Later the same day, the chairman of the Nat-Lib national committee was quick to announce that James Harker had voluntarily severed his party connections in January, was now a private citizen, and in no way represented the membership of the National-Liberal Party. It was a neat disavowal that took the Nat-Libs off the hook in case the reaction against reanimation grew stronger, but left them an avenue of entry just in case public opinion should swing back in favor of Harker. Work at the lab had come practically to a standstill. "If we only had a few more weeks," Raymond mourned, "we might be able to lick the remaining defects and get public approval. But they won't leave us alone to work." A delegation of FBI men and the four investigating senators visited the laboratory a week after the hearings had begun, and Raymond and Harker reluctantly showed them the data on the revivifications so far--excluding that of Senator Thurman, which had not been recorded in any way whatever. They checked through the photos, compared them with those of Wayne Janson, and left. That night the FBI issued an official statement which read, in part, "_Examination of the Beller Laboratories' records does not indicate that the late Mr. Janson ever received treatment there. Since there is nothing in Janson's own private papers that leads us to believe he as much as knew of the existence of the Beller organization prior to its public announcement, we must conclude that no reanimation did take place._" This left Jonathan Bryant in an ambiguous position, since he continued to maintain that Janson _had_ undergone reanimation, and had suffered a severe change in personality as a result, leading to his suicide. "This ought to settle Jonathan for good," Harker crowed when the text of the FBI exoneration reached him. After all, it had to be obvious to everyone that Bryant had perpetrated a hoax designed solely to discredit reanimation and arouse popular fears against it. But again Harker was wrong. The day after publication of the FBI statement, Jonathan Bryant was subpoenaed to appear before the investigating committee. The questioner was Senator Vorys. The interchange between Bryant and Vorys was widely reported in the late editions that day: SENATOR VORYS: _You knew the late Wayne Janson well?_ BRYANT: _I was his closest friend._ VORYS: _When did he first mention reanimation to you?_ BRYANT: _About January. He said his doctor had told him about the experiments going on in Litchfield._ VORYS: _What is the name of this doctor?_ BRYANT: _I'm sorry, I don't know, Senator Vorys._ VORYS: _Very well. Go ahead._ BRYANT: _Well, Wayne suffered a stroke in February and he told me that he was going to Litchfield, that he felt close to death and was volunteering for reanimation._ VORYS: (Interrupting) _The FBI did check and found that Janson had been away from home during February and March._