Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-12-04
WILL PROBABLY Be PRESENT
DR.. CHANCELLOR EXPECTED TO
ATTEND TRIAL FRIDAY.
Outline Of Defense Which Will, It
Is Believed, Pc Commenced
Friday Afternoon.

1t is considered probable that the trial
Of Dr. William E. Chancellor, superin-
tendent Of public instruction, will go on
Friday, with DR.. Chancellor present. Al
though still confined to his bed by illness
and all visitors are kept from the sick
room. it is stated he is improving, and
the attending physician expresses the be-
lief that he will be able to attend the
trial.
AS the prosecution has little evidence
yet to produce, requiring only about half
an hour in its presentation, it Is ex-
pected the defense will start its case
Friday afternoon. According to his at
torneys it will take several. days to pre-
sent the evidence in behalf of d.. Cham
cellor. They have some documentary evil
dence to offer, it is understood, including
dispositions from Chicago and other places
and papers in DR.. Chancellors posses
sion. There are also a number of wit
nesses who will appear before the board
in behalf of the accused Dr. Chance FL
lor is also expected to take the stand In
his own behalf and explain some Of the
allegations made against him by the wit
nesses of the prosecution.
Indicated by Questions.
The outline Of the defense. has. of
course. been kept secret by the attorneys.
but some of their questions put to the
witnesses who appeared against the SUI
perintendent give line on the prospec-
tive procedure. In regard to the article in
the February number OF the Educational
Review, it Is expected that DR.. Chancel-
lor will not deny that he wrote the orig
inal manuscript for it, but will try to
prove. it is believed, that his original
manuscript was revised, altered and added
to by several different persons. and that
he is not responsible for the Objectionable
parts Of the article as 1t appeared.
Regarding the denial of, knowledge of
the article, directly or Indirectly, alleged
to have been made at the NEE ting of the
board on April "a. the claims of the de-
Tense have not been developed so far. 1t
cellor will maintain that several men,
bers Of the board, to his knowledge, knew
that he had written the original of the
article and that he had explained to others
what parts Of it he was responsible for.
In the direct testimony there was evil
dence produced to show that at least one
member of the board was familiar with
his part in the article, and questions pro-
pounded by Attorneys Leckie and Fulton
for the defense intimated that other men,
bers had been told Of the facts.
Absence From Board Meeting.
In the matter of DR.. Chancellors fail
ure to attend the meeting Of the Bruce
investigating committee, the line Of the
defense seems to have been shown by the
questions of his counsel. It is charged
that DR.. Chancellor one day told Pres
ident Oyster he would be present at the
hearing and the next day wrote the pres
ident letter refusing to be present At
the close of that letter Dr. Chancellor
said: Il said this to you and Mr.. Cox
yesterday in substance
Both Capt. Oyster and Mr.. Cox, who
testified to the conversation with Dr.
Chancellor in which 1t is claimed he made
the promise to be present, were closely
questioned as to whether they did not
misunderstood DR.. Chancel1or's words on
that occasion. as indicated by this last
sentence. 1t was also brought out in con-
nection with this meeting that DIR. Chan
cellor could have understood from what
he was told that he was not to be called
as a witness, but was only needed Ito be
near" for consultation.
An opinion Is prevalent among some of
the board members, it was learned this
morning, that DR.. Chancellor In his de-
Tense, will make some attacks on indi-
vidual members. This opinion is based on
the character Of the petition filed with the
District Supreme Court by his counsel, in
which charges were made against board
members, and on some questions which
have been asked by his counsel so far in
the hearing.