Government May Drop Charges Against Furry

The Federal Government may drop the contempt indictments against Wendell H. Furry, associate professor of Physics, it was learned last night.

U.S. Attorney Anthony Julian spent yesterday in Washington, conferring on the matter with officials of the Justice Department. The government has until May 14 to decide whether or not it will prosecute the case.

Furry is scheduled to stand trial in the Boston Federal Courthouse May 21 for charges of contempt of Congress, resulting from his refusal to answer questions put to him by Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy (R-Wis.) at hearings held in the winter of 1954.

Furry gave information concering his own connection with alleged subversive groups, but declined, on "grounds of conscience" to answer questions about the activities of his assoicates during this same period.

Kamin Acquitted

The question of dropping the indictments against Furry was raised when Judge Bailey Aldrich '28 acquitted Leon J. Kamin '48, former instructor in Social Relations, also charged with contempt for refusing to answer questions about his associates on the same grounds as Furry had used.

This decision, however, came before the conviction of Marcus Singer, former instructor in Zoology, for refusing to answer similar questions before the House Un-American Activities Committee.