Evening star., 1953-10-18
sy the Assoeiotsd Press

NEW YORK, Oct. 17.-ThomaS
F. Lewis, a union official, was
just 81 steps away from the door
of his fifth-f1oor Bronx apart
-ment last August % when a
killer shot him down.
Four bullets in the chest. back
and hip spun his body in the
instant before he crumpled to
the floor of his corridor.
On that August day New York
was in the grip of its worst heat
wave in history. The tempera-
~ture was 96 degrees.
- But natures heat was as moth
ting to the political heat the
murder generated.
In the end it may affect the
governorShip of two StateS-New
york and New Jersey. And it
may even have something to do
with who runs for President on
the Republican ticket in 1856.
Touched Off Raceway Scandal.
For Mr.. Lewis murder touched
off New York's great harness
raceway scandal. With it was
exposed the spectacle of an i'm
$prisoned labor racketeer, joey
Fay, holding court in Sing Sing
Prison for some of the biggest
political names in two States.
Z AS a result, Coy. Thomas E.
Dewey of New York is faced
with the most serious crisis of
his career-a career that made
him three times governor and
twice his party'S candidate for
President of the United States.
Conceivably that political career
Scould be ended and with it what
sever power Gov. Dewey might
hold in the 1856 selection of a
&C. o. P. presidential candidate.
One of Fay's visitors was act
@ing 1t. Gov. Arthur H. Wicks.
Gov. Dewey this week suggested
s~Nr. Wicks resign. Mr.. WickS
refused and prepared to carry
( his case to the State Senate and
to the people in a radio and
E television plea. Gov. Dewey
cannot afford to lose this test
-of his State party control. He
called a special showdown ses-
sion of the State Legislature
for November II.
! In New Jersey, Paul L. TroaSt
Is the Republican candidate for
governor in the November 3
State election. Two weeks ago it
was disclosed that Mr.. Troast
wrote Gov. Dewey in a vain
-attempt to get Fay paroled.
Becomes Campaign Issue.
- The Troast letter has become
IAN issue in the New Jersey
sgubernatorial campaign, and
the outcome could turn on it.
THE Democratic candidate, Rob-
CERT B. Meyner, charged the let
ter made Mr.. Troast unfit for
the governorship. Mr.. Troast
@contended there was nothing
simproper about the letter and
said he did it as a simple act
of mercy"
Harness racing in New York
to-day is a $3.50 million year
business, with tracks at Yonkers,
old Westbury, Goshen, Sara
toga, Batavia, Hamburg ana
Utica-SyracuSe. E
Only IL years ago, it was
aunore or less rural pastime, the
thigh spot Of many a country
fair.
But big money moved in, city
dwellers were enticed to the
tracks and the sport shook the
hayseed out of its hair. Today,
New York harness tracks clear
$21 million a year-30 times
what they took in in 1941.
In Gov. Dewey's own words:
That's a lot of gambling
money for gangsters to move
in on"
And move in they did, the
easy come, easy go horde of
Tacketeers, gamblers, some
crooked labor leaders and greedy
politicians.
The Lewis murder ripped the
lid off the whole mess.
Mr.. Lewis was 35, married
and the father of a 13-year-old
daughter.
.. He was president of Bronx
Local BE, AFL Building Serv-
ice Employees. Normally, he spoke
for about 5000 Office and apart
ment house workers. But the 60
getting Mr.: Lewis won a union
battle three years ago and gained
control of about 800 employees
at Yonkers Raceway.
Slain By Hired Killer.
Mr.. Lewis was shot to death
by hired killer, who died few
minutes later from a police
mans bullets. In the search for
the brains behind the Staying,
the trail led at once to Yonkers
Raceway, brightly lighted little
oval of night harness racing just
outside New York City in wealthy
and Observation-Disclosures
County.
The day after Mr.. Lewis mur-
der, ex-convict Lawrence Gala)
Lynch was brought in for ques-
.tioning. He turned out to be
one Of five so-called labor
"trouble shooters" Yonkers
Raceway paid them nearly $780,
600 in less than four years ito