Steyskal Gets Continuance; $25,000 Bail

Judge William T. McCarthy set bail at $25,000 and continued indefinitely the case of Joseph Steyskal, the former Divinity School student accused of threatening the life of President Pusey, in U. S. District Court last Wednesday.

Steyskal, who was returned early this month from a Federal mental hospital in Springfield, Missouri, where he had been sent in February, entered a plea of not guilty.

In February, Steyskal was examined by a Boston psychiatrist at the order of George C. Sweeney, Chief Justice of the District Court, and was pronounced incompetent to stand trial. This month, however, he was declared competent by officials at the Springfield hospital and was returned to Boston.

The ex-student at the Divinity School was arrested by the F.B.I. February 16 in Sun Valley, Idaho for allegedly sending through the mails a letter threatening the life of Pusey.

The matter reportedly began when Steyskal applied for a position in the University to teach a new philosophical doctrine. Although the University refused his request, Steyskal continued to communicate with University officials, it has been said, and the letters culminated in the threatening missive.

Dr. Dana L. Farnsworth, Director of the University Health Serivec, filed the initial complaint against Steyskal in February. At that time he said that Steyskal's psychotic condition led him to believe that he has been "called upon" to preach.

Steyskal was a student at the Divinity School in 1953 and 1954.