Evening star., 1925-11-10
SENSATIONAL DATA AT TRIAL
BY MITCHELL DEFENSE WITNESS
Capt. OIdys Shows Lasster Board Considered All
Service Condition Critica--Tells How Officer
Died Trying to Obey Chiefs Order.

After explaining that the purpose OF
| the board was To report on the ability
| of anti aircraft artillery to ward Off
every attack by aircraft, the witness.
| at direction of Representative Reid,
| traced the report through military
channels He said that the report
| went TO the adiutant general and a
| copy of ii to the chief of Coast Artil-
| lery. The Air Service. he said, ''bor-
| roWed' the report and made a copy
of it.
Called to Conference.
lie was asked if he had ever at
| tended a conference on this McNair
| board report in the office of the as
sistant chief of staff, G3. He said
he had. Attending the conference,
he said, We're Gen. Drum. assistant
| chief of staff; Gen. Patrick, chief of
! the Air Service: Gen. Grove, chief
| OF the Coast Artillery; Gen. Williams,
| chief OF ordnance: one other officer
| whom he didn't know, and himself.
At this point the examination was in
| terrupted by Col. Moreland, trial
| Judge advocate, who asked If this
| conference was for the purpose of
discussing war plans, and was an
| sWered in the negative.
| he said its purpose was to consider
| the war Departments testimony be-
fore Navy board appointed by the
President to consider aviation.
Accuracy Questioned.
What was said about the accura-
cy or inaccuracy Of this report?''
| asked Representative Reid.
| Gen. Patrick" replied the witness
said he did not concur in the Nc
| Nair board report. The conditions
We're too set. They did not approach
war maneuverS. They could not pos,
| slhiy produce the results desired. The
| chief of ordnance said that he had had
one of his civilian experts check the
| MCNair board closely for mathemati-
| cal errors and found them TO be
glaring."
Col. Moreland objected TO further
| questioning along this line as irrele-
| Want and immaterial, when Repre-
sentative Reid jumped 70 his feet and
| said that 1t goes at the very issue in
the case. He said that the defendant
| was charged with making false state
mentS, and this is one OF the most ma
| tertal things the defense has produced.
The prosecutions objection was
| oVeTruled, and Gen. Howe directed
| the witness to answer. But the ques-
tion then was withdrawn for the mo.
| ment.
There was also objection from the
| prosecution when Capt. Oldys was
asked if the McNair board report had
| ever been used. The defense counsel
| thwarted this objection by producing
| a copy of hearings on the Air Service
| before Congress and then was asked
| if the report was used before any
committee before Congress
Says Report Was Used.
The prosecution objected, but again
| was overruled. and the witness
| answered that the conclusions in the
| McNair report were used before the
select committee before Congress by
! Gen. Drum. Returning again to the
| conference on the McNair board re-
| port held at the War Depa rtment and
referred to by the witness early in
his testimony, Representative Reid
| asked him 10 tell the court what part
of the McNair report was used
| Capt. Oldys said that after a dis
! cussion Of the objections of the chief
of the Air Service and the chief of
| ordnance as to the methods adopted
| by the McNair board and it's conclu.
| sion, the chief of Coast Artillery said
in substance that he was aware of
the inaccuracies in the report.
The chief of ordnance and the
| chief OF the Air Service, the witness
| continued, in substance remarked
that no official use should be made
| by the War Department of the re
port and no official reference made
to it. Gen. Patrick, he said, said
that he did not agree with the re
port and did not want any of it used
The witness then was asked about
his service i'll the Hawaiian Depart
ment, and If he knew Maj. Wheeler
| who was killed there in an airplan
crash. The witness replied that Maj
| Wheeler was his group comma nder
at Luke Field and that he was with
him up to the time he took off on his
fatal crash.
Defense Aim Sought.
Col. Moreland objected to this
terial and irrelevant" The court
wanted to know what the defense eX
pected TO prove by this evidence
we expect to prove by this
witness" Representative Reid said
that Col. Chamberlain, chief of staff
of the Hawaiian Department, the
night before Maj. Wheeler was killed
called the latter into his office and
told him that the crashes of air
planes must stop; that he was going
to hold him responsible for the
|
bic for the money lost in the planes
damaged"
When Col. Morland renewed his OBJ
lection, Col. NinShip, the law member
reminded him that the evidence being
presented was directed to the truth OF
falsity of the statement of Col
Mitchell. He said that the judge advo
cate several days ago asserted that
he would not object TO evidence show
] n., :.
Tar as they went toward eXtenuatior
and mitigation Of the offense The
Judge advocate said that that state
ment was correct. But he renewed his
| Objection, because it referred to a con
| Nefaation between the witness and a
deceased officer, and was not compe
tent
Col. Ntnship asked if the statement
was made before the flight, when Mr.
ateid rose to his feet and said: Yes
~ minutes before the flight He is
the only person who could testify"
? Inc objection was overruled and
the witness was directed to answer
Recalls Conversation.
Then. following questioning by de-
tense counsel Capt. Oldys said that
on the day OF the fatal crash he
walked from the department head
Quarters to the hangars to get out the
flying equipment. Maj Wheeler told
MN. ne testified that he had been
called on the carpet by the chief OF
star of the Hawaiian Department to
explain why he was having so many
forced landings with the DH-4 planes
The chief of staff, Maj. Wheeler told
Capt. Oldys. the latter said. had
"bawled HIM out" and informed hin,
that IN the future he would hold hin!