The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-09-02
IS IN No DANGER
Deserter Under Court Martial
Sentence
FOR THlRTY-FOUR YEARS
Asks What to Dole Escaped
After Sentence.

| the interest IN the OreyIuS case uda
brought the Eagle the following letter
which brings up an interesting question
''Pond Creek, o. T.
ITO the Editor of the Eagle:
in reading so much Of the Dreyfu:
! trial, think of my own and how nttlt
| chance a man has for Justice at a cour
martial in any country. I was a membe1
| of company b, Third Massachusett:
heavy artillery. I was court martialet
on the eth Of July, 1865, at Fort Stevens
| Washington. d. c., tried without cause
convicted without evidence. Degraded and
dishonored. with years of prison life be
fore me, deserted. That Is as IT stands
today. ] can get no help or relief, for nc
law reaches my case. Here is something
for you to investigate, and right at home.
Look 1T over, think about 1t and tell me
what to do. Yours respectfully. &C."
Just before Abraham Lincoln died he
issued a proclamation pardoning all de-
serters from the Union army in the civil
war, 50 that the gentleman is in no dam
ger now, 50 far as that is concerned. He
could get no pension from the govern
proclamation of President lincoln. The
charge brought against him and upon
which he was court marttaled is proba-
bly, forgotten and even had the great
Lincoln not ISSUED his proclamation there
would be no longer any danger. The
proclamation of pardon issued by Pres
ident Nncoln pertained to deserters and
while not specifically RENTING a sentence
of court martial. ii gave all deserters i'm
muraty from arrest for violation of mill
tary regulation during the civil war and
restored TO them all the privileges of citi-
zenship. That clause Of the proclamation
carried a virtual abrogation Of all prison
sentence by court martial.
The gentleman's case may he similar to
CHAT of Dreyfus IL he was unjustly ar
rested and unfairly tried. but the SINH
larity ends there. Dreyfus Is the victim
Of prejudice which the head of the French
republic Is afraid to disregard af 1t does
not share. The government Of the United
States is without fear and above prejudice
The court martial of Dreyfus Is similar
to that which would occur in the trial
of an American army officer so far as
the institution of the military tribunal IS
concerned. A captain Is tried by officers
nearest above him in rank. Any officer
the same way. Privates by officers near
est them. The idea Is to have a Jury of
peers" the basic principle in all modern
civil or military jurisprudence. An Amer
lean court martial might deal unjustly in
trying prisoner. as any court of martials
might, but 1t would not allow any such
prejudiced gush and expression of opinion
as Is allowed in the court martial of Drey-
fus. The American government would not
allow It. Prejudice cannot deal with a
man in America as it does in France, as
the following story of an American naval
officer will prove:
He was an officer Of the Hebrew faith,
in the navy, who finally ito the rank
of commodore, after forty years of perse-
cution by his fellows and superiors be-
cause he was a Jew. This officer was
Uriah p. Levy, born in Philadelphia in
1892. died in New York in 1852.
Uriah Levy throughout his career was
a brave man and a gentleman. Already
captain of a schooner at IS, he en-
tered the United States navy in 1872 as a
sailing master and was ordered to the
famous brig Argus, which carried the
American envoy, Mr.. Crawford. to
France. The brig then went on a cruise
and destroyed British shipping to the
value of $5.000.0O0. Levy was sent home
with a valuable prize, which was captur-
ed by the enemy's frigate. and that mis-
fortune landed him in a British prison for
the remainder of the war. After the
proclamation of peace Commodore David
Porter. Stephen Decatur, John Rodgers
and Charles Stewart recommended that
Levy be placed on the roll of tthe navy as
lieutenant, under the rule that mas
tiers of extraordinary merit and for ex-
traordinary service may be promoted"
He was given the commission and there
upon followed persecution lasting almost
to hisdeath.
AS lieutenant he passed nearly all the
time under arrest or under suspicion. Six
court martials. one court Of inquiry, and
the Shubrick board. form only a part of
this Hebrew officers remarkable record.
In every case trumped up against him
the charges were absolutely trivial and
showed unquestionably the antI-Semitic
hatred which was necessarily working to
force him out of the service.
The surprising fact is that the courts
martial invariably found this Hebrew Of
ficer guilty. although their sentences
were always overruled or much mitigated
by the powers at Washington.
Commodore Levy was a brave man in
every sense Of the word. When he was
lieutenant Commodore Lavalette testified
at one Of the numerous courts martial as
follows:
Q.-What were the facts that made the
favorable impression testified to by you?
Alt was an affair in which he Gevy)
received six or seven shots in mortal COM
bat without returning the fire. remor-
strating at every fire with his antagonist.
At Fourth OF July dinner in Paris in
1873 some Of the guests received the
American ministers toast 10 President
Andrew Jackson with groans and Kisses
Lieutenant Levy was present. He irnme-
diately arose. struck one OF the perpe-
traitors Of the insult with his glove in the
face, and challenged two others to fight
duefs. Apologies were promptly rendered.
In 1877 the Emperor Of Brazil compl-
iment Lieutenant Levy upon his personal
bravery in saving the life 0. 4 midship-
man
In 1874 Captain Levy. promoted TO a
post Captaincy. was practically retired
The navy department for years ignored
his requests for a command. and during
the war with Mexico nothing I'm the line
OF sea duty was rendered to him. The
crOwning outrage came in 1876. when the
Shubrtck board OF fifteen. sitting In Sc
cret and hearing no defense. dismissed
several officers from the service. Among