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Big Splash. Considerably clearer was the decline of Preacher-Politician Powell. Having already lost the chairmanship of the House Education and Labor Committee, he learned last week that about a dozen of his patronage appointees—with total salaries of some $150,000—were being dismissed from the committee staff. Another candidate for unemployment relief was Corinne Huff, his pretty $19,227-a-year traveling companion, who was summoned to appear this week along with Powell's estranged wife Yvette, who has already been severed from her $20,578 sinecure.
Powell's legal trouble resulting from his libel of a Harlem widow also continues to plague him. Earlier this month his representatives turned over $32,460, part of the yield from his record, Keep the Faith, Baby. Now, according to the plaintiff's attorney, he owes only $139,765.46. As for Powell's prospects of regaining his seat in the House, even Manny Celler was lugubrious. "He didn't help any," said Celler. More than ever, Adam Powell seemed more interested in making yet another big splash than in returning to Congress.
*Notably, that of Utah's Brigham Roberts, elected to the House in 1899, who was refused formal admission because, as a Mormon, he practiced polygamy.