Evening star., 1933-10-13
ARSON QUIZ TURNS
TO. 3 bU[GAR|ANS|
Mistaken Identity Suggested
as Defense in Reichstag
Fire Case.
Dy the Associated Press.

Dy the Associated Press.
BERLIN, October Mistaken
identity" was suggested today as de-
fense of three Bulgarian defendants in
The Reichstag fire trial.
For the first time since the begin
ming of the trial of five men for the
burning of the building last February,
Paul Teichert, counsel for the three
Bulgarians, took the center of the stage.
Teichert requested the sunlmoning OF
more than a score of MuscoviteS to
testify that the Bulgarians lived in
Russia at certain times when they al
1egedly were seen in Berlin. Walters
from Berlin restaurants also were listed
as defense witnesses to testify as to
when the defendants ate at certain
restaurants and with whom.
Other witnesses for whom Teichert
demanded summonses will be called, he
explained, for the purpose of confront
ing each other to demonstrate that a
mistake in identity is not only theo-
retically possible, but actually occurred"
Mystery to Be Probed.
The mystery of who printed and is
sued card announcing the engage
fnent of Georgei Dimitrof to German
HtOUW dlSO plOUVo Wy CAAAl41Ad-
6on of witnesses.
Dimitroff, the fiery defendant whose
cunning flow of court room comment
eaused Judge Buenger to ban him from
the trial for day, was reported en-
gagged on September %.
Ernest Torgler, former Communist
whip in the Reichstag, provided one Of
the most dramatic moments Of the trial
by asking Police Sergeant Helmut
Poeschel, who arrested Marinus van
der Lubbe, Did you find anything on
Van der Lubbe besides a passport? Did
you find leaflet or other printed mat
ter?"
mo. Merely the passport" Poeschel
replied.
Describes Arrest.
Poeschel had described how he found
Van der Lubbe, who claims he set the
flre unaided, and said that Van der
1ubbe seemed startled for moment,
but to my command hands up he
raised them readily and from then on
eeemed quite Indifferent. I felt along
bis body until reached his hind pocket
when felt an object which proved to
be cardboard"
After Torgler's questions and Poe
echel's reply the prosecuting attorney,
tisibly perplexed, said LAS you did not
isn't it possible Van der Lubbe may
6ave had party membership book or
kafletS on his person nevertheleSs?"
ct was recalled that newspapers as
eerted the day after the fire that Van
der Lubbe carried Communist men,
bership booklet.)
"It was possible, yes," Poeschel said,
Sbut at police headquarters, as seem
10 remember. nothing Of the sort was
found"
During the discussion Van der Lubbe
Rat completely doubled up, with his
bead down almost to his knees.
Story Substantiated.
The insistence of Van der Lubbe that
be alone set the fire was substantiated
&aSt night to the satisfaction of the
0preme court.
A witness backed down on his former
etory in which he said he saw two per-
CONS enter the building on the night of
the fire. The witness was Werner
fhaler, a typesetter, whose testimony
contra dicted that of others who ap-
peared before the court. He said he
law two lighted torches being carried
Through the building about yard
epart. Last night he said:
7 never said I had seen two persons
There simultaneously"
A4C 0CSAo4 GU, 4A1oICdd, 44C IuSlU 11dvC
seen the same man twice.
The glare Of torches shone in the
windows of the Reichstag while the
kourt huddled outside in the Autumn
darkness, watching a reconstruction of
Ghe famous fire.
At 8 o'clock the court, defendants
end other familiar personalities Of the
eourt room gathered to watch a re-
enactment OF the scene.
Thousands Watch Drama.
Thousands of spectators watched the
drama from police lines, drawn at a
distance from the Parliament Build
ing, while the immediate vicinity of
The Reichstag was Sown with patrols
6f armed police.
All the lights inside the building were
ewitched of. One street lamp, which
BY coincidence was not burning on the
night of the fire, was darkened. The
passive building, silhouetted against a
dark sky, looked as eerie and deserted
Is a haunted house
According to the reconstruction:
A university theology student named
&loeter, standing on the right main
Steps OF the Reicfstag, saw a man
8Rrrying f1rebrand smash window
ind climb in. He ran to notify Police
man Buwert.
Floeter went Immediately home. Bu-
teert, turning, found a man named
Ehaler standing at his side. Thaler
Ind Buwert returned to the balustrade
Ind saw through the iron-grilled win
dows a light moving in the building.
Buwert fred shot.
Serious Accident Occurs.
The policeman acted the part of Van
Der Lubbe, first climbing into the win
dow with a flrebrand and then again
without one.
It seemed impossible, from places
allotted to press representatives, to see
eny one at ALL
owing to rigorous precautions taken
BY the police, serious accident oc-
CURED during the proceedings. An
automobile ran into a wire stretched
ecross the street to bar traffic in the
Vicinity Of the Reichstag. !
The wire caught the driver under
the chin and lifted him from his seat.
he hung suspended while the car went
On and crashed into post. The driver,
critically injured. was removed to a
hospital.