Evening star., 1925-11-18

| court Normally, the major said, a
| formal subpoena takes precedence
/ over mere request and he pointed
| out that the law provides penalties If
| the subpoena is not accepted.
Il therefore think that in fairness to
/ him this court should excuse him
! from testifying here this morning in
| order that he may appear before the
| naval court" said Maj. Gullion. IF
the defense has some other witness to
| put on II would avoid Mai Kennedy
much embarrassment"
| Again we come to a peculiar situ-
| aion," declared Mr.. Reid as he
marched to the presidents table,
showing considerable irritation over
| the prosecutions move. II am sur
| prised at the nerve OF those people
who want to take precedence over this
court. They have threatened him
| with contempt if he does not appear.
| 1T is unfair and illegal and the
President of the United States should
be called upon to promulgate regula-
tons against this. Their action has
caused Maj Kennedy much concern
and embarrassment We expect to
| use him as n witness before this court
| and If they charge him with contempt
| III take care of that"
Col. Winship, the law member, in
qutred of the prosecution If Mai. Ken
| nedy had been properly summoned be
| fore this court, and on receiving an
| affirmative answer he said he was
quite sure there was no question be-
! tween the precedents of this court and
| the court of inquiry" President
| Howe. however. suggested the Shen-
andoah court be notified that when
! Maj. Kennedy had concluded his testi.
| mony he would be sent to the Navy
/ Building
Mr.. Reid then called as the first wit
ness Capt. Anton Heinen, and this
caused furry in the court, as It was
/ thought Maj. Kennedy would be the
| first witness.
! Il think the announcement I made j"
! said Gen. Howe, was based on the
assumption that Maj. Kennedy would
! not have sufficient time to appear be-
fore the Shenandoah court before he
| Is called here. ! am Of the belief
| therefore. that Maj Kennedy should
| be excused from attendance here until
| 9 pm"
IIowze's Ruling Stands.
II will call him after Capt. IIeinen
and that will be in about 20 minutes -
replied Mr.. Reid, and in view OF that
| statement President Howe said his
| original ruling would stand, which
meant that Mai. Kennedy would first
! Capt. Helnen was qualified to testi
| ~ by declaring his entire life had been
| devoted TO lighterthan-air expert
| Inents and flying between 1912 and
! 1871. Capt. Heinen, 1t was recalled
was in charge of the Shenandoah h
| when she broke away from her moor
| ing mast and returned TO Lakehurst
| under the guidance Of the noted Ger
| man dirigible expert.
man dirigible Lag was one Of the first
| really successful rigid airships the
| Germans produced. He said il was
/ brought down either in France or
! England, he didn't recall, but before
! the crew could carry out its instruc-
| tions to destroy the ship il fell into
| enemy hands. Complete sets of plans
were made from the Lag and We're
| distributed TO friends in England and
America. The Shenandoah. he added
was copy of the German war dirigi
| BILE. and Furthermore was an expert
mental ship.
! Mr.. Reid developed the purpose of
! automatic valves on airships. which
| the witness testified were for the
purpose of relieving expanding gas
| after a ship had ascended beyond
| the primary safety devices on any air
| ship" the witness said.
Says Safety Was Reduced.
How many valves were on the
! Shenandoah originally" asked Mr..
| Reid
| Eighteen" replied the witness. "On
the day Of the accident l inspected the
plans and found 10 valves had been
taken out, leaving 81
What effect did this have on the
safety of the ship?" asked Mr.. Reid
| 1T reduced the safety factor OF the
| Shenandoah from 100 per cent to zero,
| and this l say from all our expert
| ence.'
Pressed to give a clearer cxplana-
! ton OF the safety value purpose, the
| witness said when an airship aScends
! for every 240 feet of altitude gained
| the gas expands ! per cent. With the
| Shenandoah, every time 240 feet alti-
| tude was added the helium expanded
! q 600 cubic feet. When the ship
! reaches 100 per cent full 1t is called the
| pressure height, and unless some Of
| the gas is released the danger of ex-
! ploding cells cannot be avoided. In
| the case of the Shenandoah, at the
! time Of its fatal crash, Capt Heinen
declared that with only eight safety
| valves a proper amount of gas could
not escape during its rapid ascent.
Germans Aid Not Utilized.
| Mr.. Reid questioned the witness on
| what use the Navy made Of the Serv-
/ ices of the German crew which came
| to this country aboard the Los An
| geles, and Capt. Heinen replied full
! advantage was not taken to gain
knowledge from the Germans
Turned over to Maj. Gullion for
cross-examination, the prosecution de-
manded to know by yes or no" an
I nf lot n
Germany were terminated at his own
request or by direction Of his supe-
riors.
You may answer in your own way,
| captain" interrupted Col Winship,
land you don't have to say yes or
no."
Capt. Heinen was slightly ruffled
! by this question of the prosecution
and displayed signs of excitement. In
his German accent he began a rapid
fire answer to the effect that politics
entered into the case; that he had
warned the German government
against signing provisions of the Yer
sailles treaty relative to aircraft and
concluded by saying in a dramatic
voice:
Therefore I was kicked out of the
service"
Explains Coming to United States.
His purpose in coming to America
in 1921, he said, was to accept an
offer for the United States Navy to
assist in the construction OF the
| Shenandoah, which was fabricated at
Philadelphia and assembled at Lake
hurst, n. J.
AT the time the change in the valve
! system was made on the Shenandoah
had you positive views on the mat
ter" asked Maj. Gullion.