Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-07-21
Final Arguments
In Bowie Trial
Set for Monday
Acquitted Verdict
Directed for One
Of Six Defendants

| Of Six Defendants
Closing arguments in the Bowie
race track trial have been set for.
Monday in Prince Georges County
Circuit Court by Judge j. Dudley
|Digges, who yesterday directed q
verdict of acquittal for one of
the six defendants.
Paul (Coney Island Eckert.
alleged comeback money man.
was cleared of bookmaking and
conspiracy charges because of in
sufficient evidence.
Defense witnesses completed
their testimony last night after
the State had wound up it's case
in mid-afternoon.
Eckert was tried on charges of
conspiring to violate Maryland
gambling laws along with three
former Bowie officials, General
Manager L. Edmund O'Hara. his
brother. Thomas j. O'Hara. and
Cashier Raymond C.. Kohlhepp
and two bookmakers' agents, Nor
man Helwig and Richard Remer.
Access to Phones Reported.
Another indictment returned BY
the April grand jury charging
bookmaking is still pending
against all but Eckert.
The State claims the track
management, at two meetings
last fall. conspired with the other
defendants by furnishing tsle-
phones and other facilities which
enabled the comeback men to
place bets under orders from OUT
side principals.
Such wagers, called 'layoffs"
in racing circles, are made on
behalf of bookmakers who have
accepted more bets on certain
horses than they care to handle.
Large sums sent to the agents
by East Coast and Midwest big
time bookies. according to testi-
mony. were kept in the track
money room but were not re-
corded on the books. The betting
agents were permitted to wager
at parimutuel windows merely by
presenting slips of paper, later
entered against their accounts,
witnesses said.
Check Deposits Held Legal.
In sustaining Defense Attorney
John S. Whites contention that
charges had not been proved
against Eckert, Judge Digges ex-
pressed the opinion that race bets
can be placed legally in Maryland
only by persons actually at tracks.
He also held that deposits of
money and bets by check or
money order are legal. But he
added:
II cannot see how it can be le-
gal for persons to call in bets. It
would be just as logical to set up
an Office in Baltimore or elsewhere
and put UP a sign saying, if you
cannot go to the track, come here
and we will go for you for q 81
fee.
"Or the track itself could adj
vetrise TO prospective patrons that
II deposits are made in advance
bettors could telephone their or
ders from wherever they happened
to be-"
Argue Clay Offs" Are Legal.
Comeback betting, he ruled, is
illegal because the agents are not
licensed. The court added that
the point is marrow" one.
All of the five defendants, ex-
opt Remer, remaining after Eckert
was cleared admitted on the wit
ness stand that they had practiced
comeback techniques last fall and
in previous years at Bowie and at
other Maryland and out-of-State
tracks. Their attorneys argued
that comeback betting is not pro-
hibited by statute and was per-
Missile under racing rules in
effect last year.
The State Racing Commission
revised its regulations last Feb
ruary to ban such activities.
Remer, whose bets were placed
for an otherwise unidentified
*. K" did not testify, his attor-
ney explained, because he had adj
mitted he was comeback man
at hearing last February before
the Kefauver Committee. Downey
Rice, associate counsel for the
committee, yesterday read into the
trial record 40 pages of testimony
given before the committee by
Remer and Edmund O'Hara.