Evening star., 1945-12-18
Death March Victim
Quits Commission
Due 10 Try laps
By the Associated Press.

YOKOHAMA, Dec. 1S.TA men,
Der of the American Military Com
mission set up to try small-fry Jap
anese war criminal suspects with
drew today after the defense argued
his ordeal in the Bataan death
march might have left him preju-
diced.
Col. John H. Ball, Williamstown,
Pa. who survived that march of
horror, stepped down in the interest
of fair play shortly before the OPEN
ing OF first trial of Japanese in
his homeland on war crimes charges.
The dubious distinction of being
first defendant was given Tatsuto
Tsuchiya or Little Glass Eye" who
pleaded innocent.
The prosecution announced it
would seek the death penalty for
the former prison guard, charged
with "brutally and atrociously"
beating to death Pfc. Robert Gordon
Teas with knotted ropes
First to Be Tried.
Tsuchiya is the first of 400 Jap
anese underlings who will be brought
to trial for war crimes.
Defense counsel chief is 1t. Col
John Dickinson of st. Petersburg
Fla. Heading the trial commission
is Col. Oliver G. Trechter.
Tsuchiya stood blinking before the
tribunal of beribboned colonies in a
small chamber of the courthouse
After he pleaded innocent, the
prosecution said it would prove that
Tsuchiya-a. guard at the Mitsu-
shima prison camp-participated in
the brutal murder of Teas and was
guilty of other war crimes.
Maj. Louis Geffen, the prosecutor
said Little Glass Eye" took an "in-
human delight in the atrocities"
Ball Lost 80 Pounds.
The defense argued against Col
Balls participation in the trial
shortly before Tsuchiya's arraign-
ment. Col. Ball said, however. that
nothing that had happened to him
as prisoner would affect his judg-
ment unless it were connected di-
rectly with his personal experiences.
The colonel said he lost 80 pounds
during his Imprisonment.
The defendant was escorted into
the chamber by three white-hel-
meted MPs-Leo B. Horsman OF
Sulphur, Okla T/5 Milton Fountain
of Richlands, N. c., and T/5 Edward
J. Hogan of Philadelphia.
| The japanese was seated at a
small table with two members of the
American defense counsel, two in
terpreters and his own japanese
attorney.
Defense Pleas Denied.
Maj Harold H. Emmons, jr., of
Detroit, Mich, assistant defense
counsel, attempted to remove two
of the specifications against the de-
fendant, but each request was denied
by the commission. Maj. Emmons
contended there was no violation of
international law in the charge that
the prison guard forced Allied pris-
oners to slap each other.
Inc major argued that the laws
of war recognized that prisoners
were subject to punishment estab-
lished by captors for their own
troops, and that slapping was a
popular form of summary punish
ment in Japan. ..-..---,-z,....
David r-.Day, -Jrm Reekpeft Ind.
/ speaking for the prosecution, coun-
tered that the Army field manual
prohibits any corporal or cruel pun
Shp1epts. - 'f'"t ~ Gf~1
/. The trial recessed after the prose
ctltion introduced its first docu-
mentary evidence-copies of an ex-
change of letters between former
Secretary of State Cordell Hull and
the Japanese. in which both sides
agreed to abide by the 1929 Geneva
Convention in handling prisoners OF
war.