FYER nine hours' deliberation, a jury of farmers and, small 'A town tradesmen here to-day rocked one of the nation's largest dustries by returning a blanket conviction against sixteen. oil companies and thirty executives for criminal conspiracy to raise and fix gasoline prices in 1935-36.
The case arose from a'Federal Grand Jury investigation begun almost.two years ago.
The case was described as the greatest criminal prosecution of its kind in the United States and ranked with the sugar trust case and the Standard Oil Company dissolution case.
Companies convicted to-day me Jond approach to finishing its investicluded the Standard Olt Company of sation of the American Telephone and Indiana, the Socony-Vacuum Oil Com pany and other leaders in the potro-Yeum "industry. "Executives "of the' companies, may be fined $5,000 and imprisoned for a-year and the companies convicted may be fined $5,000 Under the statute governing the ease. United Press.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.