Evening star., 1944-11-30

QeIenQaQtS maintained CLASSROOM
decorum. With nearly 80 defense
counsel, each having his particular
objections and motions to advance,
there still was clamor at times,
though the judge, with the aid Of
his gavel, kept outbursts to a mini
mum.
A quiet man, of unfailing courtesy
and good humor of the bench, JUS
tice Eicher proved himself at this
unprecedented trial judge of vast
patience. Even the defense attor-
neys who disagreed most violently
with his important rulings in the
case spoke of him as a conscien-
tious man, who tried his best to in
terpret the law as he saw it.
While Justice Eicher turned
"hard-boiled" at times, melting out
number of contempt fines in the
course of the trial, he was always
ready to receive motions and hear
objections With the trial threaten
ing to last for years under constantly
reiterated arguments, he sometimes
shut of debate by his familiar The
court does not care to hear further
arguments" But legal objections
always were in order.
Studied Law Closely.
During recesses of the trial and
week ends when there were no
sessions, the jurist studied the law
of the case closely. Visitors at his
chambers always would find his
desk strewn with law books. He had
read virtually every recorded case
bearing on the law of conspiracy
some of them dating back hundreds
of years.
He was confronted in the mass
trial, as few judges have been, with
having to conduct the case as quick
ly as possible and at the same time
preserve the rights Of the. defend
ants. He was criticized bitterly In
open court at times, and he often
took this without temper. in the in
terest of justice, though he was
quick to say SO when he felt that
any attorney was deliberately delay
AllS tilC u Idl
Many of the defendants were alb
sent from the trial from time to
time-with the courts consent. Such
absences have ample precedent.
Some of those who were without
funds pleaded for a chance to make
a living, and the judge gave them
the opportunity. These defendants
always were represented by counsel
and we're absent on voluntary"
basis. s
Thus, Mrs. Lois de La Fayette
Washburn, one of the two accused
women, was away from court for ap-
proxinately three months. She
dropped in Tuesday. The other
woman defendant, Mrs. Elizabeth
Dilling, had been away for about 10
days at her home in Chicago at the
time of Justice Eicher's death.
Most of the DEFENDANTS were out
on bond. Seven OF the defendants
were held in District Jail. AL these
were serving sentences on previous
convictions or had been irlterned
during the war.
A majority of the, defense attor-
neys were serving without pay. The
District Bar Association, impelled
by the injustice. of requiring these
lawyers virtually to give up their
practices for a year or more, had
taken steps to have all court-ap-
pointed attorneys nj Federal courts
paid for their services. Legislation
is pending.
There were 80 defendants when
the trial opened. One of these, Elmer
J. Garner, 81, of Wichita, Kans.,
died early in the trial. The cases of
three others were severed on mo-
ton of the Government. James True
of Arlington, Va, and David j. Bax-
ter of San Bernardino, Calf, were
dropped from the trial for physical
disabilities. Robert Noble of Los
Angeles was eliminated for "obstrep-
erous conduct" but he already had
10 years to serve on convictions Of
violating Federal and California
sedition laws.
James j. Laughlin, one of the de-
tense attorneys, was ousted from the
case for filing an impeachment petit
ton against Justice Eicher In the
House. There were frequent individ-
ual motions and one mass motion
from the defense asking the Judge to
disqualify himself for alleged prelu-
dice. All these moves were denied,
and the Court of Appeals refused 10