ARMY & NAVY: The Great Trial

It was a big fuss. Any attempt to render deliberate justice in a controversial case usually brings on a big fuss. In the court martial of Colonel William Mitchell (TIME, Nov. 2 et seq.) there is little doubt that the nine generals who are the august judges, were, if given any instructions at all by the War Department, told to conduct the trial in such a manner that Colonel Mitchell could have no complaint of unfairness.

Last week began the lengthy business of taking testimony. As a prelude Congressman Frank R. Reid, counsel for Colonel Mitchell, opened with a modest address of 22,000 words telling what he proposed to prove for his client to back up the sweeping statements for which Colonel Mitchell is being tried. He said he would prove that the lost Shenandoah was not a first rate dirigible and not in the best of condition, that a Navy officer had tried to persuade Mrs. Lansdowne not to testify that her husband had protested against the Shenandoah’s fatal trip, that several high officers of the Army and Navy had made false and misleading statements to investigating committees to the prejudice of aviation, that the Air Service is controlled by non-flying officers, that many flyers have been killed because they were forced to use old machines, that the MacMillan expedition was equipped with machines not suited for Arctic use, that, in general, the military and naval Aviation Services are in poor condition.

Then the defense began to call its witnesses. The first called was Brigadier General Amos A. Fries, Chief of the Chemical Warfare Service. He was called to refute a statement by Brigadier General Hugh A. Drum, Assistant Chief of Staff, that it would take 5,530 airplanes and 9,573,000 pounds of mustard gas to force the evacuation of the District of Columbia. General Fries believed that 1,000 airplanes and 40,000 pounds of tear gas would get rid of the civil population. Major Carl Spatz, D.S.C., flyer, told the Court that Air service equipment is “obsolete or obsolescent,” and told how, in an attempt to find a suitable range for target practice for pursuit planes, when finally a suitable place was found for a rental of one dollar a year the War Department did not want to part with the dollar, although it finally did so. General Howze, President of the Court, inquired: “Who was responsible for the delay?”

Major Spatz: “The pursuit squadron is under command of the commanding officer of the Sixth Corps Area.”

The commanding officer of the Sixth Corps Area, Major General William S. Graves, a member of the Court, “twisted his hands in nervous rage,” and began to ask questions seeking to fix the blame.

Captain Robert Oldys was another witness. He told of the death of his commanding officer, Major Harley Wheeler, in a crash at Hawaii. Major Wheeler told him a few minutes before his fatal flight that he had been “bawled out” by Colonel Chamberlain, Chief of Staff of the Hawaiian Department, because so many machines had been smashed. Major Wheeler took the air; at 200 feet his engine stopped; instead of trying to save himself, he tried to save the plane. He was burned to a crisp when he was found.

Other witnesses for the defense told that certain airplanes are used which are known as especially likely to catch fire if they crash; that anti-aircraft fire is not an effective protection against airplane attack, etc.

Then Mrs. Lansdowne was called to the stand. The Court rose as she entered. General Howze said “Good morning.” She took the stand and was asked who she was, etc. The story she told:

Two days before she was to appear before the court of inquiry into the causes of the Shenandoah disaster, Captain Paul Foley, U.S.N., Judge Advocate of the Court of Inquiry, called on her and asked her what she was going to testify—in fact requested her to “rehearse the entire statement”; she refused to do so, but said she would testify that the flight of the Shenandoah was political.

“He told me it was not right to say the flight was a political one as the taxpayers in the Middle West had the right to see their property.

“I said: ‘The Navy doesn’t send a battleship out to the Great Lakes to show it to the taxpayers! It couldn’t be done in the case of a battleship and it couldn’t be done in the case of the Shenandoah, but they were so stupid it had to be proved to them.’ ”

The next day a woman, whom she reluctantly identified as Mrs. George W. Steele, wife of the Commandant of the Air Station at Lakehurst, called on her and gave her a typewritten statement. “The first paragraph had me saying that when I accepted the invitation of the Board to appear as a witness I felt my husband needed defense, but that since that time I had changed my mind. In the second paragraph I was to say that my husband always regarded the Shenandoah, like a manofwar, was not to be used for exhibition purposes, but that he was ready at any time to use it for military purposes regardless of the weather or conditions of the landing places. In the third paragraph I was to thank the Court and say I was willing to leave the matter to them.”

Lawyer Reid: “Was that statement true or false?”

Mrs. Lansdowne: “False!” Lawyer Reid: “Will you tell the Court wherein the statement is incorrect?”

Mrs. Lansdowne: “In the second paragraph, where it states that my husband would take the Shenandoah anywhere, at any time for a military purpose. It is an insult to his memory to insinuate that he would do such a thing.”

After Mrs. Lansdowne, the defense called other witnesses: Major Ray Walsh to testify as to the part of airplanes in last summer’s Hawaiian maneuvers; Major Carl E. George to testify to the efficiency of airplane bombing; Major H. A. D argue to testify to attempts to muzzle officers of the Air Service.

Next day the Government made an attempt to have Mrs. Lansdowne’s testimony stricken from the record. The Court refused to do so. Then Captain Paul Foley appeared asking to be allowed to testify in reply to Mrs. Lansdowne. This request was also refused on the ground that it was not yet time to hear rebuttal witnesses. Then the Court adjourned for four days to permit the adversaries to gather more ammunition.

Captain Foley applied to Secretary Wilbur to be relieved as Judge Advocate of the Naval Inquiry Board. His request was granted. Meanwhile that board, reassembling after several weeks’ recess, subpoenaed Mrs. Lansdowne and Mrs, Steele to appear before it.