Omaha daily bee., 1899-09-28
GROSS ERRORS IN CARTER CASE
Counsel for the Army Officer Says Pro-
ceedinEs Will Not Stand in
Any Civil Court.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27.-Attorney Gem
eral Griggs today gave a bearing to Wayne
MacVeagh, counsel In the court-nartial
case of Captain O. NJ. Carter OF the army.
Mr.. MacVeagh asked for a judicial hearing
in the case, saying that IL the president ar
irmed the proceedings he would be guilty
of am act of great cruelty and wrong. The
record was, he ~contended, so saturated with
errors OF law that it is impossible in a
country governed by law to affirm the find
ing.
Before proceeding with his argument
proper he corrected what he designated as
erroneous. reports concerning the case. The
first OF these to which he gave his atten-
tion was a statement that Secretary Alger
had allowed the attorney for Captain Carter
to take away and keep possession Of the
record in the case. This was, he said, abb
solutely untrue. The counsel for the accused
had never seen the original record and had
received no favors. 1t WAS also false that
the representatives of Captain Carter had
importuned the president in the captains
behalf. On the contrary, the only pressure
brought to bear upon the president was
from the other side, for the affirmation of
the finding.
He recited eleven instances OF what he
termed positive inventions retailed to the
correspondents of newspapers during the past
eighteen months. sooner or later he ex-
pected to reveal the authors of these re-
ports and expose their motives and then to
hold somebody responsible for proving their
truth. He had thought OF asking the new
secretary of war to signalize his entrance
upon his duties by posting this notice over
the doors of two of the divisions Of the de-
Partment:
"No falsehoods shall be disseminated from
this office during office hOurS.p
In asking that the court-martial verdict be
set aside, Mr.. MacVeagh argued the unfit
ness of such a court, composed Of men I'M
trained in the law, to deal with questions
such as those involved in this case. The
findings of euch a court have no validity and
carry no weight. The findings were based
on a tumble OF homogeneous and dlscordant
charges, ranging from embezzlement and de-
ceit In the smallest matters to charges OF
conspiracy of immense magnitude.
In reply to a question from the attorney
general, Mr.. MacVeagh admitted that no OBJ
lection to the misjoinder of charges had been
made in the court-martial. Mr.. Griggs eug-
gested that the objection should have been
made at that time, adding that he was ex-
pressing no opinion upon the merits of the
points at issue.
Continuing, Mr.. MacVeagh said that only
a fair trial was asked and a fair trial could
not be had upon such a collocation OF
charges as had been made in this case. Mr..
MacVeagh also dwelt upon the point that
the charges were brought Notwithstanding
the statute of limitations. He contended
that ''the fragrant violation of this act OF
congress was sufficient to vitiate the pro-
ceedings." He had no doubt that Captain
Carter was convicted from the time he
pleaded this statute before the court, but
| 4ht~ .yaa dana ,tndar adyiaa and was at least
legitimate.
With reference to the checks issued by
Captain Carter. Mr.. MacVeagh contended
that he could not under the law have avoided
their issuance. The same was true of every
act performed by him in this connection.
Speaking of the high prices paid for serv-
ice by Captain Carter, Mr. MacVeagh said
they were paid on lettings after advertising,
hence the profits of the contractors were not
legitimate evidence against the officer In
charge. Moreover, in many instances, the
prices paid were no higher than those paid
for similar service by other officers in like
cases.