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The Evening Star, Washington D.C., Wednesday October 28. 1925 CROWDS WAITING FOR MITCHELL COURT-MARTIAL [[image - photograph]] [[caption]] The Emory Building at First and B streets northwest was besieged today by crowds who waited for the opening the doors. Many were turned away because of the small capacity of the trial room. [[/caption]] TRIAL OF MITCHELL IS DRAMATIC SCENE --- Colonel, Villain and Hero in "Play," Nonchalant Throughout. --- It was a strange drama of the military, fraught with tenseness and surprises, that unfolded itself today to the audience in the drab little room on the second floor of the old Census Office Building near the Capitol, where the court-martial of Col. "Billy" Mitchell is being staged. Drama of real life such as this seldom, if ever, is offered the public, except on the pages of story books or on the stages and screens of the theater. The medal-bedecked defendant, immaculate in the full accoutrements of his rank, was both the hero and the "villain," according to the way one looks at it. Heroes and villains, alike, smile when under fire, and Col. Mitchell ran true to tradition. Colonel Nonchalant. From the moment of his formal arrest this morning to and during the launching of the trial, which was to decide whether he was an officer guilty of gross misconduct, the suave former assistant chief of the Army Air Service was like a small boy on a picnic. If his nonchalance was insincere or forced, then Mitchell is a great actor. The prologue of this drama, while unseen by the general public, was a remarkable preliminary to the big setting to follow. It occurred about an hour before the court-martial convened, in Col. Mitchell's home at the Anchorage. It centered around the "arrest" of the villainous hero. Here is what happened: Capt. K. J. Fielder, acting adjutant of the district of Washington, drove up to the apartment house, a bundle of papers stuffed in his pocket. The captain rang the bell to the Mitchell apartment and the colonel appeared in answer. "Well, well! Hello there, Fielder!" the air the colonel ejaculated. "Come in and sit down. Glad to see you. Have a cigarette? Match? Had breakfast? Well, have a cup of coffee, anyway. Aw, come on. That's the stuff." Capt. Fielder admitted he would take a cup, since Billy insisted. The conversation turned to generalities, the weather and such. Capt. Fielder's hand sneaked to his pocket and he felt the papers there. He looked up, hesitatingly, and finally said: "By the way, I've got those papers here. Court-martial papers, you know." "Oh, sure, let's have them. Thanks." Mitchell remarked, putting them in his pocket without so much as glancing at them. The two officers then smoked another cigarette and then Capt. Fielder took his leave. Col. William Mitchell, charged with violation of the ninety-sixth article of war, had been arrested and summoned to appear before a military court-martial at 10am today by direction of the Secretary of War. Promptly at 10 a.m. Col. Mitchell was on hand at the place designated. He arrived a few minutes beforehand, accompanied by Mrs. Mitchell, his sister, Mrs. Young; Representative Frank Reid of Illinois, his counsel, and Judge F. G. Plaine, also of Illinois, his associate counsel. There was no demonstration as the officer entered the courtroom, as but few persons noticed him enter. The first thing he did was to burst into the private anteroom in which had gathered the major generals, brigadier generals and one colonel who were to sit in judgement upon him. "Hello, folks," Mitchell greeted them, as he began to shake hands and put his arm around backs. The cheery greetings were returned heartily and there was a brief interchange of reminiscences between the colonel and several old service mates. Long before the doors of the antique brick courtroom were opened this morning there has gathered in front of the main entrance an eager line of men and women, two and three abreast, bent on securing a seat of vantage in the small room. When the stern, immobile military sentries were ordered away from the doors there was a rush to the upper room that quieted down only when the firstcomers had grabbed their folding seats, none of which could be said to be "in the orchestra." The scene as the trial got underway promptly at 10 o'clock was one of pent-up emotions on the part of the spectators and of apathy on the part of the members of the court and of the accused. The atmosphere as the curtain was raised was surcharged with military austerity. The air was heavy with "rank." At one end of the high-ceilinged room, previously used for storage of military goods, was the semi-circle of brass buttons, gold stars and trappings, which was the court. These men, seated around an improvised table arranged in the form of an arc, were solemn in mien. They had a momentous duty before them. Immediately in front of the court and to its right sat the judge advocate and his assistant, who were, in civil parlance, the prosecuting attorneys. In relatively the same position to the left of the court, sat Col. Mitchell, and his counsel, military and civil. Just back of the colonel was Mrs. Mitchell, dressed in a black coat, edged with gray fur, and sporting a rakish tam o'shanter. With her was Mrs. Young, Col. Mitchell's sister. Then followed half a dozen rows of tables at which were seated more than 40 members of the press from various parts of the country. Deplores "Show Tendency." It has been reported that the Secretary of War has expressed the desire that the Mitchell court-martial shall not become "a show." Perhaps that is the reason so little provision was made at the trial for spectators. What small space in the room was left after the tables of the press had been placed was turned over to the public, and scarcely more than 50 persons could be accommodated on the folding chairs provided there. Despite the ruling that no one would be allowed to stand in the room, there were a dozen or more men and one or two women who found a standing-room-only place to the rear. The inevitable and indispensable news photographers, more than willing to give all sorts of picture publicity to the dramatic staging of the trial, cluttered up all available space back of the members of the court. The dignity of any tribunal must fall before the domineering eye of the camera, and the Mitchell court was no exception. The erect officers were told where and how to sit for "the flash," and they meekly complied. As the formal proceedings swung into action the monotonous grinding of movie machines and clicking of news cameras were the only audible sounds, except for the steady intonation of the orders forming the court, voiced by the judge advocate. The handful of spectators were respectful in their attitude. There was no cheering, no clapping, no booing or other demonstrations which would give their neighbors an idea of whether they were Mitchell fans or critics. The audience was duly impressed with the solemnity of the occasion when the judge advocate announced gravely that "the pres and spectators will stand as the court takes its place." When all had accordingly arisen the door to the ante-room swung open and the procession of the judges, led by Maj. Gen. Summerall, began. Not until the court had seated itself did the others in the room again take their seats. SUMMERALL HITS MITCHELL'S STAND --- President of Military Court Declares Feeling for Colonel Friendly. --- By the Associated Press. Maj. Gen. Charles P. Summerall, who withdrew as president of the Mitchell court-martial today after he had been accused of bias and ignorance by Col. Mitchell and his counsel, was personally selected by Secretary Davis of the War Department to head the court. It was said at the time that it was the Secretary's desire to place in that position the officer with the most distinguished record of war service now remaining on the active list. He is one of the two war-time corps commands who still is on active service. He commanded the 1st Division in France prior to his promotion to command the 5th Corps. Gen. Summerall went at once to the War Department when he left the courtroom. He said he had entered the courtroom with only the most friendly feelings toward Col. Mitchell, but he added that when the challenge had taken the form of impurging his own efficiency as a soldier, he could not endure the prospect of sitting on the court. Resists Personal Attack. "If the court had not seen fit to accept my request that I be relieved from duty on the court," Gen. Summerall said, "I would have adjourned the court and appealed to the President to be relieved from that duty. I could not remain after the personal attack upon me." At the War Department Gen. Summerall encountered by chance Col. R. McCormick, one of the publishers of the Chicago Tribune and who commanded an artillery regiment in the 1st Division in France under Gen. Summerall. "I can testify," Mr. McCormick said, "in the names of all the men of the 1st Division-- alive or dead-- to the fairness, squareness and soldierly efficiency of Gen. Summerall." Gen. Summerall said that the report on the condition of Army aviation on Hawaii which Col. Mitchell had cited in the court proceedings had made so little impression on him at the time Col. Mitchell gave him a copy of it while Gen. Summerall was in command in Hawaii that he had completely forgotten it. The charges in that report about the aid defenses of the Hawaiian Islands were utterly ridiculous, Gen. Summerall said, and had bee proven to be without basis in fact in the joint maneuvers in Hawaiian waters this year. Cites Umpire's Ruling. Both Army and Navy umpires of those maneuvers had joined in commending the efficiency of the Air Service wing of the island defenses, he said, adding that the air detachments had functioned exactly as they had been trained to function, "as I trained them to function." He recalled that Col. Mitchell had been on a "honeymoon tour" when he visited Hawaii and made the report and added that he had given Col. Mitchell every opportunity to study the question and granted him every courtesy in his power. "I cannot stand by and hear soldiers and officers and the Air Service that has been under my command charged with incompetency and inefficiency," Gen. Summerall declared. "I know that there is no truth in such charges."
