News stories from Wednesday October 3, 1973

Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:

President Nixon held an impromptu press conference and backed both Spiro Agnew and the Justice Department's handling of the Agnew investigation. The President said that Agnew's decision about resigning (if he is indicted) should be respected, adding that he hoped the news leaks will be stopped, and Agnew's innocence should not be doubted until proven otherwise. Questioned as to whether the Justice Department's investigation has been unfair to Agnew, Nixon stated that he supports assistant Attorney General Henry Petersen's inquiry into the allegations.In other items, the President refused to discuss a compromise regarding the White House tapes. He stated that he hopes the Austrian Chancellor will reconsider his decision to close transit stations to Soviet Jews emigrating to Israel and declared that governments shouldn't give in to blackmail by terrorist groups. Nixon refused to comment on the possible removal of Phase IV economic controls, and called for another press conference to announce Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's upcoming visit to Peking. [CBS] The Providence (R.I.) Journal reported that President Nixon paid little income tax in 1970 and 1971. White House spokesman Gerald Warren said that the President's returns were legal. [CBS] The federal grand jury hearing evidence of kickback allegations against Vice President Spiro Agnew in Baltimore listened to Judge Walter Hoffman's orders about news leaks. The judge allowed Agnew's attorneys the right to take depositions from White House officials, reporters and others in order to track down the source of the news leaks in the Agnew case. [CBS] "Dirty tricks" specialist Donald Segretti appeared today at the Senate Watergate committee hearings. Among other actions, Segretti admitted being responsible for false press releases sent on Hubert Humphrey's stationery during the 1972 presidential campaign. He stated that his boss, White House aide Dwight Chapin, saw those press releases and laughed at them. Segretti confirmed that he knew he was working for the White House, but said he was unsure if the President knew about his activities.Segretti testified that he had numerous contacts with John Dean, who advised Segretti not to mention his dealings with Chapin, Herbert Kalmbach and Gordon Strachan. Segretti gave those names to the grand jury after a juror questioned him regarding high White House officials who were also involved with the "dirty tricks". [CBS] Last month, convicted stock swindler Louis Mastriana accused former president Franklin Roosevelt's son Elliott of being involved in a plot to kill the Prime Minister of the Bahamas. Roosevelt appeared before a Senate committee today to deny those allegations. Another convicted swindler, Patsy Lepera, linked Roosevelt to other stock-swindling escapades. Roosevelt denied all charges, claiming that Mastriana and Lepera committed perjury before the committee, though Roosevelt did concede knowing some underworld figures. He claimed that the underworld owns Miami Beach, where he used to be mayor. [CBS] Police in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands have a suspect in the latest racial murders on the island. James Kernan confessed to the slayings of two white American teachers. [CBS] In Boston, Massachusetts, six black youths forced Evelyn Wagler to douse herself with the can of gasoline she was carrying back to her car for her empty fuel tank, then they set her on fire. Before dying, Miss Wagler restated the racial threats she received from the youths. Police criticized television for having depicted a similar incident in a movie which aired the previous weekend. [CBS] A television tower collapsed outside of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, killing five people. The tower was owned by station KCRG-TV of Cedar Rapids. [CBS] Royal Canadian Mounted Police warned that the cloud of hydrogen sulfide over New Norway, Alberta, still presents a danger. The cloud spewed from a nearby oil well yesterday and the town was evacuated. [CBS] The Atlanta mayoral race will be decided in a runoff between black vice mayor Maynard Jackson and white incumbent Sam Massell. [CBS] A Washington, DC federal appeals court ordered the Federal Power Commission to delay its order to free natural gas from production price controls this winter. [CBS] The Cost of Living Council reported that another increase in retail gasoline prices is likely to be permitted. However, some gas station owners continue to leave their businesses closed to protest the existence of Phase IV economic controls altogether. The Justice Department is investigating the legality of the station owners' actions. [CBS] John Trotman, president of the American National Cattlemen's Association, said that beef prices will soon decrease by as much as 30%. [CBS] Chile announced that the leader of the ousted Communist party, Luis Corvalan, will be tried by a military court. The announcement caused an undiplomatic confrontation at the United Nations General Assembly between the Chilean and the Saudi Arabian delegates. [CBS] November 22 will be the tenth anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination and the subsequent shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald. Mrs. Oswald remarried and has taught her children to answer questions regarding father without fear. [CBS] 84-year-old Walter Lippmann, the dean of American journalists, was listed in satisfactory condition in a New York hospital after suffering a stroke at his Manhattan home. [CBS] The United Nations rejected a proposal to take over operation of an Austrian transit station for Soviet Jews emigrating to Israel. However, the Netherlands may consider providing a transit center for Jews. Egypt's minister of tourism will personally thank Austrian Chancellor Kreisky for his decision to close the transit station; the Israeli cabinet condemned the Arab guerrillas' demand for the station to be closed in return for releasing four hostages who were taken last week.The emigration of Soviet Jews is touchy topic for the United States and Soviet Union as well as Israel. President Nixon and Secretary of State Kissinger hope to dissuade Congress from withholding most favored nation status from Russia until Soviet Jews are allowed to emigrate freely because they fear that detente will be upset by such action. [CBS]

Stock Market Report

Dow Jones Industrial Average: 964.55 (+7.75, +0.81%)
S&P Composite: 108.78 (-0.01, -0.01%)
Arms Index: 1.20

	Issues	Volume*
Advances	943	11.21
Declines	597	8.53
Unchanged	309	2.30
Total Volume		22.04

* in millions of shares

Arms Index is the ratio of volume per declining issue to volume per advancing issue; a figure below 1.0 is bullish.

Market Index Trends
Date	DJIA	S&P	Volume*
October 2, 1973	956.80	108.79	20.77
October 1, 1973	948.83	108.21	15.83
September 28, 1973	947.10	108.43	16.30
September 27, 1973	953.27	109.08	23.66
September 26, 1973	949.50	108.83	21.13
September 25, 1973	940.55	108.05	21.53
September 24, 1973	936.71	107.36	19.49
September 21, 1973	927.90	107.20	23.76
September 20, 1973	920.53	106.76	25.96
September 19, 1973	910.37	105.88	24.57