"Pride in My Name"

Charles Oliphant, still suffering from the emotional collapse which had postponed his appearance before the House's King subcommittee, cringed in the witness chair. At times his lips moved and no words came out. His gestures were in slow motion.

Oliphant had been a nervous wreck since the day Chicago Attorney Abraham Teitelbaum told the subcommittee a saga of shakedown. The main point of Teitel-baum's story was that a "Washington clique," including Oliphant, was in the market for bribes from income-tax payers in trouble. Oliphant promptly quit his job as chief counsel of the Bureau of Internal Revenue, complaining that such a "fantastic" story should never have been permitted in public testimony. Such "vilification" was too much to take, he said.

Essentially Social. Last week, the subcommittee's interest centered around Oliphant's relationship with Henry Grunewald, a mysterious Washington "investigator" mentioned several times in connection with the Teitelbaum case. Theron Lamat Caudle, the recently fired Assistant Attorney General, said it might have been Grunewald who called Teitelbaum and warned him to pay off.

"I knew Grunewald for four or five years," said Oliphant. "I make no effort to minimize our friendship. Our relations were essentially social. I visited him at his apartment [in Washington], at his places in Florida and New Jersey." They often had lunch together, and Grunewald always picked up the check. Yes, Grunewald lent Sim money--$1,300 some time last year. Furthermore, Oliphant had given jobs in his bureau to people suggested by Grunewald.

One day at lunch, said Oliphant, Grunewald made "casual inquiry" about the Teitelbaum case. Oliphant checked the record at his office and told Grunewald the status of the case. Two days later, Oliphant acted to speed up prosecution of Teitelbaum--a handy tool for the fixers, who had, so Teitelbaum said, threatened him with speedy prosecution if he didn't come across with a $500,000 bribe. But Oliphant just couldn't remember why he did that.

The subcommittee was interested in other Oliphant friends. One of these was Poncet Davis, an Akron businessman. Oliphant was Davis' guest at the Kentucky

Derby, the World Series and a Sugar Ray Robinson fight this year. In New York on one occasion, they stayed at the Waldorf-Astoria. Davis took Oliphant to the Belmont Stakes, too.

One of the Finest. "Poncet Davis was and is an intimate friend of mine," said Oliphant. "He is one of the finest men I have ever met. He later told me he had tax difficulties and I disqualified myself. I was being very scrupulous with Mr. Davis. Ultra-scrupulous."

While Oliphant was testifying, one of the finest men he ever met was giving himself up to federal authorities in Cleveland on three criminal warrants. Davis is charged with dodging corporation taxes of about $201,000.

There were other similar Oliphant social sorties. He had gone to Florida on a fishing trip as the guest of a man in tax trouble. He had flown to the Kentucky Derby in the plane of Edwin Pauley, the California oilman, who also was the defendant in a tax case.

Summed up, Charles Oliphant's trips to the Derby, nights at the Waldorf, seats at the sport events, fishing trips and other social activities established him as one of Washington's most diligent freeloaders. As he left the stand, Subcommittee Chairman Cecil King read him a lecture: "You have been the victim of people who sought you out. [Their cases have received] protection and consideration beyond that of the ordinary citizen." Oliphant did not agree. "I know of my own integrity and I know of my pride in my name," he said.

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