Evening star., 1935-02-04
WITNESS ADMITS
ERROR IN STORY
Sommer Also Says He Was
"MiStaken" in Accident
Testimony.
By the Associated Press.


prise witness whose testimony made an
"I-wouldn't say-yes-and-I-wouldn't-
Say-no" refrain before the weekend
court adjournment, returned to the
witness chair today as Bruno Richard
Hauptmann's trial opened its sixth
week.
Sommer faced a drumfire of ques-
.tions as Attorney General David T.
Wilentz resumed his cross-examina-
ton in an effort to discredit the wit
ness story.
1t was Sommer who brought back
into the case the names of Violet
Sharpe, the Morrow maid who COM
mitted suicide during the Lindbergh
investigation, and Isador Fisch,
Hauptmann's dead business partner,
and the prisoners alibi for the possess
sion of the 5000 ransom money.
Sommer related that he saw a
woman resembling Miss Sharpe and
a man resembling Fisch with a golden
haired 2-year-old baby in a one-piece
sleeping suit in New York near the
Weehawken Ferry House on March
I; 1882, the night of the kidnapping.
Detectives spent the week end check
ing up on Sommer and the results
OF their inquiries gave the State am
munition for the renewed assault on
the Sharpe-Fisch narrative.
Bruno Sober Faced
As Session Opens.
The Jurors we're the first of the i'm
portant trial characters to enter the
well-filled court room.
Mrs. Anna Hauptmann took her ac-
customed seat near the defense table.
Hauptmann, sober-faced, was led in
by his guards, followed by Chief De-
Tense Counsel Edward j. Reilly.
Reilly appeared few moments
before 10 o'clock.
The other defense attorneys, c.
Lloyd Fisher, Egbert Rosecrans and
Frederick A. Pope, arrived at the
defense table a moment later.
Col. Charles A. Lindbergh, with
Col. H. Norman Schwarzkopf and
Col. Henry Breckenridge, took his
seat back of the prosecution table at
10 o'clock
Prosecution counsel including Rob-
ert Peacock, Joseph Lanigan, George
e. Large and Richard Stockton were
In court studying papers and exhibits
on their table
Court convened at 10:O7 am.
(E. S. T)
Prosecutor Anthony NJ. Hauck, jr.,
came into court just before the pro-
ceedings began.
Justice Thomas w. Trenchard, be-
fore the trial proceeded, said he very
much regretted" that movies and
talking pictures had been taken in de-
fiance of the orders of the court
Will Investigate
Taking of Movies.
1T was done" he added, Secretly
and by methods that are not COM
monty understood.
This subject, this matter will be
investigated"
The court officers, the court added,
would have to be especially vigilant"
to prevent repetition.
Those contrivanceS will have to be
excluded from the court room" he
went on. "The officers will have to be
vigilant and probably very ingenious
to break up the practice
There is the problem. That is the
officers problem
None of these instrumentalities
will be allowed in the court room, and
their agents and employees will be ex-
cluded"
The jury was polled and Som7ler,
bespectacled and baldish, went back
to the witness chair.
County Judge Adam o. Robbins,
who did not avail himself of the legal
privilege Of sitting in the trial, was in
court. Justice Trenchard announced
that Judge Robbins would hold
Orphans Court in the surrogate's
Office.
Don't Evade, Says
Wilentz to Witness.
Attorney General Wilentz renewed
his cross-quiz:
@. Now, Mr.. Sommer, as I under
stand 1t, you saw a small man and a
tall man help woman with a baby
on trolley car in New York? A. Yes.
Prior to that, Sommer said, he saw
the small man on the ferry boat on
which he came over from Weehawken,
but hastened to explain the small man
was not the same small man he saw
on a trolley on the Jersey side.
Once as the witness faltered over
his testimony on the first small man
and the second small man, Wilentz
shot at him.
Don't evade the questions"
I'm trying to explain"
@. You've had all week end to think
about your testimony, didn't you?
A. I didn't think about it.
Wilentz showed Sommer the photo
graph of Isador Fisch again and the
witness reiterated that it "resembled"
the small man" he had seen.
The witness looked at another de-
tense photograph, which he said also
resembled the man.
Q. You wouldn't swear, though.
that these are the photographs of the
man you saw? A. I wouldn't swear
positively
Admits Making
Mistake in Story.
Sommer admitted that he made a
mistake" Friday when he testified the
man on the Weehawken trolley was
the same man he saw later on the
ferryboat.
Hauptmann frowned in seeming an
noyance as Wilentz read back to the
witness his testimony of Friday and
had him change his account a few
times.
@. You are a professional witness,
aren't you? A. don't qualify as
professional witness. I only came
here to tell of the incidents I saw
that night.
@. I thought you came here in the
interests Of justice? A. I'd say did.
@. Aren't you professional wit
ness? The defense objected and
Wilentz, voice brisk and pressing,
changed the question.
@. Do you not testify in court for
price? A. haven't spoken about
price.
O. Do you not testify for fee,
price, reward? A. No, sir, I do not.
@. Haven't you on occasion tes-