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"Order in the Court"
[[image 1]]
CAPTAIN JARED I. WOOD, Lieutenant E. J. Bond, Sergeant John Keating, and three assisting privates, who are the court orderlies of Colonel "Billy" Mitchell's court-martial. Captain Wood is in charge. (Below) Mrs. Mitchell as she read a part of the voluminous mail that has poured in since the opening of the trial.

Windy Wash Day Next Door Only Spice at Army Trial
Spectators Watch Woman Battle Sheets Whipping On Line as Court Drones on; Mitchell Mail Piles Up

By DIXIE TIGHE
Sheets on the clothesline of a neighboring roof waived distraction and humor to the state, stilted courtroom were Colonel "Billy" Mitchell yesterday lost his plea to declare off his trial.

It was wash day across the street. Through the widespread branches that almost graze the warehouse windows, the courtroom watched a woman wrestle with wet and windblown sheets. Defiantly resisting the clutch of the clothespins the incorrigible laundry flung itself with violence against the cold, strong wind.

SUBDUED AT LAST
The few in the courtroom who first glimpsed the wash day sales, watched with amused and concentrated interest the determination with which the woman finally subdued the wayward sheets.

Yesterday's morning session was devoid of sensations. Only once did the court receive the collective attention of the spectators who come daily in the hope of excitement.

Through the morning session there developed a distracting restlessness. Spectators seem constantly to be leaving, and were replaced by those who, blocked the door waiting with apparent impatience for a place to sit. The small frame doorway always was crowded, the rows of chairs offered little passageway and the exit of the tired met noisy scrambling and disturbance.

WIFE SCANS MAIL
During the half-hour recess, given counsel for consultation, Mrs. Mitchell busied herself with the bit of the heavy mail that has already mounted too far over a thousand letters, telegrams, postals, radiograms, signed and anonymous. Three secretaries have been called in to assist Colonel and Mrs. Mitchell in attending to the trial communications.

Yesterday Mrs. Mitchell wore a broad brimmed velour hat, banded with a narrow band of gold ribbon, and a dark blue dress with white stitching. She was seated by her husband, but there was an absence of their usual interchanging of comments.

The law moved with rapidity yesterday, and there was little time for anything but alertness and quick thinking on the part of the Colonel and Mrs. Mitchell.

Neither the "Flying Colonel" nor his wife changed their expressions, as Colonel Blanton Winship, lost member of the court, enumerated, in a monotone recital, the eight specifications asking after each was mentioned that the court refuse to sustain the defense counsel's motion for dismissal. As the president of the court "so recommended," all eyes were riveted on the accused and Mrs. Mitchell, but it was an enlighening [[enlightening]] stare.

HIS "LAST FLING"
Sometimes the orderlies grew weary of standing and seek out an unoccupied window ledge or rare vacant chair. There is one, however, who seems tireless and stands near the entrance door all through the sessions.

On his sleeve is a Sergeant's chevron. It was hard earned he says. Only, when he talks the words are not as clear as type nor as fast as reading. Sergeant John Keating is from the "Ould Country," and thirty years of service with the American army have not hurt the brogue.

These are his last months of active service—this summer he expects to be retired. He says he is proud he was still at call when the "greatest court-martial" came to trial.

[[Image 2]]
"INTERESTED SPECTATORS": MRS. WILLIAM MITCHELL, Wife of the Former Assistant Chief of the Army Air Service, With Father, Sidney Miller of Detroit, and Colonel Mitchell's Sister, Mrs. Art Young, Arriving to Attend a Session of the Court-Martial in Washington

[[Image 3]]
Gen. Mc Coy
He is one of the most popular Generals – his men like him