Colman's Court

In a bare frame office building at Selfridge Field, Mich., this week a trial board of ten Air Force colonels convened a general court-martial to hear charges against Colonel William T. Colman, former commander of the field (TIME, May 17).

The charges involved five of the Articles of War. Specifications: drunk and disorderly in uniform, conduct unbecoming an officer; willful misappropriation of Government property*; snooting of Willie McRae, a Negro private at the field; procuring unlawful transfers of enlisted men and noncoms to Selfridge; accepting a vacation lodge from the father of two unlawfully transferred men; obtaining the transfer of Private Benson Ford (grandson of Henry Ford) to Selfridge. On all charges, Colonel Colman pleaded not guilty.

Unmilitary goings-on at Selfridge Field came to a boil with the McRae shooting May 5. The War Department has prepared charges against some of Col. Colman's associates, but is not likely to make them public before the end of his trial, which is expected to take about three weeks.

*An $800 electric generator; a $175 refrigerator; five $4.93 bedsteads.

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