The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-01-30
THE OLD Man ELOQUENT.
Captain Healy Cites His Official
Record Against His
AccuserS.
NO KID GLOVES FOR HIS MEN
Close of the Investigation Into the
Unalaska Episode-To.Day's
Programme.

HTOuQ WOIuS Iuey are anu pIOuueI yeG
they seemed when voiced by Captain
Healy yesterday as he stood before his &C
ousers.
The investigation into the first set of
charges against the old captain is over.
These charges refer to alleged inebriety
and unofficerlike conduct on the captains
part while at Unalaska in September of
last year. The morning session was con-
sumed in receiving the final testimony for
the defense.
III. N. Nice, agent of the North Ameri-
can Commercial Company at Unalaska,
said he had seen the captain fall from the
wharf on the 18th of September. A num-
Der of officers, with their wives and others,
numbering in all about fifty persons, were
on the wharf at the time. The witness
had taken lunch wi tn the captain and ac-
companied him to the wharf He ap-
peared to be perfectly sober. After being
attended on the cutter Grant the captain
seemed to recover from the immediate eff
fects of his involuntary saltwater ba tn
and came ashore in boat with Lieutenant
White, who walked with him to the North
American Commercial Company's office.
w. D. Ditson, third officer of the whaler
Mary d. Holmes, which was lying in
Unalaska harbor at the time, testified that
shortly before falling from the wharf the
captain boarded the Corwin, which was
alongside, walking over narrow plank
which extended from the cutter to the
wharf. The distance from the wharf to
the surface of the water was about twelve
feet. He saw the captain fall, and thought
he had lost his balance. In all he observed
the captains movements for about half an
hour, and dscerned no indications of
lntoXIcation.
DR.. Thomas P. Bodkin, surgeon Of the
Bear on her last cruise, said he did not
attend the symposium aboard the Pleas
| ant, but noticed Captain Healy going there.
! He seemed sober then, at all events. After
| the social Captain Garforth and other
! officers Of the Pheasant told him Lieuten-
ant Berry had tried to pick quarrel with
| Captain Healy. Berry's language was
characterized as very insulting, coming as
| it did from minor officer to his superior.
| Captain Healy seemed much hurt by
| Berry's lack of courtesy, and remarked
| that if such a thing happened in the
| British service the offender would be dis
missed forthwith. Though evidently much
| incensed, Captain Healy's demeanor on
this occasion was that of gentleman.
| The witness further testified that he at
| tended Captain Healy Immediately after
his fall from the wharf. He found the old
man suffering from severe strain in the
back. He displayed no signs OF being I'M
ordered the captain to remain ashore for
for nearly week and submit to medical
| treatment for his injuries. During the
trip from this port to Unalaska the cap
| tain had suffered from la grippe and
from an obstinate congestion of the lungs
and was under treatment most of the
time. The witness emphatically denied
that he had ever treated the captain for
alcoholism, referring to a statement to
that effect as an unmitigated falsehood.
4. Wadsworth, first lieutenant Of the
United States revenue cutter Rush. who
had been one of the witnesses for the
prosecution, was recalled, and in answer
| 10 a question by the defendants counsel
said he had known the captain for two
years and considered him in all respects a
| competent officer, though rather too severe
in the matter of discipline.
The morning session here closed. After
lunch an unusual hurrying TO and fro,
and, if possible, greater splendor in the
display of cotton gloves, gold lace and
other millinery, evinced that something
out of the common was about to take
place. AS the afternoon session opened
Captain Healy took the stand and told his
| story. He was asked very few questions,
being allowed to make his explanation in
his own way. At times during the recital
his voice trembled slightly and his eyes
! flaShed with fire like that of youth. The
mysterious, hostile wink, which had so
terrorized the tender heart OF Lieutenant
Berry, was not called into requsition.
81 have been in the United States reve-
nue. SERVICE" said the captain, 'since
March, 1865, and have been a seafaring
man for about forty-two years. Itseems a
little strange after all these years to find
| myself accused of unofficerlike conduct by
men whom ] have formed. 1t looks as
! though the surest way to gain q n interiors
| hatred is to treat him with kindness and
| l-r10r pf 4ior in
which to account for this combined effort
on the part of few of my subordinates to
| down me.
"On the evening of the 10th of Septem-
! Der, 1885, / accepted an invitation to dinner
| from Captain Garforth of the Pheasant.
Several other officers, among them Cap
tain Hooper. were also invited, and
formed part of the gathering. After dinner
we had a smoker, and the sideboard of
the captain was at the disposal of his
| guests. Lieutenant Berry of the Grant
addressed some impolite remarks to me.
told him he was altogether too fresh,
and hoped he would learn in time that
young and subordinate officials should
| treat even their equals and interiors, not
to mention their elders and superiors, with
gentlemanly courtesy.
81 think I also said such things wonld
not pass in the British service. j was
sober at the time, and here brand any
statement to the contrary, from what
source soever it may come, as willful
and malicious lie.
"At the social in the quarters of the
| North American Commercial Company,
on the following evening was not under
the influence of liquor, as has been falsely
sworn. A friend had warned me that
every word of mine would be noted and
every action watched. Then | realized
that conspiracy was on foot for my I'M
doing, and this thought grieyed and an
gered me to such an extent that my man
ner must have betrayed the harassed and
disturbed condition of my mind. The cir
cumstances of my fall from the wharf at
Unalaska were as detailed by DR.. Bodkin,
who attended me. | lost my balance and
fell, because l did not, in the excitement
of leave-taking, look carefully where /
stood. Can that be an infallible proof that
1 was drunk, against the word OF over fifty
witnesses?"
When asked whether he was unduly
strict in the enforcement of his COM
mands, the captain replied
perhaps l was. have always done
my duty as an officer. and / expect my
subordinates to do the same. However, [
do not recollect having treated any officer
| with discourtesy during nv entire official