Lamb Stew

As a businessman, pink-faced Edward Lamb of Toledo is a thumping success. He presides over a varied collection of two dozen companies, six radio and TV stations and the Erie (Pa.) Dispatch. As an amateur politico, Lamb has had almost as varied a career. In the '30s and early '40s his name popped up on the membership lists of several fellow-traveling outfits, e.g., the International Labor Defense. In 1948 he supported Dewey. In 1952 he backed the Democrats.

In 1954, after Ed Lamb's license to operate his station WICU-TV in Erie, Pa. came up for a routine renewal, the FCC confronted Businessman Lamb with what it called his fellow-traveling past. It ordered hearings on charges that Lamb had "closely associated" with Communists and "intellectually accepted Communism." Lamb denied all.

Last week, after 5 1/2 months of hearings, the case against Lamb was shot full of holes. A grand jury indicted one FCC witness for perjury; another recanted his testimony, and two others admitted to violating the law.

P: FCC Witness Ernest Courey, of Mercer, Wis., who named Lamb as a Communist Party contributor, admitted under cross-examination that he had been convicted of second-degree murder, was freed after serving five years of a life sentence.

P: FCC Witness William Cummings, of Toledo, who swore Lamb was on a "must" list of Communist contributors, admitted that he was a bigamist.

P: FCC Witness Lowell Watson, of Olathe, Kans., who testified that Lamb was introduced to him as a Communist function ary, swore later that he had lied as a "result of constant and consistent coaching" by FCC staffers.

The biggest blow to the Government's case came from its star witness, prim Marie Natvig. In October Mrs. Natvig held the stand for 13 days, and under questioning by FCC Attorney Walter R. Powell Jr., told luridly and convincingly of meeting "Comrade Lamb" at a Communist Party gathering. The two discussed Communism in a Columbus, O. bistro named the Purple Cow, she swore, and ended the discussion in a hotel room, where she committed her "first act of infidelity." Three months later the grey-haired grandmother recanted. On the stand Mrs. Natvig said that she had been "brainwashed" and forced to lie about Lamb by FCC Lawyer Powell, who threatened "to make trouble for me" unless she cooperated. Said she:"Only an idiot would have put any credence in anything I said."

After hearing this, FCC Examiner Herbert Sharfman announced that he considered her testimony "completely incredible"and worthless. Last week in Washington, a federal grand jury indicted Marie Natvig on nine counts of perjury. None of them, however, had anything to do with the main issue of the Lamb case. The indictment merely charged that Mrs. Natvig had perjured herself when she 1) charged FCC Lawyer Powell with "coercing" her into lying, and 2) denied she had told the FBI that she had been a Red.

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