The Miami News from Miami, Florida • 3

MORNING AFTER NANNEY SLAIN JACK ROBERTS Cabbie Tells Of Ride With Lopez, Toni I 4 1 4, he noticed about Lopez, In addition to the bundle, was that he was barefoot. The bundle, he added, had a big red spot on it about four Inches across. Sacher said he took the couple from he motel at 63rd Street and Biscayne Boulevard to Shell's City at NW 7th Avenue and 55th Street, where Lopez had mentioned he hoped to buy some shoes. "I let them out but instead of going into the front entrance, they went around to the rear," Sacher said. "I drove off and slowed at the By WILLIAM TUCKER Miami Niwi Reporter A cab driver with curiosity testified today he saw Felix Lopez come out of a Miami motel carrying a huge white bundle and accompanied by Mrs.

Toni Kay Nanney the morning after her husband was slain. The cabbie, Donald A. Sacher, testified on the fourth day of Mrs. Nanney's trial before Circuit Judge Raymond G. Nathan on charges of murdering her husband last July 23.

Lopez pleaded guilty to the charges earlier in the trial. Sacher said the first thing he was not carrying the bundle nor the coat hanger." It was brought out that Lopez also carried a suit on a hanger when he entered the cab with Mrs. Nanney. The state charges that Mrs. Nanney conspired with Lopez, her lover, to murder her husband so they could collect his Insurance worth almost $47,000.

After the husband, Joseph Nanney, was slain with a tire tool, the state contends, Mrs. Nanney helped Lopez dispose of the evidence, This Included the death weapon and bloody clothing Including Lopez' shirt and shoes, the state charged. Sacher left the couple at Shell's City, but his role in the day's events was not completed. He said he drove to his station on 79th Street in Little River and got a call to the Seaboard Railroad Station. He took a route back down NW 7th Avenue past Shell's City.

"On a corner there is a burger stand and next to it, an advertising sign and some shrubbery," Sacher said. "As I passed I saw Mr. Lopez standing near the sign shak ing out a white rag. I did not see Mrs. Nanney then." The cab driver sid he circled the block but did not see the couple anymore.

But he later reported the incident to Miami Police and that night pointed out to them the area where he saw Lopez shaking out the cloth. "One of the officers looked Into the shrubbery and said Here It Sacher said. "He didn't pick It up then but I could see It was a tire-Iron." Then, on cross examina-Continued on Page 4A 1 1 i i PHIL SPITALNY EVELYN SPITALNY TONI KAY NANNEY corner and looked through my rear view window. I saw them come out and this time The Miami News 5VnM Mm IK frl, Lr Pill 3A Page 4A Thursday, March 7, 19611 SDerti's Girl Takes Stand 9 See Bidn 'hootin Says Phil Spitalny, Evelyn Find Miami Magic They're a charming couple. They live in quiet, premature retirement in a cottage oti Miami Beach's Pine Tree Drive.

The clue to their past rests in some wrought iron musical notes and a violin over the door, Each evening, precisely at five, they seat themselves before stereo set and listen to an hour of symphony music before dinner. They have thousands of records, collected from all over the world. Occasionally, they retire to a studio behind the cottage where the woman unpacks her Bergonzi violin, an exceedingly rare instrument, and plays for her husband. The Bergonzi has to be played to retain its mellowness, but the woman explains: "I will never play in public again without my husband." The husband is a famed conductor, forced into retirement some 10 years ago by the onslaught of pernicious anemia. LEAD A QUIET BUT FULL LIFE "We lead a quiet but full life," says the man.

"We attend plays and We read a lot. I stick to magazines and papers and my wife reads a lot of books. Each summer we tour Eruope. We go to all the major summer music festivals. We've become avid listeners rather than performers." The husband is Phil Spitalny, who was well-known as a conductor back in the early 1930's when he attended the debut" of a child prodigy violinist at New York's Town Hall.

Spitalny was very much tied up then as a conductor of the all-male orchestra at the Capitol Theater, but listening to 14-y ear-old Evelyn Kaye gave him the idea of starting an all-girl I He got Miss Kaye's address and called at her York-ville home in New York City, an area often called "Little, Hungary." Her grandmother suspected him of evil designs, and slammed the door in his face. Not to be outdone, he slipped some tickets to the Capitol Theater under the door along with an invitation to audition. Young Miss properly chaperoned by her mother, did accept the invitation and was promptly signed and Esperti drove to her apartment and that later they went "by Vernell's house." She left Esperti there, with her car, she said, and took a taxicab to Miami International Airport Motel. Later, she thought but wasn't sure Esperti drove to the airport hotel and left her car there for her. She did not?" A.

"No, I did not see who it was." Q. "What happened then? How did you leave the bar? A. "Tony came over and grabbed me by the arm and said, let's get out of here. I don't want to get involved in Under further questioning, Miss Fowler said that she not been called as a court's witness. Testimony resumed today after more than an hour's testimony concerning a tussle yesterday between Good-hart and Vernell in the Courthouse lobby.

Vernel and Goodhart engaged in a wrestling match over a defense witness late Continued on Page 4A said she belived he was accompanied by Vernell, but again wasn't sure. Miss Fowler was still to tell her story before the jury and was certain to be subjected to a rigorous cross examination State Attorney Richard Gerstein or members of his staff a procedure which would not have 'been possible had she By MILT SOSIN Miami Newt Reporter Audrey Fowler, girl friend of Tony Esperti, today told her version of what happened on the early morning of Oct. 31 when Tommy (The Enforcer) Altamura was gunned down in the Harbor Lounge on the 79th Street Causeway. Esperti is on trial for first-degree murder in the Alta-mura slaying. While the red-haired Miss Fowler was telling her account of the murder night, Esperti's wife, excluded from the courtroom because she is on the list of defense witnesses, sat outside.

Judge John J. Kehoe called Miss Fowler as a court's, witness after the state informed him that Miss Fowler, when called as state witness, -before the grand refused to testify or I even take an oath. When she first was Interrogated by the judge out of the presence of the jury, she refused to answer any questions. Her face twitching nervously, she told the judge in a low tone, again and again, "I don't want to answer that." Suddenly, Assistant State Attorney David Goodhart interrupted with, "Your Ho-nor, the defendant is standing there looking at the wit up by Spitalny as the nucleus of his all-girl-orchestra-to-be. A 4 "el 1 iv-V 'V I Miami News Photo by Charles Trainor AUDREY FOWLER, Tony Esperti's girl friend, walks toward courtroom for testimony.

GIRL ORCHESTRA MADE HISTORY "All I needed was 37 other girls with something close to Evelyn's talents," recalls Spitalny. "To get them I toured the country auditioning thousands." Finally, in May of 1934, the all-girl orchestra made its first appearance at the Capitol Theater. Any red-blooded American male over 40 can fill you in on the next couple of decades. The girls, all highly talented musicians and top-drawer in the looks department, made musical history. Evelyn became "Evelyn and Her Magic Violin," and the orchestra began a radio stint in 1937 which would last for 10 years under the same sponsor.

The Sunday night "Hour of Charm" was a top rated show all those years. There were many movies and nationwide tours. Spitalny and Evelyn were married in 1947 in Margate, N.J. He slipped the judge who married them $100 to keep it quiet, but the news was in all the gossip columns the next day. Spitalny says he can't really recall why he wanted to keep the wedding quiet except that he probably wished to retain the illusion of a "girl's orchestra," not an orchestra of married women.

MIAMI BEACH 'JUST PERFECT' When retirement was thrust on the Spitalnys by his illness, they started looking for a new home. First they tried Los Angeles, but the smog was bad for Spitalny and Evelyn found the area to be "culturally arid." Then they tried Majorca. The Spanish island had the right climate but it was a cultural vacuum for the Spitalnys. They came here in 1961. "Miami Beach has been perfect," says Evelyn Spitalny.

"My husband is much improved and we have the symphony, the opera and plays to see. Please say how much we enjoy Channel 2, the educational TV station. "We always listen to the Boston Symphony on Sunday and watch the 'Play of the Week' regularly. We don't agree with William Buckley, but we adore his program." The only unpleasantness faced by the Spitalnys in Miami Beach was when someone tried to have the pine trees on Pine Tree Drive cut down. Out they charged from retirement and protested at City Hall.

The pine trees are still there. Miami News Photo by Charles Trainor Metro OKs One More Judgeship By DICK HOLLAND Mumi Newt Reporter Metro commissioners today voted to add a fourth judge to the Dade juvenile court, which is slowly becoming swamped with a backlog of cases due to a U.S. Supreme Court decision. By unanimous vote of the seven commissioners present, an ordinance was adopted on first reading to create the additional i and provide for an interim appointment by Gov. Claude Kirk.

The interim appointment will be necessary because the post is a state office and will have to be filled during the regular state elections this year. If the commission approves the ordinance on final reading March 19, it will take effect March 29, and ness and shaking his head at her." "What do you mean, I'm looking at her?" Esperti snapped back. "I'd like to shake your head right off your shoulders." When the witness refused again and again to answer, Judge Kehoe pointed out to her that he had granted immunity from prosecution as an accessory in the case and told her that if she persisted in her refusal, he would have to take some action to enforce the law, evidently warning her against possible punishment for contempt of court. At this point, her attorneys, Louis Vernell and William Moran, suggested to the court that if they could have a brief conference with Miss Fowler, it might be of help to the court. When she returned to the witness chair 10 minutes later, she answered the judge's questions.

Asked what had happened in the Harbor Lounge, she said: "I was sitting at the bar and there was some kind of a commotion and I heard shots fired." Q. "Did you see who fired the shots?" A. "No I did not." CRUISE OF BARKER SLADE Up Anchor, Pass The Caviar 600-foot-long ship, which carries $50 million worth of electronic equipment. And after the caviar-and-bouillabaisse lunch (observed a little enviously by crewmen painting the ship), came a special surprise: the Redstone's captain, James Sedam, invited the whole party aboard for a conducted tour. The Redstone leaves next week for somewhere in the Atlantic to prepare for the next space shot in three weeks.

From left: Bill Soulby, Aaron Spector, Betty Baker, Martha Spector, Barker Slade. It was an unlikely place for a birthday party, but they are, after all, slightly unlikely people who call themselves The Friends of Barker Slade. Barker, a retired stockbroker, is a boat buff. He has been intrigued especially recently by the U.S. naval ship Redstone, part of the Apollo space program, now tied up at Miami's Pier 3.

So, for his 52nd birthday yesterday, The Friends of Barker Slade threw a surprise party for him practically beneath the bow of the 2 Policemen Indicted For Rights Violations Dade's Share Will Top $34 Million They are accused on two counts: conspiracy to violate the rights of the youth, Robert Quenton Owens and of still allow time for prospective candidates to file their qualifying fees. They will run in the state primaries in May and the judge will be elected in November, to take office in January, 1969. Gov. Kirk would have the right to make his appointment any time after March 29. Senior Dade Juvenile Judge Donald Stone said there is a three-months backlog of cases before the court, largely as a result of the Supreme Court's "Gait decision." This decision was handed down last May in a case which arose in Arizona.

Essentially, it guarantees any juvenile charged with any offense the right to counsel Continued on Page 4A actually violating his million to the teachers in pay raises. Most of the property tax reduction money, however, can be expected to be taken from the $17 million allocated for general education improvements. This is a new program and nobody thus could say he had been hurt too much. The net amount of state money Dade will have to spend on its schools for 1968-69 will be approximately $70 million, not too far from double current state appropriations. lion for kindergartens, $1.6 million for instructional material, $613,000 for exceptional child classes, $489,000 to reduce teacher-pupil ratio in first grade, $903,000 for additional supervisors, for transportation, for textbooks, and for teacher retirement.

A total of $6,09 million would go for capital outlay. The $12,430,000 million for property tax roll back must be taken from the appropriations listed above. That is, the school board would not have to give the full $9.5 placed on property for school purposes. This may be a one-shot relief deal for the property taxpayer, however, as there is already talk the 1969 Legislature may be forced to change the 10-mill ceiling law because of additional school needs. Total state funds allocated Dade for the current school year amounted to The new money voted by the recent special education session will go for teacher salary increases; other current expenses for kindergar By CHARLES F.

HESSER Miami New Politic! Writer Dade County will receive approximately $34,600,000 in new state money for the 1968-69 school year under the education bill Gov. Claude Kirk says he will let become law, the State Department of Education estimated today. Altogether Dade will get $47,050,000 in new state money, but $12,430,000 of this sum must be used to roll back property taxes under the new 10-mill ceiling Two former Miami policemen have been indicted by a federal grand jury for civil rights violations on allegations they dangled a 17-year-old Negro from a bridge over the Miami River. Indictments were returned yesterday against Jerry Paul Edwards, 27, of 17600 NW 4th Ave. and John A.

Creek-more, 23, of 134 Salamanca who resigned after they were suspended by Police Chief Walter Headley last month. ten through the 12th grade, such as new kindergarten classes; exceptional child classes; reduced pupil-teacher ratio in the first grade; more supervisors, thus giving teachers more planning time; transportation; general improvement programs; textbooks; teacher retirement; and capital outlay (buildings). In Dade County, teachers are theoretically down for $9.5 million in salary increases, while. $17 million would go for general education improvements, $2.3 mil- t. rights.

Owens, of 1461 NW 60th said the two took him into custody after accusing him of carrying a concealed knife, drove him to the bridge and forced him to strip to his undershorts. He said they suspended him by his' heels 125 feet above the river and then released him. (j.