Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1957-03-17
0NAL SCENE

The troubles of the Interna-
tional Brotherhood of Transfers,
Chauffeurs and Warehousemen seem
to know no end. Until now. they
have been the burden of the lesser
second-string officers of the Team
ster hierarchy. But last week they
spread to the top echelons Of the
l.4-million- member union.
At weeks end it seemed obvious
that the wheeling heyday of
the unions ruling triumvirate was
approaching an inglorious end.
President Dave Beck and Vice Pres
idents James r. Hoffa and Frank
w. Brewster could hardly survive
the troubles that now have beset
them and their union at the Fed
eral. State and local levels.
The climax came with the arrest
of Mr.. Hoffa on charges of buying
data from the files of the select
Senate committee that has been
investigating the Transfers.
The Government charged that
Mr.. Hoffa had offered an attorney
$4,000 to Join the staff Of the
committee and then reveal conf
Dental information to him on the
committees investigation. The at
torney, John eye Cheasty. pre-
tended to agree to the arrangement,
but Immediately took news of the
deal to the Justice Department,
where it was decided that he
should act as double-agent in an
attempt to get the goods on Mr..
Hoffa..
On Friday Chairman Mcclellan
Of the select committee ordered Mr..
Beck, who has not been eager to
discuss the unions affairs or his
own with the committee, to produce
Immediately all of his personal f.
nancial records for the years 1919
through 1855. Mr.. Beck, who until
last Sunday had been touring Eur
ope. wasn't promising anything He
said he'd talk to his lawyer about it
Tuesday night. The committee
wants to question Mr.. Beck about
q number of things, including
charges of misuse of union funds.
Mr.. Brewster showed up to testi-
fy on Friday and began by telling the
committee that he would answer
any question put to him and that
he would not invoke the Fifth
Amendment on any question. He
added that the charges that had
been made against his union and
its officers consisted mainly of
"hearsay. rumor and insidious in
nuendo."
He assailedsas a liar James B.
(Big JIM Elkins, the committees
star witness upon whose testimony
many of the charges rest. Mr..
Elkins. a Portland gambler. has
criminal record that includes auto
theft, burglary, assault and mar
cotics-law violations.
Mr.. Brewster did admit, however,
that he had used union dues money
to pay some Of his personal bills.
Earlier in the week there were
these developments:
. Clyde C. Crosby, $16,00O-a-year
representative for the Transfers
in Oregon, conceded that dues
money had been used to pay the
bills OF Thomas E. Maloney and
Joseph P. Mclaughlin, identified by
the committee as gamblers. Some
of his testimony, conflicting with
that of another witness, was sent
to the Justice Department for pos
sible perjury action.
. Reginald Mikesell. secretary
treasurer Of Joint Council 81 in
Portland. admitted ordering recent
Teamster records destroyed and
signing a $4,000 check to the at
torney for William M. Langley,
indicted Portland district attorney.
But he could not explain exactly
why he disposed Of the records or
what the check was for.
. Mr.. Langley. facing three con-
spiracy indictments in Portland in
connection with charges of official
corruption. refused to answer the
committees questions, invoking the
Fifth Amendment repeatedly AS
he sat in the witness chair the
committee played tapped recordings
of conspiratorial conversations in
which one of the voices was identi-
fed as that of Mr. Langley.