TRIALS: Minister With Portfolio

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You have heard and will hear a lot about letters. Letters, letters, letters. In these you will find the saddest part of this case, believe me. Boyd Douglas. I think he is a very sad case. He's been in trouble all his life. The U.S. Government in its majesty did not deign to tell you much about this man's background. I think he's made lying a way of life.

The opening statement of Defense Attorney Ramsey Clark left no doubt as to who would be the central character in the trial of the Harrisburg Seven. Indeed, ever since the Rev. Philip Berrigan and his co-defendants were indicted on conspiracy charges 15 months ago, the man who informed on them has been hidden away in protected seclusion. Thus, when the call came last week for his appearance, a hush fell over the courtroom. Moments later, Boyd Douglas Jr., 31—ex-con, informer and the Government's star witness—walked through a side door and took the stand.

Puffy. To trial goers who expected a flamboyant superspy, Douglas proved to be something of a disappointment. Dressed in a gray business suit, he looked pallid and puffy. He spoke his testimony in a low, dispassionate monotone, using the stilted phraseology of a police blotter. Douglas' flat presentation, though, belied his importance to the case.

Convicted of such offenses as impersonating an Army officer, assaulting an FBI agent and fraud, Douglas has spent most of the past eight years in federal prisons. Following a conviction for passing $19,215 worth of bad checks, he was sent to the Lewisburg, Pa., penitentiary. There, in 1970, he befriended Philip Berrigan, who is serving a sentence for destroying Selective Service records. Douglas was permitted to leave the prison during the day to attend classes at nearby Bucknell University. Soon he began to smuggle letters in and out of prison between Berrigan and Sister Elizabeth McAlister. Douglas subsequently delivered copies of the letters to the FBI, which, citing passages that alluded to the kidnaping of Henry Kissinger and the bombing of Government buildings, supported the conspiracy charges.

In the System. In response to gentle questioning from Prosecutor William Lynch, Douglas told the court of his involvement with Berrigan. "I had become pretty sympathetic to Philip Berrigan's philosophy about the destruction of draft-card records," he said. "At that time, he advised me that he had several projects under study round the country. One involved the destruction of the utility system in Washington, D.C. He advised me he had been in this system—down in the tunnel system itself—with another individual. He said that he had been there posing as an electrical engineer. I told him that I had some experience with explosives while in the Army." "Was that an accurate statement?" asked Lynch. "No," answered Douglas laconically. "I had no experience."