ESPIONAGE: Verdict Rendered

For a month the people had waited—and not very patiently—to hear that the eight Nazi submarine-borne saboteurs had been executed. They waited while seven boot-tough generals conducted a trial from which not one satisfying drop of news leaked out. They waited last week while the saboteurs got the full benefit of the official determination to stick to due process, to the point of mumbo-jumbo: the Supreme Court was extraordinarily summoned into extraordinary session to hear a claim that the saboteurs should receive a civil trial. After two days of argument, the court briefly ruled that they were in lawful custody. The fate of seven seemed sealed (one had turned State’s evidence). Two days later the seven generals reached a verdict, sent it to Franklin Roosevelt for his announcement. The people expected news that the Nazis had been executed.