Evening star., 1928-03-29
ANNEXATION CASE
+. ! COUNSEL TARDy
misunderstanding Causes
Action to Proceed Without
County'S Lawyers.
Nv = stan Correspondent, Of The star

Nv stan Correspondent Of The star.
COURTHOUSE, Arlington County
Va, March 2a.-The spectacle of an
important public legal case affecting
thousands of citizens being heard in
court in the absence Of the peoples de-
1ense counsel was presented here to-
day when Alexandria annexation pro-
ceedfngS started forward with only the
city represented in court.
The urprecedented situation resulted
from q misunderstanding on the part
OF counsel representing Arlington and
Fairfax Counties as to twU-hour adj
iournment proposed 10 permit John :,
Barbour and F. S McCandlish 70 Serve
as pallbearerS at q funeral this morning
for an associate at tha bar.
The misunderstanding finally disrupt
ed the trial after considerable diSpleas-
ure had been Voiced from the bench
and belated apolosies had been made
BY two neDabers Of defense counsel. VINO
had beed summoned hurriedly from
nearby ofTiceS
Judge Voices DiSapprOval.
Against the wishes Of Judge Frederick
Coleman. one of its members, the an
nexation tribunal finally agreed to halt
the proceedings until noon, at which
hour the case was resumed. Judge
Coleman evidenced his diSapproval OF
the absence of defense counsel in no
uncertain terms. declaring he was not
In favor Of permitting lawyers TO ad-
tourn court whenever they feel like it"
Judge Don Halsey held that since the
misunderstanding involved a funeral
an adjournment would not be out Of
order. and Presiding Judge Samuel @.
Brent, with apparent reluctance. agreed,
a. II O'Clock, 10 adjourn until y
State Senator Frank L. Ball and
Charles T. Jesse Of counsel for the de-
Tense. on arriving hastily in court some
time after the proceedings had been
under way, spologized to the court for
the absence Of counsel and explained
that Mr. Barbour had told his associate
yesterday that the case would not be
called today until noon. How the mis-
understanding had occurred was a
puzzle to both counsel and the court.
Senator Ball said that. Mr. Barbour
and Mr. McCandlish were serving as
pallbearers at the funeral Of Mai. r. E.
Thornton Of Fairfax
Case Gets Under Way.
Judge Brent said that Mr.. McCand-
ISh had asked him over the telephone
yesterday 10 delay the case this morn
ing, but that he had told the lawyer
he could not speak for the whole tri-
bunaL The other two judges said no
request had been made to them for an
adjournment and counsel for Alexandria
saio they had not been informed Of any
such plans.
When the case began this morning.
there was a brief discussion on the
bench regarding the absence of defense
counsel, but the proceedings went ahead
when Judge Coleman remarked: "Coun-
sci ought 70 be here, and If We 60 ahead
without them. they viii know better
next time"
Paul Morton, city manager OF Alex
anoria, was called 10 the stand for far
ther cr0Ss-examination He placed in
the record statistics regarding improve
nents made by the city in the territory
Il annexed in 1915. as requested by de-
fense counsel at the last session of
court He was tust completing the read
ting Of these data when Senator Ball
and Mr.. Jesse appeared in court The
apologies and adjournment followed.