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FRESH ROW BRINGS NEW WARNING AT TRIAL OF MITCHELL
Gen. Howze Tells Counsel to Confine Discussions to Court Hereafter.
ROSENDAHL DEFENDS SHENANDOAH CHANGES
Declares Curtailing of Gas Valves Had Nothing to Do With Crash. Hearings May End Dec. 20.

Having dragged along at a slow and uninteresting pace for the greater part of the day, the Mitchell court-martial proceedings late this afternoon were enlivened by a heated discussion between opposing counsel, which drew another sharp admonition from Maj. Gen. Robert L. Howze, president of the court, who commanded them to cease their "bickering" and confine their discussions to the court.
The row between Maj. Allen W. Guillion, assistant trial judge advocate, and Representative Frank R. Reid, chief civilian defense counsel, had its inception over the question of whether Mr. Reid should examine some papers a witness had brought to the stand without the prosecution first seeing them. Both sides loudly asserted their rights to see the papers, and the argument reached such proportions Col. Blanton Winship, the law member, had to force his way into it.
Showing considerable irritation of repetition of such instances, the colonel declared: "I tell you both I don't want any further discussion about those papers." He settled the matter there and the court took a brief recess.
Howze Issues Warning.
On returning to the room Gen. Howze read the following announcement: "The court has viewed with disfavor and indignation the constant indulgence in bickering between opposing counsel, in violation of instructions to address the court at all times. Again counsel are warned to confine their discussions to the court. Please take notice."
The witness on the stand at the time the discussion reached its climax was Lieut. Comdr. Charles E. Rosendahl, senior surviving officer of the Shenandoah, whose examination, begun yesterday afternoon, was continued throughout today. His testimony was in vigorous defense of the Shenandoah disaster and contradiction to the charges made by Col. Mitchell on that subject. Toward the close of the session today Lieut. R. G. Meyer, who assisted in designing and constructing the dirigible, and who made every flight the craft took, except one, was placed on the stand.
May Last Till December 20.
The court-martial will be brought to a close not later than the 20th of this month, it was forecast today by both the prosecution and defense, who expect to close up their rebuttal and surrebuttal by that time. If the present indications, which both counsel believe in, hold true, the court will close to consider findings seven weeks from the day of its organization. 
Maj. Guillion, in charge of prosecuting the naval angle of the case, plans to dispose of all his witnesses by tomorrow evening and then the War Department's side will be brought in under the direction of Maj. Francis B. Wilby of the general staff, who has numerous Army officers of high rank in readiness to testify. Under a ruling of the court several days ago, Col. Mitchell is allowed surrebuttal testimony, but it is understood the number of witnesses for the defense this time will be small.
Rosendahl has stoutly maintained under direct examination that the ship was "destroyed by aerodynamic stresses imposed upon it by the vertical forces of the squall," and "the gas had nothing to do with it."
On this same point, under cross-examination by Representative Frank R Reid, the officer could not state positively if the hand-maneuvered valves had functioned efficiently, explaining the only way this could have been determined was to have been there at the time. He declared it was the intention of the Shenandoah officers who ordered the reduction of automatic valves from 18 to 8 to operate the hand valves whenever necessary. During the battle with the storm over Ohio, he said, the automatic valves had not taken care of sufficient helium escape, and for that reason the hand-operated ones were opened for five minutes. This move materially aided in checking the rapid ascent of the ship, the witness said.
Although Comdr. Rosendahl's testimony previously had been given to the Shenandoah court of inquiry and the story of the disaster had been told several times both before that body and the court-martial, nevertheless the report of the accident he submitted to the Navy Department and which he read on the stand created unusual interest and attention. The prosecution had been reluctant to have the witness read the report, owing to the existence of several gruesome and horrible happenings explained in some detail, but the defense insisted.
Defends Absence of Parachute.
Comdr. Rosendahl defended the absence of parachutes on the ship, declaring they would seriously interfere with the duties of the crew if worn while climbing about the dirigible.
On cross-examination Mr. Reid got the witness to explain 1 hour and 10 minutes had elapsed between the time the situation became dangerous and the time he landed in a section of the craft.
"Was it possible to put a parachute on in that time?" he asked, and the witness replied:
"Yes."
The prosecution plans to devote the remainder of the day to the Shenandoah question by producing further witnesses to refute the Mitchell charges on the disaster.
The only flare-up at today's session occurred when Maj. Gullion protested to the court at Mr. Reid's "attempts to put technical questions to the witness when he himself is ignorant of the subject being discussed." Mr. Reid replied:
"I am no more ignorant of technical subjects than Maj. Gullion is ignorant about this whole case."
Maj. Gullion joined in the laughter.
Upholds Mooring Mast.
Lieut. Comdr. Rosendahl explained further the fuctions of the mooring mast and hangar on taking the stand this morning. He likened the hangar to a garage and the mast to a parking place, and declared it was only natural that a dirigible would be safer in its hangar than exposed to the wind. He declared it was hazardous to attempt to put the airship into its hangar while transverse winds are blowing, but said this would not interfere with mooring it to a mast unless the wind became excessive. He contended that mooring masts are the most efficient method known for anchoring airships.
The questioning then turned to the fatal flight of the Shenandoah. Lieut. Comdr. Rosendahl was third in command of the ship on that trip, and is the senior surviving officer. The prosecution produced a report on the Shenandoah crash sent to Secretary Wilbur by Comdr. Rosendahl. Maj. Gullion started to permit the witness to tell the story of the tragedy by refreshing his memory from this report, but there was immediate objection from Mr. Reid. A brief tilt ensued, and the court finally rule that the witness should tell his story without referencing the report except when his memory failed him.
Reads Report of Crash.
The witness began by describing the thunderstorm which lay astern of the ship at the time he came on duty, 3:30 a.m., the day of the crash. He started to narrate further events, but was interrupted when Maj. Gullion suggested that he read the report in full. Mr. Reid said he had no objection to the entire report being put into the record. The report, comprising 11 closely written pages, gave a graphic first-hand description of the fatal flight of the Shenandoah, beginning with her start from Lakehurst and ending with her destruction. He told of the "streaky clouds" which he say forming ahead of the ship after it had passed one thunderstorm and of Comdr. Lansdowne noting this disturbance with some concern.
Shortly thereafter, the report stated, the ship began to rise rapidly, reached its pressure height, halted for a few moments, then darted upward again. The valiant efforts made by the crew to check this ascent and later to prevent the crash they feared would follow were described in detail. He told of two of the engines going dead and of Comdr. Lansdowne's order that all excess weight be thrown out, including the fuel. He recounted the noise that occurred when the ship began to break up and told of the flight in free balloon fashion of the after part of the ship. The report also went into detail regarding the actions of the survivors, the identification of the dead and other matters.
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Chicago Unifaul [[?]]- 11-18-18
[Pacific and Atlantic Photo.]
"DAMN ROT' COMMENT THREATENS MITCHELL MISTRIAL. Brig. Gen. Edward L. King, D. S. C., D. S. M., whose remark to colleague may invalidate court martial proceedings. (Story on page 1.)

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The writing under the image, denoted by the [[?]] is extremely faint and hard to read.