National Republican., 1883-02-08

pated in the cheering, being published on tho
conduct report the next morning. One of the
three, being Cadet Lieut.. Street, very popu-
lar young man among his classmates and COM
rades of the second division. However, moth.
lug was thought of these reports, as tho
right to cheer, as we have already stated, had
never before been questioned, as an old em-
ploye told the writer the other day, " l have
been at the academy for nearly twenty years
and / have never known a cadet officer to be
broken yet but what he was cheered, and no
one was over reported for IL either. Thus the
surprise of the cadets upon the publication of
an order on the same day at dinner formation
depriving Cadet Lieut.. Street of his rank can
better be imagined than described, and IL ex.
hibited itself in a general, spontaneous oxcla-
nation, which ended with few groans and
misses but it is due TO the cadets TO add that
comparatively few engaged in this latter part
of the demonstration, aud that the majority
heartily disapproved Of il.
The acting commandant of cadets was on
hand, as If expecting an exhibition of feeling
on the part of the cadets and he Immediately
ordered that each cadet should be asked If he
took part in tho demonstration and that tho
names of those who did so should be taken.
BY this means the names of eighty of the two
hundred and thirty young mon were OBJ
tanned. This, however, instead of quieting
the cadets seemed to irritate them the more,
and by the time the battalion marched into
the mess hall it was fairly trembling with
excitement. But dinner passed of without
any further developments until Cadet Street
left the mess hall in order to save his friends
from any further trouble, which he feared
they would bring upon themselves by cheer
ing him il he remained and went out with
his division as usual; but he had scarcely
left his scat when he was greeted
with % storm Of applause, which,
though necessarily noisy, was other
wise without disorder. This brought
the acting commandant again upon the scene,
and he Immediately published an order that
the battalion should bo formed right after
dinner on the brick walk in front Of the ca
det's quarters. As soon as the cadets marched
out of the mess hall they assembled as or
dered, and were Just about to form when tho
customary three cheers for their broken cadet
officer was proposed and given with will.
This, however, like the applause in the mess
hall, though noisy, was accompanied with no
other disorder With this exception the
formation went on as quietly and orderly as
usual, and as soon as completed each cadet was
interrogated as to his part of the cheering.
In number of cases an answer was refused,
but this the cadets say was not disobedience
of orders, for they were not ordered to an
swer; in fact, the acting commandant in
formed them that they could answer or not
as they pleased, as he would not order them
to do so, but that it would be taken for
granted that those who did not answer had
taken part in the demonstration. In this
way the names of $50 cadets were obtained,
the number being about equally distributed
among all the four classes, and not as the pub
lie have been errOneously informed, confined
alone to the first and second.
Thus, with the exception of q small party
of twenty-five or thirty that cheered the first
class as they were marched to the Santee
after supper, the alleged mutinous conduct of
the naval cadets ended where it began, in
cheering, and the members of the academy
wish IL to be particularly impressed upon tho
public mind that otherwise not q single ca
det dsobeyed orders that drills, recitations,
and formations went on without any inter-
ruption whatever; that this alleged mutinous
conduct began in cheering consisted of cheer
ing, and ended in cheering right which has
often been indulged in in the past, and never
before questioned in the history of the
academy.
The orders issued from the superintendent's
office Immediately following the alleged mu-
tinous conduct furnishing the cadets have
been made public and hence it is needless to
reiterate them here; however, they may be
summed up as follows: They incarcerated
all the first class who had taken part in any
of the demonstrations on board tho prison
ship Santee; deprived the other cadets of
all privileges, and in fact, to all in
as far rs tho outside world is concerned, in
coventry, without making any exceptions in
favor of those who had not been guilty of the
alleged mutinous conduct. This was deeply
felt by the remaining cadet officers who had
not engaged in any cheering or expressions of
sympathy for their comrades whatever and,
as consequence, all but three rendered their
designations at once, in what the papers
stated to have been insubordinate letters.
This would naturally lead the public
to believe that the gentlemens letters were
disrespectful in tone to their superior officer,
but nothing is farther from the truth. Upon
receiving these letters the superintendent
ordered the commandant of cadets to inform
each of the gentlemen that he would be al
lowed to retract his resignation, and that if
1t was not retracted il would be considered an
act of insubordinatlon. But nevertheless the
cadet officers adhered to their action, and
each were given seven days solitary con-
fnement for doing So This is the
create st punishment which the supefintend-
ent is allowed to inhict, ald yet as the cadets
say, these young men had been guilty of more
of the alleged mutinous conduct, and more
over have excellent records. The very fact
of their being cadet officers testifes to this,
but notwithstanding, they are now undergo
ing the extreme punishment as before stated,
of one hundred and sixty-eight hours soli-
tary imprisonment.