Evening star., 1925-11-19
COURT ENDS PROBE
Of F0LEY'S ACTION
|ND|R|G|BLE CASE
Captain Declares Paper Was
Intended Only to Help Mrs.
lanSd0Wne.
ROSENDAHL DEFENDS
RECORD OF COMMANDER
Says It Is Slander to Hint He Took
Out Airship Against Better
Judgment.
Dy the Associated Press.

The Shenandoah court of inquiry
today concluded its investigation Of
the charges of Mrs. Margaret Lans-
downe and will announce its opinion
regarding them tomorrow.
1t heard from Capt. Paul Foley, &C.
cused by the widow of the Shenan-
doah's captain of trying to sway her
testimony, complete disavowal of
any intention except that Of being
helpful to her.
Then it listened to a statement by
Lieut. Comdr G. Z. Rosendahl, senior
surviving officer Of the wrecked dirt-
gible. denouncing as "a SANDER OF the
dead" any insinuation that Comdr.
Lansdowne took the Shenandoah on
her fatal Western flight when he be-
lieved. her in Jeopardy from the
weather.
Sustains Tension.
The statement of Rosendahl, placed
Unexpectedly before the court just as
it pas preparing to adjourn, sustained
until the end the nervous tension that
has gripped court and spectators since
the hearing began Tuesday morning.
A moment before Foley had left the
witness stand with the statement that
his whole attitude toward Mrs. Lans-
downe as a. prospective witness has
been that of IAN honorable man. -
who supposed at the time that he was
dealing with IAN honorable woman"
Rosendahl then told the court that
'in the interest of justice" it should
permit him to speak.
II have made this statement for
the sake of fair play" he said, 80
that the undisputable facts may en-
low iItcf l0poi no t{ny, nUor anu ync-
sible fancied. perverted or prejudicial
variations thereof"
REPEATS Statement.
Capt. Foley repeated to the naval
court the statement from his memory
as follows:
Immediately subsequent to the loss
of the Y. S. s. Shenandoah l felt IT
my duty TO say for my husband things
which he was no longer In a position
to say for himself; that he was op-
posed to sending the Shenandoah on
the Midwestern fight during the
thunderstorm period and had protest
ed SO doing to the Navy Department.
My husband regarded the Shenandoah
as a man-ofwar. He was ready at all
times to take the ship out for military
maneuvers, but was opposed to using
her for non-military duty
cepted the invitation of the court to
appear<before 1t that the correspond
ence in the case would have been in
troduced into the record Of the court,
as 1t since has been, l would not have
accepted the invitation to appear.
LAS things now are / am not only
willing, but would prefer to leave the
entire matter to the judgment Of the
court, in which 1 have every conf.
dence.'"
Thought Note Personal.
Capt. Foley said that only a single
typewriter copy Of the statement
was made, 'as the matter was one
personal to Mrs. Lansdowne," and
that for the same reason the notes
from which the statement was typed
were destroyed Immediately after
ward. Mrs. Lansdowne testified be-
fore the Mitchell court that she de-
stroyed the copy sent to her.
Explaining that as Judge advocate
of the Shenandoah court it was his
duty to interview Mrs. Lansdowne be-
fore her appearance as witness.
Capt. Foley said he arranged for the
meeting through Mrs. William B.
Mason, Mrs. Lansdowne's aunt. Dur
ing this telephone conversation it de-
veloped that the captain had known
Mrs. Mason as a girl at Annapolis,
and 1t was arranged that when he
called that evening he would bring
Mrs. Foley with him.
After reciting that besides himself
and Mrs. Foley there were present ut
the interview DIR. and Mrs. Mason and
Mrs. Lansdowne, Capt. Foley gave
this version Of the conversation and
of subsequent events.
The conversation in connection
with the Shenandoah was opened by
Mrs. Lansdowne in the following Ian
guage: Well, Capt. Foley, what does
the court intend to do with me?' To
downe, do not know that the court
intends to do anything with you. II
you will tell me what Is on your mind
perhaps / can better advise you
Summarizes Conversation.
Then ensued a general exchange
of conversation which summarized
was about as follows: Mrs. Lans-
downe said. that in the statements
made by her in Lakehurst she had
been misquoted by the newspapers
in the sense that she had never at any
time criticized or meant to criticize
the Secretary of the Navy personally.
She reasserted her statement that
Comdr. Lansdowne was opposed to
sending the Shenandoah on the Mid.
western flight during the thunder
storm period and that he had protest.
ed SO doing to the Navy Department.
She said that Cofndr. Lansdowne re-
garded the Shenandoah as a man-of.
war and that he was opposed to using
her on political flights.
"She further stated that she was al
a Loss to know exactly what to say to
the; court as everything that she had
intended to say had already been said
in the records of the court.
"She further said that had she
known that the correspondence would
be incorporated into the record as II
had been she would not have accepted
the invitation of the court to be pres
ent, and that as a matter of fact she
would like not to appear before the
court, but didn't very we'll see how
she could gracefully avoid doing so.
I'm conversation with her I stated
that insomuch as she had not beer
summoned by the court as a witness
and was appearing at her own reques,
and in view of the fact that she was
the widow of Comdr. Lansdowne, anG
that 1t would be the first time so fal
as knew that a woman had appear
ed as witness at an inquiry of this
character. /, as judge advocate, would
personally very much prefer and
Continued on Page 5. Column s.