National Republican., 1880-04-20
WHO IS NUMBER EIGHT?
A Slight Clue to ihe West Point Out
rage.
Result OF SIR. Gaylors ESamlnatIon-ona
Handwriting Compares with the Nots
OF Warning The Name Kept So
oret--WhittaiScr Had No Pill
lOw-Cnses MIR. Town
sond Not Present.
The Military Academy Investigation.

WEsT PoiNr, N. Y, April 1g.--Superiu.
tondent GaylOr, the expert in handwriting,
created q sensation in court this morning by
his testimony. He had been given several
days ago psf pieces of paper from the 257
cadets, on which they had written sentences
containing the words in the note of warming
found In Whitiakers room. Before handing
the papers to Mr. GaylOr last wook the re-
cOrdor tore from each paper tho signature OF
tho cadet who wrote it and numbered tho
paper aud the detached signature alike from
TO 257, keeping tho signatures himself aud
giving Mr. Gaylor the papers. When asked
what was the result Of his comparisons Mr..
Gaylor testified, in substance, that he had no
knowledge rs to the name of the writers Of
the 257 papers presented, and he had found no
similarity between any Of them and the nOto
Of warning except In the case of the papcr
numbered 49," lie had been given several
other papers written by the person that wrote
the sentence numbered g." and in each in-
stance tho Writing strongly rosombled that of
the note Of warming
Mr.. Gaylor noticed rCsemhlances in the lot
ters I'd" and "f' in the word fixed" letter ''p"
In April" and the "th" following tho latter
word lie said the writing of the person
designated as No. s was the only hand that
presented points OF resemblance strong enough
to warrant an opinion, aud lie recommended
the court to pursue its investigation in thd
direction of No. 8. As yet it has not been an
nOUnCCu VINO NO. represents HO SAID q let
ter was found on Whittuker's floor addressed
to WhittakeI's mother in Wbittaker's hand
writing. 1t WAS only partly written, and was
in two pieces and partly burned, aud it was
taken from tho room and destroyed Cadets
Cornish, Iodgsom aud witness not thinking
that it ought to have been preserved.
When Mr.. Gaylor returned from inspecting
the last three papers handed him ho said he
was clearly OF the opinion that tho writing
on one Of them was written by No g." but
not the other two, though some fthe writing
on the latter bore some resemblance.
No ono but Recorder Sears knows who mo.
8" Is, and he says the fact will not be revealed
until further along In tho investigation.
Cadet Dickinson testified that he had in
spected Whittakor's room four times since last
November, aud at other times; saw no pillow
case on his pillow. He never saw other cadets
pillows without pillow.case5 This witness
gave many reasons why he thought Whitaker
did the decd.
Several cadets were called to testify to tho
quietness of the barracks on tho night of tho
alleged outrage, and all sworc that they heard
no unusual noises that night, no struggle and
no cries for help. Cadets Dickinson, Hodges
and Cornish testified TO r letter partly written
picked from the swoepinss of Whittakers room
On the morning the outrage occurred. They
said it was ON two pieces of paper and the edge
of one sheet was burned, apparently. The
date had been wrtten, and also the words
Dear Mother" The letter was destroyed tho
same morning, the cadets not attaching any
Importance then. Mr.. Townsend was not
present to-day. Tho result Of to.ddy's pro-
ceedings is deemed highly important.