If This Be Treason

The government had charged Burma Surgeon Gordon S. Seagrave with high treason, but government witnesses at his trial last week had little or nothing to say about treason, concentrated instead on other accusations against Seagrave, to wit, discourtesy, fornication and slander.

U.S. observers found the court proceedings viciously slaphappy. Brigadier Lazum Tang testified that Missionary Seagrave refused to shake hands with him when government troops reoccupied Namhkam. Three Burmese nurses testified that Seagrave once referred to the government army as "a pack of dogs."

A pretty 21-year-old nurse named Ma Aye Mya (Miss Cool and Pleasant) told the court that the American doctor had forced his nurses to enter into sexual relations. Miss Cool and Pleasant apparently had only hearsay to support this charge. She said that Seagrave had avoided her after she rejected his advances. Defense witnesses for the ailing, 53-year-old physician firmly denied that Seagrave had ever molested his nurses. They further testified that he had been friendly towards Burma's government and army.

At week's end, the trial recessed until Nov. 1 while Burmese judges weighed the government's case. A good dictionary with a definition of treason would be helpful.

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