Evening star., 1961-04-28
Senator Wants New Probe
Of GE estimony Conflict

Continued From First Page
tices in his divisions until he
was informed late in 1859 that
q grand jury was meeting and
that some GE people were be-
Ing mentioned.
The conflicts between the tes-
timony of Mr.. Vincent and that
of Mr.. Smith and four earlier
witnesses today prompted Sen
ator Kefauver to say that the
mystery" behind these con-
flicts can be broken and he
wants the FBI to do it.
Mr.. Vinson attributed the
differences between his testi-
mony and that of Mr.. Smith
to an honest difference of
opinion, a genuine misunder-
standing. In the case of the
other four witnesses, Mr.. Vim
son made categorical denials
Of their allegations, and claimed
the witnesses-all former sub
ordinates-were fabricating.
The FBI has already made
an investigation of the same
conflict but Senator Kefauver
said he did not know how COM
plete that investigation was.
Mentions New Facts
He added that some other
facts have been developed"
He said he will make a for
NAL request to the Attorney
General for the Justice De-
partment to re-evaluate previ-
ously collected evidence and re-
open the old investigation on
the basis of testimony before
the subcommittee.
The mystery" centers on
whether Mr.. Vinson met with
the four subordinates at lunch
con in the company dining
room during the summer of
1858 and told them it was
all right to meet with COM
petitors.
Mr.. Vinson insisted under
oath yesterday that the lunch
never took place and he never
gave such instructions. The
former GE employees have been
equally insistent under oath
that the luncheon did occur
and they took a lie detector
test in an effort to prove it.
The story by the four men
apparently was basic to the
indictment of Mr.. Vinson on
charges Of participating in
the antitrust violation that
prompted the Governments big
case against the electrical in
dustry. He was indicted the
day after the four appeared
before the grand jury. The
indictment was dismissed less
than six months later when the
Government told the court that
1t had conducted an intensive
investigation of Mr.. Wilson's
involvement and that the evi-
dence developed had convinced
the Government that it could
not properly argue to a jury
that there was no reasonable
doubt Of his guilt.
Four Dismissed a&s.
The four pleaded guilty, were
disciplined and later dismissed
by GE.
Mr.. Wilson'S appearance be-
fore the subcommittee yester-
day was interrupted to produce
an unscheduled witness whose
story was also known to the
Government before it dropped
the Vinson indictment.
The witness, Raymond w.
Smith, former vice president
and general manager Of the
transformer division, limited his
testimony to challenging Mr..
Wilson'S repeated claims that
he never directed any Of his
subordinates to meet with COM
petitors.
Mr.. Smith, who quit General
Electric in November, 1853.
when he faced taking a lesser
Job in the general discipline"
action, freely acknowledged
that he did meet with COM
petitors. He said, in answer to
questions, that he had two rea-
sons for believing that Mr..
Vinson knew Of these meetings.
Tells Of Reporting
First, he said, he would go
to Mr.. Wilson'S office every
time his meeting with con1peti-