DIED. Herbert Kappler, 70, fugitive Nazi war criminal; of intestinal cancer; in Soltau, West Germany. The SS colonel who in 1944 directed the execution of 335 Italian hostages as reprisal for the killing of 33 Nazi occupation police in Rome, Kappler became known as "the Hangman of the Ardeatine Caves." He was sentenced to life imprisonment by an Italian military court in 1948 but was transferred to a Roman hospital in 1976 for cancer treatment. He weighed only 105 Ibs. when his wife smuggled him out of the hospital in a suitcase last August, spiriting him away to West Germany, which refused to extradite him since that country's constitution prohibits turning over a citizen for foreign prosecution.

DIED. Charles Woolsey Cole, 71, former president of Amherst College (1946-60); of a heart attack; on a cruise ship off Los Angeles. The youngest man ever to head Amherst, Cole introduced a core curriculum required for all students and greatly enlarged the college's endowment. From 1961 to 1964 he served as Ambassador to Chile.

DIED. Bergen Evans, 73, popular, irreverent professor of English at Northwestern University (1932-75) who gained national recognition as a lexicographer and television host; after a long illness; in Highland Park, ILL. After the success of his 1946 book The Natural History of Nonsense, which wittily debunked old wives' tales, Evans became the moderator of two '50s quiz shows, Down You Go and The Last Word, and wrote queries for The $64,000 Question (he was absolved in that show's rigging scandal). Evans was also author of A Dictionary of Contemporary American Usage and Dictionary of Quotations.

DIED. Abraham Lincoln Wirin, 77, for four decades chief counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union who frequently took its cases before the Supreme Court; of a stroke; in Hollywood, Calif. Wirin fought for workers during the '30s, helped restore the rights and property of Japanese Americans following World War II, and battled the death penalty as unconstitutional. In the A.C.L.U.'s libertarian tradition, he also counseled fascists, Nazis, religious fanatics, and criminals, including Sirhan Sirhan. Said Wirin: "The rights of all persons are wrapped in the same constitutional bundle as those of the most hated member of the community."

DIED. Sam Houston Jones, 80, former Governor of Louisiana (1940-44) who defeated Earl Long, Huey's brother and political successor, thereby ending a twelve-year, scandal-ridden dynasty; of kidney failure; in Lake Charles, La. During his term, Jones cut the state payroll by one-third and reorganized the government. When Jones ran for Governor again in 1948, he was upset by Earl Long, but continued to be active in reform politics.

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