April 19, 1973

NYC Councilman M J Troy, who is Dem mayoral aspirant M Biaggi's campaign mgr, urges on Apr 18 that Biaggi make public his testimony before Fed grand jury; NY Times and Daily News claim that Biaggi invoked Fifth Amendment during some questioning, but Biaggi denies this; Dem politicians in NY believe Biaggi's campaign has been hurt by disclosure and candidate that stood to gain most was A Beame; Troy details conversation with Biaggi over testimony; Conservative party believes Biaggi and still supports his candidacy; text of statement read by Biaggi's press sec; comments from other Dem mayoral contenders A Beame, Repr M Badillo and Assemblyman A Blumenthal noted; por

US Cong and Nixon Adm reach agreement on Apr 18 on extension for 3 yrs of series of programs to aid nation's elderly; measure will provide soc services and employment assistance; compromise measure calls for $543-million. most of it for 1st yr, with so-called open-ended authorizations for subsequent 2 yrs

The Long Island Rail Road and 12 nonoperating unions reached a tentative agreement last night, thus averting a possible resumption of the strike against the line tomorrow night. Page 85.

Sen Ervin declares on Apr 18 that Sen Watergate com will be final judge on whether White House aide can refuse to answer any of com's questions, news conf, Davidson Coll; statement appears to conflict with Pres Nixon's Apr 17 suggestion that his aides will not be hindered in refusing to answer specific questions; said exec privilege was 'expressly reserved and may be asserted during course of questioning as to any question'; Ervin calls Nixon's statement 'victory for const govt' but says, 'When you lose, weep softly. When you win, Drag gently ; Nixon said that ground rules on testimony adopted on Apr 16 by Sen com will 'preserve the doctrine of separation of powers' and permit his assts to decline to answer questions if they believe subject matter is privileged; Ervin makes public guidelines and says that only points they yield are approval for Pres to have his own legal counsel present when White House aides testify and agreement to give White House sufficient notice when com is calling Pres adviser as witness; Pres appeared to suggest that initial appearances before com by members of his staff could be in private; 1 guideline noted that com could, if it chose, go into closed sessions from time to time; another ground rule specifies that White House staff members will be invited to testify under 'oath or affirmation' at open hearings; Ervin says he and Sen Baker met with J D Ehrlichman at Ehrlichman's invitation to discuss question of exec privilege

M Brown, 1 of FBI's 10 most-wanted men, is killed Apr 18 and his 2 alleged accomplices, K Kelly and H Holiday, are captured after attempted holdup of Chase Manhattan Bank branch at 5th Av and 135th St in which 32 customers and 10 employes are held hostage for nearly 2 hrs; robbery thwarted when silent bank alarm is triggered and several women inform cruising patrol car that robbery is in progress; Brown killed in gunfire battle with police; 2 other alleged robbers establish communications with police via 911 phone number reptdly disclosing desire to surrender but expressing fear of armed police outside bldg; request presence of WCBS-TV reporter C Borgen and 2 ptl, T Sullivan and C Brown; Ptl P Marion, who had just attended bank-hostage course, is sent in as alternative; gunmen finally surrender to Marion and Borgen after being assured that police would not fire; illus; holdup incident and 2-hr siege described