Major MURRAY. Yes; it was on a Saturday morning that we were up in the office, and that night we had a detail-I was in charge of a detail of men at the Statler Hotel, and Major Barrett was there. Captain Strange came up-I think Major Barrett sent for him-and was directed to accompany me in the investigation. On Sunday

Mr. BAUMAN. Before you get away from that, Major, what was the nature of the investigation that Major Barrett directed you to conduct? Major MURRAY. Nichols had stated that there were officers, members of the department, that were in collusion with Simkins, from his information from Nelson, and that they had accepted money and envelopes from him, so the next day we went out to see

--

Mr. BAUMAN. Before you get to that-and I am sorry to interrupt you-was one of the purposes of the investigation also to determine whether or not Nichols had taken any money or had any deals set up with

Major MURRAY. Oh, yes; that was part of the investigation.

Mr. BAUMAN. Do I understand that Major Barrett directed that you take Captain Strange with you on this investigation?

Major MURRAY. He did. He told Captain Strange personally to go along with me; yes.

Mr. BAUMAN. Will you continue. Did you go to see Mr. Nelson? Major MURRAY. Yes, .the next day, Sunday, I met Captain Strange at No. 2 precinct, and we drove out to see Nelson. It was the first, last, and only occasion that I ever talked to Nelson.

When we went in, I introduced myself and introduced Captain Strange. I told him that we had information that had come to the attention of the major that Sergeant Nichols had become involved in this case, a shooting case. Incidentally, the major rebuked him very strongly for entering into the case because he said it was being handled by the homicide squad. It was a shooting, and Nichols had no

business into it.

So when we talked to Nelson, from the testimony that I have read in the papers about Mr. Nelson, he forgot quite a bit of that conversation.

Mr. BAUMAN. Yes. As a matter of fact, as I remember his testimony here, it was very short. He said he did not remember most of the conversation that took place out there, and I am sure the committee would appreciate your filling them in on what did transpire.

Major MURRAY. After I introduced myself and Captain Strange to Nelson, I told him of the information that had come to the attention of the major, that if he had any information concerning any member of the Police Department of whatever rank that was in collusion with Simkins or any other member of the underworld and accepting graft of any kind, it was his duty to tell me who they are, and if he did tell me, I would report it back both to Major Barrett and to the district attorney's office.

He said he was reluctant to talk about it. I asked him if Nichols had tried to get any money from him, if Nichols had been out to see him, and he said, yes he had, but he had called Nichols and Nichols was merely trying to help him.

Mr. BAUMAN. I think, Major, if you will forgive me for a moment, on the state of the record I think it shows something that is not your recollection. You combined two questions into one. You said "and Nichols tried to get any money out of him, had he been out to see him,"

and your answer was "Yes, he did." Will you make that a little clearer.

Major MURRAY. Not about getting money out of him. He said "No." He said Nichols' purpose was in trying to help him, Nelson.

We stayed there about 15 or 20 minutes talking about it, and I can see now why he was reluctant to give me any information, if he had it. He was interested in compensation for his injuries, according to the testimony brought out at this hearing.

Mr. BAUMAN. What did you do then? Did you go to see "Piggy" Leake?

Major MURRAY. Well, as I was leaving, I told Nelson that if he remembered anything, if he wanted to talk to me later, to call me and I would come out to see him. I never heard from Nelson thereafter. We went up on R Street where we talked to Henry Leake, known as "Piggy" Leake. It was the first and only time I had ever talked to him. We asked him if Nichols had tried to get any money out of him to compensate for the injuries inflicted on Nelson, and he denied emphatically that he ever had.

We also asked him if he had any information concerning any member of the Police Department of whatever rank being in collusion with gamblers or taking graft from the gamblers, and he said he did not have such information. Then we reported back later.

I went over to the district attorney's office and talked to Mr. Fay and his two principal assistants, Mr. Fihelly and Mr. Charles B. Murray. I told them of the accusations, of the conversations in Major Barrett's office, of the accusations made or allegedly made by Nelson to Nichols and of the accusations against Nichols. Later I went before a grand jury and repeated what I have said here today. They had quite a lengthy investigation on it.

One of the officers that went in on the case originally, in on the shooting, went to court 26 times in that case, so it did carry on for some time.

I would also like to bring out here that it was not the Police Department's idea to charge Nelson. We thought he did a good job in returning the fire, and we were able to identify Leake, know who he was. Otherwise if he had not hit him, we may not have known who Leake was. Nelson didn't know him. He was not charged at that time.

It was some couple months later that he was charged, and I have Inspector Scott here who went up on the case originally, and if the committee could give him 2 or 3 minutes after I finish testifying, I think he could straighten out some points in the minds of the committee that were brought up here last Friday.

The CHAIRMAN. Major, to your knowledge, did anyone on the police force ascertain at the time you were making this investigation that Nelson was in any way to blame for the shooting?

Major MURRAY. No, sir; it looked like an unprovoked assault. The CHAIRMAN. Do you know why the unoffending victim of the unprovoked, murderous assault was indicted for the same crime committed by his would-be assassin?

Major MURRAY. That was discussed at some length, and I believe Inspector Scott could straighten that out in about 2 or 3 minutes, if the committee would give him that time.

Mr. BAUMAN. Major Murray, I asked you, did I not, whether or not Major Barrett had said to Sergeant Nichols that he was going to

give him 15 minutes to resign. Did you convey such a message to him? Do you have any recollection of such a conversation?

Major MURRAY. No; I do not. I don't say that it wasn't said. I don't know that it was said, but certainly that is not the procedure and policy for a man resigning. He has to give 30 days' notice.

Now, he did say that he intended to put the matter before the grand jury, I remember that clearly, but he may or may not have said it, I don't know.

Mr. BAUMAN. He may or may not have said that?

Major MURRAY. Yes.

Mr. BAUMAN. Now, I should like to address the committee with regard to the testimony of Major Murray.

In some quarters there have been certain inferences raised that I should like to set at rest. Sergeant Nichols has repeatedly told me on the occasions that I have interviewed him that Major Murray has always been an outstanding police officer and he was, in his actions in this particular case, thoroughly fair and doing nothing more than his assigned duty.

Nichols has said that to me not once but many times, that there was no intervention other than at the direction of Major Barrett, and to my knowledge, Sergeant Nichols still has a tremendous respect and admiration for Major Murray to this day.

I think the committee will be interested in knowing, too, that throughout this investigation Major Murray has most generously cooperated with the staff of the subcommittee, and anything that we have requested has been quickly and cheerfully furnished to us. We haven't made one request of him that he has not been happy to comply with.

In my opinion he sought to enlist the cooperation of the men in the department with regard to this investigation. I think it only fair to Major Murray that the committee be made aware of his attitude throughout the months that we have been working here.

Now, just so that I can get these pages into the record, Major Murray, I show you a group of arrest reports in gambling cases and ask you whether that was prepared at the request of Mr. Harold Solomon of the staff of this committee?

Major MURRAY. Yes, sir, this form was made up by our department and sent to the various precincts and units to tabulate gambling arrests for the periods indicated here.

Mr. BAUMAN. Would you tell the committee how those figures were compiled, please?

Major MURRAY. From the arrest book.

Mr. BAUMAN. They were taken from the arrest book in each individual precinct, is that right?

Major MURRAY. Yes, sir.

Mr. BAUMAN. I now offer these records, they having previously been marked for identification.

(The documents above referred to were introduced on p. 12 as exhibit No. 1, and are on file with the committee.)

Mr. BAUMAN. I have no further questions of this witness, Mr. Chairman.

Senator WELKER. Major Murray, did I understand your testimony correctly that Sergeant Nichols at one time was alleged to have attended a prize fight in Cleveland with "Whitetop" Simkins?

Major MURRAY. That was one of the accusations that Major Barrett made in the office that morning. I did hear later that Sergeant Nichols did attend a prize fight in Cleveland. Who he went there with I don't know. He said he went with his wife.

Senator WELKER. When Major Barrett made that accusation against Sergeant Nichols, was there a denial from Sergeant Nichols?

Major MURRAY. Yes, that he did not go with him. Incidentally, Nichols did later show me a letter that had been sent to him prior to our visit to the major's office in which one of the contestants in this prize fight had sent him a couple tickets. Now who he went with, or who he come back with, I don't know.

Senator WELKER. Well, now in your investigation of this entire Piggy Leake-Nelson shooting, did you ascertain that Sergeant Nichols had in fact been to Whitetop Simkins' home to watch a television show of a prize fight that took place there in the evening?

Major MURRAY. Yes, sir. I mean from Nichols' own statement he said he did go there.

Senator WELKER. Major Murray, from my own independent investigation-and I want your opinion upon this-I have found out, at least we have been informed that Sergeant Nichols has done great service to the Metropolitan Police Department, that over a period of many years he has been an outstanding officer. What is your observation with respect to that?

Major MURRAY. When I had the robbery squad, Sergeant Nichols did do some very good work. He has many commendations in his file. Later, I think due to his highly emotional condition, his work did fall off.

Senator WELKER. There isn't any question in your mind that he is a sick man at this time and has been a quite severely ill man for many years, several years at least?

Major MURRAY. Yes, sir; he is sick. As a matter of fact I would like to clarify one point.

There has been some talk that Sergeant Nichols was kept from going up around, as he referred to it, the stem, all around Seventh and T Streets and Seventh and S Streets. That wasn't Major Barrett's fault that he didn't go up there. That was my fault, and I did it in the best interests of Sergeant Nichols and the Police Department. Senator WELKER. Do you want to tell us why?

Major MURRAY. Yes, sir. Because of his highly emotional condition I felt that he would do something rash if he went up there. I kept him away from there.

Senator WELKER. As a matter of fact, getting down to brass tacks, you were concerned about the officer in handling a firearm due to his highly emotional state, is that correct?

Major MURRAY. Yes, sir; I was, and I so stated to our Chairman of the Board of Police and Fire Surgeons.

Senator WELKER. Major Murray, I am somewhat concerned about the testimony of the activity that took place with respect to the compounding of the Piggy Leake-Nelson assault. Now I am not familiar with such procedure, and perhaps you can enlighten me.

I am mindful of the fact that the Police Department does not handle prosecutions, but here we have a man that you have admitted was the victim of an unprovoked assault. He was there about his business and Piggy Leake comes in, and without any provocation shoots him.

He returns the fire. The blanket record is that notwithstanding those facts, the assailed person, Mr. Nelson, was nolle prossed right along with Piggy Leake. Now that is something that this committee has thought a great deal about.. How does that happen in the District of Columbia?

Major MURRAY. Senator, I feel that Nichols used bad judgment in going to Nelson and Leake and trying to settle the case out of court. I think that Nelson should have been prevailed on to prosecute Leake for his assault.

Naturally I can see now why Nelson was not anxious to prosecute. He was anxious to get compensation. However, I did bring all those facts to the attention of both the District Attorney's office and the grand jury.

Senator WELKER. Well now, granted that Nelson wanted compensation and I can see some reason for that after being hospitalized like Nelson was it is rather a shocking thing that where we have a man with a pistol in the nighttime and in the wee hours of the morning going into a place of business and shooting an innocent man, it is quite a problem for this committee to understand how we get law enforcement in such a manner as that by coindicting the victim, and someone-I don't know who-actually compounded a felony in the handling of that case and was just as responsible and just as guilty as Nelson or Piggy Leake.

Major MURRAY. Senator, we felt and do feel that an assault of that kind is not a crime particularly against an individual. It is a crime against the community.

Senator WELKER. That is right.

Major MURRAY. It is a crime against the United States. We felt he should be prosecuted for it.

We also felt that the joint trial of the two men caused the case to be dismissed, but from the things that were brought out here at this hearing, I feel that Nelson would not have testified against him even had he not been indicted. I thought that was the reason why the case was thrown out, but from Nelson's testimony here, I don't believe he would have testified even if he hadn't been arrested.

Senator WELKER. Major, it is all right for us to believe that he would not testify, but the testimony before this committee is that he was never given an opportunity by the District Attorney or anyone else to go up on the witness stand and testify to the facts of that assault which leads the people of this District to figure that there was some compounding, there was some compromising of a crime, and I am sure you, as the able officer you are, can well understand how this committee and the people felt, that that was malhandled.

Here is a man who received that assault and he was not even called to testify against Piggy Leake, whose reputation I am sure is well known to you and other members of the Police Department. That was not so good, was it, Major?

Major MURRAY. No, sir, but I can assure you that it was not the Police Department's view on that.

Senator WELKER. I want to assure you that I am not inferring that it was the Police Department's fault, that I understand whose duty it is to prosecute a case.