The Washington times., 1918-07-29
GODSOL IS SET
FREE BY JUSTICE
GOULD'S RULING
Continued from Page ~


government who had charge of pur-
CHASING war supplies.
Godsol was arrested in Washington
March 6, and since that time has been
confined at the District Jail. The first
charge which was made against him,
and heard before United States Com
missioner Hits, was withdrawn after
ne had been in prison for forty days.
the limit Of time he could be held with
out hearing. Another charge wac
Immediately made and the hearings
on this charge before Justice Hits,
sitting as a United States Commis-
sioner, resulted in GodsoIs being held
Tor extradition.
Application was Immediately made
10 Justice Gould for a writ of habeas
corpus, and it was on this applica
tion that ruling was made this morn
ing declaring that Godsol had been
improperly held and granting him his
freedom.
Godsol, who was manifestIy pleased
at the favorable ruling of the court
said:
THE decision OF Justice Gould that
the charges made against me are not
valid and that the rulings OF the
court which so held them were made
IN error. is Of course highly crafty
ing to me.
Knowing that I was innocent of
any wrong doing, either legal or
moral, 1 have waited this hour with
impatience but with a certainty that
complete Justice would be done.
The experience Of the past months
mas been In many ways a bitter one,
but the ultimate result wipes out
much Of sense of unfairness which
! was the natural viewpoint of an
innocent man held in confinement
h<@
ais politically ambitious.
Il am going to stay here in Wash
ington for the present and shall take
a house somewhere in the suburbs
There is no reason why 1 should go
away even II the prosecution did in
timate that I would fee as soon as I
got my freedom"
The court in delivering fits opinion,
which was presented in written form,
held for the defendant on both the
law and the facts as far as he dis
cussed them He said in part:
Stripped of technical terms, the
charge In the complaint may be thus
stated: that Goldsoll fraudulently
made definite false representations to
the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company
through its agent, Perry, and Thereby
obtained from the government of
France the sum therein named, being
r1Oney Of the said government OF
France
Referring to the testimony of
Thomas of the Pierce-Arrow Auto
mobile Company as to what Godsoll
said to him in September, 1915, that
he, Godsoll, was in a position to con-
troll, through the War Department, the
giving of orders forsAmerican trucks
I regard it as too remote to be any
evidence Of his having made the same
or a similar remark in the preceding
March
II the remark was made by Godsoll
60 Thomas II is clearly referable to
his then (September, 1879 relations
with the War Department than with
those in March. 1915. Moreover. a
careful reading of the entire testi-
mony OF Thomas on this point will
leave no doubt in the mind of a law
yer that the remark was put in his
mouth by the astute investigator
who was questioning him.
The French government does not
eeem to agree with the theory OF the
complaint as to the character of the
false pretenses made by Godsoll, for
Commander Montel, ''Commissary OF
the Government to the Second Council
of War in Paris" in his demand for
the extradition of Godsol, addressed
TO the ''Under-Secretary of State OF
Military Justice" dated February 4,
1915. in stating the case against the
petitioner, uses this language:
Passed as QuaIihed Agent.
by means Of his title of mission he
fraudulestly passed himself as a quail
ified agent OF the French government
and had been able to get a commits
Fion on the payments made contrac-
fors. These payments were thus bur-
dened with an excess which no avow-
able service could justify" (Record,
.. 33.) When the demand for extra
dition reached this country, learned
counsel for France thought II wise to |
exercise his skill and ingenuity in |
framing a somewhat different theory
OF the case and an entirely new set OF
false representations.
Again, less than a month after Com !
mander MontePs theory was suggest
ed. the Captain Mangin -Booquet in a |
Communication to Mr.. the Cndersec-
retary of State OF Military Justice, |
presents HIS theory of the crime in |
the following language:
"'It results from the declarations of |
the party HeIiopoulos, which appear I
from the documents OF the inquiry |
followed In America, that in the |
month of March, 1918, Goldsoll, De We're |
and Higgins and himself have per- |
suaded falsely and by a fraudulent |
conspiracy the agent of the Pierce
Arrow Company that no order would |
he given to IL IL IL did not establish |
In France an agency authorized to |
represent it, And he concludes with |
this interesting paragraph: THE !
French ambassador will judge IL with |
out doubt expedient to give 10 the |
lawyer that he has just asked to take /
charge of the case knowledge of the /
reports and proceedings of the inquiry |
conducted in the United States as fast !
as they reach him" (Record. DID. 81,
3s, 3e.)
Able and AHtute.
The French ambassadors lawyer,
being able and astute, was not salts
ned with the guess OF either Com
Tnander Montel, nor with the guess
of the Captain Mangin- Booquet, as to
the false representations made to the
Pierce-Arrow Company: nor did he
favor the inclusion OF De We're, Hig-
gins, and HeliopouIos in the case Is
suggested by Captain Mangin-Bou-
Guet. So, with the same record be-
fore him as each of the French offi-
ciaIs had before them. he framed the
present complaint which Ambassador
Jusserand swore TO on the 18th day
Of April, 1918.