October 4, 1973

D H Segretti testifies on Oct 3 before Sen Watergate com that he had reptd regularly last yr to Pres Nixon's apptmts sec D L Chapin about 'dirty tricks' he was playing on candidates for Dem Pres nomination; says he had no reason to believe that Nixon knew of his work; Chapin has maintained that Segretti operated on his own, and that after he hired him, he heard little from him; Segretti's testimony is cut short after com recd threat that bomb had been place in Sen Caucus Room; police find no bomb and testimony continues in afternoon; illus

Pres Nixon says on Oct 3 that it is 'altogether proper' for Vice Pres Agnew to declare that he will not resign if he should be indicted by Fed grand jury in Baltimore, Md, news conf; says charges being assembled against Vice Pres are 'serious and not frivolous'; says he has seen no 'clear evidence' of any indiscretions on part of Asst Atty Gen Petersen; says he has not sought Agnew's resignation and that he respects Agnew's right to reach independent decision; Agnew's press sec J M Thomson expresses 'gratitude' later in day at Nixon's comments; Nixon says he has not taken 'highly inappropriate' step of making contingency plans for nomination of new Vice Pres; says he repeatedly told Agnew that matter of his continuation in Adm was 'one for him to decide'; asserts Vice Pres should be presumed innocent until proved otherwise; Agnew sends lr to Washington Post taking issue with article retracing history of news repts that quoted Asst Atty Gen Petersen as saying of Agnew inquiry, 'We've got the evidence. We've got it cold'; Repr Findley, at conf of HR Repubs, is urged to withdraw resolution directing Justice Dept to deliver to HR any evidence against Agnew; conf chmn Repr Anderson says some members joined in echoing concern expressed on Oct 2 by Agnew's attys that Atty Gen Richardson might turn over 'unfavorable evidence' that HR Dem leaders would make public without affording Agnew chance to test its credibility; recent events in case noted

article discusses reactions by Austrians and foreigners to Kreisky's decision

Wagler, Evelyn: 6 black Boston youths force 24-yr-old E M Wagler to douse herself with gasoline and then set her afire an Oct 2; she dies on Oct 3 of bums covering her entire body; she was accosted by youths as she walked back to her car, which had run out of gas, and threatened with bodily harm unless she poured gas on herself; police say no witnesses have come forth, although incident occurred on residential st; she says before she dies that black youths had ordered her to leave neighborhood because they did not want any whites there; police speculate that youths may have been motivated by movie, Fuzz, televised on Sept 30, which contained scenes of juvenile delinquents in Boston burning derelicts to death for enjoyment; victim illus

Vice Pres Agnew's attys win from Fed Dist Ct Judge Hoffman on Oct 3 authority to conduct their own investigation, with full power of subpoena, into alleged Justice Dept leaks of information that Agnew has charged constitute 'malicious, immoral and illegal' attack on him by Govt prosecutors; decision gives Agnew's 3-man defense team ct's authority to interrogate under oath any persons they deem 'appropriate and necessary'; raises possibility that newsmen, if they are subpoenaed and asked to disclose their sources, and refuse to do so, can be placed in jail for contempt of ct; list of newsgathering orgns whose reporters are said to be under consideration for subpoena by Agnew's attys include NY Times, Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Time and Newsweek magazines, and CBS News; number of experienced criminal attys say they believe Hoffman's order is unprecedented; say they never before heard of a person under criminal investigation, but not under indictment, receiving grant of ct authority to question prosecutors and others involved in case; transcripts of depositions taken by Agnew's attys are to be kept sealed under Hoffman's order and kept from public ct records; Hoffman accuses press of 'grabbing' at news in way that 'overlooks rights of others'; 1st of 6 witnesses to appear before Baltimore grand jury on Oct 3 is W J Muth, pol supporter and fund raiser for Agnew since '66, who has been active in consulting engineering field for last 12 yrs; 5 others cannot be identified; Muth says he was been given use immunity before Judge F A Kaufman and that he spent about 1 hr before grand jury answering questions, int; says he told jury he never made pol contributions to influence Agnew in awarding of consulting contracts; says he helped raise and had given contributions to I H Hammerman 2d in behalf of Agnew but that these had had nothing to do with getting any special treatment; illus of Muth with his atty P Sutley; illus of Agnew's attys J Best, M London, J H Topkis and Judge Hoffman