The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-10-04
IS RELIEVED FROM DUTY
GENERAL KING TALKS OF LAST
NIGHTS ESCAPADE.s
Says That Lieutenant Wheelock Alone
was to Blame-No Courtmartial and
No Further Inquiry.

NO turtner inquiry.
First Lieutenant Wheelock of the
First New York volunteers was pro-
vost marshal last night, having un-
der him a squad of a dozen munted
infantry. Whether his duties took
him so often into saloons that the at
mosphere affected him or not is un-
! known, but about II o'clock Whee-
! lock was gloriously drunk. With him
was Second Lieutenant Merriam. L.
! 5. A., son of Major General Merriam,
who was in similar condition. The
two officers took notion to declare
martial law for a time and in carry
ing the law into effect citizens were
chased off the sidewalk the streets
cleared, men ordered to their homes,
and a pistol thrust into one mans
| face. Acting under orders of their
superiors the mounted infantry even
rode on the sidewalks to clear them.
This went on for an hour or more,
when Captain SaNton. General Kings
aide, appeared on the scene. the squad
was dismissed and the three officers
went off together.
Concerning the affair General King
said at noon today: II have hardly
words to tell you how ineXpressibly
sorry | am that such an occurrence
should have happened. My friend.
! Commander Taussig of the Benning-
ton, was kind enough to come to my
room some time after midnight and
let me know what was going on. /
at once sent Captain SaXton. my aide,
to investigate, which he did. This
morning | have had both officers be-
fore me. and Captain Bowers of the
police has told me what he Witnessed
You must understand that no com
plant has been made to me by any
one. nor have the civic authorities TAX
en- any action. My Investigations
show mat Lieutenant Wheelock was
alone to blame. 1t is true Lieutenant
Merriam was with him. but he was
not on duty and cannot be held re-
sponsible. Wheelock was on duty and
if Merriam was drunk and disorderly
he should have arrested him. AS
said before the responsibility was on
Wheelock, and believe him to have
been so drunk that he was not ac-
counable for his actions Having thus
decided. | have ordered that Whee
lock be relieved from duty and am
OlIlti man pun III Ills l'i"NN'
what does that amount to Gener-
al, as a punishment?" was asked.
Loss of pay and prestige for one
thing, besides the Disgrace" was the
answer NO, courtmartial does
not necessarily follow, nor is it likely
in this case. Unless some further
complaint issmade the matter may be
considered as ended. | shall of course
send report of the affair to Washing
ton"
Marshal Brown was very much put
out because he was not notified at
once instead of an hour after the af-
fair was over. He called on General
King this morning and told him what
he thought about it. The matter was
left in General Kings hands with the
understanding that justice would be
done and the guilty party punished.
Captain Robert Parker said this
morning in discussing the affair: 81
had been away on other business or
the trouble might have been stopped
sooner, When ] got to the scene Cap
tain SaXton had already taken COM
mand and there was no more to be
done. The two officers were both
drunk but the men were all sober. /
{ asked one of the men if he did not
know better than to ride over people
, on the sidewalk and his answer was
5 that he had to obey orders. / asked
him again if he obeyed orders when
he knew his commander was drunk,
and he replied that a common soldier
r was not supposed to know anything,
all he had to do was to obey. The
, reason the police did not interfere
last night was this: Yesterday was
pay day with the troops and a large
number were given liberty. We were
notified that the military would send
out a night patrol to look after their
own men, and accordingly the police
were told not to arrest any soldiers
a who might be drunk or disorderly
The men were not disorderly although
"A good many of them were full Per.
sonally / assisted as many as twenty
TO the cars and sent them out to the
I. camp. The trouble was not with the
l men, but with the two officers"
Captain Bowers said the reason he
did not make any arrest was because
he did not know the truth as ia
: whether martial law was declared OF
t not. If it had been, he would have
I placed the police in an embarrassing
' position by making an arrest, hence
he thought the wisest course was to
wait until some with authority came
This morning he made a statement oi
e the affair to the marshal and was ad,
vised to go to General King and re.
peat it, which he did.