Evening star., 1935-05-21
Col. T. WILLIAMS
TRIAL DEFENDANT
Secrecy Wells Court-Martial,
Result of Testimony in
House Probe.
BY REX COLLIER.

Col. Alexander z. Williams, until
recently brigadier general in charge OF
the transportation division Of the
Quartermaster Corps and for a while
acting quartermaster general of the
Army, is the officer whose trial opened
yesterday at the Army War College
under conditions of wartime-like
secrecy.
AS revealed in The Star yesterday,
Col. Williams-he is generally referred
to as Gen. Williams-is being tried by
a court-martial of general officers or
dered to appear In civilian clothes
instead of the customary formal uni
form and sidearms-to avoid attract
ing attention.
Col williams is being defended by
the law firm of A. Mitchell Palmer,
former United States Attorney Gen.
eral. The judge advocate serving as
prosecutor is Maj F. G. Munson of the
Judge advocate generals office.
Outgrowth of Testimony.
The trial is the outgrowth Of testi-
mony given the Department Of Justice
and the House Committee on Military
Affairs by Frank E. Speicher, tire COM
pany salesman, in connection with a
loan of $4,000 he is alleged to have
made to the then Gen. Williams while
he was chief Of Army transportation.
Other financial dealings alleged to
have been had with the quartermaster
officer also were inquired into by the
House Committee.
Speicher, an elusive figure who
could not be found when grand jury
wanted to question him more than a
year ago in a lobbying inquiry and
who finally was located last December
by Department Of Justice agents IN
New York, is expected to be the chief
witness against Williams.
After Speicher had testified for sew
eral days in an executive session OF the
House Committee, Gen. Williams was
called by the group and subjected to
lengthy interrogation about his al
legged relations with Speicher.
Transcript Given Dern.
The committee turned over to Sec
retary OF War Dern transcript Of
the testimony by Speicher and VIII
liams, together with certain docu-
ments found in what committee men,
bers described as "a little black bag"
located IN Speicher's hotel room by
two agents of the committee. "Dyna-
mite" was the term applied by COM
mittee member to the contents of the
satchel.
During taking Of testimony Allen
J. KrouSe, an assistant United States
attorney, sat with the committee on
invitation of Chairman John j. Nc
Swain. Krouse received from the
committee a transcript of the evil
dence and placed it before his chief,
United States Attorney Leslie c.
Garnett. No action has been taken
at the court house, however.
Recalls Mitchell Trial.
The present court-martial Is said
to be the first brought against an
officer for alleged misconduct while
of general rank since the celebrated
trial of Brig. Gen. William Mitchell,
former Air Service chief, for insub-
ordination, some 10 years ago. Gen.
Mitchell's trial was open to press
and public. and much of the sensa-
tional verbatim testimony was spread
upon the front pages of newspapers
throughout the country.
1t was with a view of preventing
another such spectacle" one Army
officer confided, that the present trial
was closed to the public. Inquiry at
the War College elected the informa-
ton that the court itself voted to
meet behind closed doors as the first
step in its deliberations yesterday.