The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-27

up and the case begun. il became a matter
OF life and death TO sustain the charges
This matter, which sprung from small
beginnings, Capt. Gillette announced to the
court, mad become a Dersoaal one with
hln He abandoned his labors in order n
be detailed for this work. and he even
went so far as to threaten his brother
offlcer TO tell him he would hurt MIN
unless ne came here and testified for him.
after few days knowledge of the mat
tresses being used in this district and less
knowledge Of Florida rock. he brought dis
charges, gave his time and attention 10
the case, and turned the clerks Of his Of
nee into detective force. He calls here
Ihe one or two aldermen who might re-
nect en- TINS defendant, but ignores the
many others who We're friendly to him
The 100000 which have gone into the
work here, the So cork screw bought "a
New York, and the nine cents alleged over
charSe on mileage, all stand in the same
attitude in his mind, Mr. Charlton said
And the last scene, on the stand mere was
bitter stump speech from Capt Gillette.
1t requiring the united efforts of counsel
on both sides to choke him off.
His mind is dominated by suspicion tho
demon of suspicion. How, under these con
ditions, are we to accept any statement
from Sterly or Cooper. who are under his
domination, who are carried on his nav
rolls2 Is it not rather a strange fact that
most of those still on his pay rolls are
against this defendant while those former
employees, who are not, stand by him?"
The case, Mr.. Charlton said was an idle
and inconclusive one in every particular.
1t as built up on a mass of suspicion. In
dictments against army officers are cheap
il they can be secured as they seem to
pc, upon the mere presentation at Wash
lngtOn uDOn an uDO1-ga pizad Y1,acs of e,,e
picion.
Mr.. Charlton's argument as to Capt. Gil
lette's course was rather a scathing one.
He concluded his remarks as to the suspi-
cious features of the case with a few
words as to the trip to New York. which
he considered was based upon an effort TO
get sensational newspapers to take up the
case and publish the evidence adduced
against Capt. Carter all over the country.
He had never seen a case, he said, which
| seemed more clearly to be based on moth
ing more than suspicion.
Mr. Charlton then took up the matter
of advertising, sending out specifications,
| canvassing bids giving out information
| and opening bids. The evidence, he said,
| showed that Capt Garter had followed
the general rules among engineer officers
| from New York to Texas
Coming to the specifications, and the
manner in which they were followed, he
spoke of the weak character of the en-
| gineers who had been put up as experts
to derogate from the work Capt Carter
had done There were Cooper, who did not
know what specific gravity was and Hale
who, when he can convert so cubic yards
| of brush into 5000, should enter the field
| as a poet and a romancer. Take on the
| other hand the long list of engineers who
| have testified here for the defense, and
! who have contradicted the testimony of
| these men. There were Craghill, and
| Wisner, and Ripley and Ludlow, and Mar
! shall, and Mahan and Rossell, and others
still who said these specifications had
been conformed to and that the work had
| been we'll done.
After discussing briefly the question of
| specific gravity, Mr.. Charlton turned to
| the question of the money which Capt.
| Carter had. 1t seemed to be the idea of
the prosecution, he said, that if A had
money and B had none, but B afterwards
| spent money, he must have got it from
| A. The conclusion reached by the pros
ecution he said, seemed to be that because
Capt. Carter did have some money, after
his marriage, he must have got it from
| the contractors. There is no doubt from
this evidence here that Capt Carter up
to the time of his marriage lived within
| his salary There is no doubt that he had
money after his marriage, more than his
salary, and there is no doubt, and there
is nothing peculiar about it, that he got
il from his father-in-law. There could be
nothing strange in it when another son-in-
law had got away with 100000 within less
| than twelve months.
1t was a curious case, Mr.. Charlton
said There is not one word in the indict-
ment charging that so much as one cent
ever passed between this defendant and
the members of the Atlantic Contracting
Company. What brilliant schemes they
had, to be conspirators? Why, when
Capt Carter wrote to Capt. Greene about
that pneumatic jack, he could have sent
him a check for $4,000 and said, put this
in your pneumatic jack, and nobody
would have known anything about it.
Mr. Charlton called attention to Mr. II.
r. Duvall's testimony about the Florida
rock, where, by saying YES" Capt Car
ter could have pus $25O0OO into the pock-
cts of the alleged co-conspirators, and yet
| he said no"
The private letters and papers introduce
ed. he said,l must have been put in to
prove motive, and if not, they had no bust
! ness before the court Mr.. Charlton call
ed attention TO the fact that Capt. Carter
had trusted all of his employees and con-
fded in them. He had left his district
and gone 5000 miles away to England on
another mission just as contracts worth
millions were about to be carried out. He
had heard many things said of Capt
Carter since the case began, but he had
never vet been called fool. It was
rather an alleged intellectual criminaiity
the prosecution seemed to be after. And
vet Cant. Carter had made confdants OF
those about him. No eonspirator would
have done in that direction what he has
done.
There is in this case as in every case
some great central dominating fact. TINS
successor. by his abandonment, may nave
injured and damaged the Cumberland
sound jetties and the Tybee breakwater
hut there is still this great truth in this
case. testified to in stentorian tones ever
while this court was sitting in New 1orf
nv the steamers which passed daily out O.
this harbor that there are rs feet OF watel
, in This river from the city to the sea. LIE
the prosecution get out of that clous O.
susncson and look at the facts. How arr
, thew going 10 get around those facts? IL
conclusion. Mr.. Charlton said
"The people of the United states arr
awaiting with impotence your verde
which shall give back this intelligent. TINS
brave and gifted offlcer-you are soldiers
| yfx him hack his