Two Gunmen Took A Chance That President Truman Was In

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 November 1950, Page 5

Two Gunmen Took A Chance That President Truman Was In

WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (Recd. 6pm) j Two Puertoricans who tried to kill , President. Truman yesterday "just. I took a chance" that the President ' was there when they charged into; Blair House, the surviving gunman, Collazo, said today. Collazo explained that he and Torresola, who was killed by Presidential guards, meant to shoot their way inside with the expectation of encountering Mr Truman there. Collazo made an informal statement in hospital. He said that only two weeks of conferences between him and Torresola preceded their decision to “take the law into our own hands." Collazo, who is expected to survive his wounds, was moved today from an emergency hospital to a gaol ward m another hospital, which is deemed more secure. Authorities said that Collazo, who denied that he is a Communist, declared that he met Torresola a fortnight ago in the Puertorican colony in New York City. Both were members of Ihe Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico. They agreeu that something should be done to gain their country’s independence from the United States. Collazo said he and Torresola obtained pistols and went to Washington on Tuesday, where they registered at an hotel under assumed names.

i Describing the shooting, Collazo said ihe and Torresola approached from i different directions. They converged on a guard box. Collazo aimed at the : guards, but his gun jammed. He ejected a bad cartridge and fired nine i shots at the guards and then put in a fresh clip and tired three more shots. 1 Collazo did not say what part. Torre- ' sola took in the actual shooting . I Collazo denied that Pedro Albizu Campos, leader of the Puetorican Nationalist extremists, had ’ to do with his determination to kill the President. He said he and Torresola , acted because his native countrymen i: had been “enslaved” and the United 1 States had made tools of Puertorican ! politicians. Collazo pointed out reL peatedly to questioners that. America i won its independence in a revolution- !, ary way. He said it was his idea to i start a similar revolution to liberate hit >' countrymen. In a preliminary hearing in the gaol ■ I ward of the hospital, Collazo was 1 1 charged with first degree murder of a i Blair House guard, Leslie Co f fell. Collazo was ordered to be held without bail. Formal arraignment had ■ been set for November 21. • In New York Mrs Collazo was arraigned on a charge of “conspiring to - injure,” Ihe President She was held i in 50,000 dollars, bail. tj Twelve other relatives and friends of Collazo have been arrested.