The Elusive Adam

There may have been Congressmen who griped at the brief 92 days between sessions--but not Harlem's Adam Clayton Powell. When the 89th Congress convened last week, Powell was finally free to go home. Such are the paradoxes of being the House's No. 1 fugitive from justice.

For 21 months, Powell has ducked paying a $46,500 libel judgment won by Mrs. Esther James, a Harlem widow whom Powell labeled on TV as a "bag woman" for gambling payoffs. With interest, Powell's debt is now close to $51,000. With rare severity, New York has issued a warrant for his civil ar rest. But now that Congress has convened, Solon Powell has once more donned the constitutional toga (Art. I, Sec. 6) that immunizes Congressmen from civil arrest "during their attendance at the sessions of their respective houses, and in going to and returning from the same."

Between sessions, Powell simply avoids New York, visits such havens as Hawaii in the company of his secretary. (When Congress convenes, he also rarely attends.) But even so, the net is closing. In 1908 the Supreme Court ruled that Congressmen are not immune from criminal as opposed to civil arrest, and New York issued a criminal warrant for Powell last July. It stems from his alleged fraudulent transfer (evading the libel payment) of a $900 check that Esquire paid him for an article ironically titled "The Duties and Responsibilities of a Congress man of the United States." According to the charge, Powell had the money paid to his wife; then it wound up in his congressional account.

The New York judge who issued the criminal warrant mercifully stayed its execution "during session of the Congress." But the judge can always modify her mercy. Meanwhile, Powell has petitioned the Supreme Court for review of the libel judgment, which was upheld by New York's highest state court. The Supreme Court may be ready to accept or reject Powell's appeal on Jan. 18. If it turns him down, the libel judgment will be final.

At that point, Mrs. James's lawyer will happily hit Powell from a new direction. He will sue the elusive Adam for punitive damages resulting from his alleged transfer of property to escape attachment for the libel debt. The new suit may ask as much as $500,000.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.