San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1926-04-13
COL. WILLIAMS
To ANSWER
CHARGES
Intoxication Charged by
Butler, Who Cites
'Giggling' as Proof.

sion of the catastrophe cocktail marty.
that brought down upon him the off
cial wrath of Brigadier General Smed-
ley ID. Butler, was scheduled to be told
Mt today's court-martial on a charge
of appearing intoxicated in the public
rooms of Coronado hotel.
From the witness chair the general
raked the defendant colonel's reputa-
ton as an officer and a gentleman
with accusations that echoed through
the court room in a crescendo of cut
ting denunciation.
the one-time chief of Philadelphia
police, when he was a guest of honor
in Colonel Williams Coronado home,
this defendant colonel of Marines. was
guilty in his home, and at the nearby
Hotel Del Coronado, of the follow
ing:
He was loquacious: he staggered /:
he stared vacantly through bloodshot
eyes; he was intoxicated: he was
drunk: he was ''full'' and last and
most horrible TO relate of a colonel
of marines, he giggled.
RELUCTANT TO TALK
The conclusion of General But
ler's testimony shattered the COM
posure of what started out to be a
rather quiet court-martial. Three wit
nesses had been examined by the
prosecution, all of them guests OF
Colonel Williams on the night OF
March 6, and all of them evidently
reluctant 10 tell the world he had
been drinking.
Captain Clifton B. Gates. member
Of Colonel Williams staff and World
War hero; Major Ross ROwell. com
mander of the Marine Corps. aviation
unit, and widely known flier: Cap
tain Charles Rice Of General Buffers
staff - admitted hesitaRtly that
Colonel Williams might have been in.
toxicated, but that il he actually was
slightly under the influence OF
liquor" he certainly was mot at all
boisterOus."
Then STROBE to the stand General
Butler and the words he flung were
blunt and forceful.
At the dinner TO which Colonel VII
liams had invited him as honor guest.
he testified. what impressed him and
embarrassed him most was his hosts
repeated invitation to have a cOct-
tail.
He ate with Major Ross Rowell at
a table set apart from the other
guests. TO emphasize his desire TO get
through the meal without intoxicanls:
yet, he asserted, his host insisted Un
renewing his invitation TO have
one
He was convinced. he continued
that the colonel was becoming full"
So he went out and sat on the porch.
Soon the dinner guests followed MIN
out with the news that dancing at the
Hotel Del Coronado was next on the
program.
SAW HIM STAGGER.
And then said the general, Il
saw Colonel Williams stagger out Of
the house and across the lawn. /
didn't expect him to turn up at the
hotel, for ! thought some one would
put him to bed"
But at the hotel General Butler
soon espied his dinner host, poised
in a doorway, as if about to fall; his
face flushed: his eyes bloodshot.
Il looked away" he went on, with
a feeling that he was intoxicated, and
when he left the hotel i got the i'm
preston be was being carried out"
Defense counsel suggested the col
onel might have been walking out.
If So shot back the witness, "he
was walking on the sides of his feet. =
RADIO TURPITUDE.
The opening session Of the court
martial was not without its radio an
gle. Captain Rice. it appeared, in
terpreted Colonel Williams desire 20
eIpatiate on "the technical aspects Of
radio" as evidence that he was en-
tirely sober during the dinner party.
General Butler testified, on the
other hand:
He discoursed loquaciously On the
influence Of radio in the
American home; then ! knew he was
getting full and / went out and sat
on the porch with Major Rowell and !
talked about aviation"