The San Francisco call., 1896-02-25
Closing Argument on Behalf of
the Accused Commander
of the Bear.
LIEUTENANT DANIELS SCORED.
Judge Advocate Reynolds Says That
Captain Healy Is Not Under
Arrest.

Yesterday as he sat at ease in his armchair
within the guarded precincts of room S3 OF
the United States Appraisers building.
His case was practically ended, and the
veteran commander was present in the
inouiry-chamber to listen to the able and
brilliant argument of his attorney, Barclay
Henley. In another corner OF the apart
menU sat Lieutenant Reynolds, the genial
young judge-advocate, while in a dark
some nook Lieutenant Daniels sat and
glowered. The other officers occupied sta
tions about the room in accordance with
their rank and for three hours not a
sound was audible save the melodious rise
and fall of Mr.. HenIey's rich, persuasive
voice, which could be plainly heard even
outside the council chamber for some dis
tance down the corridor.
Mr. Henley's arraignment of DR.. Sharp
was scorching. He accused that individ-
ual of keeping memorandum book dur
ing his voyage on the Bear, wherein he
scrupulouSly noted from day to day every
thing which could be construed 10 Captain
Healy's discredit, even by fantaStically
forced interpretations.
with that book hugged close to his
breast with one hand" pursued Mr.. Hen
ley, "Dr. Sharp scrupled not to extend the
OlUGE 10 ItCelNt lLS SlIIS WHICH lDe cap
tain generously gave him-rare curios and
quaint mementoes of the Arctic which
were valuable in more WAYS than one.
This monster OF ingrattude is the one who
seems to have exerted himself more than
all the smaller fry of his kind to bring dis
grace and ruin down upon the gray head
of his host. No convict in the gloomy
precincts of San Quentin would even
dream OF descending TO such depths Of
baSeneSS
The testimony against my client is not,
however, all of a repulsive character
Take, for instance, that delicious little bit
contributed by Master Daniels, wherein
that youth accuses his aged commander of
splitting III his face. Seriously taken, this
evidence is a two-edged sword in the vitals
OF its author. II is either true or false. If
false, Daniels Is a perlurer. If true, he has
Tameiy and cravenly swallowed an insult
which any being worthy of the name of
man would consider objectionable. He
says he cried out TO Emery for help. A
man would have flown at Captain Healy
in an ungovernable impulse OF outraged
honor and would have sought to wipe out
the infamous stain with his offenders
blood. No, gentlemen, We had better not
take this passage of the testimony seri
ously. 1t must have been a little
pleasantly designed by Mr.. Daniels for our
amusoment-crudea and ill-timed, perhaps,
MI Henley's peroration was brilliant
and effective. He said:
am not afraid that you Will underrate this
case. II involves an officers honor and gen
tleman's character. Now, if by careful and
SSSiduOus attention to his loved and chosen
profession, the sea; if by the endurance of
privatlon, hardship and toll the extent where
oi, by Your actual paTtlcl patton therein you
know better than / can hint at; If by yearly
encounter with dangers, discomforts untold,
the heaVing billOws, the icy breath and the
Wild swirl Of the Arctic Ocean; if by thirty
years OF this life, tOlling ND, up in his pro-
iession until he has reached an eminence be-
yond which no one can go; if now in the full
zenith OF the enjoyment OF the esteem, conf
dence and friendship OF all honorable people
VINO know him IN or out OF his PROFESSIONAL
in this hour the heavy hand of adversely,
moved by malice or inspired by carping criti-
ClSm, shall be permitted 10 reach uI and tear
hlm from his lofty pedestal OF honor and use
tulness and plunge MIN down TO the SloughS of
never-dying shame. then, / say, the case is as
melancholy as any recorded in the naval or
military annals OF our country.
Against any such result am here to solemnly
protest Against II l put the unsulied rec
ord OF this mans life; a life which sh ows that
he never lost ship, never lost the mast or a
spar OF a ship, never lifted his hand
against subordinate officer or
man, never committed an injustice, new
er anywhere, on land or sea- was guilty of
an act incompatible with the highest rectitude
or IN violation OF those principles of manhood
and loyalty 10 duty which have made his name
and lame on this coast and in these waters as
familiar in our mouths as household words.''
Ana be this ever remembered that while re-
lentess effort has been made to prove some
thlng against him III moments OF social relax
atlon on shore, yet while a sea, when human
lie ana property depended upon his tireless
zeal and his never sleeping vigilance, there was
no lnto&lcatlon, no dalliance with the Circean
cup, no "hostiIe wink" no movement against
any one, nothing 10 criticize. And in all this
Tancorous medley OF accusation, these enven-
omed assaults, no one dare to say he ever fall
tered In his duty or showed himself faint
hearted from danger.
Whenever the Ihunderous gale swept the
ocean, whenever the howl and welter of its
blast paled the cheek with apprehension,
whenever the Internal creak and grind OF the
lceoerg threatened ruin and death. whenever
lslnlllarlty with the chart was requlsite-the
reef the sunken rock, the treacherous cur
rent-then and at such times CAPITA in Healy's
footwas on his quarterback TO 'shield ii and
save 1t or perish therein And then offiears
and men knew that man and a sailor was in
charge, and if safety consisted in courage and
skill no harm could beiall.
And, gentlemen, IL is to command and nayi-
gate shlps that the Government wants sailors.
II is not the pretty young man with the per-
fumed locks that the Government of the United
states wants-one made to ''caper nimbly in q
a lady's chamber 10 the lascivious pleasings OF
the lutte. but 1t IS the man who knows his pro-
iesslon and yields his best energies to his
government. 1t may be that Captain Healy
lacksin diplomatic power. lacks possibly when
on duty certain suavity OF manner, but il is
not the practice OF those things that the Gov
ernment looks TO. True, he has made enemies.
Oliver Wendell Holmes says. ''We must have
weak spot or two in a character before we
can love 1t much" From still higher au-
thority we learn that "He makes no friends
who never had foe" and, summing up ali of
the accusations made against him in his sea-
faring experience with his accusors it comes
TO about this: That some feeling has been
generated in the course of the hurley hurley
AID the vlssltude and YeXations OF long irk-
some and dangerous cruise. Those events
have been taken up, magnified, inverted,
twisted and sought to be converted IN TO some
thing serious. The effort is idle, and the testi-
mony falls preposterously short OF sustaining
the accusation.
Captain Healy Is strong, virile character
and ike all such may have some angularities
OF disposition. 1t is always the case with such
as he. II is so with all marked, conspicuous
personalities. The late deIuge of Napoleanic
literature has revealed peculiarities of that
overshadowlng genius that have filed us with
surprise. But we do not require TO go beyond
the immediate circle of our acquaintances tC
discover eccentricities of character that are
not always wholly agreeable have in nv
own experience been frequently reminded
OF il.
have made enemies without knowing il
Being distracted have passed friends and &C
qualntences In the street, not speaking tC
them, and being wholly unconscious of the app
parent Incivility. But it is said that Captain
Healy is hard man or an unpleasant man tC
sail with. That charge seems TO have resolved
itself into this: That he keeps men up TO theil
duty-maKes every one on board toe the mark
nd tho fha +fv ctrif