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Te Chessman” Cause-Celebre Lives On NINTE - LIFE, By Milton Machi. and Wilham Reade « Woodiield (G, P, Putnam's Sons; $4.95.) Seat 7 es Caryle -Chessmar spent atly 12 years in San Quen- win’s. deatn row before his ‘execuiio: for kidnaping for the purpose of robbing with iadity harm on May 2, 1960, itis own citings, beginning with the ocst selling “Cell 43 ris spec- at fant for ilfe, his auluple journeys tnrouga Ae courts, the celeoriiies at- vacted to his defense anc ae wold vide recction al Intrivuted to masing the chessmer case a cause-ce- resre.”’ ; . ’ This Sook was fnitiated vhen My. Woodficic—~a free- wanée * os in search of a s'O.¥—epproached Chess- fan shorty before os ninta ti Gate and propased or.usaicn for pesthu- nutheation ~. atragec? “fi protested his in# : aid Mr. Weoodfied o..%@d t& foNow the feads Chessman gave him until he ‘aught Cc: in a he Afr, Machi an vditor of Argosy Magazine, joined him in the ‘rvestigation. The authors claim impar- Etwe and niake resle striy- ass ‘in coat direction. aH * indignation in this emotion - sharged cause fi squentiy eveream> “he obje ty and the account consequentiy iases impact. “ot the Man? ; Vheir search fer ovidenes Pads them to thess conchi- a ais: Yiey have uricovered ! anourh “suppressed evidence co lend some credence to ' Shessmens story thai. he was not the Red Light Bandit. A fellow convict, xiom they fname, misht be the man. : “Sven if Chessman were the ‘sandit, the acts for which he was tried were not committed -~thai: is’ they were less se- rious than would warrant the death penalty. And even if the evidence weren’t ques- tionahble. the conduct_af the yrial was, This involves the Ul are bla in 7 seqyr ere trial judges’ refusal_ to Bive Chessman dally tre: ries’ the juc.es’ insistence tnat Chessman remain at the counsel table while questicn- ing witnesses, and, more: im- portantly, the use of a prose- cutor’s relative with a record of alcoholism to transcribe the trial testimony from the snorthand notes of the cours reporter who died between triat and Sentencing. ‘ In piacing responsibility for Chessman's execution, the authors acknowledge that Chessman himself bears a large part of the burden for insisting on directing his own defense—az first iInepis: and 2 later arrogantly. Ther also Dlame the press, ine Gaver har and the puhiie. A Giant Conspiracy? “In the iong run, howevay," they contend. “it is probablv the agencies of law eniorce- ment~nictivated by personal Diide, emotional bias, or, per- haps, lack of integrity—wwhich teris tne jargest sha: for the guili: for delideracely foncexling evidence, for ob- ’ dtructing the fair cperation df justice through 12 years.” } The impressionable would gonchide from the autaors’ frequently intemperate ac- count that police, prosecutors and the State and Federal judiciary were all engaged ma giang conspiracy againss One possibly innecen* man, But Chessman’s ease went to ine Supreme Court at least half a dozen times on on> arzuMene or another, + vis poss:cie tha: the merilés abe Of irae} techuicalries, tis possibie that the matter {the disputed transcrips could have been resolved more readily by a new trial than endless arguments about the correctness of the orizinal ‘transeriyiy. the case got lost in 2. These quessions, however, ;by those and a gr jective th are better answered | learned in the law tat deal more ob- an t he authors of 7 Ninth Life.” _—MIRIAM OTTENBERC t . cy an va ? cM _? CM RN Ne nah i ah hae steee Oke wet MOA msec, - Pomme. « a ch naan Be OI ete want? sata ty ata at a eee REE rar Pees nante Reba FRIES tas, a ant chen et ete ar eee ree a? oa 2 a3 * i? et ¢ we Lo a > wet “ ‘ ‘ « roa aw . 027. a Voge Wee - -- . fou: Sturt “Naw os be Thee tee dow Y. Hy - New S we eee Cee Now Yeek Nows wow. 3 The Well Sco