Dr. Spock, Ferber Arraigned; Trial to Start in Early Spring

Dr. Benjamin Spock, Rev. William Coffin, Michael K. Ferber 2G, and two other men pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy at their arraignment Monday in Boston's Federal District Court.

In a speedy 10-minute procedure, Judge Francis J. W. Ford gave 50 days for the defense to file special motions and for the prosecution to prepare their responses.

Judge Ford said that he wanted the trial to start by spring. "Otherwise it will spring into summer," he said. The defendents were all released on $1,000 bail without security and without geographic limitations.

The charges against the "Boston Five" --which also includes writer Mitchell Goodman of New York, and Marcus Raskin, co-director of the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington--stated that they "unlawfully, willfuly, and knowingly conspired against the United States."

Alleged Conspiracy

The alleged conspiracy consists in counselling young men to evade the draft and to disobey Selective Service laws, such as the one which requires that draftable men carry draft cards on their person.

Five years in prison and a fine of $10,000 are the maximum sentence for the five if they are convicted.

About 1500 protestors--and a sprinkling of war supporters--picked the Federal Building from 9 a.m. until noon. The protestors then followed the defendants to the Arlington Street Church where a teach-in and a "Service of Rededication" were held.

Several speakers at the service, including Catholic priest Phillip Berrigan, reinforced their solidarity with the five defendants in the Federal conspiracy case, by stating that they too aided, abetted, and counseled, young men to resist the draft.

340 Draft Cards

Twenty-five resistors turned their cards in to the speakers, who included Harvard clergyman Richard E. Mumma, and Liberation magazine editor David Dellinger.

Since October over 340 draft cards have been returned in Boston, according to Boston Draft Resistance Group spokesman, Neil Robertson.

Council for the Five includes James D. St. Clair for Coffin, Leonard B. Boudin for Spock, Monroe L. Inker for Goodman and Raskin, and William P. Homan '41 for Ferber. The prosecution was led by Paul F. Markham, A United States Attorney.