September 28, 1973

J Reston article says Vice Pres Agnew has decided to fight for exoneration through cts and to keep appealing to HR for full and open hearing, no matter how long it takes; says Agnew decided to appeal to HR to hear his case after F P Graham of CBS on Sept 22 quoted Asst Atty Gen Petersen as saying he had refused to drop criminal charges against Agnew because Petersen was confident that Govt could obtain conviction against Agnew if case went to trial; says Agnew is no longer confident in US criminal justice system as it has been interpreted by US prosecutors in Baltimore and by Petersen and others in Criminal Div of Justice Dept; says Agnew resents suggestions that he went back on his word, 1st expressing confidence in cts and then turning away from them to Cong; says Agnew had confidence in criminal justice system but when it did not maintain privacy of its investigation and leaked its unproved and even unheard charges against him he felt he had been 'betrayed' by system and then turned to Cong; notes Agnew says he does not regard HR Speaker Albert's refusal to hear case as final; says 1 reason Agnew approached Albert was that he felt it was far better to offer to appear publicly before select com of HR than to wait and be dragged to bar of HR in impeachment proceeding; says Agnew is not critical of Pres Nixon's handling of his case but is less sure about members of Nixon's staff; says Agnew recognizes that system of fund-raising may be wrong, even though it is common, and is coming to belief that maybe only through public financing of pol campaigns can dangers of corruption be removed and public confidence restored; notes creation of legal defense fund for Agnew as Agnew does not have personal finances to face legal bills expected to reach as much as $500,000

Black Liberation Army member Henry Brown escapes on Sept 27 from Kings County Hosp; escape does not appear planned, although he reptdly had told guards at Bklyn House of Detention that he would escape, and had attempted to break out twice; Brown is under indictment for murders of NYC Ptl G Foster and R Laurie in E Village on Jan 27, '72; was taken to hosp with gastrointestinal pains and vaulted over partition following his examination; search of area by 50 policemen and correction officers is fruitless; Correction Comr Malcolm suspends 2 guards who escorted Brown to hosp; Correction Officers Benevolent Assn pres L C Zeferetti charges that Malcolm is ducking his responsibility for dept's mishandling of prisoner's transfer and says 2 suspended officers should not be scapegoats; in related development in Bronx, M Scott, E Brown and B Hayes, 19, are indicted on contempt charges for refusing to answer grand jury questions in investigation of Sept 17 shootout between police and Black Liberation Army members, despite offer of immunity if they testified

Fed Dist Judge C E Stewart Jr on Sept 27 orders NYC Elections Bd to conduct bilingual election on Nov 6, with all voting instructions printed in Spanish as well as English; also directs bd to assign translators at all polling places in areas where 5% or more of residents are Spanish-speaking; suit, filed Sept 12 by Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Educ Fund on behalf of 3 Bronx residents who were born in PR and do not speak or write English, charged bd with violating rights of Puerto Rican voters; fund staff atty H Teitelbaum hails ruling as 'landmark decision' for Puerto Ricans; bd exec dir Siket says bd will comply fully with ct's decision; estimates cost of bilingual printing will be $50,000; fund exec dir Perales asserts 800 translators will be needed at city's 1,599 polling places; possible pol ramifications of decision discussed

shooting of 1 official of ILA and disappearence of another have been linked by investigators to a battle for control of thousands of jobs on Hudson County, NJ, waterfront; further, law enforcement agents are looking into reptd suicide of M Murphy, brother of labor leader W Murphy, who was shot Apr 18 in Hoboken; these developments were uncovered by NY Times in series if ints with detectives and other law enforcement agents as they continue their search for F Murray, ILA boss of Jersey City docks who has been missing since Sept 13; Murphy por

securities officials contend that Wall St brokerage cos are apparently moving into profitable stance since rate increase has been granted; indus arguments that many of its members needed additional revenue to survive, if not prosper, recalled; brokerage officials note conditions which have sparked recovery, including sharply increased vol and higher prices; ints with indus officials on profit and loss figures for Sept, Wall St cost cutting measures, and improved trading vol discussed; Securities Indus Assn chmn John C Whitehead comments