The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-05-07
OEFRAUOING GOVERNMENT
President Has Turned Whole Matter
Over to Department of JUSTICE
and Nothing More Has
Been Heard Of 1t


nation may become almost as great.
Everybody is talking of it here and WON
dering how long this matter will be winked
at by the government. 1t has been nearly
eighteen months since Captain Carter was
convicted by a jury of his peers, or more
than his peers, it might be said; 1t has
been over year since the findings of the
court have been placed in the hands of
President Mckinley; yet what is the state
of affairs today?
The whole decision had ben turned over
to the department Of justice to review,
and in order to get the supposedly best
opinion to be had it has been given over to
the attorney general himself The latter
declares he has little time to l.. -, to the
mass of evidence, but until does the
case will anguish
Here is a man convicted of robbery and
thieving, lying and swinding, and of every
act dishonorable in an officer, still at lib
erty, backed up socially by some of the
wealthiest men in the country, and be-
hind whom stands the biggest corporate
In the United States. Captain Carter must
view himself as the greatest figure in
America today when he contemplates the
powers which are drawn on to save him
from the penitentiary.
Stop for moment and review the situa-
ton, and then review the facts leading up
to his conviction. Not only has the presi-
dent of the United States been held up and
drawn into being party to his defense.
not only has the greatest military court
of this country been overridden, but there
Is established today in the city of Wash
ington a literary bureau sending out litera-
ture all over the country for the purpose of
deceiving the people so that should the in
Huences now at work secure an aequital
the president will not be too greatly con-
demned by public opinion.
Ihere Is no telling how far 1t has already
gone, or how much money has been used.
One by one the papers of the east have
been subborned, through political or social
influences, from printing anything about
the case. Every day one can hear a cor
respondent in the city of Washington say
to another well, I can't print anything
more about Carter. Been cholSed off - The
correspondents themselves are being fur
nished with letters supposed to be of a
news nature, but which color the case for
Carter I myself have recently been hand
ed news letter purporting to give some
facts in this interesting case. Having read
1t through, I felt like saying, "1f this is
true Carter Is a much abused man." Upon
investigation I found that such letters
were being put into circulation, that the
news in them was manufactured that they
contained no facts worthy of consideration,
and that moreover they were the outcome
of a determined effort to dstort the whole
case and upset popular opinion as to the
merits of the criminal.
The officials of the judge advocate gem.
erals office are petrified at the boldness of
the Carter faction. 1t seems that if the
case can be STAYED off until after June the
contractors who were on the bond for the
work in the Savannah river will be out
side of the limits of the law.
Can Be Tried for Conspiracy
If Carter stands convicted before June
mess can be tried for conspiracy and they
will be held accountable for the millions
stoen by Carter. The close friends of Car
ter assert that If the case goes over until
after June then Carter himself will go
free; for to convict him and to let the con-
tractors go scott free will be to smirch the
administration. 1t is a scandal that has
passed the limits of the Credit Mobilian
steal and puts the Helknap matter to
shame. Trusts, express companies, whole
railroad systems have been drawn to the
defense of Carter. The whole money in
fluence of New York and much of the west
and south has been put in motion for the
man. For a man, too, who when indicted,
pleaded the status of limitations on former
transactions and was only tried for the
more recent master pieces of robbery and
corruption.
The board that constituted the court mar
tial had at its head General Otis. who is
intrusted to handle the great Philippine
question, but who could not be trusted to
pass on the honesty of a fellow officer
Some of the highest men in the service
were on the court and four of them were
drawn from the Immaculate Engineer
corps" Vide Lydecker scandal and other
minor troubles.
The trial was the most exciting that has
taken place in the army for years. Every
man was Interested in proving him guilt
less IL possible. What was the result? AZ
or11fti ,axr fIn vet ftc
taking examinations, the unanimous yer
dict of this court of peers was that Carter
was found guilty of every charge. The sem
tence imposed was the hardest that could
be given. He was ordered dismissed from
the army, sentenced to five years in the
penitentiary, and, what was the limit of
the sentence, to be placarded in all proml-
nent city and military posts as a felon.
Having failed completely to stultify JUS
tice in the court the parties interested then
undertook to do by politics what they had
failed to do by law. They had denied The
right of the court to give as evidence in
the trial the papers which were seized In
Carter's trunks. These papers convicted
him of lying and sending false kilograms
to the department. While frolicing in
Quebec with a woman whom he had car
ried there he was all the time sending re-
ports from Savannah to the war depart-
ment. When confronted with these evil
dences of lying he said that he was there
to make drawings of the Notifications of
Quebec. Investigation showed that the en-
gineer department had not authorized him
to do anything of the kind, and knew moth
ing of his having been there. To review
the testimony would take almost as long
as 1t seems is required by the department
of justice. The result was as above stated
Besieged BY Piatt
The president was beseiged by Senator
Platt and the moneyed influences of New
York to set aside the verdict. He could not
take this responsibility, but compromised
the matter by allowing some eminent
jurist to over look the testimony. Ex-Sen-
ator Edmunds was chosen, and afte going
through it, reported that there were certain
Irregularities, had the case been tried in a
civil court. On this the case was sent to
the attorney general and there 1t has been
languishing ever since. In the mean time
Mr. Edmunds put In a bill of $1,000, and
there was no money authorized with which
to pay him. Secretary Alger said that the
money would have to be paid If he went
down in his own pockets for 1t. He was