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j I i FRANCIS P. DUNNE State Steward Francis P. Dunne On Stand at Merritt Rehearing Questioned at Length on t Case; Lawyers Hurl Verbal Exchanges at First Session NEW YORK, N. Y.. April 19.— The public rehearing of the "Merritt case" got off to a slow start last night in Room 501 of the State Building. 80 Centre Street. The session was adjourned almost four hours later, but will be resumed tonight. Jockey Robert Merritt was denied licenses to ride In 1943 and 1944, representatives of the New York State Racing Commission and The Jockey Club alleging that he had pulled the horse Peep Show in races at Empire City on July 6 and 9 of 1942 and then had tried to win with the horse on July 16 when he was heavily played. Through attorney William Seligson, Merritt obtained an opinion from judge Carroll G. Walter that a court review of the case was admissable and a later decision by the State Supreme Court. Appellate branch, ordered a rehearing of the case before the joint board of the Jockey Club and the State Racing Commission. Herbert Bayard Swope. chairman of the State Racing Commission, presided at Tuesday nights hearing, with Ashley T. Cole also representing the commission, and Alfred H. Morris and Joseph E. Davis representing The Jockey Club. David Dows, third member of the racing commission, was out of the State and his absence led attorney Seligson to ask an adjournment, which was denied by Swope. Edmund Caddy, assistant attorney general, was advisor to the commission, and Kenneth W. Greenawalt and Harold McCollom conducted the case for The Jockey Club with Greenawalt the vocal member of the duo. History of Case Recounted The hearing was informal in character, chairman Swope remarking early in the evening that it would "not be governed by strict rules of evidence." The basic issue of the case was brought out in the preliminary statement of Greenawalt, who held, on behalf of The Jockey Club, that, the burden of proof rests upon the jockey. j This brought a sharp rejoinder from Seligson. The first witness for The Jockey Club was Francis P. Dunne, steward representing the State Racing Commission. Under questioning by Greenawalt. Dunne recounted the history of the case as he saw and heard it. Asked if he had observed Merritts ride on Peep Show at Empire City on July 6, Dunne said it was "one of the ones I noticed. It was sort of a reluc- j tant ride." j 1 This brought an instant objection from Seligson. Dunne then said. He wasnt particularly Interacted in winning." Another objection was made by Seligson, 1 who also took an exception. j Dunne, who wears spectacles which later j J caused Seligson to imply doubts as to eye- ! sight, then said: "In my opinion he pulled the horse." Much the same testimony was elicited concerning the July 9 race of Peep Show and in both instances Dunne said that his opinion was concurred in by his fellow stewards in the stand. Marshall Cassidy, representing The Jockey Club, and H. O. Vosburgh, representing the Empire City Racing Association, and it was further supported by reports by patrol judge Myron Davis. Describing this race. Dunne said he "rode the horse to get him beat." adding that, in his opinion, Merritt "has two Continued on Page Three j • i | j , 1 ] 1 i j I i ! J j I i 1 ! . • ] ; ] ; • i ; ; m Dunne on Stand In Merritt Case State Steward Undergoes Lengthy Interrogation as Rehearing Gets Under Way Continued from Page One methods of riding." Attorney Seligson objected to the general terms of Dunnei criticism. Coming to the race of July 16, 1942, in which Peep Show was beaten a head by General Mow lee, who had preceded him by wider margins in earlier races, Dunne testified that he had received a telephone call from Joe Tobin, inspector of racing for the state commission in which Tobin advised him that Peep Show was being heavily backed to win. When called to the stand later in the evening, Tobin testified that he had received this information from a betting commissioner whom he encountered on a bench outside of the paddock. Cross-examined by Seligson, Tobin admitted that there were many rumors around the race tracks, but insisted that the vast majority of the rumors acted upon, or investigated by himself and the stewards, proved to be fact. Defense Argues Horse Was Independable Attorney Seligsons cross-examination of Dunne took up the larger part of the evening. There was considerable discussion of Peep Shows earlier races, with the evident intention on Seligsons part of indicating that the horse was inconsistent at best and had not fared better under other jockeys than in the races in which he was badly beaten with Merritt in the saddle. Summarized, the argument for the defense was that Peep Show is an undepend-able horse and was better placed in the July 16 race, in which he was narrowly beaten, than he had been in earlier efforts. A brief altercation between the opposing attorneys arose over Dunnes reference to a photostatic copy of a page from the Roosevelt Hotel. New Orleans, La., register, which showed Merritt registering in company with three persons described as having police records. Seligson objected to this testimony, pointing out that Merritts wile was in the room and it was promptly made clear that no women were involved. Later the photostat was introduced in evidence, as well as reports from the New York Police Department stating that one of the three men had been convicted of bookmak-ing. This was Mario also called Romeo Velozzi. Anthony dAmore had a suspended sentence for burgiarj in 1920. The third person, George Chapman, had no record of convictions, but Seligson declared that this was a false name and asked Dunne if he did not know this man to be a detective. Dunne said he did not know anything beyond what was in the records. Refer to Chicago Incident Reference was made by Dunne to Merritts having previously threatened legal action against racing authorities in Maryland and Illinois, and he specifically referred to Merritt having paid an Illinois attorney ,500 in connection with a ringing" case in 1942. Seligson declared that Merritt had been compelled to sell his home to raise this sum, and then introduced in evidence a copy of a letter from the Illinois Racing Board, dated February 10, 1942, vacating Merritts suspension in that case. The last witness of the evening was Harry Milner, supervisor of pari-mutuel wagering for the State Tax Commission. Milner introduced records of the wagering on Peep Shows July 16, 1942, race, which showed that of 93 00 tickets sold on the horse to win, 59 were sold on Peep Show. A little less than half of the 0 win tickets were also on Peep Show, while only about one-third of the smaller wagers were on this horses chances. This testimony was designed to indicate that the smart money" was on Peep Show, but a direct question on that point by Greenawalt brought the reply from Milner, who said he knew nothing on that score. J. P. "Doc" Jones took the stand as a character witness for Merritt and said that while he might have had occasion to reprimand the rider, as he had many others, he knew of nothing dishonorable in his actions while Merritt was in his employ. A letter from Jones saying that Merritt and he had parted company on good terms, was introduced and Greenawalt declared that it did not constitute a character reference. Jones replied that had he found anything wrong with Merritts character they certainly would not have been on good terms.
