National Affairs: By the Bucketful

Five years ago Colonel Edward J. Murray was given the key to Los Angeles. As commander of Los Angeles’ own 160th Infantry he was praised to the skies by Mayor Fletcher Bowron.

As the years passed, Colonel Murray led the 160th in bloody Philippine fighting. Then, after V-J day, he became the officer in charge of the Bank of Japan’s vaults. But after he had had a leave home to Palo Alto, U.S. Customs men began to take an interest in the Colonel’s affairs. Smuggled diamonds had begun to appear in San Francisco’s gem market.

Last week, beribboned and jaunty, fresh off the boat from Japan, Colonel Murray had another, smaller key. He surrendered it to questioning Customs men. It unlocked his safe-deposit box—and out tumbled a cache of more than 500 diamonds, worth $200.,000, which he had smuggled in last year. They were, he claimed, “legitimate loot.” That had an unfortunate sound; he changed it to “legitimate souvenirs.” When he first went to Japan, he said, “there were jewels and precious metals hidden all over the country—diamonds by the bucketful.”

This week, under arrest, Colonel Murray was to fly back to Japan. Gen. MacArthur’s officers wanted to know whether he had bought a bucketful, or used a key—to the Bank of Japan’s vaults.