Evening star., 1925-11-30
PROSECUTION RIFT
CAUSES SENSATION
IN MITCHELL TRIAL
MOreIand Joins Reid in Attack
on Tactics of GuIIion
During Case.
LATTER DRAWS REBUFF
FOR EFFORT TO SPEAK
Startling Turn in Events Follows
Striking Out of Damn
Rot" Incident.

An open rupture IN the ranks %
the prosecution following closely
serious outbreak from the personne'
of the court itself threatened today
TO handicap the Government, in it
efforts TO convict col Mitchell of he
various charges made against Him as
a result Of his accusations against the
War and Navy Departments.
The military court which is trying
The flying colonel scarcely mad com
plcted expunginS from the record the
sensational damn rot" clash between
Brig. Gen. Edward L. King ana Rep
resentative Frank H Reid, chief
counsel for the accused, when the
second sensation broke on the mill
tary side with starling suddenness.
Moreland J4ins Protest
The dIssension occurred between
col. Sherman MoreianI trial juds"
adv ocatc, and Maj. Ale. truil!ou. re
Gently appointed bl the Army genera
afaff ds a. tistaut Judge adI gcafy. hu
Nltp virtually las taken ~" r,.s'c-
riou "rlr of tie haua, If III superb
"o], MorclaGd.
III" trial judge adE"o.t.. Ills t.a,.
iuNhea formally protested ~ me
court The ac-..n Of Ma Gu'lioa
IN attempting ;" n.sbo - orerins
statement II rebutttI or tI. 4efrr~,
rass, and declared his 4s~aria,e :
u"v" was u much q surprise r" him
as il was 70 Col Nit, h"i, S ceut.so'.
Maj. GIliivn incurred rhc Ii~u.cas.r..
u his chef when J." alnl. cud... yors...
u deliver 10 The court = nat = .la
rcteTizcd a. The pro>ecr'ir0'> state
ment Of what y eNpect'a I" prove III
l--buItai Of the defense IeSIu0I-s
Mr.. Roid jumped L. his Tee /" "hfer
:" the unusual Procedure arI Coi.
SlantOn NluShip. law member ~ rj.'
count. agreed Thar such Il ~jatfueu
""uld >" unusual ana "Gr "f place
Fails to Convince Court
S;iu hopeful of 4ue-cedirp wi ..i-
u!ans Tor . spe""b. Ma CgIltor t-oga'.
"a defend Liz course 81 sor.e !engt
but he tailed TO convince the ro,lr; ot
the rTuprietE rf his nlethUdS
When the court. through its -
member EoiCed vigorous disa pproNa.
q Mai. Guuieu' 5 =. rsiSr"nt atteupt.
II get his statement il the record ar.
ordered him to proceed 10 th" eN"ta
.at.ou Of V-itues. = Col Nore.aud in
Iefense. "f himself, aroS- ana made 81,
aur"uuCe Eacut. He declared that be
.-reed ful!v with the ccurt that Maj
Z. Illi"n : move vas imprcpor
Their" have been rumors for some
tlrl' that the prosecution ntacuiN't.
Was not running 50 smoothly = -.
War Department might have hoped
t'.t II" outward evidences u tho q
Scnsion had been observed unti' ;ud4
Ii has been reported that tho artio..
# the Army general staff in raI- "a
ing the original uIal Judge advocate
TO relatively lnilnrorta.- place j..
-he prosecutions In favor Of w
E"unecr assistants. one ~ them claim
ing no i--:al knowledge whatever. dtG
not sit wcll with Col. Nornland
Both Precipitate Disputes.
The non-IeGal assistant. Maj t'r.,
els ID. Wilby oI the general staff. fre
Huently has placed the prosecution f.
hot water on certain phases OF the
rial through his apparent rnfamn
larity with court-martial proceiare
While Maj Gullion. a Young kentuckv
Soidier-laWyer. often has precipitated
sharp clashes between tho DrCscc,.
ton and the defense
The court Itself has shown ut times
a certain impatience over the aggres-
siVe tactics Of Col Morelands assist
ants. Most of the rumors regarding
unrest in the prosecution ranks are
traceable 70 these incidents.
Mr.. Reid at the outset of today's ses.
sion moved that the damn rot" epf-
sode of last Friday be entirely stricken
from the record. He explained TO Gen
Howe, president of the court, that
the proceedings were under great ten
sion at the time and that every ono
involved had been under severe strain.
and therefore could not be held ac-
Countable for certain Of their actions.
Fe was referring to his rebule Of Gen.
King for using the words damn rot
in commenting to another member Of
the court about Mr.. Reid's Cross-ex-
+ animation of a prosecution witness.
Howe Approves Plea.
Gen. Howe. after receiving the con
currence of the prosecution in Mr..
Reid's motion. announced that the
! court approved the suggestion and d
! reCted the stenoGrapher to erase all
! reference to the incident from his
J record.
! Most of the mornings session was
/ taken up in the examination OF Comdr.
! II. c. Richardson. naval expert on air
/ plane construction. Comdr. Richard
| son testified in opposition to Col.
! NitCheHs charges that lives of flyers
were being menaced by defective ships.
Z lie declared that he had never heard
! Of a DII type Navy plane crashing
! because of a structural defect. and ad-
hered to this statement under
withering croSs-fire OF questions from
! Mr.. Reid. Comdr. Richardson also de
! Tended the use by the Navy of Looming
/ amphibian planes for the Macmillan
! Arctic expedition and gave testimony
designed to show that Navy planes
We're not allowed to deteriorate in stor-
! age.
! Lieut.. Byron ]. Connell, pilot of the
Navy Hawaiian fight plane PN-9 No.
| /. told of preparations made for the
fight and repeated his previous state
! ments that the radio bearing system
worked out for the flight failed TO
! function properly.
Clash Stricken Out.
1t took but a few moments 10 e.
! puDge from the record the now IA
! nous "damn-rot" clash between Gen
/ King and Mr.. Reid. As soon as court
4 convened Mr.. Reid moved that all or
! the remarks passing between himself
and Gen. King last Friday be stricken
: from the record, explaining that Il
/ was a very regrettahle episode result
/ ing from the strain Of the proceed
! ings.
| Cen. Howe inquired OF the prosecu-
! ton as to its attitude in the matter,
and Col. Moreland announced that he
' Continued on Page ;, Column ~