Evening star., 1925-11-24
COURT BARS MOVE
TQSHOW MITCHELL
PLAG|AR|zED BOOK
Colonel Saved From ,Appar-
emily Embarrassing Posi-
ton in Cross Quiz.
WITNESS STANDS FIRM
IN FACE OF GRILLING
Courtroom Given Great Thrill by
Surprise Move Against Of
fcer's Writing.

presenting a stubborn defense
against the withering fire of cross-ex-
animation by the prosecution, Col
Mitchell, on the stand in the court
martial proceedings against him for
the second consecutive day, was res
cued from what appeared to be an en-
barrassing position when the court
oVerruled an unusually intensive effort
10 prove that certain pages in the ac-
cused's book, Winged Defense" en-
bodied verbatim statements of which
he was not the original author.
Col. Mitchell, adopting the almost
hostile attitude he maintained yester-
day, snapped back answers to ques-
tons put by Maj. Allen J. Gullion.
assistant trial Judge advocate, for
nearly two hours defending every
word he had written in the San An
tonic statements and scoring a victory
over all attempts TO break down his
previous assertions. The move Of the
prosecution regarding the book was 4
distinct surprise and caused tense e&-
citement in the courtroom.
GuIlion Pushes Fight.
Maj. Gullion pressed his case with
out fear or favor and virtually shout
ed to the court, L am going TO show
the accused cribbed page after page
of this book he admits he wrote.'
The prosecution began its attack
on the book in a quiet manner which
gave no indications as TO what would
follow. The witness was asked if he
wrote the book and on receiving ad-
mission Maj. Gullion then asked him
TO confirm his San Antonio state
ment that whenever I make a state
ment it always is authentic"
Arising and taking up the book
Maj. Gullion addressed the court thar
he would read from page 102 OF
Winged Defense" by William Mitch
ell. He read: They referring TO
the Germans) started the war with a
total of 40 submarines. This was
good start considering the design and
| construction" He then turned to the
witness and asked if he wrote that
and Col. Mitchell replied, Yes"
Identifies Alleged Source.
Returning to his desk. Maj. Gullion
picked up a pamphlet and read the
exact quotation that appeared in the
Mitchell book. His enthusiasm, which
had been gaining steadily, reached
the climax when he declared on con
cluding the reading that the second
quotation came from "a lecture given
at the War College by Capt. Hart
u. S. NJ
Courtroom Gets Thrill.
The courtroom gasped and every
one was shocked at the sudden turn
of events. Without exception, it was
he ro+o
Representative Frank r. Reid of II.
linois, chief civilian defense counsel,
lost no time to come TO the rescue
of the point. He declared the latest
move by Mai. Gullion shows "how
much he knows of this case" and
charged him with wanting to try a
copyright suit in this court" A
heated argument ensued, Maj. Gul-
/ lions voice standing out over that of
his opponent and declaring that his
object was to prove that Col. Mitchell
did not write the book for which he
has received money.
There is no telling how far the
battle would have gone had not Col.
| Blanton Winship, the law member of
the court, interfered and sustained
the objection of Mr.. Reid. In doing
so he rebuked the prosecution for
bringing this angle into the case
IF this court has got to go into
libel matters we never will get
through. Suppose he did take every
word in the book from some one
else. What has that got to do with
the Case?'
The law members ruling and the
courts Endorsement, which prohibited
the pamphlet from being introduced
as evidence, and the book Winged
Defense" also brought calm to the
troubled waters and shortly afterward
| the court recessed for luncheon.
Quizzed on Equipment.
Prior to the bombardment of the
prosecution on the Mitchell book the
witness was deluged with questions
regarding his charges that airmen
| know they will be killed sooner or
later if they must continue flying in
| the flaming collins" and that airmen
are "bluffed and bulldozed and afraid
| to tell the truth"
! Despite the fact that reports Of In.
| uuiries into fatal accidents were read
| to the accused, and which reports
made no reference to faulty equip
ment or structural failure, Col
Mitchell stoutly maintained that had
| the dead aviators been in possession
| of modern planes and with modern
alive today.
ut constitutes criminal negligence
| to keep us flying ships of that kind, y
declared the witness, referring to the
| OH observation planes and the JN
! training planes.
They should have been done away
| with right after the war"
The accused air officer also defended
his statements regarding intimidation
| of airmen, but declared he was one OF
! the minority mot afraid to tell the
| truth" although attempts have been
made to bulldoze me-"
Mitchell Resumes Stand.
I Col. Mitchell took the stand i'm
mediately after court convened and
was reminded by Col. Sherman More
| land, the trial judge advocate, that
he still was under oath. Maj. Gullion
then continued the cross-eXanlinaIon
| where it was broken off yesterday
| afternoon.
I'm your statament of September 5
and in your direct examination
you referred to accidents in the Army
Air Service" began the assistant trial
| judge advocate.
(which ones were they?'' replied
| the witness.
You refer to flaming coffins'7"
81 did"
| Continued on Page 4. Column AJ