New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-04-13
A SUSPENSION OF JUDGMENT.


there s an absolute suspension OF Judgment ABOUT h
Whitaker CASE The cadets still OF the opinion tnat
Whitaker will out 20 be the oulprlt. but amonH
the officers not has been found that VIII unoertake
to pronounce decidedly In bis favor or against h Inc
evidence points both ways far as Whitaker Is con-
cerned and there is direct evidence lmphcdunk
other cadets 1t is considered unfortunate that
when Whitaker had been released from HIS uncomiort
BILE position, not locked ana seaeu un'ii
it could thoroughly examined instead OF tns' '"o
military love for cleanliness and order prevaieo over
tne detective spirit which is not fostered In tue army
and all the CLOTHES and bedding washed as were
the cords which bounG Whitaker and the bloody Indian
club All the glass; hair and other things were remoVe
and within an after Whitaker had gone to the hos
pal his room such good order that an Inspecting
officer could have found suggestion TO MAKE IL !"
thought, too, that an error was MADE In DOT st@nH
turning out the entire corps cadets in front OF par
racks wbilo every room was searched for traces OF
blood wished from tho hands, for citizens clothing sad
TO have been by the assaants, aud for other eV
drnce Great embarrassment to the Court results
from tine destruction Of much evidence But the
time Immediately succeeding the discovery was one Oh
great excitement.
General schoAeld said to-day that he thought opinion
was less settled the case now than ~ was
Immediately after the discovery Of the outrage or when
the idea was suggested that Whitaker had 70 DO Win
himself "I have been misrepresented as having ac'
coded TO this latter view said General schoheld On
the contrary, have opposed II. The public may not
understand why we have proceeded rs we have. AS
soon as the suspicion against Whitaker developed lie
was in Justice to him. Informed OF 1t; ana no very
promptly asked court Of inquiry Had he not done
so IL would have been necessary TO get the President
to order one could order only upon Whittakers
re1uest and could not have ordered e0urmartlal
unless some positively charged with tue ahair
| Geueral schoheld said he thought tDat WhittaHers
bearing as well his attempting 10 account Tor
many circumstances which one who had prepared "
eopeme would naturally have accounted for with care
had produced favorable Impression He said that no
word had been received from the man Simpson, who Ieit
the post Friday, and whom many suspected 10 hA's
| been privy 10 the ahair
Al the opeuiuc of the Court this morning James Gay
ler general superintendent Of city delivery ol the New
York Post Ofice "a an expert In handwrung
He brought letter from Postmaster James atestlng
his el as an expert. He sent IN response 10 re-
quest from General Sohohed 10 Postmaster James He
said that he had bias In this and the Recorder
then handed twenty-five papers all containing tue
same natter the official reports made by different
cadets The signatures had been removed, snd each
paper mbered. II supposed that OF course paper
Of Wnttaker's was included in tho batch Mr GaJler
was asked compare all these paper with tue note OF
warning received Whitaker and II he found that the
note had written ny tho writer OF any one OF the
papers 70 inform the Court which one It was The mum.
bred names IN possession OF the Recorder would reveal
the name OF the writer.
| CONCLUSION OF CADET BURSETTs TESTIMONY.
Cadet Burnett was recalled. and testified that Whit
akers lees did not appear rigid cold when he united
them. The first thing that led him TO suspect that
Whitaker was playing part his attempt 10 keep
his eyes closed when the doctor tried TO open then and
| be exrreased his suspicion at the time.
"The suspicion did not occur to me-" he said, until
after had out the c0ra turned his head. thi nix
am stronger man than Ynitth6EeT' made 9ica
with Major Piper evening hut dd not give the de:
tails as have GJen them here Wge9 ibiG marched On
a special report. and he said no. was ln
sbsmmine During this time all the doctor did
was shake him aud try 10 open his eye Up TO then
saspe,oS M Bnt SeTwrd Thought Singular that his
hands tied In front Instead Of behind ard that e
Whitaker had been struck with tho Indian club Tls
had been dropped on e. could account for the po
stiOn OF the broken OOkinggass, 80 far from him, the
RSir looked as II il had been 6ed one hand and
with the other and dropped In punches the floor,
srS so UIsr snar no he blood on tie wall SOa@t was
either put there purPosey or during Srnsse In which
Iaeed aitentan All these things noticed before
Then yon noticed these things" asked Lieutenant
Knixht after You had formed yonr theory from re-
"i thought Major Piper was wrong" was the answer.
aud that the blood had been placed the club 70 In
T6sn s II Cna Wht"tsT did not claim to have bern
hit with inc club that theory would fall to the grn1"
In the afternoon the Recorder explained why It vas
ing the teaimOny the other witnessed The rules OF
Court OF Inquiry not require the presence OF the
tSiS coun;Si, his nicrcsIs are supposed . 6e pro-
iecled. Whitaker had eald. both to his counsel
be present He was also at piOnt in his studes, espc
eaiy in philosophy when he could not afford to l9so
explained that his reference TO Whitaker as the ac
Of courts Of nGuy But he used era
any ret,renee 70 any theory The Recorder had no
theory, had he arrived at conclusion In regard
70 the case He should ask questions all theories.
wished this the record for the information Of
| the auf Washington,
would be sent and for that OF tho public which had
manifested interest in the case.
TESTIMONY or CADET HoDGsON
Cadet Frederick @. HOdgsOn, of the Second Class-
which is Whttakcr's cass-whose IL opposite to
whttakers. aud who called into whittaket's
after revee described the condition of the latter when
found him. aud the condition Of the nt the time
substantially Cadet Burnett had DONE He said that
when doctor tried TO open OF Whittakers eyes
tho lid OF the other trenblod though with ecCrt
The doctor said he Ind good pulse and In need
| OF immediate treatment. Word sent TO tho Com.
| mandant that Mr. Whitaker hal been very badly burt
by some one There was no bedding lett on the bed
cept the mattress There was wet sheet lying under
At haf past g. or after he had received
the specimens OF handwriting for comparison, James
oased ON tho stand a lie hSd, during q his examination
the papers Tor six more specimens OF the hahd
writing Que OF them. He said; d" l have compared
writing In the note with the thirtyone papers gYea
me ana ma net9ng 70 me m ne % Tgn4n po t
paper" This led 10 suspect that 70 test the expert
Whitakers writing had not been included in the rst
The Recorder gave Mr Gnyer for further comparison
1asS PRPsF SeeF sy nv 1nrse new
Cadet Hodeson resumlng his testimony, said II wa1
been In WhittaFerS room that the surgeon came Tie
aleOvO was sufficiently wen lighted to seo everything
1Y h1d lighted on IT. The blood on Whtakers left
wE s osS and That on sc % .sas ssssa e SS
anxious about dle patients but his manner changed
9 "I talked with Cadet purnetD continued the