The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-07-24
Matter of Missing Sight From
Austrian Field Piece.
LESSON IN ANSWERING QUESTIONS
Tells OF the Loss of the Sight-Sergeant
Weatherby Gives His Knowledge
of the Case-Sergeant TaA lor Found
II sight Court VIII Meet Tonight.

The court martial opened at the usual
hour last night with the usual crowd of
interested listeners in the chairs and
about the doorways. Colonel Mclean
was the first witness on the stand and
testified as follows:
Question-"Do you claim to know
something about the disappearance of
sight of one of the Austrian guns?"
Answer-"Yes, sir
Question-"What do you know of the
disappearance of the sight?"
Answer-'About May 18th, 1896, was
inspecting old armory. Captain Good
came to me and reported that a sight
was missing. l knew that a sight had
been out and replied that that was
all right. Captain Good persisted in
repeating that a sight was missing,
and added that no sight had been miss
ing from the guns the last time he had
inspected them. His manner was SO
aggressive that my curiosity was ex-
cited. l replied: Captain Good, think
you must be mistaken, for | have the
only sight that was missing from the
guns in my office where it has been for
the last six or seven weeks. He was Of
ficer of the day when he made report.
| considered that that ended the mat
ter, and as l had inspected the guns
myself that morning, / knew that no
sight was missing except the one in my
Office | gave it no further attention.
On the same afternoon Judge Cooper
sent for me to the Foreign Office. On
arrival there he opened drawer and
pulled out a package wrapped in brown
paper, similar to that before me. Upon
unwrapping it a sight of one of the
Austrian guns was disclosed, which was
wrapped in the same kind of paper.
Upon this was some writing which
Judge Cooper asked me to read After
reading the letter, for an instant / was
nonplussed. Was positive in my own
mind that no sight had been taken
from the Austrian guns, nor has any
been taken. | told Judge Cooper l
would investigate.
Shortly after my taking command,
l one day sent Sergeant Weatherby and
told him to get me one of the Austrian
sights, as | wished to familiarize my
self with it. That sight is still in the
Office
At this point Colonel Mclean retired
and returned with the sight a little
later
Continuing, Colonel Mclean said:
From my own positive observation,
that is the only sight that has ever
been missed from those guns. | then
directed Sergeant Weatherby to make
some inquiries. He soon reported to me
that about two months previous to this
time a sight had been found on the
ground near the gun shed, by either
Sergeants Taylor or Carlyle, who re-
ported to Lieutenant Coyne, who was
officer of the day, and by whom they
were directed to give it to Captain
Good They stated that when they gave
the sight to Captain Good, Sergeant
Moore was present. No previous re-
ports of the finding of this sight had
beeen made to me. At about the same
time this sight was found Weatherby
reported to me that his storeroom in the
basement had been broken open, but
he did not notice that anything was
missing. When the sight matter came
up I directed him to inspect the store
room again. He reported than an Aus
trian sight had been taken from one
of the boxes"
Where are the sixteen sights tonight
Colonel Mclean then explained the
places where they were, and added that
other things besides the sights had
been taken out Of the guns. Two of the
members of the board of inquiry went
to the office where the sight was, and
found it where l had said. l had this
81 my Office TO make myself familiar