The times., 1899-08-24
CAPTAIN CARTER TO GO FREE?
Alleged Determination of. the Gov
ernment Concerning His Case.

ernmcnt CoDcernipE His Case.
New York, Aug. 24-S a. ma special
despatch to the Journal from Washing
ton says: Captain Carter is to go free.
He will be dismissed from the Army aud
may be fined $4,000 but he will not be
imprisoned and his offence will not be
published in the newspapers Of his home.
That is the information obtained here.
Public clamor cnly will upset this pro-
gramme devised by Griggs and Platt and
acceded to by Secretary Root Griggs and
Platt favor this disposition Of the case for
political reasons. Root accedes for legal
reasons. he says.
The statement from Lake Champlain
that the Carter case will be settled on its
merits 9nds plausible and ready explana-
ton in Washington 1t is accepted here as
meaning mitigation of the sentence pro-
nounoed by the court martial against Cap
tain Carter, which will fall far short OF
reaching the root of the crime involved.
1t will simply sentence Captain Carter to
dismissal from the service in the hope that
there the matter viii rest.
The reason the latest statement from
Lake Champlain finds such ready expla-
nation here rests in some curious asser-
tons made by Secretary Root TO two Re-
publican Representatives in Congress from
the West who called on him the day be-
fore he left Washington to join the Presi-
dent. These Representatives went to see
Mr.. Root in the interest of the party.
They told him plainly that the amazing
course the Carter case had taken was in
fiicting irreparable injuries upon the Ad-
ministration and the Republican party
generally IN the West.
Secretary Root frankly avowed his be-
lief in Carter's guilt in copspiring with
the contractors to loot the Government
and even declared the conviction that the
captain has criminally participated in tie
enjoyment of the fruits of the plundering
operations. but he averred that after care
full and exhaustive examination of the rec
ord and after impaFtially submitting the
statement of the witness to the weli-
established rules of evidence he was un-
able to discover where Carter had divert
ed from its proper channels more than
S1S3 of the vast sums entrusted to his dis
bursement. He acknowledged that pri-
vately he was convinced that Carter was
guilty of the full offence with which he
was charged, but that, following strictly
the rules of Evidence with calm, dispas-
sionate. judicial judgment, he was unable
to find a difference in Carter's accounts
Mr.. Root added, that while technically
speaking, the evidence at the trial showed
that this small sum had been misapplied
yet, in reality, the work on which, it had
been expended showed that the money had
been well used for the Benefit of the Gov
ernment in certain physical repairs, and
that Carter's only offence on this score
was that he had used the money without
specific instructions to apply 1t.
According TO this view, the record does
not justify the severe punishment Pre-
scribed by the court, and the President will
be so advised. This is what is meant by
the statement given out at Lake Cham
plain that the Carter case~twili be settled
on its merits Such a modification of the
sentence would save Carter from the peni-
tentiary and perhaps shield him from the
fine of $40 900. 1t would, at the same time,
discredit subsequent civil proceedings
against the contractors for the recovery
of the million and a half dollars stolen
from the Government. John f. Gaynor is
now in Europe.