Two of the three Queens youths accused of consorting for unlawful purposes after police found a quantity of anti-Semitic literature in their possession were in the hospital today for mental observation. The third was free on ball after treason charges placed against them by one magistrate were dismissed by another.
The three were John Wallace, 21, self-styled leader of a Nazi group, Hugh Barlow. 20 and Richard Phelps 16, all of Flushing in suburban Queens. They were arrested in a police raid on Wallace’s home. Magistrate Milton Solomon ordered the treason charge placed for the first time in New York state judicial history because “it seems to me these defendants were conducting a war of their own.”
Magistrate James Lo Picolo dismissed the charge on a motion by the district attorney who said there was not enough evidence to make the treason charge stick. The charges were reduced to conspiracy and disorderly conduct which carry a maximum sentence of a year in Jail and a $500 fine.
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.
