Evening star., 1944-06-03
Sedition Testimony
Links I Of y 10 Plot
Hatched in Reich
BY CARTER BROOKE JONES.

AS the seventh week of the mass Sc
dition trial in District Court endet
today, the Government had place.
before the jury testimony connect
ing seven of the 20 defendants, il
person or through their writings
with the man-American Bund
Before yesterday afternoons ses.
sion closed the trial for the weel
end, the prosecution succeeded ir
bringing out, over insistent and pro-
longed defense objections, its mos
Importance evidence to date.
After offering proof of a direct
link between the Nazi government
and the Bund, the Government
started its attempt to show that the
defendants willingly allowed them
selves to be used by the German
group in the United States to fur
ther a conspiracy plotted in Ger
many to set up national socialist
State in America.
Names Woman Defendant.
Peter Gissibl, former Chicago
Bund leader. testified that Los de
Lafayette Washburn of Tacoma,
Wash, a defendant, visited head
quarters of the organization in Chi
cago in 1887 and 1888. She came,
he said, with man named O'Shea.
They were officers of the Ameri-
can Gentle League" Mr.. Gissibl
explained.
What did Mrs. Washburn do at
headquarters" asked Special Pros
ecutor Joseph w. Burns.
"She asked if she could speak at a
meeting of the bund. 1t was ar
ranged. In the spring of 1898 she
again spoke at bund meeting"
Did she receive anything for
making those speeches?"
Got Free Stationery.
"Well, she said the American Gen.
tile League needed letterheads, and
I had my printer turn out quantity
of envelopes and letterheads for
her"
WAS the bund connected with
any other organizations when you
were leader In 1887 and 1882"
The witness said the Bundists "co-
operated" with some other organiza-
tions Asked to name them, Mr..
Gissibl said the Silver Shirts. head
ed by the defendant, William Dud-
ley Pelley.
1--WE invited the Silver Shirts to
our meetings" said Mr.. Gissibl, "and
they invited us to their meetings" "
Mr. Gissibl testified, in response
TO further questions, that the writ
tngs of Elizabeth Dilling, author of
the Red Network" were sold at the
Bund bookshop in Chicago.
Sold Other Publications.
The shop, he said, also sold pub
Ications issued by other defendants,
including Robert E. Edmondson of
Grass Valley, Calf, head of the
Edmondson Economic Research
Service, and Gerald B. Winrod of
Wichita, Kans., publisher of The
Defender.
What type of literature did you
sell?" asked Prosecutor Burns.
Defense attorneys jumped up in
concerted protest. 1t had nothing
to do with the case, they insisted
But Chief Justice Edward c. Eicher
allowed the question.
"Anti-Jewish and anti Commu-
nistic," the witness replied.
Mr.. Gissibl testified that two
other defendants, who were officers
of the bund, Gerhard Wilhelm
Kunze, national leader in the late
1930s, and Herman Max Schwinn,
West Coast leader, were in Chicago
a number of times in connection
with meetings and other activities
The witness spoke of an address
Schwinn delivered on Our Struggle
in America" Kunze spoke at a
Chicago meeting at the time he was
national propaganda officer of the
bund, Gissibl recalled.
Speakers From Germany.
Several speakers from Germany
also addressed the Chicago meetings,
the witness said. These included a
DR.. Goetz, director of the Nazi For
eign Department at the time; DR..
Moshack, director of the American
section of the German Foreign In
stitute, and Mr.. Nagel, Nazi Of
fetal from Karlsruhe. GisSibl could
not recall their initials.
The Government earlier brought
out pilgrimage to Berlin of large
delegation from the Bund to attend
the Olympic Games in Berlin in
1886. The delegates, according to an
exhibit introduced in evidence, took
to Hitler more than $1,000 in "crisp
new American $100 bills" and a
written in handsome vol
ume, pledging the "Fuehrer Of all
Germans" the sympathy and Coop
Grafton of "Germandom in Amer
lea"
Mr.. Gissibl will resume his testi-
mony at the next session of the trial
at 10 am Monday.