Evening star., 1898-02-12
THE CARTER TRIAL
Record of the Court Martial Largest
Ever Made.
The END NOT IN SIGHT
Savannah's Snowless Weather Dur
ing the Winter.
W E E K OF FIRE s

statements Of the officers who are in
charge of the prosecution, they are just
getting into the case. The record is al
ready larger than that made by any other
court-martial in the history of the govern
ment the Fitz-John Porter case of war
times. which was the largest until now.
having been eclipsed early last week There
are over twelve hundred pages of evidence
already in existence, which does not in
clade over one hundred exhibits of docu-
mentary evidence, some of them ten ard
twelve pages in length. There will b.
probably five hundred pages added to the
record this week. When the prosecution
ends the defense, with its corps of six
lawyers and a number of engineer and
other experts, will have an inning and
there is hardly any calculation that can be
made now 10 how much they will eX-
tend the record.
Big Sum Involved.
There is nearly four million dollars in
volved in the expenditures in this engineer
district, in the way of river and harbor
improvements. much of which, it is con-
tended, has been lavishly, and. in some
cases, corruptly expended. One Of the coz
tacts amounts alone to So, 800 600 CAPT
Carter is being tried for being party to
conspiracy in connec ton with this expen-
diture. The magnitude of the amount in
Volving, as it does, expenditures running
along for the past eight years, and the i'm
Fortance of the interests affected is the
excuse for the great record as far as
length Is concerned which has already
been made and which will be added TO very
extensively The court, which consists OF
thirteen members, stands the siege very
well SO far, and it is a matter of congratu-
latlon among its members that notwith-
standing the numerical size of the court
none of its membrs have missed a minute
of its sessions. Though the case is a very
important one, as may be ina gined the
press reports which are sent out about il
are, from reasons interested or otherwise
very meager and misleading in many par
ticulars. AT present the case is in such
condition that any opinion as to the out
come would be entirely guess work, for
the prosecution has, to a great extent, it
is understood, only been laying a founda-
ton for more farreaching and sensational
deVelopme entS, which are to follow in prop
er order. The interest in the case grows
with each days developments. and it is the
uppermost subject of discussion throughout
this section of the country, where all the
parties to IL are well known.
Straw Bonds.
The testimony today was Of a rather sur
prising character, a number of witnesses
testifying that though they were accepted
by Capt. Carter as bondsmen or guarantors
on bids, for sums running all the way from
$4,000 to $4,000 on each bond, they We're
IN TACT worth 1ttl3 and signed the
bonds in blank without any question, the
amounts being afterward put in the bonds
by the contractors in such sums as suited
them regardless of the responsibility of the
signers. 1t was also developed that. though
these bonds were afterward certified as be-
irS signed in the presence OF notaries or
commissioners, there We're no persons pres
ent when they We're signed There was also
testimony adduced that Captain Carter
knew OF the worthlessness of the bonds
he having accepted the bond of the keeper
OF a small grocery store, who has stock
OF about $500, for $4,000. 1t also came out
that one firm of contra Ctors has had all
The contracts in this engineering district
for the past ten years, with one single ex-
ception, though to make it appear that
there was real competition the contractors
obtained contracts in the names of their
employees and various relatives one case
coming out where day laborer received a
$3oU, ,OOO contr act.
Week of Fires.
During the past week, however Savan-
nah has had another subject under discus
sion, and this is the number of fires which
have occurred in the city. The firemen are
nearly played out, as they had on an aver
age three fires each day last week to con-
tend with, and four on Sunday Among
those on Sunday was a $500 600 fire on the
river front, and the burning of the Catholic
Cathedral, an hour later, at the other end
of the city, involving loss of S250,0OO or
more 1here are certain suspicious circum-
stances connected with each of the fires of
last week, and though so far there has
teen nothing definite as TO a theory of
incendiarism, there is a well-grounded i'm
preston that twO-thirdS of the fires were
the acts of incendiaries. Should the guilty
be arrested, or even suspected. there is no
doubt but that it will go hard with them. I
When the Weather is Cold.
There We're three days of winter weather
here ica
the ponds in the parks but one morning.
1t was cold enough the rest of the cold
spell for overco ats and gloves. which. by
the way, are seldom needed hereabouts
When it is cold in Savannah however It is
felt much more than even colder weather is
in northern sections. for the reason that
nine-tenths of the houses are without any
arrangement for heating. 1t is true they
have fire in the kitchens and dining
rooms, but they are content with that
Strt NICELY enough. TOO. it is the people from
the north who suffer most from this lack of
heating facilities. 1t is very rare in even
the best of houses that there is any way of
heating the bed rooms, and the people
never had any, they do not look for it,
Movable stoves.
Now and then scme people. in anticipation
of cold weather. have an oil or gas stove
which can be moved about to the bed and
bath rooms, but this is even rarer than
would be supposed. The fact is there have
been but five nights this winter when extra
heat was needed, and not over five more
nights are expected when the same condi-
ton of this will prevail. When We read of
the thermometer on Friday last being be-
low 30 in Washington the sun was so hot
here in the afternoon that many sought the
shady side of the streets for comfort 1t
was actually warm during the middle of
the day and afternoon yesterday, and the
parks were as usual crowded with babies
children and Tho bor
man predicted snow for one day last week
but somehow the snow got sidetracked
Anyhow, there were no signs OF 1t here ex-
cept reports in the newspapers which came
from the north There have been but two
heavy snow storms here in sixty years.
One of these was nearly twenty years ago,
and it was such novelty that business
was suspended and the public schools closed
for the day. SO that all could enjoy it.
Many children, and grown up people, too
know nothing about sled or sleigh, ex-
cept what they have learned from being
told or by books and newspapers. Neither
have they ever seen ice thick enough to
slide or skate on. Even if the Ice accident
ally formed thick enough to bear the
weight a nerSon thera cou1d he No ct,at