Evening star., 1949-11-22
Prosecutor Due
ToWindU UpCase
On Lewis Today
Judge Excuses Jury
In Gambling Trial to
Confer With Counsel

NOuICI WIN SV0uSSs
The prosecution In the District
Court gambling trial of William
(Snags) Lewis and 13 other de-
PENDANTS was expected to wind up
its case today.
The Government prosecutor, AS
sistant United States Attorney
William Hitz. indicated, at the
end of yesterdays session, that
the Government had only one more
witness to call.
Judge Matthew F. MCGUIRE ex-
cused the jury yesterday and sum-
moned opposing counsel to the
bench for a conference. Specta-
tors and reporters in the court
room overheard Judge Mcclure
tell Hitz he was becoming Eek
tremely concerned" over the way
the Government was handling the
case.
THE Government has been less
than frank with the court" the
prosecutor was told.
Orders Courtroom Cleared.
Judge MCGUIRE then broke of
the conference with an order to
clear the courtroom.
II want all newspapermen
and everyone else out of here, y
Judge MCGUIRE said.
The principal difficulty between
Mr.. Hitz and Judge Mcclure at
yesterdays session concerned the
number of Government witnesses
still to testify. Mr.. Hitz said at
first he had three or four" wit
nesses left to testify and later
amended the figure to five.
One of these. 1t. Roy Blick,
head of the police vice squad. lee
tured the court and jury on the
numbers game as it is played in
Washington. The Government
contends Lewis and his co-defend-
ants conspired to operate a num-
bers syndicate in the District do
ing business at the rate of $l4,-
100000 a year.
ALI Arrested in Raid.
Headquarters of the outfit Is
said to have been a house In the
1900 block of Forty-sixth street
in Bladensburg, Md, at which all
the defendants were arrested in a
raid on the night Of March Is
1t. Blick supported the Govern
ment's contention that the num-
bers game is a lottery and not a
game of skill. With the aid OF
diagrams and enlarged numbers
slips. he explained how the daily
three-digit winning number is
chosen from the pari-mutuel totals
In three consecutive races at a
predetermined track. ,~
He told7the jury about the diff
ferent systems by which the game
may be played-the straight"
bet, in, which all three digits in
proper sequence are picked by the
player; the combination" where
three digits are chosen and the
player wins If they appear in any
combination, and the single &C
tion." where the player bets on
only one digit Of the winning
number.
Explains Odds of Game.
He also explained the odds OF
the game, varying from s00-to- one
on straight bets, down to eight-to-
one on single action plays. There
is no way Of determining the win
ming number before the running o1
the race, It. Blick continued. The
number can be learned by adding
the mutuel totals published in two
daily papers in Washington. OF
broadcast over several radio sta
tions. The numbers game, he
concluded, is not game Of skill
Another Government witnes:
yesterday was James T. CSingle
Action") Trice, who said he wa.
presently employed at Freedman.
Hospital. The witness identified
several numbers slips siezed in the
raid at the Bladensburg house a:
plays he had made while employed
as waiter at Wearley's restaurant
in the 400 block Of Twelfth street
NV.
He had written his plays on the
back of menus, he said, and turned
them over, with his money, to q
cook named John Barnes. The
Government produced Barnes ir
the courtroom to be identified by
the witness, as well as man iden-
titled as Frank Billeci. whom the
Government contends served as
the numbers runner" Or contact
man. Billeci. who is not one OF
the defendants in the District
Court trial, was among the sus-
poets arrested during the March
IS raids.