Evening star., 1950-11-13
By james J. cuIIinone

committee undertook to question the
wife Of Charlie Fischetti, one of the
leaders Of the powerfully reorganized
Capone mob. Mr.. Fischetti, summing
himself in Mexico, was out of reach. But
the committee members hoped Mrs.
Fischetti could give them some helpful
answers to questions about who paid
whom, how much and when.
Chicago, town which thought it had
grown accustomed to sights of outraged
virtue, saw something on this occasion
which made 1t sit up and take notice.
sight which has been fascinating Wash
ington criminal court juries for years.
Charles E. Ford, Esq, Washingtons
best-known criminal lawyer, bounced TO
his feet, all 220 pounds of him quivering
with indignation, his eyebrows arched
high on his broad face. In the softest
Of voices, he told the Senators they
should know better than to ask lady
questions about her husbands income.
Some things are still sacred in this
country, he said. Then, like professor,
he began quoting cases.
The Senators finally had to agree that
If Mrs Fischetti didn't want to tell about
her husband, they couldn't make her
talk Mr.. Ford rushed back to Wash
ington.
When the House District crime inves-
tigating subcommittee asked Mr.. Ford
himself, recently, whether he knew who
was behind the gambling racket in Wash
ington, piety and eagerness to be Of help
oozed from the Fifth street Cicero. Ger
tainly he knew, he said. The Congress-
men leaned forward eagerly.
Some Of those men," said Mr.. Ford,
"are respected members of the COM
munity, and their names have never been
associated publicly with gambling"
What coup for the committee! The
legislators almost cooed as they besought
Mr.. Ford to name the respected citizens.
The lawyers broad shoulders hunched
forward-he could scarcely contain his
earnest ZEAL He said he wanted to place
before the committee everything he knew.
But first there was one small matter
Of ethics involved. Would the commit
tee go with him before the American
Bar Association and find out whether
that group was willing to waive its rule
on ethics-to wit tas they say. that
attorney-client relationships are supposed
to be inviolate?
The effect on the Congressman was
electrifying. Before Mr.. Ford was
through. they were almost pleading with
him to agree that Republicans and Dem
ocrats alike upheld the sanctity of the
lawyer-client relationship In the end,
Mr.. Ford said he believed in the Consti-
tuition. The committee thanked him
for coming.
Years before, the Holy Fathers at
Gonzaga High School had thanked Mr..
Ford for going. He caused them almost
as much trouble has he caused his tenn
poral father, Cornelius Ford. the Public
Printer in 1913. He had a hard time
with Greek and Latin. But the war
came on, and what with one thing and
another, the Fathers pushed him
through. His athletic prowess may have
helped. He was football halfback
when Gonzaga was beaten, $40. They
still talk of his brilliant slash off-tackle
for q 30-yard loss. He played basket
ball, too, and helped keep the opponents
score to II while Gonzaga was running
UP 90 points.
Mr.. Ford's talents attracted the atten-
ton of the Army Air Force, and in 1917
he was commissioned a second lieu
tenant. He was so good he taught other
aviators how to fly. History tells the
story of Mr.. Fords skill. And the fact
that the Washington Monument is still
standing Is one of the minor Ford
miracles. It was this way:
After World War !, they put on the
biggest air show ever seen over Wash
ington up to that time-a mass flight of
40 Curtis biplanes. BY coincidence, all
the newspapers mentioned that Second
1t. Ford, who'd never had mishap,
would lead the fight. In interviews. the
old files reveal, 1t. Ford succinctly told
in several thousand words how safe the
flight would be.
AS it turned out. the flight itself got
hardly mention. The big story was that
the motor of one of the planes went
dead, smack-dab over the city-a pretty
dangerous thing in those days. The plane
was headed right for the Washington
Monument. Thousands held their
breaths while the pilot skinned around
the obelisk and landed on the monu-
ment grounds.
Who got out? Naturally Charlie
Ford.
Mr.. Ford can't recall now who told
him to study law, but he remembers
and so do some veteran Georgetown Uni
versity professors-that he was outstand-
ing in the lower half of his class Hardly
anyone noticed when he was graduated
in 1922. and even fewer noticed when he
finally tackled up his shihgle: Charles E.
Ford, Attorney at Law
His first client was man the District
was trying to adjudge insane because
he had tried to end his life. He had
worked in the Patent Office Mr.. Ford
had friends in the Patent Office who
suggested Mr.. Ford get the defendant
of. Psychiatrists said if the man were
released he would kill himself The man
said he wouldn't. Mr.. Ford spoke pas
sionately to the jury for almost an hour.
and they freed the man.
The next day he committed suicide.
Mr.. Ford's oratorial style has been
compared to that of the late Marcus
Tullius Cicero, and like that classic Ro-