Evening star., 1933-10-29
REICHSTAG ARSON
TESTIMONY SCORED
American Observer Con.
vinced Court Will Give 1t
No Credence.
~ the Associated Press.


BERLIN, October 28.-Arthur Gar
field Hays, American attorney, who has
been an observer at the Reichstag fire
trial, in statement tonight assailed
the testimony as preposterous. but said
he was convinced the court would not
give 1t credence
Mr.. Hays, a member Of the unofficial
international inquiry into the fire, held
NJ London, before leaving for Paris
sttested his firm conviction in the inno-
cence Of the defendants.
Mr.. Hays was the only foreigner sit
ting in at the trial since the exclusion
two weeks ago of Leo Gallagher of San
Francisco and three other foreign at
torneys, who were ordered from the
court room because they wrote letter
unfolding the attitude of one Of the
i've defendants
The other defendants are Marinus
van der Lubbe. Dutchman; two other
BulgarianS, Blagoi Popof and Wassil
Tanefi, and Ernst Torgler. former Com
munist whip in the Reichstag)
Innocence Clearly Seen.
Mr.. Hays said: without reserva-
ticn, no impartial person can fail to
come to the conclusion that Torgler.
Dimitroff, Popoff and Tanef have
nothing whatever to do with the fire
directly or indirectly.
The evidence against them consists
CT alleged Identification exclusively by
to have seen Torgler with Van der
Lubbe and Popoff. The statements of
these witnesses are self contradictory
and on its face it is preposterous.
II Torgler contemplated serious
crime, it seems strange he should have
planted his associates in public cor
ridor and so openly provided evidence.
He might as well call in the movies.
Aside from this, the witnesses gave
different descriptions Of Popoff's cloth
Ing and cannot describe Van der
Lubhe's clothes at all, although his
ragged. in-fltting garments were, ac-
cording to other witnesses. significant
feature that attracted attention.
Nobody explained how man of Van
der Lubbes appearance ever got into
the Reichstag during the day unob
served by guards and employees. Why.
have left the Reichstag and entered
from the outside Is beyond my compre-
hension.
Two witnesses testified to the sur
pr1sing fact that Torgler carried brief
case the day Of the fire and therefrom
would have us conclude that he carried
f1re materials or chemicals.
Another witness stated he saw
Taneff 60 into the Communist rooms
on many occasions. He apparently does
not know Tanef1 arrived In Berlin Just
three days before the fire"
Two Seen In Building.
A new turn in the trial came today
with the sworn assertion of Mai. Hans
Weberstedt the press chief for Nazi
Retchstag members, that he saw Mari
nus van der Lubbe and WaSsil Taneff,
two OF the five defendants walking
through the building on the day Of the
dre or shortly before.
Van der Lubbe. a young solid Dutch
orickmaSon, was carrying a wooden box
and was followed by Taneff, wearing a
ludicrously long overcoat. the witness
maintained.
He also testified that he caught
suspicious smelr' Of gasoline from the
Communist party's room next to his
Earlier, Walter Oehme a newspaper
man, testified that Ernst Torgler, former
Communist party whip in the Parlia-
ment, and also one of the men accused,
easily could have fled following rumors
that he was connected with the blaze.