European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 14, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes . Sunday february 14.1993 Booths doctor wins mock court Appeal Byann Gearan the associated press Richmond a. More than Century after his death the doctor who treated Abraham Lincoln s Assassin Wonan Appeal to Clear his name though Only in a mock trial. A moot court ruled Friday that the military com Mission that convicted or. Samuel a. Mudd in 1865and sentenced him to life in prison As Aco conspirator had no right to try Himin the first place. Attorney r Lee Bailey argued Mudd s Case in Themuda mock trial staged on the 184th anniversary of Lincoln s birth. Mudd s prosecution was one Sledge Hammer after another upon the Constitution Bailey told the three judge panel at the University of Richmond s . Williams school of Law. No real court has agreed to rehear therase but Mudd s descendants have waged a Long Battle to Clear his name. My Grandfather never got a fair trial so this is a great Day said Mudd s granddaughter Emily Mudd Rogerson,86, of Richmond. Samuel Mudd a 32-year-old doctor set the broken leg of Lincoln s Assassin John Wilkes Booth. The actor broke it. When he jumped onto the stage at Ford St Heater in Washington after shooting the president on april 14, 1865, five Days after the civil War ended. Union soldiers shot and killed Booth on april 26. Mudd claimed he knew nothing of the killing when Booth arrived on horseback in the Early hours of april 15 at Mudd s Home in Maryland 30 Miles from Washington. Mudd was sentenced to life in prison and served four years before being pardoned by president Andrew  won recognition for helping Battle an outbreak of yellow fever at the prison and died in 1883. Despite the Pardon the conviction stood. On Friday chief judge Robinson , retired senior judge of the . Court of military appeals and another moot court judge ruled that Mudd a civilian should have been tried by a civil Ian jury not the military commission. The court did not Rule formally on Mudd s guilt or innocence but the third judge said the Case against Mudd was no sufficient to convict him. I cannot resist the temptation of say ing i have very serious doubts whether an impartial military panel distanced fro the moment. Would have found the evidence presented was sufficient beyond reasonable doubt said Edward d. Re retired senior judge of the . Court of International Trade. The moot court ruling is not binding but Bailey said he Hopes the army will use it in considering whether to erase Mudd s conviction. His name was Mudd but verdict s not guilty the associated press the Case of or. Samuel a. Mudd soften cited As the origin of the phrase your name is mud but linguistic references say the pejorative term Wasin use at least several decades before Mudd was convicted in president Lin Coln s assassination. Martin Davis a librarian at the University of Virginia s Alderman Library said the origin of the phrase apparently is British. Davis cited the dictionary of Slang and unconventional English which said the phrase dates to about 1820.originally, the phrase had a much stronger meaning than its modern use indicating someone was utterly Dis graced or Defeated the reference Book said. It kind of softened and the sense changed in the 20th Century to mean a generally sullied reputation Davis said. The Morris dictionary of word an phrase origins said the term is Proba Bly related to mud press 19th-Cen-Tury scandal sheets that sometimes played Loose with the Good names of Public figures. Mud press was in use in 1846, so it seems most Likely the phrase was Well established be order. Mudd met his unhappy Fate the reference work said. The prosecutor in the moot trial Johnjay Douglass argued that the War was not really Over on the Day that Lincoln was shot. Sporadic hostilities continued for Sev eral months and the military court that convened in june was within its rights tory Mudd and seven others said Doug lass Dean of the National College of District attorneys in Houston and a former commandant of the army school for judge advocates general. Bailey argued that the military commis Sion that convicted Mudd and seven other defendants was set up to satisfy the Monu mental embarrassment of lax Security that allowed the president of the United states to be assassinated by an  Bailey conceded that Mudd was acquainted with Booth but rejected a prosecutor s argument that Mudd was a con federate sympathizer Bent on continuing the civil War. The army Board for correction of Mili tary records has agreed that the military lacked jurisdiction. But last july Williamd. Clark acting assistant army Secretary rejected setting aside the conviction. Dear Ann Landers angry group seeks apology Chicago a a Charity watchdog group is de manding an apology from Ann Landers because it says the advice columnist added inflammatory remark about a fund raising firm to a letter the group sent her. The letter in Landers feb. 4 column alerted readers Toa recent name change by the Virginia based fund raising firm Watson & Hughey co. The firm now called direct response consulting services has paid millions of dollars in Charity fraud lawsuit settlements since 1991.the watchdog group said its letter was purely informational and nonjudgmental but the published version contained derogatory remarks and a condemning tone that were not in the original letter and not attributed to land ers. When 1 first saw the column i was very shocked and very angry Gary Wolfe executive director of charities review Council of Minnesota  Are things attributed to one of our staff peo ple that were never said intended or implied our reputation is at stake with this thing he  Chicago based columnist was on vacation and unavailable to respond Friday. Among Landers additions to the letter was a refer ence to the clients of the firm As so called  the published letter also included the following sen tence that was not in the original i Hope you win continue to hound this crowd the fund raising firm whose lever lawyers have figured out How to keep them in business and out of  Landers columns last year had criticized wat son & Hughey along with the charities it  columns contained readers letters denouncing the firm s sweepstakes promotions or saying that some of Watson & Hughey s client charities spent fractions sometimes less than 1 percent of the Money they collected on the actual service for which they existed. Christina Burkholder general counsel for direct response said it is now complying with stringent fund raising guidelines As part of Charity fraud lawsuit settlements reached with 22 states. All were settled with out a finding of wrongdoing she  asked Landers to publish a retraction of his group s edited letter to print the original and to apologize to its author Marjoric Siegel and to the Council. Richard s. Newcombe president of los Angeles based creators Syndicate inc., which distributes the column said a decision on those requests would be made after Landers returns this  regret that the tone of the letter was changed but we re very pleased that Marjoric Siegel acknowledged herself in a letter to the Minneapolis Star trib Une that the column was accurate Newcombe  said an informational paragraph inserted into her missive to Landers is accurate. But she said the published letter distorts information implies illegality not alleged in the original letter and conveys an us versus them attitude that her group does not have. Denver again shrouded in Brown Cloud of pollution Denver a like a horror movie sequel the mile High City s dreaded Brown Cloud is Back. The air pollution which often smells like a stockyard has covered metropolitan Denver More often this Winter than in the six previous years. On a single Day in january the worst air pollution in five years Hung Over the City obscuring the lower Levels of build Ings and the Rocky Mountain Foothills said Laura Bishard administrative offi cer of clean air Colorado. Out the main culprit is not vehicle exhaust or fireplace emissions. It is the weather particularly inversion Lay ers that trap pollutants Bishard said. Denver has been fighting air pollution problems for More than two dec Ades and was on the cutting Edge nationally with its mandatory oxygenated fuel program which went into effect about six years ago. In recent years the City has concentrated on meeting Federal standards for Carbon monoxide and Fine particulates along with a state Standard for visibility Bishard said. Carbon monoxide an invisible Gas that can cause lung and heart prob lems is created by internal combus Tion engines. The engines pose special problems at Denver mile High Alti tude where fuels Burn incompletely. Fine participates Are made up of Sand put on icy streets some Wood burning emissions fireplace soot an agricultural dust. A Winter program to fight air pollution was established in metropolitan Denver in 1986. It sets up procedure for implementing mandatory bans on woo burning and voluntary restrictions for driving on Days when pollution is too High. In addition most motorists in nine counties Are required to use oxygenated fuels from nov. 1 to april 30. Film on Blacks in Wii withdrawn Over questions new York a the producers of a documentary about Blacic soldiers liberating nazi death Camp survivor withdrew the film to Check facts after questions were raised about some details. The liberators fighting on two fronts in world War will hot be shown again on television until the questions Are resolved said Harry Chancey or. Vice president of program services at Vinet to. Video sales also were halted. Net which produced the show with filmmakers Nina Rosenblum and Bill Miles announced the move thursday. Rosenblum and Miles could not be reached for com ment. An officials in Frankfurt Germany said saturday that they were not aware of the producers actions and that the pro Gram was scheduled to run today at 3 30 . No factual errors were  said producers were merely responding to the volume of challenges from War veterans journalists and jewish groups. The 90-minute film was screened i Harlem s Apollo theater last year for an audience of prominent Blacks and jews including mayor David n. Dinkins and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Factual questions arose after the film was broadcast nationally on pcs stations. The latest challenges came in the current Issue of new Republic Magazine and an american jewish committee report. The message of the film that Blac soldiers were among the liberators of concentration Camps is absolutely True Kenneth s. Stern an expert on anti semitism who wrote the report the tragedy is that the film has serious factual  the film claims the 761st tank in anal Black unit liberated death Camps at Buchenwald and Dachau but military record say that never happened. Stern said. Blacks from other units did Rescue Vic Tims there however and the 761st participated in the liberation of another Campat gun Skirchen Stern said