Seward daily gateway., 1924-10-01
INTEREST KEEN THROUGHOUT THE
 NATION IN ARMY MURDER CASE:
 JURY SELECTED TO HEAR EVIDENCE

other. He was lodged in jail at Providence, R. l., near which city he was working on a railroad Rosen- bluth was taken into custody in New York City. He declared the charges utterly without foundation
 A few days later Pothier asserted in newspaper interviews that he had been induced to confess to the murder by third degree methods. He denied his guilt. Federal officials have contended that he never official ly repudiated his signed confessions though the trend of events may have precluded such action on his part.
 There then arose question wheth- CT the federal government or the state of Washington has jurisdiction in the case. This was finally decid- ed in avor of the federal govern ment whereupon the department of justice assigned the case to the United States district court in Tac- oma and instructed Judge Edward E. Cushman to summon a grand jury to determine whether Rosenbluth and Pothier should be indicted
 In the meantime there was much discussion of the case both within and without the army. Rosenbluth. who is Jewish parentage, openly charged that he was the victim of second Dreyfus affair, that he was being persecuted. General Cronkhite and his supporters answered that Rosenbluth had escaped trial through the efforts of powerful friends.
 The controversy became so spirited that accusations were made by both sides against the department of justice and the War department, and two United States senators, Glass of Virginia and Reed of Pennsylvanfa, gave notice that they would demand congressional investigation of the entire matter unless the case was aired in court
 The grand jury met in Tacoma in the summer of 1922 and witnesses were brought from every section of the nation. All present and former army officers acquainted with the de- tails of the affair testified. General Cronkhite was present The grand jury took evidence for several weeks and then it voted indictments charg- ing Rosenbluth and Pothier with first degree murder.
 Rosenbluth was re-arrested in New York, and Pothier taken into custody lin Providence, R. l. Appeal was taken to the federal courts on the long-mooted question of Jurisdiction. United States Commissioner Hitch cock of New York decided the gov .ernment did not have jurisdiction. This decision was made late in 1922, and once again Rosenbluth and Poth- fer were in a fair way to escape trial.
 The government, however, appeal ed to the Supreme Court of the Unit ed States, which, in the spring of 1924 ruled that the question of Jurisdiction must be decided first of all in the fed eral court for Western Washington. The trial was ordered to proceed.
 Last June Judge Cushman set the trial for Septeber 30 and granted the request of the government that the defendants be tried separately. The department of justice named James H. Osborne as special prosecutor and he has been assisted by other federal attorneys. l.. L. Thompson, former attorney general of the State of Wash ington, was retained as counsel for Rosenbuth. Pothier was aided by the American Legion post here at the time of his arrest and Maurice Lang horne and F. D. Metzger were ap- pointed his attorneys.
 Rosenbluth has been at liberty on $20,OOO bail Pothier could not put up bail and has been in the county jail here for several months awaiting his trial
 At the time of the tragedy Major Cronkhite was "A years old Captain Rosenbluth, a graduate of the Yale forestry school, was 36, and had been in business in the Orient before join ing the army. Pothier was g and had been a laborer before becoming a sol dier