Court Martial

Last week the Court Martial (TIME, Nov. 2, 9) trying Colonel William Mitchell for contempt of his superiors calculated to destroy discipline, got almost nowhere. Colonel Mitchell's counsel asked for 70 odd witnesses. According to Army rules both prosecution and defense have the privilege of examining witnesses before they take the stand. That took some time, and the Court was obliged to recess for several days.

Colonel Blanton Winship, the polished law officer of the Court, of course accepted the delay with equanimity. James O'Donnell

Bennett, correspondent, printed an able pen sketch of Colonel Winship: "He is the embodiment of Sir Philip Sidney's definition of a gentleman. But Blanton Winship of Georgia is not only the politest man in the Army of the United States. He is more than manners. He is a gifted lawyer and a fine soldier. He is an exceptional horseman and always has owned good horses."

But if Colonel Winship could bear delay with equanimity, Major General Robert Lee Howze, president of the Court could not. He is a disciplinarian of the first water. Way back in '91 he got the Congressional Medal of Honor for licking a crowd of Sioux in South Dakota. This week he proceeded to rake the counsel over the coals. The Trial Judge Advocates explained that they had not known until the day before what witnesses the defense wished to call.

"Your statement is an admission of your fault," snapped General Howze. He granted a delay saying:

"Now, I desire counsel for both sides to get together this morning, right now, and arrive at an agreement of some sort or other which will, when the Court reconvenes, permit this case to proceed as speedily as possible to a conclusion. Locate these witnesses and begin today to do it. Use the telegraph, the radio or the cable, but get them, and if what they know is admissible, prepare them for the witness chair."