. brushing aside prosecu-
ton objections, introduced one Of
the 80 secret FBI investigative re-
ports into evidence and asked
FBI Agent Robert j. Lamphere to
identify the reference.
The identity of Frederic March"
was not Immediately revealed but
it aroused more than usual inter-
est because the name is that of
well-known movie and stage star.
Prosecutor Protests.
Judge Albert L. Reeves. who
overruled Government protests
yesterday that disclosure of the
secret documents would jeopar-
die National security and Ma
tional defense, ruled that Mr..
Palmer could not question Mr..
Lamphere about the document
until it had been read to the jury.
Chief Prosecutor John M. Kelley
protested against reading the Sc
cret document in open court and
repeated his motion that the FBI
reports be read only in the pres
ence of the defendant, her counsel
and the judge and jury.
And I further ask that all
names be deleted from these re-
ports in the interest of national
security" Mr.. Kelley said.
Judge Avoids Ruling.
IT think it Is our duty to keep
these matters as secret as pos
sible," Judge Reeves responded,
but he avoided a clear-cut ruling
on the prosecutors motion.
Mr.. Palmer then began match
ing the IL data slips which the
Government had sought to sup
press with the FBI investigative
reports from which the material
on the data slips was extracted.
He said he would follow the same
procedure with the 20 data slips
which the Government introduced
into evidence.
Once the 81 data slips are
matched with the 80 secret FBI
investigative reports and formally
introduced into evidence, Mr.. Pal
mer said. he will begin reading
them to the jury unless Judge
Reeves prevents him.
Appeared on Data Slip.
The name Frederic March"
appeared on a data slip, bearing
the symbol &C" which the Gov
ernment says indicated it referred
to FBI files on Communist Party
activities in this country. The
subject of the slip was Stewart
Legg" and the slip bore the one
line notation that Legg was
suspected of being a Russian
espionage agent" at the bottom
of the slip was typed Re: Fred
eric March"
The spotlight was shifted from
the introduction of secret docu-
ments yesterday when Mr.. Palmer
cross examined MFR. Lamphere
about "decoy" report which the
prosecution had sought unsuc-
cessfully to introduce as evidence.
Restricted Cargo Escaped.
When Mr.. Palmer introduced
the "decoy" report as a defense
exhibit. Agent Lamphere testified
that among the truthful state
ments it contained were the fol-
lowing:
/. That the Soviet freighter s. s.
Mikhail Kutuzov slipped through
United States export controls on
August 81, 1947, with a shipment
of highly restricted instruments
and other equipment used in
atomic energy production and
landed its cargo In Russia.
2. That a similar shipment of