Evening star., 1942-07-08
German Saboteurs
Go on Trial Here
In Unusual Secrecy
Eight Token to Justice
Department. Guarded
By Police and Soldiers
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two closed prison vans that shielded
them from the public view. They
were accompanied by a heavy police
and military guard. The vans were
accompanied by detail Of nine
motorcycle policemen and three mil
itary transport cars filled with SOL
diers manning machine guns. A
helmeted soldier stood on the rear
of each of the two vans.
Traffic was halted on Ninth street
as the swiftly moving vans swept
up from Constitution avenue and
turned into the driveway leading
into the court of the Justice De-
partment. The big iron gates to the
court were hurriedly closed and none
of the spectators even glimpsed the
prisoners
Small Crowds Gather.
Small crowds gathered on both the
Ninth and Tenth street sides Of the
Justice Building long before the
arrival of the prisoners. Police kept
the spectators on the opposite side
of the two streets, and those on
Tenth street failed even to see the
fast-moving machines.
The prisoners reached the Justice
Building where they are to face
their American accusers, more than
an hour in advance of the scheduled
start of the secret trial. Taken from
the vans in the court yard, the pris-
oners were hurried into the building
and taken to the fifth floor in wait
ing elevators.
On this floor they waited in a
boarded of assembly room-a room
usually devoted to training FBI
agents-for beginning OF the pro-
ceedings which may result in death
sentences.
The fate of the eight Nazis, two
OF whom acquired American citizen
ship before returning to Berlin to
study sabotage, lies in the hands of
special military commission and
President Roosevelt, who will review
its decision. There is no recourse
to the civil courts. The President,
by proclamation, denied to certain
enemies in time of war any access
to the civil courts.
Gates Barricaded.
The iron gates leading to the
courtyard of the Justice Building
from the Ninth street side, through
which the Nazis were taken, were
closed and barricaded, even to JUS
tice Department officials, an hour
in advance of their coming. Fifteen
minutes before the arrival of the
persons at Ninth street the barri-
cades were removed, but the gates
were not opened until the police
motorcycle escort neared them.
Then they were opened only long
enough to permit the prison vans
and the Army cars to enter the
courtyard The police escort did
not go into the court.
While the extraordinary trial pro-
ceeded unconfirmed reports were
circulated that all of the eight de-
PENDANTS are being tried jointly.
The Government. 1t Is understood.
had wished to try the Nazi saboteurs
separately on the theory that per-
haps the men might talk more freely
if not placed on the witness stand
in the presence OF their cocoon
spirators.
AS yet, too, there has been no
confirmation from either the War
Department or the Department of
Justice of published statements that
one of the men-George John
Dasch-had been provided with
separate counsel In the person Of
Col. Carl l.. Ristine. Dasch, 80
years old, fought in the Kaiser's
armies In the First World War and
came to the United States after the
Armistice and served as a waiter
until 1941 when he returned to
Germany.
Score Of Reporters on Job.
Because of the wall of secrecy
thrown around the trial, only about
score of newspapermen showed up
at the Justice Department to cover
the event. Under other circum-
stances such an unusual proceeding
would have brought to the scene a
hundred or more Washington corre-
spondents and reporters.
The photographers and newsreel
cameramen, however, in this par
ticular case outnumbered the re-
porters despite the fact that the
photographers were not even al
lowed in the building with their
equipment. The cameramen idled
away their time on the northwest
corner of Tenth street and Consti-
tuition avenue opposite the Justice
Building hopeful that something
might develop that would put them
to work. Movie cameras anchored
atop automobiles attracted a small
and curious crowd of spectators who
waited in vain throughout the
morning.
At least so soldiers-the men who
escorted the eight Nazis from the
Jail to the Justice Building before