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a a7 fof se Top ed Pe te nt a | The ‘Womon in Red’ Was Wearing Orange As to the famous “Woman in Red,” Purvis says she actually was wearing an otange skirt and he doesn’t recall the color of her other ciethes that fateful night, Purvis, who at 31 was just one vear younger than Dillinger, became a national hero when he ended the menace. Looking back on the incident today, he simply states: “I had a lot of help.” Purvis now is serving the federal government for the fourth time in his life. He put in nine years with the FBI, before resigning in 1936. He served five years during World War 1] as a colonel in the Army judge advocate general's office. He was chief counsel for the Senate subcommittee on federal manpower policies in 1951-53, while the Korean conflict was blazing. Purvis’ current job is one that history could prove his most important. Two and a half month= ago, he left the quiet surroundings of Florence, 8, C.—where he has a private law practice and owns a _radia station-_tu become counsel for the Senate subcommittee His Job: Breck the Legal Logjam His job is to blueprint a program that will revitalize America's judicial system to end the tremendous backlog of court cases, which now number 77,000 across the nation. . “We find the U.S. courts are in terrible condition,” saya Purvis. “Some have case backlogs of three or four years, and some even Aonger.” The area of the nation most acutely affected is the Northeast —New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey—-where thous- ands of cases have accumulated in individual courts. The dire need for additional federal judges and for renovation of ‘what Purvis terms our “archaic jodicis! system” can best he summed up, he explains, with the phrase: “Slow justice means no justice.” He now is making 4 coast-to-coast survey—aided by the courts, the legal profession and the bar associations—to determine what i changes are needed. He's Seeking o Solution That Will Stick He pledres that he and the subcommittee, headed by his old friend fen. Glin Johnston (D-5. C.) will “not be stanipeded inte patchwork remedies.” “The subcommittee should perform a service that would be last- ing for many years to come,” gays Purvis. “We need this badly. When you see us 77,000 cases behind, you find that justice in this country—of which we've been boasting—is lagging. ‘As the popoia- tion grows, the burden on the courts will get even worse.” So far, Purvis has found no conclusive answers to the problem. He will submit an interim report to the subcommittee by the end , of January, but this probably will be just the beginning. . i The dapper, gray-hsired South Carolinian, now the father of . three boys. says bis crime-busting days are far behind him. Although ibe still quite often is pointed cut in public as “the man who got Dillinger,” Purvis saye he would just as svon forget the incident. “I don't even care to read about crime,” says the heru of the 30s. How doee hug current jvb size up against his determined pursuit of Dillinges? ' . “This is a challenge. but it’s eo different,” says Purvis. “One job was to rid the country of med dug. This is net » mad dog, but a Ho eeuid be choca if it is not dene, iy er ne ee a ogre pimapre ro Ee oe