◆ SpookStack

reget b3 Jt ad Directors oy wb. pe Oe, £:@3 ~2~ 9-13-43 the facts are presented to a Federal Grand Jury at Springfield, Jllinois, the facts in instant ratter would be presented to the Grand Jury first and if an indictrent is returned, it would be announced in the press immediately that the indictments were returned, and the details of the indictment would be re- leased, and at the same time, a statement would be made to the press that the come worried and if he | ey | realized was poing to be prosecuted on the charges in this matter { e might break and tes ‘ » OL course, fats) ca any way approval or dis- approval of such a procedure. I thought you would be interested in having called to your attention the publicity which has been released from an unknowm source in connection with this investigation, which possibly has interfered to a certein extent with the successful culmination of the investigation. I called to the attention of the Bureau by letter dated September 10, 1943 that a number of persons had declined to furnish staterents to Agents in this investigation with the advice that their Attorney, ARTHUR*EITZGERALD, should be consulted. The names of those persons who, as of September 10, 1943, had falled to divulge information to Agents without consulting their Attorney, were set forth in my letter of that date. Up to Serterber §, 1943, the Agents working on this case had encountered no difficulty in obtaining statements from any of the persons interviewed. There was a decided change beginning with interviews to be conducted on September 5, 1943 when a number of persons began to tell Agents that they should consult their Attorneys or they would say that they did not desire to make any state- ments unless the Attorney was present at the time of the interview. I have also previously called to the attention of the Bureau, that Mr. WALTER TASDAY, Attorney at Law, Springfield, Tllinois, and a member of the firm of ARTHUR FITZGERALD, celled at this office on September 7, 1943, to re- guest copies of the statements previously executed by FRANKAUSTIN, J. and one BAUMGAETNEP, I think that thie change in the attitude of persons inter~ viewed by Agente working on this case may possibly be attributable to a United Press release which appeared in the Illinois State Register on September 3, 1943 which bore a Washington date line of the same date, This item carried the fol- lowing three column heading on the front page of the Register: "U.S. Grand Jury to Sift F.B.I. Investigation into U.¥.W. Mine B Deal." Particularly it was stated in this item "Reliable Sources Said an Inquiry by F.B.I. was about completed and that the matter would be placed before a Federal Grand Jury here (referring to Washington) or at Springfield." The item stated that the Justice Department officials declined to comment. This particular item, of course, possibly put the U.U.W. officials in Springfield on notice of the status of this case. The information that the investigation was about completed was, of course, inaccurate, inasmuch as considerable investigation remains to be conductec in this matter.