Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1925-12-17
MITCHELL HALTS HIS DEFENSE.
REFUSING TO co ON WITH TRIAL
Prosecution Goes On With Vitriolic Arrangement of
Flying Colonel and His Witnesses-Arman
Sees No Purpose in Proceeding Further.

This casualness as to facts, which
characteriZeS so many of the gallant
Army Air Service witnesses, springs
not from dishonesty. but from temper
ament and habits of thought. The
influence which the accused, with his
grandiose schemes, necessarily involv'
ing rapid promotion, has had on these
habits of thought Is not hard to dis
Germ"
Replies to "Slurs."
In paying his respects to Represent
alive Frank X. Reid of Illinois. chief
civilian defense counsel. Maj. Gullion
declared: Some things have been said
by counsel upon this floor in attempt
ed reflection on tic American Navy
which l, as an American Army Off
GER resent Holding no authority from
the Navy, nevertheless l shall, to the
limit of my poor powers, reply to these
slurs." The "slurs" were cited by the
ma jor from the record, and concerned
questions asked Comdr. H. C.. Rich
ardson, of NC3 transatlantic flight
fame: Comdr. John Rodgers of Pms
Pacific flight Tenown. and Lieut..
Comdr., Richard T.. Byrd of Arctic fly
ing prominence. The questions asked
these three officers We're if they had
made failures of their particular
projects.
The conclusion is irresistible" con-
tinued Mai. Gullion, that counsel
meant to taunt these gallant officers
and. through them, the Navy. as fail
ures. Does he not know that many
pioneer before the goal is reached? Do
the vision. the courage and the hard
ship of these foundationai efforts mean
nothing to him."
oil Poi
was a sham statesman" in relating
how a real. not a sham statesman
defended the Navy in Congress years
ago against a matter 'hurtful to the
Navy"
Launching a final attack on the &C
Cused. Maj. Gullion cited many para
graphs of Col. Nlitchell's cross-eXami
nation testimony from the record deal
ing with gunfire from submarines and
gas clouds from torpedoeS, and then
declared to the court:
Intoxicated by Applause.
How remarkable that is, sirs, In
this mature statement of his on Sep
TENDER 5. in which he portrays the hor
rors of submarine warfare, to the great
excitement of the people, he tells of
this new terrible torpedo which pro-
duces gas clouds. On the stand he
clouds. When confronted with his Sep
tember statement and asked the
source of his informatio he emits a
glittering generality-'s studies j have
made in the Northern Hemisphere and
looking forward into the future Is
such a man a safe guide?
Is he a constructive person or is he
loose-talking imaginative megalo-
maniac, Cheered by the adulation of
his juniors. who see promotion under
his banner, and intoxicated by the
ephemeral applause of the people
whose fancy he has for the moment
caught?
rs this man a Moses. fitted to lead
the people out of wilderness which is
his own creation only? Is he of the
George Washington type, as counsel
would have YOU believe? Is he not
rather of the all too familiar charIatan
and demagogue type-like Alcibiades.
Catlline-and except for a decided diff
ference in poise and mental powers in
Burr's favor. like Aaron Burr? He is a
good flyer, fair rider, a good shot
fiamboyant, self-advertising, wildly
imaginative, destructive, never con
Struct1ve, except in wild non-fea sible
schemes. and never overly careful as
to the ethics of his methods.
Mitchell Formula"
This court has had opportunity to
study those methods, not only as re-
Vealed in his statements of Septem-
Der and 8. but also in his former
statements which his counsel has read
into the record. All of these state.
ments, made over, a period of years,
follow what we may term the Mitchell
formula:
First. Exaggeration of national de-
IL
falsehood.
Second. Untrue and misleading
statements for the deliberate purpose
of discrediting Army and Navy Off
GERS, thus
Third. Creating distrust in minds
of people as to War and Navy Depart,
ments.
Fourth. Egotistic self-description
as to experience and qualifications.
coupled with
Fifth. Protestations of absence of
self-interest and expressions of will
lingness to be. and expectation of be-
ing, martyr. all leading to
Sixth. A united air service. with
Seventh. William Mitchell as the
only logical head of it.
That is the formula he had fol-
lowed. Every demagogue has follow
GU q oiiiiiiai ciiCr IlolcSNlUS uIiStiliSll-
ness and secretly seeking self-aggran-
dizement, as he appealed directly to
the people over the heads of consti-
tuted authority.
Must BE Dismissed.
Would an ACCOMPLISHMENT fit the Of
lenses of which the accused has been
clearly proven guilty? For making
statements which his counsel read
into the record statements similar
but not as bad as those of September
) and 9. the accused's chief, Gen. Pat
rick. recommended that he be admon-
ished. Encouraged by such leniency
the accused has now gone to the un-
forgivable extreme. Would q repri
mand be appropriate? Paragraph 31S
of our manual says: "A reprimand IS
usually awarded to officers for minor
offenses where a mild penalty is to be