The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-08-19

proceedings during the past ten days
which have been read about in every
state in the union, and which are bound
to be a conspicuous incident Of the war.
stands on high ground across the road
from division headquarters. 1t is
bOx-lil1e structure, two stories high,
with two windows on one side and three
windows on the other side. The upper
story seems to be used as hall The
platform at the end farthest from
the road has for it's only furniture two
old wooden benches, and here sit Cen
eral Cole, resplendent in a capaciOus
blue uniform and two rows of brass
buttons, and the court stenogra pher.
General Cole is a stalWart man physic-
ally, has gray hair and is on the best
of terms with the members of the
court, who enter booted and spurred,
swords clanking, and occupy the two
rows of Columbia school desks, ranged
along the entire length of the room.
Captain Duncan, who has been given
an unenviable notoriety through the
proceedings just now centering in
Thoroughfare, is not Indifferent to the
issue, as some newspaper dispatches
might lead people to believe. He is
apparently a rather high spirited man,
extremely sensitive to his surroundings
and looks as though the court martial
were worrying him. He is d little over
medium height, well prOpOrtiOned and
erect, and his high head is covered with
a luxurious hair that is almost red.
He wears mOustache and has earnest
deep eyes. He sat between his counsel
leaning back on the box stove, his head
against the funnel. The members of
the court hold aIoof from him. AS
soon as he steps outside the school
house, a soldier with musket and fixed
bayonet follows him everywhere He
has been walking from the camp
of the Twenty-secOnd regiment to the
sessions of the court-a distance of
about a miIe-but on the protest of his
attorneys the commanding officer has
furnished a Springless mule wagon. in
which Captain Duncan now rides As
he jumps into the wagon in his trim
light blue uniform and white canvas
shoes, two soldiers climb in behind. He
sits under the white awning, spread
over half of the top, the soldiers stand
out in the sun and the vehicle proceeds
over the rough road to camp
Yesterday the judge advocate called
out from the door of the wooden school
house and in tramped Peter Shilbilshe
private in the Third New York and a
typical Pole, as his name indicate
Peter talked in broken language. bIJt
mad positive testimony to give Hav-
ing gone out for water on August 6. he
saw the woods, and, like several of the
previous witnesses during the trial
went to see what was going on. Some
men were digging in a grave and throw
ing out bones. While ShilbflShe was
there Captain Ross came along and
told Captain Duncan to stop digging
but Captain Duncan said he had as
much right to dig there as anybody
else, and kept on digging The men
subsequently took the tombstone and
threw it into the grave. They also
threw the bones back and covered them
up. Captain Duncan had been handling
the bones and tried to put them to-
gether- He also had a spade and dug
in the second grave. Here Private
Shilbilshe gave evidence that interested
the court 1t was something that he
claimed to have written at the time on