Viewing page 16 of 75

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

[[Newspaper article]]
The Washington Post.
Washington: Saturday, November 28, 1925.
MITCHELL JUDGE CAUSES CLASH

[[image - Photograph]]
Photo of Frank Reid
[[Handwritten entry]] Chicago Tribune - 11/28/25 [[/Handwritten entry]]
[Pacific and Atlantic Photo.]
[[Caption]] RESENTS SLUR. Representative Frank Reid, Mitchell's attorney, replies to general. (Story on page 1.)[[/Caption]]


COMMENT BY COURT MEMBER IS SHARPLY RESENTED BY REID

Competency by Gen. King Not to be Questioned, Counsel Says.

TRIAL IS ADJOURNED FOR FOOTBALL GAME

Witness for General Staff Support Some of Air Colonel's Charges.
By John Edwin Nevin.

A sharp clash, which for a few seconds seemed fraught with serious consequences, enlivened the last few minutes of the court-martial of Col. William Mitchell yesterday afternoon. It was precipitated by Representative Frank R. Reid, chief counsel for Col. Mitchell, who sharply resented an audible comment by a member of the court - Brig. Gen. Edward L. King.

Gen. King has been noticeably irritated by the long drawn-out procedure. On previous occasions he has rebuked photographers for remaining within the semicircle held sacred for the court and insisted on them being ejected. Yesterday, with army witnesses on the stand, he plainly resented the methods utilized by Mr. Reid in his cross-examination to discredit them.

The climax came with Maj. Jarvis J. Bain, engineering officer attached to the general staff, on the stand. Reid had led him through an involved series of questioning designed to emphasize the absence of unity of command in the Hawaiian maneuvers. Eventually Gen. King leaned across Col. Blanton Winship, the law member of the court, and in a very audible whisper commented on the line of cross-examination.

Reid Sharply Resents Comment.

Reid stopped sharp in the middle of a question and, with his face white with rage and his entire form quivering with suppressed emotion, fairly shouted:

"This is not damn rot, in your mind or anyone else's. I resent this statement, and I want this made a matter of record."

Gen. King replied that the comment was not made to the counsel, but was addressed to a fellow member of the court.

"I do not care," insisted Reid; "I heard it, and so did others. I have a duty to perform to my client here and I intend to do so. The line of questioning may not suit someone and is involved, but I am not doing my best to make it as short as possible and I have maintained my position well within the law."

Episode to Be Closed.

Gen. King expressed regret that the remark had been overheard and the incident was closed for the time being because the court almost immediately thereafter recessed until Monday. There was general consternation in certain quarters and reports that the competency of Gen. King's continuance as one of the Mitchell judges would be brought into question were widely circulated. This very easily could be done because the court-martial manual provides that "if the incompetency of a member is not known at the commencement of a court-martial and it is developed later, the court shall take it into consideration at any time it may be raised." Representative Reid set this at rest later on last evening, however, when he said:

"It is an unfortunate episode, and I regret its occurrence. This court is an impartial tribunal. The remark might be interpreted by some, but not by me, as an indication of one of the court's disposition toward the weight of the evidence. On Monday morning I will move to strike it from the record, and I have so stated to Gen. King, and will take no advantage of the incident, although, as every lawyer knows, were this a civil procedure the jury immediately would have been dismissed."
[[/Newspaper article]]

[[image - Photograph]]
General's Comment Brings Censure By Reid
[[Handwritten entry]] [[Illegible]] - Nov. 28 - 25 [[/Handwritten entry]]
[[Photo of Brig. Gen. King]]
Copyright, Underwood & Underwood

BRIG. GEN. EDWARD L. KING
Member of the court-martial trying Colonel Mitchell, whose comment on the procedure of yesterday drew fire from Congressman Reid, counsel for the defense. General King remarked that the line of questioning was "rot." The remark brought a caustic rebuke from Reid and was read into the records for the purpose, it was hinted, of being made for the basis for a new trial as showing prejudice on the court's part.

Transcription Notes:
Article sections entered from left to right