New-York tribune., 1919-03-27
Say Officer
Offered Army
Bad Invention
Witnesses in Weisgerber
Court Martial Assert His
Gas Mask Contrivance
Would Have Exploded
Once a German Expert
Colleagues Testify He Lived
in Washington With a
Woman Not His Wife

III
The trial by court martial of Captain
Edwin c. Weisgerber at Governors ISL
and took several new turns yesterday.
The government produced witnesses
who testified that the defendant had
urged the use of gas tank equipment
which, they said, would be dangerous
to the operators; that he lived in
Washington with woman not his wife :;
that he threatened to withhold his fuel
inventions from the army and navy un-
less he was made colonel, and that he
spoke disparagingly of a fellow officer.
incidentally, it was brought out that
Captain Weisgerber was employed some
nineteen years ago by the German gov
ernment as an expert on undersea ex-
plosives and chemical warfare gases.
Captain Edmund A. Doyle told Of
Weisgerber having submitted a set of
specifications calling for the standard
used interchangeably on containers for
oxygen, hydrogen or acetylene gas. The
danger of this, he said. would arise
from an oxidized valve coming in con-
tact with hydrogen and causing an ex-
plosion.
Saw Danger in System
Captain Doyle added that he refused
to approve the specifications. His
opinion of the danger which would at
tach to an interchangeable connection
was echoed by Henry r. Swartley, Of
gas tank equipment. Mr.. Swartley also
said the adoption of the standardized
connection would have delayed pro-
duction.
Mrs. Edward B. Morrison. of 1856
Elizabeth Avenue, Newark, N. j., tes-
Catherine Wesgerber, of 535 North
Grove Street. East Orange, N. j., who,
she stated, was granted a divorce from
the accused last week. She said her
sister and Weisgcrber had not lived
together for at least five years.
Captain William Henry Wright and
Major Walter M. Adriance testified
they had been introduced by Weisger-
Der in Washington last summer to a
woman he called his wife. The couple
rented portion of his apartment,
Major Adriance said. Captain Wright
testified he had been a visitor at their
home.
Admits Couple Were Happy
On cross-examination by +. Lowry
Humes, counsel for Weisgerber. Major
Adriance vouchsafed that the woman
he had known as Mrs. Weisgcrber was
a refined, cultured and well-behaved
person, and that she and the captain
apparently lived happy domestic life.
Captain Belcher, of the Engineering
Depot at Washington Barracks, swore
that Wcisgerber had made the follow
ing statement in his Office September
l8 last during a discussion of Weisgcr-
bor's fuel inventions:
Il am now in a position to get what
! want. No colonclcy for myself and
Major Zimmerman, no fuel for the
army and navy. They need me more
than I need them"
Captain Belcher said he had reported
tins alleged remark to the Military In
telligencc Department. Howard F.. Cole.
stenographer in Belchmar's Office. tes-
titled he was present on this occasion
and heard Wcisgerber make the state
ment
Captain Lewis d. Rowell, attached to
the bureau Of mines at Camp Hum
phreys, told of trip he, Weisgerber
and Captain II. D. Trounce, formerly
Of the British army, had made to Camp
DIX for the purpose Of exploding some
TINT mines. He said some difficulties
arose in planting the mines at Camp
Dix; that Trounec became nervous and
worried, and that Weisgerber, refer
ring to Trounce, exclamed:
And England thought she could lick
Germany with men like that!"
Aided German Experiments
Rowell said Wcisgerber had previ-
ously informed him he had been at one
time employed by the German govern
mcnt experimenting with underwater
explosives at the kicl Canal and also
with the use of warfare gases in the
German East African colonies.
tie claimed to know what gases the
Germans we're using in the war;"
Rowell continued, because he said he
had helped develop them"
Did anything of your own knowl-
c%dge cause you to suspect Captain
Weisgerber?" one of the officers com
posing the court martial asked Rowell
"Only that he had been employed by
the German army"
j., "Dld he make any effort to conceal
that fact?"
No. said the witness.
Mr.. Humes brought out on cross
examination that Rowell himself in
reporting to his superior officer had
SAID that Captain Trounce had "showcd
bad judgment of the time it would take
to plant the mines" at Camp Dix.
The trial will be resumed to-day.
the government expecting to close its
direct case before noon.