The Washington times., 1937-02-17
Continued from Page ~

conspiracy to obtain other infor'
nation for which the same govern
ment was prepared to pay large
sums of money.
The young Assistant District
Attorney is Samuel F. Beach, one
of four assistants in charge Of
criminal cases in the District
Court, whose father served as Dis.
trict Attorney back in 1905.
Teamwork Built Case
It was teamwork which built
such an alright case against the
former Navy flier as to offer no
chance to escape, leaving him with
the alternative between certain
conviction, after having the details
Of his disgrace paraded before the
public, or taking his medicine with
out it. In the team were 36-year-
old Sam Beach. the shadoWy SeTV-
ice of Naval Intelligence, the Wash.
ington bureau of newspaper wire
service, and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. For a time Farms.
worth tried to bluff it out. When
he saw finally how futile it was to
continue to deny his guilt, he sim.
ply gave up.
Following his plea Of mo de.
fense," the court has asked for a
resume of the evidence before pro
nouncing sentence. FarnSworth re.
mains in jail, awaiting his fate.
Thus the first spy case to reach
this point in the National Capital
for many years nears its close with
the real story still untold.
Entered Academy in 1911
Because it will never come out
in court, it can only come out in
this way. Here, then, is the rec.
ord of the man who sold to an.
other nation for money the naval
secrets of his native land, betray-
ing in doing so the service he once
adorned:
Midshipman John Semer Farms.
worth entered the Naval Acad.
emy at Annapolis in 1911, by ap.
pointment from Ohio. He was
born in Illinois on August 13,
1893. and was thus 18 years old
at the time of admission. That
brought him out in 1915 while
Europe was at war, but before
the United States got into it.
When America declared war in
1917 all of the men in his class
were promoted from ensign to
lieutenant. Except for sick
leave toward the end of 1917 and
in the early part Of 1918, he
served during the war on destroy.
ers. At the end of the war he
was still a lieutenant, junior
grade.
It was some years after this
that he rose in aviation to a
responsible assignment at the
Navy's big flying base and avia.
tion school at Pensacola. Fla.
His record was exceptional. He
was regarded as a fine officer
with a good future in the naval
service.
Things Not Going Well
But things were not going so
well at home. He and his wife
separated. He got to drinking.
Financial embarrassment fol-
lowed. In desperation, he Dor.
rowed money from an enlisted
man. When accused, he lied
about it. His trial on charges
of perjury and violation of ma
val regulations followed. The
naval court convicted him. On
November II, 1927, the Navy
wrote across his record: dis
missed"
Thus ended the first chapter in
what had been, in its earlier
years, a promising life.
Six years pasSed-yearS which
saw things go from bad to worse.
His record stood against him. 1t
was difficult for him to find salts
factory employment or earn an
adequate income. Nineteen thirty
three found him at home with his
parents in Cincinnati-40 years
Ola, his lie WRECKED Oh CLle SHOALS
OF his own misconduct.
At this point the present story
opens. How long the former flier
had turned the idea over in his
mind no one will ever know. But
in the fall of 1888 he wrote to the
Japanese Embassy in Washington.
He outlined his record, and sug-
gested his employment in the role
Of naval advisor"
A man whose life for 16 years
had been devoted to the national
defense, who had been educated in
naval science by his own Govern
ment, without expense to him,
who had been trained in naval
practice by the same Government,
who in those years had access to