Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-01-22

Testimony Before the Court OF Inquiry q
the NAVY Nart

1he court OF inquiry that as examining into
the charges made by several members Of the
marine corps stationed at the navy yard re-
garding the quality OF their rations and the
quarters they are given resumed its labors
this morning. The court. which is held in the
civil engineers Office at the navy yard was
convened yesterday and spent the first day In
the examination Of Sergeant John DALEY. who
was one OF the men who made the comp lsints
before the Christian commission a few weeks
ago.
Tho court consists OF Commander F. W.
lhckins, president; Lieut.. Commander James
VI. Miller and Capt. 8 {. Mercer. with Lieut.
+. l.. Beatty as judge advocate. Capt Robert
meade, commanding the marines at the ward
ana the officer upon whom rests the RESPONSE
oiil'y ior the conduct OF AFFAIR." at the yard
were present, with authority frNn the Secre-
Iary OF the Navy TO cross-examine witnesses.
Ahere were no outsiders present at the hearing
TO-DAY and IHE STAR reporter was the only per-
son not an uniform.
The hearing continued at 1890 this
morning and the proceedings of yesterday
were read over by Lieut.. Beatty. In a court Of
inquiry, as in court-mRrual the proccedings,
are very SLOW, as the questions are asked Of the
"ithehs ana the questions and answers both are
court
SERGEANT o'BRIEN's TESTIMONY.
Inc hrst witness called IVES Scrct John
U brien, who has been in the service for nine
teen years. He said that he had never made
any complaints TO a superior officer regarding
his food or quarters and had no such conplaint
70 make al the present time Since he had been
at the barracks here the food he received Was
the best he had had since he had been IN Ire
marine corps, and his quarters were the best
With the exception of those at Annapolis
sERGr. M'DEyITr's oxE COMPLAINT.
Sergt Dominick NcDeyitt was called and
sworn by the president of the court. and i'm
answer to questions from the Judge advocate
stated that he had been at the barracks for
about fifteen months past and had been In the
service Tor about six years. During his time
at tins post, he said, that ON one extraordinary
occasion, with a few others he went TO tbe
room OF the officer OF the day TO draw at
tentlon TO the manner OF serving ratious.
The cause OF the complaint was that
the fat and lean of the pork were not eonnllv
distributed on the plates. The officer al the
day spoke TO the cook about the trouble and
neither before nor since that time lad he had
I any occasion 10 make a cumTlaint He said
that he had Slice discovered that of the men
who went with him Sergt. Daley in particular
belonged TO a class of men who could not he
satisfied, no matter What they received In
relation to the letters written from the navy
! yard and printed in Washington NEWSPAPER.
McDesltt said earnestly that he believed them
to be false IN every particular. The authors of
these complaints he considered TO he the most
unprlnclpled, INSCRIPTIONS characters IN the
marine corps and the worst he had ever met.
AT this pot. lac said. there is no distinction
MADE between the ra;iOns OF the non-commis-
| stoned officers and the other members OF the
command. On the occasion that he had made
! the complaint. eight nine months ago. the
I ia1ii' II there was any, lay with the cook but
| II WAS a matter that was likely 10 occur NJ any
| tiIao He had made tho COMPLAINT because
be considered Il his duty ms sergeant and none
| OF the other men who went with him TO zee
Lieut.. Moses, the officer OF the day. had since
| made any complaint as to food or quarters
! The sergeant further said that in has opinion
| there had not been nor is now any real cause
Tor compliant among the marines.
AT this point IN the hearing a recess was
taken until 1 clock for luncheon
IRIvArE KING on THE STAND.
After recess this afternoon in the court OF
inquiry at the navy yard Private Francis f.
King of the marines put upon the stand
and questioned by Lieut.. Beatty. He is quite
young man and has only been IN
,he service since last August. lie stated
that in that time he had made
tSo complaints regarding the food served
lne hrst was about six weeks ago when he
complained to the officer of the tiay OF the small
quantity OF milk he received for supper. The
sergeant OF the guard with the witness
when he went To the quarters of the officer Of
the day, Lieut. Quackenbush. and the lieuten-
ant told the sergeant TO investigate and see
what the reason was for this state Of affairs.
The amount of milk he received WAS about
three teaspoonfuls. The second complaint that
Private ming made was to Lieut. Moses the
ofhcer OF the day, about some stewed apples
they had for supper. In his opinion they we're
moi Lit 70 eat Lieut. Moses asked him if lac
did not like them.
Il said, No, sir, ;" went on the witness, and
Lieut. Moses said, Then go without them i'm
a very contemptuous manner. Afterward 4
saw him IN the Office and he spoke TO NE as
Z ted %.
he had said. l was a prisoner at the
time. and the lieutenant said TO me-
hing, L don't want you TO think spoke to you
that way because you were a prisoner. would
speak To any member of the command in the
same way That is all of that complaint The
trouble with the apples was that
they were cooked with the skins
on and were not palatable. A
L once asked the COOK why he did not peel the
apples and he said he told 10 cook them
thai way as II made them look like more"
When asked II lie had any more complaints
to make at the present time King said that he
had not. When asked TO his quarters King
said that he had been confined an a cell ever
since the last investigation and knew nothing
about the quarters at the present time
"liaVe you any complaint to make as 70
quarters
COMPLAINT AS TO QUARTERS.
Il have. The room in which 1 slept was
there are twenty-three hunks in it, Inou
wish to complain of the quality of the bread
1t was sour for a while continuously. We then
received good bread for several meals, but
not In unlimited quantity we had
when it was bad. Ii was dealt out in
rations or allowances. Afterward we received
different brand OF bread, which some
times sour. but We received plenty Of il, rs it
was placed on the table on plates.
"When we had beans for breakfast never
received enough TO eat When We had hash
very seldom received enough. At supper time
hardly ever received enough food. Al dinner
time the bean soup was never ft
TO eat 1t looked like greasy dish water
/ positively never saw any beans in il. but
there was some bread crumbs and some small
pieces of potato. The coffee had no sugar. The
potatoes were frequently very bad. On two
occasions the head cheese for supper was very
bad"
King was cross-examined by Capt. Meade and
admitted that he had never came TO him with
the complaints that he had detailed. The
reason for his not doing this was that he un-
derstoodseveral non-commissioned officers had
made complaint and had received no satisfae-
ton.