The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-28
END OF THE COURT MARTIAL.
COL. BABR's ARGUMENT WILL con-
CLUDE ITS PUBLIC SESSIONS.

/ VIII
i Secret Session Tomorrow and
Make It's FIndings-Each Omcer
of the Court VIII Have His Vote on
Each Specification RecOrded-Rec-
ord Then Taken TO Washington by
the Judge AJvocate-The Record "a
stupcndous One Containing Nearly
2,5OO.O0O WOrds-RcsuIt May Not
Be Known for Month or Six
Weeks.
To-day viii end the Carter court martial,
so far as Its public sessions are concerned
The court has now been in session more
than three months and n half, ana every
member of it is doubtless rejoicing that
his disagreeable task is drawing to an
end.
Col. Thomas F. Barr, the Judge Advo-
cate, win begin his argument for the
prosecution at 10 otIocS this M rnlng,
and will conclude it to-day. Col Barr
VIII not consume more time than was
taken up by tn defense AMI perhaps not
as much. Many have loJFed forward 10
his summing up with a great deal OF inter.
est and there is no little curiosity 10
know what he is going to say, and to
| know how he is going to haul;e many Of
the facts which he probed for on his cross
eva limitations, as well ~ the direct EXAM
| nations of his own Witnesses
When Col. Barr finishes his argument
the court will adjourn to NICE: no more in
public. In all probability It will al ,oufn
10 meet tomorrow morning. bit behind
closed toors. with no other present than
the thirteen officers of tha court In their
secret session there will be placed before
them the record of twenty volumes care
fully indexed and the $50 odd exhibits, to-
gether with the arguments of counsel.
! Upon these they enter into their delibera-
tons and reach their conclusions
The chances are that the members Of
the court will, in their secret session, read
over very little of the testimony The
case has been gone into so thoroughly
many of its features having been repeated
again and again, that those who have
listened 70 it day after day are quite ia
miliar with il. The evidence upon every
! specification under every charge is minute
and in detail There is before the court
! history of Capt. Carter and a history of
his entire work as the engineer in charge
| of this district, and yet when 1t comes
| to their findings they cannot consider
what happened prior to 1896 except that,
| of course, they can take into considera-
| ton evidence of matters prior to that time
as bearing upon subsequent transactions.
| When the court meets tomorrow in Sc
| cret session any member of TT can have
any portion of the record he desires read.
or he may read it himself. Then each of
the charges and specifications is taken up
| and upon each specification, and there are
| something like thirty of them, barring
those excluded by the statute of limita-
| tons. each officer announces his vote of
| guilty" or mot guilty" The vote of
each officer of the court upon each speci-
! fication is recorded just as would be the
case upon a call for the ayes and nays
| in the meeting of a deliberative body.
! When the voting has been concluded. and
| the finding of the court on each speclfica-
ton recorded, the Judge Advocate is call
| ed in and the record, with the finding of
| the court is turned over to him. The Judge
! Advocate then takes the record with the
| courts finding to Washington, where it
goes to the judge advocate general, and is
| placed in the hands of a reviewing officer
| who makes a study of il and approves or
/ disapproves the finding of the court. The
| record and finding of the court, with the
| certificate of the reviewing officer, then
| go to the President, and he in turn APP
|
| decision In the matter is final. There is
practically no appeal from the decision
| of the court which is now trying the
case. 1t Is true that it passes through the
hands of the reviewing officer and the
| President, but they pass upon what has
been done, and under no circumstances
can they again go into the merits of the
case except as they appear in the record.
! The record in this case is a most stu
! pendous one. Perhaps there has never
been a case in any court of the country,
civil or military with such a record as
! this one has produced. 1t is practically
| now in shape, and when completed will
consist of att least twenty volumes of
something like $50 pages each. In the rec
| ord of testimony exclusive of the argu-
ments of counsel, there are 4.626 typewrit-
ten pages. There win be 475 pages In the
index, the arguments win take up some
where in the neighborhood of 200 pages,
| and there are something over $50 exhibits
In round numbers the record proper will
| contain $500 pages, with an aver
! age of about 375 words on a
that the record win contain some
thing like 100000 words or to be exact
| ], 1887, 500. 1t is difficult to average the mum.
Der of words in the exhibits. Some Of
them contain from LEO TO 10000 words,
| while many of them are maps and draw
| ingS submitted. for the inspection OF the
court. Ii looks. however as if the record
would approach the enormity of 2,5e0,000
words, and If not it will not be far away
from it,
1t is a terrible record for a reviewing
officer to contemplate. He must go over
the entire thing in order to pass upon it.
Nothing will probably be known of the
decision of the court until the President
has passed upon it and 1t becomes final.
| has concluded itg find
ings none but its members and the Judge
| Advocate know what they are, until the
| case is finally determined as stated. 1t
is expected that II will be at least month
or six weeks before the result of the trial
| becomes public