NOV a t973 conversations about the Watergate icandal: "She ,said, 'I want you to know that's not the right word,' " Bennett related. She said, " 'I did not tran- scribe the tapes. That's the wrong word to use.' " "I said, 'Rose Mary, ju%, tell the truth when you over there,' " Bennett sai, of Miss Woods' expected ap- pearance as a witness: White House lawyers said Miss Woods would testify, but it was not clear when she will be called. Former White House chief of staff I H.R. (Bob) Haldeman is ex- 1 pected to be on the stand to

ROSE MARY WOODS JOHN C. BENNETT JUDGE JOHN J. SIRICK The lengthy hearings on . . . finds gap in tapes the missing conversations — . . . describes playback . . . seeks expert analysis one with Dean and the other NOV 8 1973 a phone call that Mr. Nixon WXPost placed to former Attorney General John N. Mitchell on Tapes Have Puzzling `Gap" June 20, 1972—are certain to continue into next week. ti or by the Senate Watergate Judge Sirica announced Nixon Aide Testifies committee. yesterday that he wants an The White House asserted analysis and testimony by By George Lardner Jr. last week that two of the electronic experts to explore Washington Post Staff Writer tapes that Cox subpoenaed "the reasons that might ex- President Nixon's personal secretary, for the Watergate grand ist for the non-existence of Rose Mary Woods, has found a puzzling jury here—one of them a these conversations." He said that phase "may well, "gap" in one of Mr. Nixon's Watergate- t crucial April 15, 1973, talk between the President and be the most important and related tapes, a White House aide testi- conclusive part of these 'lied yesterday. Dean about the —never existed. hearings." Deputy presidential assistant John C. 1 White House lawyers and Bennett said in federal court here that Miss Woods was told ;on witnesses have said the Miss Woods complained to him on Tues- Monday, however, that the tape ran out before Mr. day that one of the recordings she was President wanted an ac- Nixon's talk with Dean in reviewing for the President seemed to, count of a conversation he the Executive Offiee Build- trail off in mid-conversation. had with Dean on April 16— ing on April 15, a Sunday "She apparently had found a gap' in which was not subpoenaed. night. ,Theyi say the phone what she expected to be a recorded con- Bennett said he gave her Mr. Nixon used to call Mitch- versation," Bennett said. He said he pre- half a dozen tapes, any one ell was not hooked up tq sumed it involved a talk between the of which might contain a re- the long-secret system for President and former White House coun- cording of that encounter. recording presidential con-, sel John- W. Dean III. Under questioning by versations. The White House aide said that Miss Watergate Assistant Special The Secret Service agent Woods . mentioned the problem to him Prosecutor Richard Ben- who helped install the sys- when he returne4 to the White House Veniste, Bennett said Miss tem in. February of 1971, Tuesday evening following his first day's Woods was playing the tapes Randy Nelson, testified yes- testimony on the tapes before U.S. Dis- back on an ordinary ma- terday that fresh reels of trict Court Judge John J. Sirica. chine without any special tape were not normally in- "Did Miss Woods seem to be sur- devices that he knew of for stalled on weekends. prised?" Judge Sirica asked him. preventing inadvertent era- But Nelson, who went to a "I think she was puzzled," Bennett sures or mutilations. new assignment early in said. "The tape, was on the machine. She 1972, said under cross-exami- said, 'I've got a gap in this.'" If any -chance damage were done to the tapes,13en- nation that he never knew See TAPES, A5, Col. 1 nett acknowledged, there of a tape running out on a would be no way to retrieve weekend either. "Not to my knowledge," TAPES, Frain Al the conversations. he said. But he added: "I've Bennett, the official cus- "So far as I know," he heard that a tape ran out." todian of Mr. Nixon's secret said, "there is no copy of the The last witness of the tapes since last July 18, said tapes in existence." day, Alfred Wong, now dep- he told her: "'Rose Mary, I Bennett testified Tuesday uty assistant director of the don't know what portion of that White House chief of Secret Service, said that he the tape you're interested in, staff Alexander M. Haig Jr. unsuccessfully opposed but do the best you can.' " told him Miss Woods was White House demands in "transcribing" conversations 1971 that the Secret Service Bennett said that he was on the tapes in her poSses- install the system, but was not certain just what tape sion lfor the President. Ws- overruled by then presiden- Miss Woods was having a terday" he said she might tial assistant Alexander But- problem with. She has had simply be summarizing terfield. He said Butterfield eight of Mr. Nixon's secret them instead of making told him "the P r e si d ent Watergate tapes for more word-for-word transcripts. wanted a historical record than a month and another Miss Woods, Bennett ex- of the activities of his of- six were given to her Mon- plained, walked into his fice." day. But not all of them are White House office yester- Wong said he eventually covered by the subpoenas day morning after reading agreed to the system, only on that were issued either by of Benriett's Tuesday te§ti- condition that,Secret Service former Watergate Special molly about technicians and agents not Prosecutor h r "transcribing" Mr. Nixon's listen to any o the tapes.