Evening star., 1951-12-01
|86 Gamblers in Area
Apply for Tax Stamp;
Only -Four From D. {.

~ s~ss W
At least 86 gamblers in the Dis
trict, Maryland and Virginia ap-
piled for the new gambling tax
stamps before last nights dead
line under law, Internal Revenue
Bureau officials reported today.
Only four of the Sc, however,
came from the District.
BY far the largest number of
applications. IS, were reported
filed in Virginia, and officials said
SO of the IS came from the city
of Petersburg.
NJ Austin Simms, head of the
Baltimore tax Offices wage and
excise division, was quoted by the
Associated Press today as saying
about Is" Marylanders applied
for the stamps, and that the
licenses already have been issued
to seven.
II Applicants Listed.
However. Collector George Hof-
ferbert in Baltimore said II appli-
cations were received from Mary
|landers by the deadline. and that
stamps were issued to 16 of them.
The other. he said. was returned
because Of insufficient informa-
tion.
The Baltimore Office, he said,
also returned for the same reason
the two applications received there
from District men. One of these,
he said, had been filed by Hayes
L. Combs, Al. of the 1400 block
of T street NV.
It was on Mr.. Combs behalf
that a suit was brought in District
Court to test constitutionality
of the law requiring licensing. A
special three-judge tribunal dis
missed the suit Thursday.
Two other applications were re-
Iceived from District residents at
the bureaus Washington branch
Office yesterday. and will be for
warded to Baltimore Monday,
officials said.
Others Are Expected.
Mr.. Hofferbert said other appli-
cations may be either in the mail
Ior in State branch Offices and as
yet unreported to him. Failure to
meet the deadline, he said, carries
Ia 5 per cent penalty of the $50
license fee.
OF the stamps issued to Mary
landers. the official added, eight
went to residents of Baltimore,
four to Anne Arundel County,
three to Cecil County and one
Ito Hartford County. The official
said the number Of applications
exceeded his expectations, but
that many seemed to come from
men recently convicted in State
courts.
Collector Stuart L. Crenshaw
in Richmond said no applications
came from gamblers in that city.
He had estimated that, through
out the State, about $50 gamblers
should have applied if all the pre-
tax gamblers planned to stay in
business despite the levy.
Threat in Petersburg.
Meanwhile, the SO applicants
from Petersburg were promised "a
hard time" by City Manager Roy
F. Ash.
They'll find the licenses very
hard to use in Petersburg" he
said.
The only explanation the Off
cial could offer for the large num-
ber from his area is that "a num-
Der of gamblers must have gotten
together and decided to apply
One report quoted Collector Cren-
shaw as saying all the Petersburg
applications were submitted byI
one man.
Police Chief Willard e. Traylor
suggested that some big num-
bers operator" in Petersburg
might be playing safe with the
Federal Government by obtaining
licenses for all his employees"
Mass Buying Indicated.
Oliver A. Pollard, former Com
monwealth's attorney in Peters
burg, said he had heard there
are many stores on the outskirts
OF town running a punchboard in
a corner or in a back room and
the owners must be buying stamps
for everybody working for them. ."I
II can't speak for my successor, "
he added, "but I expect that heI
will order an investigation. II II
were to continue as Common
weafh's attorney, I would ask