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Two SeamihOf Tearing From SJF.SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 20 lt;— Two young U. S. navy seamen were convicted of malicious mis-j chief today for cutting down a Nazi flag which was flying at the German consulate here. SENTENCE PENDS“Tins is offense against another nation/' said Municipal Judge Peter J. Mullins in adjudging the two guilty. He remanded them to custody of naval authorities after announcing sentence would he imposed next Thursday.The two were Harold J. Sturte-vant, 19, Haverhill, Mass., and E. G. Lackey, 20, Charlotte. N. C.The flag incident occurred Saturday. Two thousand or more persons were spectators as the two sailors, in civilian clothes, engaged in their adventure nine stories above the street.Naval authorities revealed today that the two men had been under treatment in the psychopathic ward at a navy hospital near here.“There is no law which prohibits the flying of a flag of another country, thank God, Judge Mullins said. ‘This is an offense against another nation—a nation with which we are at peace, and I as a public official cannot condone it.“The president has declared a wish to keep us out of war. It is our duty to support that. I find both the defendants guilty.”Young Sturtevant and Lackey were composed and serious. They were flanked by two marine guards as they stood before the courtThey were freed from jail yesterday on a habeas corpus writ, on $50 bail.LEGION GETS WRITAllan L. Graham, judge advocate of the 363rd infantry post of the American Legion, and William E. Barden, commander of Fred Bunch post of the Legion, who obtained the writ,'said in their application the Nazi flag was a “symbol of an organization of forceful and violent opposition to organized government.”The application added that the flag was “so displayed as to be anm Guilty Nazi Flag Consulateaid to propaganda that advocates by force and violence the overthrow of this government, and therefore was in violation of the military and veterans’ code of the state of California.BERLIN’S VIEW BERLIN, Jan. 20 (^--Irrespective of bow the San Francisco Nazi flag incident will be handled diplomatically or politically, authorized German sources said today that the moral question remains.(The United States expressed regret yesterday to the German government over the incident, in which two United States navy enlisted men off duty tore the flag down from the Nazi consulate in San Francisco.)“The fact is that a scandalous incident has occurred, in the course whereof one of the most sacred rights of international intercourse, namely that of displaying the flag, has been violated.” it was said. Even in the jungle, the rights of guests are respected. If anybody here said it was merely a prank of seamen, he had no right to make such an utterance.”UNDER OBSERVATION WASHINGTON.-Jan. 20 UP)— The navy said today its two enlisted men involved in the tearing of a Nazi flag at San Francisco lately had been “under observation in the psychopathic ward of the naval hospital on Mare Island, Calif.They were at liberty from the hospital, it was said at the time of the incident.These statements were included in an official report issued by the navy department on the basis of information from the commandant of the twelfth naval district at San Francisco, Hear Admiral A. J. Hepburn. Hepburn was said to have ordered a full investigation.Renewed although unofficial German demands for satisfaction today raised the question of whether the state department would go beyond its written ex-pressiori'of regret over the destruction of the German consulate’s swastika flag in San Francisco.
Newspaper Details
Reno Evening Gazette
Reno, Nevada, US
Mon, Jan 20, 1941
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Chris T.
CA, USA 15 Aug 2017
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