The daily gazette., 1880-05-05
THIRD EDITION
From the N. Y. Herald.
The Whitaker Mystery.


Some contradictions in Cadet
Whittaker's account of the West
Point Outrage" are worthy of note.
Whitaker said on the day after the
outrage that he was awakened by a
man dumping right on" him in his
bed; he looked sharp and saw three
men, two tall and one short, and all
masked; he fought, but was choked
until "almost suffocated" (no marks
on his throat). He was struck "a
heavy blow on the left temple" (no
marks there); also ION the nose"
tno physical evidence of it), with
stsomething hard" presumably the
same thing for both blows; and the
man who hit him shouted" that
they would kill him if he made a
noise. Then they cut his ears with
'what he thought was knife"
Then they tied his feet, All this
had happened on the bed in the first
narrative. "Then they tied my feet
and my hands with strips of white
crossbelts and laid me on the floor
with my feet toward the bed in the
little alcove you see there and my
head toward the wall. Next they
tied my feet to the iron bedstead."
He asked them to put pillow under
his head. They did this and then
went away quietly, and when they
were gone he tried to gnaw the
straps from his hands, but could not
(were the bands marked with
teeth p; shouted, but not very loud,
and then laid down and remained
three hours ''in stupor from blows
received" His stupor was thin at
both ends. He heard his tormentors
when they went away, for he says
he was afraid to call out lest they
should return, and he heard Cadet
Burnett in the morning and did not
answer, because he thought it was
the return of his tormentors.
1t seems odd that though he heard
Burnett's voice he did not hear the
reveille. To DR.. Alexander Whitta-
ker said that one of the men ''hit him
with that Indian club" and that he
was also hit on the nose, and 81 knew
nothing more until you found me-"
He received by this account two blows,
one in the nose and one on the left
temple, in one account with some
thing hard" in another with the club.
In his testimony four days later he
said he was hit on the head with a
looking glass, and the looking glass is
in fact found broken also that he was
hit with fist" He says, 81 was
struck twice the first blow was ON
my forehead think it was the blow
of a fist, but it may have been an in
~ IL
each occasion that he was struck twice
In his testimony he says the blow on
his forehead was with fist or club,
and this may be the same blow that he
refers to elsewhere as delivered on the
cleft temple" though the left temple
is not the forehead. Consequently the
blow on his nose must have been the
one given with the looking glass,
though he says explicitly in his testi-
mony that they hit him ''ou the head
with the looking glass. Perhaps AL
intelligent cadet may confound his
forehead with his left temple, but not
to know his nose from his head would
be great reproach to the instruction
given at West Point, and not to be
able to distinguish between a blow
from fis and blow from an Indian
club is at least credltable to the fist.
But from some one OF these two bio " s.
delivered in about lour places with al
least three weapons, he became uncons
cious and "kne no more" TIL mex; dae
1t could hardly have been the blow will
the looking Z ass that did this f he has
the natural Uranium of his race. Yet
whatever other hurt he received was
given before the ears We're cut, before
the hair was cut, before he was put OF
the floor, before his feet were tied-fol
all that time he ssys b fought. 1t i!
strange that Whitaker was not able tC
unite the bands on his feet. There i.
no vigorous human creature (fat mel
excepted) who, with only his ankles anC
his wrists tie1, and he on his back, could
not so bend his body rs 20 have nearly
the full use Of his hands for operation
on knots tied his ankles; and Whitta
ker had light. 1t is unfortunate ais
that he has the details of his s'ory
little mixed; that he gives the order o
the incidents differently il his trstimon,
and in his first narrative; because an
confusion like this clouds the operation
of Investigators, and it would be grea
shame TO the government service ii al
Its authorities together, including tn
Executive and grand jury, fail TO dis
cover the real culprit or culprts.