ESTABLISHMENT OF MILITARY JUSTICE .

791
signed to duty in the office of the Judge Advocate General's Department, wher e
I am now on duty .
Q . On what date in November, 1918, did you leave the Provost Marshal Gen-
eral's Office for France?A . I left on the 27th of November .
Q . During the month of November, 1917, an order issued but never publishe d
to the Army, relieving Gen . Crowder from his duty as Judge Advocate General
and detailing Gen . Ansell as Acting Judge Advocate General . Some controvers y
has arisen as to the issuance of that order and other matters directly connecte d
with same. What information, if any, have you bearing upon that subject?
A . Well, I knew nothing about the issuing or revocation of the order, except b y
hearsay, until recently, when, in compliance with Gen . Crowder's directions, I
inspected and secured copies of the original papers in the Office of The Adjutan t
General, and Chief of Staff, but I can fix certain dates on account of the fol-
lowing facts : On a date, which I have now fixed as Saturday morning, Novem -
ber 24, 1917, Gen . Crowder, whose office was in the room next to the one I occu -
pied, called me in early in the morning, probably 8 .30, and handed me a brief ,
which had been submitted by Gen . Ansell to the Secretary of War dated Novem-
ber 10. I am very positive that he had received it from the Secretary only th e
day before for the reason that he stated to me that he had been very muc h
humiliated the evening or night before by the Secretary handing him the brie f
and stating in surprise that it was remarkable that Gen . Crowder had bee n
Judge Advocate General for nearly two terms and was not aware of a powe r
residing in his office. Lieut . Col . Johnson, subsequently brigadier general, wa s
then executive officer, and either at the beginning or during the interview, Gen .
Crowder called him in . The general stated that the brief proceeded from fals e
premises and directed Gen . Johnston and myself to drop everything in han d
and devote ourselves exclusively to the investigation of the facts and th e
authorities, and to prepare a memorandum brief for him covering the entir e
subject . I immediately began an investigation of all statutes by which Congres s
had vested appellate power in any court or courts, and Gen . Johnston began
an investigation of the records of the Judge Advocate General's Office . The
next day, which was Sunday, November 25, Gen . Johnson and I spent practicall y
the entire day in the record office of the Office of the Judge Advocate General, ex -
amining the action which had been taken by Gen . Holt and others from the sixties
to the eighties. Sunday night and the next day, Monday, the 26th, Gen . John-
ston and I prepared the reply brief and submitted it to Gen . Crowder, either
Monday, the 26th, or Tuesday, the 27th of November . The way that I fixed th e
dates is that Gen. Crowder's reply brief is dated November 27 and I am positiv e
that the day that I worked in the record office was Sunday, because no one was
present in the office and the offices were closed, so that I fixed the date whe n
the brief was handed Gen . Crowder as Friday, November 23, the evening or
night before he handed it to me .
By hearsay, which, I think, however, is admissible as establishing the fact it -
self of receiving information, I will state that when Gen . Johnston and I were
working on the brief he then told me that Gen . Ansell had, a short time before,
obtained an order from the Chief of Staff ap p ointing him Acting Judge Advocate
General and that the order had been revoked by the Secretary . By this informa-
tion I am sure that the revocation had been made prior to the submission of th e
brief by the Secretary to Gen. Crowder.
Q. Have you any knowledge or have you heard anything to indicate the dat e
updn which that brief was submitted by Gen . Ansell?A. No ; I have no infan t
mation concerning that . I observed this concerning the brief : It is dated Noveme
ber 10, 1917 . Gen . Ansell has stated, as I understand, that he submitted it o n
November 10. Before submitting the brief to the Secretary Gen . Ansell
passed it nFbmld .ainon the ofH'eers on duty in the office of the Judge Advocate
General . They all signed : their concurrence except Col . H. A. White, who signed
it at the end with the explanatory words after his signature, "As explained . "
In the file of the papers is a memorandum dictated and signed by Col . White,
under date of November 12, 1917, not concurring altogether with the opinion s
expressed in the brief . It must therefore have been subsequent to Col . White' s
memorandum of November 12 that the brief was submitted, but as to the exac t
date I have no information .
Q . On this occasion, did Gen . Crowder say anything regarding the circuu n
stances under which the order detailing Gen: Ansel as Acting Judge Advocat e
General had been secured?A . Gen. Crowder never mentioned that subject to m e
until within the last two or three weeks : At the time he handed the brie f
to me_liemade hb refetenhe whatever . -,;