The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1888-01-18
Trial by Court Martial.

crime for which they are here and if they
had had fair trial, or il the jury had not
baen prejudiced against them, they would
not be here. In the poetic language of the
Ofientals this is all ''bosh." Some of you
Who have not had fair trial. when you
are released from this ''palatial mansion"
enlist in the regular army, commit some
soldier crime. and find out the difference
between military Jurisprudence and that of
the state. L have never been tried by jury.
lin fact had never been tried at all until my
little eccentricities against the Uuited States
government placed me before that must
merciful of all tribunals, an army court
ntartiaI, but believe a jury is composed of
twelve men who do not know the accused
or any of the actual circumstances of the
case. An army court is formed OF from
three to thirteen officers who. as general
thing, all know the prisoner and almost as
much about the case as himself. l will en-
deavor to describe court martial. The
president sits at the head Of the table, the
other members on either side and the judge
advocate at the foot. The judge advocate
is not member of the court, but is, | be-
Iieve, a mixture of prosecuting attorney
and counsel for the defense. Imagine the
absurdity of such position. What man
can serve two masters? The accused is
brought in. the judge advocate reads the
order converting the court, and asks the
prisoner if he objects to being tried by any
members of the court. He can object.
state his objection, and the objection is
sustained or Overruled at the discretion
OF the court. The court is then sworn by
the Judge advocate. whO in turn is sworn
By the president of the court. All take
seats with the exception of the judge adj
vocate and the prisoner. The judge advo-
cate then reads the charges and the prison.
er makes his plea. which we will suppose
is not guilty. This is duly recorded and
the witnesses for the prosecution are then
called, sworn, and examined. The prison.
~er may cross examine if he Wishes but all
questions must be asked through the Judge
advocate. The prisoner asks question,
the Judge advocate records it and then
asks the witnesses. 1t is plain to be seen
that while the judge advocate is writing
the question. the witness has ample time
to study his answer. When the judge adj
vocate's time comes to cr0ss-eXamine the
witnesses for the defense, he records his
question and THEN asks it, and the witness
must answer at once or hurt the prisoner
by hestating. The court has the right
to ask questions OF the witnesses, but very
seldom have anything to say, because, as a
rule, they have been paying no attention to
the trial.
What have they been doing? Some
reading Puck or the latest novel, or. per-
haps, as | have seen myself. drawing bur-
leSque representations Of cats. dogs. and
birds, and naming them according to their
fancy. L saw on one accession note
passed between three officers and then
passed to the judge advocate. Each Off
Ger as he read the missive gave vent to
what the modern novelist would express as
a ''silvery ripple" My attention was
attracted and when the judge advocate re-
celved the note (aithough not the highest
standard of etiquette) found it impossible
to resist the temptation to explore. found
it rough joke in connection with we'll
known LADY of velocity of an adjoining
town. This is only fair sample of how
officers pass their time while trying"
man. Of course the evidence is all read
over to them, but the manner in which it
is given is not there. The fact is. the Off
GERS are not much interested in the trial,
because the chances are, the man has been
tried in the officers club room long before
the farce entitled "A Court Martial" has
been enacted. Some may doubt the above,
but during my three year cOnf-I mean
-sojourn in the army-I managed to get on
the inside track of a few things not gener-
ally known to the majority of soldiers.
could go on indefinitely to show that
men have been tried outside Of the court
martial room. but let it suffice to give one
case that came under my observation. I
was sitting in an adjoining room one day.
9p hen heard the president of the court
N no, by the way. was my company COM
man, Ter, Captain NJ, of the -steenth
csvair v-ask who was to be tried. ''Pri-
vats of B. Co.," was the answer ''Oh,
rive him uIOutII duO W uOIlc WICII ullu