Photo by Harv Hasler
Standin' on the corner?
Kennedy friends testify
EDGARTOWN, Mass. (UPI)—Sen. Edward M. Kennedy told his two closest friends he would report Mary Jo Kopechne's death to police, but in apparent shock and confusion he failed to do so for about nine hours, UPI learned Wednesday.
Joseph F. Gargan, a cousin, and Paul F. Markham, former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, testified Tuesday at the secret inquest into Miss Kopechne's death and offered the first explanation why they had not reported the tragedy sooner.
District Attorney Edmund S. Dinis predicted Wednesday the inquest he ordered and presided over by District Judge James A. Boyle would end "around midday" Thursday.
Later, chatting with newsmen, he refused to discuss the inquest. But when asked if he would vote for Kennedy in the U.S. Senatorial election in November, Dinis replied, "If Sen. Kennedy is the Democratic nominee, I expect I will vote for him."
Asked if he would campaign for Kennedy, Dinis replied, "If I do, we'll be on the same ticket,"
meaning that Dinis' own try for re-election as district attorney comes up in November.
Kennedy and Miss Kopechne were attending a cookout reunion of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy's campaign workers on nearby Chappaquiddick Island last July when, the senator said, he started to drive her to the last ferry to Edgartown. He took a wrong turn and his car went off a bridge into a tidal pond. Kennedy escaped but she was trapped.
One major question has been why neither Gargan nor Markham reported the accident or why they failed to advise Kennedy to notify authorities.
They testified the senator told them he would report the accident as soon as he returned to Edgartown, UPI learned. However, after failing to rescue Miss Kopechne with his two friends, Kennedy—apparently in shock and confused—did not notify police until about nine hours later.
Gargan and Markham said Kennedy took them from the cookout to the crash site and they all tried unsuccessfully to rescue the 28-year-old secretary.
Murder probe continues
8 KANSAN
Capt. Joseph C. Snyder of the
"We have found two additional spent bullets," Snyder said. "One was on the floor in the master bedroom and the other inside the mattress in the same room, where the Yablonskis were sleeping."
Snyder identified one of the spent bullets as a .38 caliber, the same as the nine other spent bullets found in the home previously. He said the other was believed to be a .30 caliber rifle bullet.
Pennsylvania State Police said at least two weapons were used to kill Yablonski, 59, his wife, Margaret, 57, and his daughter, Charlotte, 25, in their colonial-style home near this community in the heart of the soft coal fields. Their bodies were found Monday.
Yablonski, who close friends and relatives said feared for his life, kept two guns in his bedroom. In addition to the shotgun, state police said an unloaded .22 caliber rifle was propped in the corner of the bedroom.
State police disclosed that an anonymous telephone call was received Tuesday at the home of Marion Pellegrini, of nearby Canonsburg, an elected representative of UMW. District 5 and a Yablonski supporter. They said a harsh, male voice warned Pellegrini's wife her family "was next on the list." Police assigned additional patrols to the area.
Tousands of miners in a three-state area continued their sympathy walkout.
Ten thousand miners in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio remained idle Wednesday in sympathy with the Yablonski family.
to Lincoln Park and if any of them get injured, it will gain sympathy for the peace movement."
CLARKSVILLE, Pa. (UPI) — State police said Wednesday at least two persons murdered United Mine Workers (UMW) official Joseph A. "Jock" Yablonski, his wife and daughter while they slept.
Jan. 8
1970
When Kennedy swam the channel separating Chappaquiddick from Edgartown, they said they thought he would tell police.
They also said it was possible Yablonski attempted to protect his family with a shotgun before he was cut down by five bullets in the bedroom of his home. Two shotgun shells were found under his body and an unloaded shotgun was on a windowsill near the bed, police said.
Foran asked Oglesby if, prior to the convention, he had a conversation with defendant Rennie Davis in which Davis said, "We can lure the McCarthy kids (supporters of Democratic presidential hopeful Eugene McCarthy)
Roving pickets closed several mines in northern West Virginia where leaders of UMW District 31 had vowed to shutdown all of the nation's mines by noon Wednesday unless the slayers were apprehended.
The FBI entered the case with plans to conduct its most intensive manhunt since the assassination of Martin Luther King. The FBI said it would interview thousands of persons, including UMW President W. A. "Tony" Boyle.
Leonard I. Weinglass, defense attorney, objected to the question.
Accusations fly in Chicago trial
"The only way Mr. Foran could have this information is through an illegal wireset or else he is totally fabricating the conversation." Weir glass said.
Foran called Weinglass's remarks "grossly improper."
CHICAGO (UPI)—A defense attorney for the "Chicago Seven" Wednesday accused the government of either using material gained by wiretapping or of "totally fabricating information" in the questioning of a witness.
HUNTERS LEASE LAND
The sharp exchange came while U.S. Attorney Thomas A. Foran was questioning Carl Ogleys, Putney, Vt., a "New Left" writer who testified for the defense.
POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. (UPI) A corset manufacturing firm is located on Relief Street.
The prosecution, in turn, accused the defense lawyer of "trying to testify" in the trial of the seven anti-war demonstration leaders on charges of conspiring to incite riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
SONORA, Tex. (UPI)—Landowners in this southwest Texas county earned more than $1.2 million in 1968 by leasing their land to deer hunters. Revenue from hunting leases in Sutton County has increased more than 200 times since 1947.
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