Evening star., 1922-06-05

Sued fer 2O0,OOO Marks.
Besides the Indictment of "unlaw-
| full assumption Of authority the
prosecution brought suit against the
American government in the amount
| of 100000 marks for the injury and
semi-total disability of the German
girl whose hand was shot through by
! the bullet Naef fired After a period
of four weeks spent in the MoSDach
| Jail, undergoing numerous hearings.
! the two Americans and their German
| associates were finally scheduled to
! be brought to trial before the lower
| court of Mosbach, province OF Baden
| Germany, on April 20, 1921. Millions
| of Americans, as well as Germans,
looked forward to that memorable
trial as historic event of no small
| Importance, and when the day or the
| trial approached the little town
| of Mosbach witnessed a congregation
| Of nationalities and personalities
alike which it had never and un-
| doubtedly never will have a chance
! to witness again.
| 1t was like going into enemy terri
| tory when l received orders to pro-
| ceed to Mosbach to attend and re-
port upon the trial of Sergt Charles
o. Naef and Sergt. Frank thinner.
/ port through n.y knowledge OF the
case and the circumstances surround
| ing 1t L was well aware of the fact
III would certainly be persona non
grata with the populace Of Mosbach.
land my premOn.tions were well found
| ed, as l experienced during the
| three days of my stay in MoSbach.
Insult L. $. Military Observer.
| l had hardly alighted from a little
| "Toonerville Trolley''-as l might
with right call the German train that
| carried me to my destination-my
ears from several directions took in
such eXclamations as There goes one
of them American pigs" Well show
, 'em who's boss around this part of
the country" IF they think they can
pull off any of that wild west stuff
around here we'll show 'em how civ
ilized people do things You may
have licked us. but were still strong
beatin up on YOU" You thought
you had him, but he is not as igno-
| rant as you are etc. And every
place we went in the town scrutiniZ-
| ing eyes and insulting remarks greet
led US throughout the three days.
Shortly before am. we arrived at
the old courthouse adjacent to the
county jail, and, as l anticipated.
practically the entire town had
turned out to witness the trial. and
all classes We're represented, some of
them in their best Sunday clothes
clothes.
| NuSt STOw0 awaits.
! Upon reaching the quaint little
| courthouse situated on the outsk rts
of the town and bearing the marks
| of two centuries of existence, vast
, crowd had already posted itself in
front of the courthouse, eager to
gain admission. l soon learned that
the courthouse was already filed to
capacity and that hundreds had to be
refused admission. AS We passed
through the lines of excited and I'M
patient humanity we We're again sub
| Jected to all sorts of insults and re-
marks which l dare not repeat here.
! Two stocky, important looking po-
; ;licemen escorted us to the courtroom,
iwhere they assigned us to especially
reserved seats. OF course, all eyes
! simultaneously turned in our direc-
tion. and a whisper. sufficiently audi
bile to be understood, was on every
body's lips: Here they are. those
d Americans"
! How difficult it was for me to con-
troll my temper over the ever-present
| insults to me personally and the
American nation is something that 1
cannot fully realize now. Although
| strictly forbidden to carry any arms,
II nevertheless had a small pistol in
my possession and at times l was in
deed tempted to make use of it. How
ever, the futility of any such unpre-
meditated action can easily be seen un-
! der the circumstances when one real
! ICES the fact that we were only four
| Americans among a mob of revenge
| iful-minded antagonistic Germans.
! Opening of the Trial.
! At am. sharp the court. consist
| ing of five judges, one of whom -act ed
as president, appeared and took up
their respective places To the right
| the district attorney installed HIM
! }self. and on an elevated platform in
i front Of the judges to their left the
! defendants made their appearance.
! AS Naef and thinner stepped into the
! room the entire audience in chorus,
still infuriated with the happenings
| at Eberbach, exclaimed, adding an
! epithet here and there: Here they
are, the dirty skunks:" But Naef and
| thinner were unconcerned and main
! tanned an attitude of Indifference and
| calmness that was remarkable.
| At this point the president of the
court called the court to order and
F.! warned the audience that any un-
| warranted remarks or disturbance
! would be considered as contempt of
! court and the offender punished
therefor. In front of the defendants
! stand the counsel for the defense had
! taken up their positions. The press
| stand was filled with reporters from
newspapers all over Germany, all of
! them eager to get every detail of the
case to their papers.
! Many Officials Present.
| Occupying reserved seats were the
secretary of state of the state of
Baden, the attorney general of the
| state of Baden, a representative of
the foreign office from Berlin, a rep
; resentative of the department of JUS
tice from Berlin and one or two more
| high-ranking officials of the state fof
Baden. The witnesses, about fifty in
| number, We're waiting in the lobby
of the courthouse their turn to
| testify.
! The court then proceeded with the
[ trial of Sergt. Charles o. Naef, Sergt.
Frank thinner and their German as
! sociates and the president read the
! indictment: "Unlawful assumption of
| authority in attempting to kidnap
! Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, a resident
of Eberbach, Germany, being a poll
tical fugitive from justice and by the
/ nature of his offense immune from
| extradition to the American authori-
ties All of the defendants pleaded
not guilty to the charges and the
/ court was thus ready to hear evi-
| dence on the case. The first witness
| was called
| Copyright, 1922, by Press Publishing Coz
The next instalment, to be publfsh-
| ed tomorrow. will dexcribe RerudoICs