Evening star., 1949-10-22
Burgman Seeks
Aid Of Soviet in
Treason Defense
Envoy Here Asked
To Produce Witness
On Mental Illness

District Court Judge Alexander
Holtzoff is considering motion
In the Herbert j. Burgman trea-
son trial for a court order aimed
at putting the Soviet Government
to work for the defense.
In the motion. filed yesterday,
Defense Attorney James J.
Laughlin asked Judge Holtzoff to
ask Secretary of State Acheson to
ask Alexander S. Panyushkin, the
Russian Ambassador here, to help
produce a witness the defense
wants to have at the trial.
Mr.. Laughlin identified the pro-
posed witness as Medical Coun
Gil Grage, Md" and said he is
in Chemnitz, Germany. Chemnitz
is in the Russian Zone of occupa-
ton.
Indicates Mental Ill.
Mr.. Laughlin indicated the doc
tor would be expected to testify
that Burgman was mentally i'll
when, the Government says, he
broadcast Nazi propaganda to the
United States from Germany dur
ing the war.
Mr.. Laughlin said he and Vic
tor c. Woerheide. special assistant
to the Attorney General, had been
unable to obtain a deposition from
DIR. Grage' on a recent trip to
Europe.
Since the voluntary presence
of DR.. Grage would in no sense
impede the diplomatic relation
ship now existing between the
United States of America and the
Union of Soviet Socialist Repub-
lies, we believe this motion should
be granted" Mr.. Laughlin wrote.
In case the judge should decide
against seeking the aid of the
State Department and the Rus
sian Embassy. Mr.. Laughlin asked
that certificate" - said to have
been obtained from the doctor in
1916 - be admitted in evidence
in the trial.
Affidavit on Treatment.
The certificate, as quoted in an
affidavit attached by Mr.. Laughlin
to his motion, described Burg
mans treatment at the Neurologi-
cal Clinic, Chemnitz, in 1888.
1t diagnosed Burgman's illness
as "paranoid schizophrenia" and
stated he was discharged from the
clinic "unhealed."
AS set forth in the purported
certificate:
His father is said to have been
freakish. A brother died in an
insane asylum in America. Be-
fore admittance into the clinic
he suffered from catatomic
stupor. Then he got streaks of
fear, believed himself prosecuted,
spoke only at whisper. was with
out incentive and believed that
in the office they were working
against him with explosives :.
He stated that he thought an
English officer had put explosives
under his car. From then on he
could not be induced to get into
his car"
Opening Statement.
Mr.. Laughlin had indicated, in
his opening statement to the jury
when the trial opened on October
II, that he would defend Burgz
man on the grounds the 53-year-
old defendant was not responsible
for his wartime acts, because of
a temporary mental illness.
Mr.. Laughlin yesterday also
asked the court to subpoena Wal
ter Baeder, boyhood friend of
Burgman's, as defense witness.
Mr.. Baeder lives in Lacrosse, Wis,
ten miles from Burgman's native
town of Hokah, Mimi, and Mr..
Laughlin asked that he be brought
to Washington at Government
expense.
Judge Holtzoff took both mo-
tions under Amusement.
Burgman was chief clerk in
the military attaches Office of the
American Embassy in Berlin be-
for the war. The Government
says he refused repatriation when
hostilities broke out in 1941, and
broadcast propaganda for the
Nazis as the Joe Scanlon" of the
Berlin radios Station DEBUNK"
rarnolarac