The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-31
cor. BARR REPLIES TO MAC yEAGH
Defends the COurtmnrtinI and Says
tie Verdict Was Righteous.


Washington, Aug. &.-Mcst war depart
ment officials are uude- The impression
that Attorney General Gr'ggs VIII dec de
against capt. O. NJ. Garter, and it is gen
orally understood that the present delay
is om.nous 70 thai officers case. The At
torney General agreement TO await
tnal brief from Wayne MacVeagh, Car
ters senior counsel. is believed TO indicate
hat the department of justice regards the
Carter case as a hopeless one. and is de-
sIous OF giving the officer every CpD0r-
iuulty 70 defend himself and thus obv.ate
any charge that injustice has been done.
Secretary Root has be rayed no sentiment
in he case, but ii is not known what in
fuenceS have been at work upon him as
uDon Secretary Aigor to postpone action.
one evidence Of Tie vast amount of in
luence exerted in the case is shown N
toe fact that the company Of which Car
ter IS said 10 be a member stu retains
IFS contract with The government for the
work in Cumberland sound. 1t has been
twice recommended that the contract be
forfeited. but recently a suit was filed in
the Court of Claims by the contractors
for $1,000 the amount ella med 10 be due
by the company for work done in the vi
cinity of Savannah, despite the fact that
the work was pronounced worthless. I'm
der the terms Of The contract the contrac-
tors Were to carry on the work daily and
were to suffer a forfeiture of contract
when there was a delay of more than If
teen days. No work has been done since
the autumn Of 1897.
The attorney general has had big task
Ia reviewing the Garter case aud has gone
over the arguments of Capt. Carriers
counsel and the reply of Col. r. F. Barr
of the army, who was judge advocate in
np ma frf al is
fun and is very strong in its language.
Co. Barr describes the brief of Capt. Car
ter's counsel. as 'discourteOus and Calum-
iuatory i'm character and such az to de
mand specific condemnation, and sucn
condemnation il shall receive, with a refu-
tadon OF its untruthful statements"
Carriers lawyers had attacked the court
as being composed of members 'necessari-
~ not learned in the law nor accustomed
90 weigh evidence" To this complaint
Col. Barr replies in part: 1T is difficult
to comprehend such a didactc statement,
Il Is not possible to conceive of a class OF
men more competent to judge of tha
weight aud credibility of testimony than
educated army officers of mature years.
The court appointed by the President for
the trial Of Capt. Carter was composed OF
thirteen members, ali officers of high rank
and advanced years. The president Of the
court is trained lawyer, as well as a dis
tinguished soldier. A more Intelligent con-
scienuous and attentive COurtmar- ial new
er sat in this or any other country. 1t
would not be possible In civil courts 20
secure q jury OF like special fitness to de
tcrmine the issues which We're submitted
for their Judgment. Two OF it's members
belong to the Engineer Corps, and have
been in commission thirty-seven and thr-
ty-tive years. Five of them are disburs-
ing officers, with many years experience
In dealing with just such vouchers as were
under consideration in the trial Four
of them have had large experience in the
trial of cases before courtmartal, one of
whom has had several years service as
judge advocate of a military department,
and all of them represent the very highest
intelligence and conscience of the army"
The complaints made by the defense
against the judge advocate are consid-
cred by the latter in their order. He ex-
plains his reasons for calling certain wit
nesses ana failing to call others. He in
forms the Attorney General to whom his
argument is addressed that r. F. West
colt, Carriers father-in-law, who could
have given some useful information, fail
Cd to appear before the court. He pro-
nounces some of the assertions made by
the defense as absolutely contradicted by
the testimony, and IN some instances 8
complete distortion of facts. He meets
these with copious quotations from the OF.
fetal report of the trial, and with fun
extracts from the testimony. An interest
ing point raised by the defense was thar
Carriers private papers were Illegally SELF
ed by the government, upon which point
Col. Barr says This Is a direct charge
of unprofessional conduct against the
judge advocate of the court and gross
~ misstates the facts. The papers refer
red TO as Illegally held in the Office or
the engineer officer at Savannah are not
purely private papers; they are the re,
tanned vouchers of accused of his dis
bursements, such as officers are permitted
to retain for their own and the govern
ments protection when originals are for
warded to the accounting officers of The
treasury department. No purely personal
property right is thereby vested in the Of
hcer. The government may at any time
call upon the officer to submit them for
examination"
Col Barr, in concluding his letter to the
Attorney General, says:
when the evidence was an in the iudee
advocate was worn out mentally and phv-
sicaily by his nearly four months inces-
SAINT labor by day and night and was en-
irely willing to submit the case without
argument, which did not meet the views
of counsel for The defense. He knew from
his experience from courtsmartial that
nothing he nor the counsel could saw could
influence the judgment of the court at
that time. The court had shown an earn
est aUenttveness and grasp of the issues
TO be determined. Ii had interrogafed many
OF the Witnesses, and the character Of its
interrcgotories viii show 10 any person
who reads the record whether lis members
were capable Of estimating the weight and
value of evidence They. many Of them.
took copious notes during The progress of
the trial, and had the case been closed
without argument the result would have
been the same. The judge advocate derived
no sClasn and unworthy pleasure from the
conviction of The accused. Ii did, however
satisfy his desire that justice should pre-
veil, for he believes that more righteous
judgment was never recorded, and that
a more richly deserved sentence was never
awarded"