The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1883-06-13
What WATSON Would Have US Believe,


SAN ANTONIO, June l2.-[Special ALI
witnesses having been examined in the
WATSON court-martial for the defense the
government announced it would close
without witnesses. The allowing is a syn
opsis of Wasson's special plea which he
read from lengthy manuscript. He stated
ia substance that he stood before
them charged with the grayest oilense that
could be laid against him as disbursinf
officer of the government, as well as ar
officer of the army. That to the charge
aud specifications he had entered the Piles
of guilty, and did so because he acknow
edged himself as committing a wrong
which would fully warrant the charges
preferred in the eyes of the law and o
acts on which he looked will
the utmost horror, and should be so con
considered by all men. In pleading guilty
to these offences he had no desire to make
them appear less heinous thar
they are or any desire to evadt
the natural consequence of his own acts O
meanness and folly and the punishment
these acts entailed, but while he i!
possessed with this conviction he deemed
1t to be his duty, both to the court and him
self, to lay before them q statement of all
the facts surrounding those offences, in or.
der that the court in determining upon
them should see them in their true
light and form an exact estimate Of
his guilt, and be thus enabled to come
at a sentence sufficient to impose just
punishment and. no. more. In all cases
of crime, even the most aggravated, are
accompanying mitigating circumstances,
which are always entitled TO serious CON
siieration, and in such oilenses as those
which he Is charged such facts should
have their due weight. He could not, he
said, better treat this part of his cause than
by laying it before the court without re.
servation, for he had now absolutely
nothing to conceal the actual circumstances
OF his fault, and to do this it was only ne
cessary to 90 back to the beginning of the
present year, for up to that period he
could truly say his official career had been
without reproach and would bear the
closest scrutiny. At Galveston early in
January, for the first time he
joined party OF gentlemen in a
social game of cards having no idea
it would prove more serious than such
games are usually. They played for amuse.
ment rather Than gain, but the stakes in.
creased as the play progressed, and having
lost more than he expected or intended, was
weak enough to continue, in the hope
that his luck would take q
favorable turn. At the close of the play
he was shocked to learn that he had LOST
several hundred dollars, a sum he could NOT
afford to lose. He yielded to the delusive
idea that by playing again he could recover
his loss, but the result was more fatal thur
before, and he found himself a
loser to the amount of nearly $1,000
a sum larger than he could conveniently
command. He was to leave that city soon
and the idea of leaving that debt unpaid
even for few days, was exceedingly re-
pugnant, and to this is attributed his first
fatal error. He expected by the end
Of the month to be in possession
of sum of his owl
charge the debt, but intended by him fol
another purpose. This resource would moi
have been available before his leaving. III,
expected to be absent several weeks, and in
consequence resolved to draw from hi,
puolic funds enough to discharge
this debt, supposing that
his ability to restore it would be a Ger
tainty. He recognized the great impropriety
of such action, but had no intention O.
wronging the government by the use of the
money for u few days and thought this \
less evil than to let his debt of honor stand
and bring upon him reproach among
the gentleman with whom he PLAYED
Upon his return to Galveston at the end Of
the month, to his horror he accertained the
remittance he was expecting was not forth.
coming and all of his available cash
would not suffice to replace the sum
withdrawn. The last day was at hand
wien his accounts must balance or his i'm
proper use of the money be discovered He
realized the tallacious sophistry by which
he had pursuaded himsefthat it was harm.
less to use that money as he
had done, and he realized with
great trepidation the danger in which
he stood and being so placed had
committed his second folly, by depositing
the funds he brought back with him from
histrip, in conjunction with his individu al
cash and taking credit on his January &C.
count current with certain collections
which he did not really deposit until
few days later, and by so doing
gained time to renew his efforts
to discharge the remaining deficiency
The amount then was not so large that he
could not have borrowed it without difficulty
and had he done so and foresworn cards
all would still have been we'll with him,
He did not do so. Stung by his losses and
again stimulated bv the false hone of re.
gaining II he again played and lost, and by
the end Of February was short S., 500 in his
official accounts. However, up to this time
and till early in March, when he had To
start on his pay trip. he had
nsed every personal effort to raise and re.
turn the money. To gain time for this, he
drew the check for $500 on the assistant
treasurer At New York and which he de.
posted to his official credit in the Calves
ton bank, but did not drop 1t from his New
York balance until the next week. He Their
says my folly drove me to such
expedients; say driven advisedly, for by
no other means, could gain time tt
rectify matters, which was always my I'M
swerving intention. Such was the state O
my accounts when l left Galveston to pa,
the February muster, though my shortar,
mad increased to 5000. was accompa
MED by the department inspector, who
would, us | knew, make the regular quar-
terly inspection OF my accounts at the clos,
OF my trip, This did not alarm me, 70
| thought i had made an arrangement
by which with the currency brourh
back would surely have OH my arrival ,
sum sufficient to clear the account an,
cover up the whole irregulsrity. 1t seemed
however, that It was fated that should mo-
escape the penalty ofmy offences into whicl
| had been drawn gradually but inexor
ably. Again on my return l toun,
the money expected was not on hand an,
| could not Immediately command nm,
hence resorted TO the pretty trick recounte,
In the specification OF the second charr,
and can properly depict the remors
OF feeling with which l resorte,
TO- such subterfuge, but saw n,
other course Of escape. I did this thin,
and gained another briet breathinv.time
began the month Of April 5000 short
just as / had stood when I left Galveston
the previous month. was now nearl,
crazed BY the consequences Of my folly
which seemed steadily forcing me from on,
wrong TO another, and this thought haunte,
me every hour, waking or sleeping, On,
while am In no wise 10 be understood a
pleading insanity, that did not conside
that had been able 10 properly exercis,