suit. At the conclusion of the day’s hearing the defense had not completed its arguments for dismissal of the indictment.
The last witness placed on the stand by the State was C. S. Bell, auditor of an Asheville hotel, who testified Pelley had lived at the hotel on certain dates.
W. Bowen Henderson, an Asheville accountant, testified as to the financial condition of the Galahad Press at stated intervals in 1931 and 1932. He said the firm was insolvent to the extent of $15,500 on June 1, 1932.
ANDERSON CROSS-EXAMINED
Just before the court session recessed yesterday, defense counsel Robert H. McNeill cross-examined George Anderson, former treasurer of Pelley’s Foundation for Christian Economics, asking him whether he had not suggested to Joseph Auten, young Asheville attorney, the possibility of Auten being retained by “a group of Jews in New York who were anxious to go after the Pelley enterprises” and that the group in question was interested in employing Anderson for that purpose.
Anderson flatly denied this and said that he knew Auten only casually and as a lawyer who had some bills against the Galahad Press to collect. “Did you not go to New York after your conversation with Auten?” McNeill asked Anderson.
DENIES CONVERSATION
“I had no such conversation and made no such statement,” Anderson replied. Asked by the defense if he had gone to New York at any time prior to April, 1934, Anderson said he had gone to that city in the Fall of 1933. The witness was also asked if he had enlarged his business here on his return from New York. The State objected and was upheld.
Earlier Anderson had testified that Pelley had informed that he, Pelley, was head of “all organizations” meaning the Galahad Press, Foundation for Christian Economics and the Silver Shirts.
The only other witness preceding Anderson was R. P. Williams, head of the Biltmore Press of Asheville, the firm which printed Pelley’s Liberation.
A number of letters and telegrams demanding “justice” for Pelley and his associates was received by Judge Warlick from individuals in New York and other cities.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
