The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-01-31
EAgAN IES1FES
In His Own Behalf in
the Court Martial.
THE SCENE

~ AAAn anu INC
discriminating Charges Made Against
Him by Miles-Dnven Nearly Crazy
by the Thought Tha the Public
Deemed Him GuiI1y-Synop.is of His
Testimony.
Washington. January es.-The fea-
ture OF the proceedings before the
Eagan court-martial today was the
testimony, dramatic in many parts on
account of its quiet intensity, of COM
missary General Eagan himself. Not
more h fifteen or twenty people
| outside OF the court and a dozen or so
newspaper correspondents were admit
ted to the trial rooms. Severa wit
nesses preceded the chief figure in the
trial. General Eagan listened intently
to the testimony of these witnesses
| occasionally held brief whispered
| conferences with his counsel. He was
dressed in full uniform. without sword
and his fiorid face, white hair and
moustache, and soldierly bearing recall
ed to many the late General Sheridan,
| whom he bears a distinct resemblance.
| His call TO the stand this morning was
something Of a surprise, as ii had been
thought if he testified at all it would
be later.
When his name was called he rose
| and, standing before the witness chair,
| raised his right hand, took the oath
administered by the judge advocate
and at first related his army career.
AS he proceeded in his testimony IL
L haany - ~za ro-f rhnt Ah~ l.
Tense would be justification and ex-
IRENE p~rovocation, finally bringing on
a serious nervous condition which
| rendered the witness unfit for business
and made him, to a degree, i~rresponsi-
BILE for his acts. The presidents or
der Of immunity, it was also made
| evident, would be relied on as appli-
| cable to General Eagan's testimony
before the war commission, n that,
therefore, the court-martial had no
proper jurisdiction of he case.
When General Eagan began the
| story of General Miles aspersions on
him he raised his voice somewhat and
| spoke with great ea~rnestness, though
with perfect enunciation. In speaking
of the criticisms of the newspapers,
| Which, he said, had been called forth
by General Miles testimony, his man.
ner vas intensely dramatic and i'm
pressive. His eyes filled with tears
and his voice trembled, and the inn
| preston he left with many was deci-
| dedly favorable. After the court ad-
| journed several shook his
hand and in a friendly way asked af-
ter his health.
When the court assembled today
Judge Advocate Davis stated that he
wished to submit formally the testi-
mony Of General Miles as read yester-
day as al exhibit in this trial and
with this statement, he said, the
J prosecution rested its case.
Mr.. Worthington, counsel for Zen
eral Eagan, e several exhibits in
connection with the testimony read at
yesterdays session of the court. These
included the correspondence between
Genera Miles and General Eagan
through the a%djutant general, in which
the latter asked whether the interview
published in a New York paper in
which General Miles is alleged to have
severely criticised the commissary gen
erals department, was authoritative.
Extracts from the alleged interview
were also read n submitted as a
part of the record.
The witness for the defense who
preceded General Eagan on the stand
were Colonel w. l.. Alexander, L. ).
A, of the subsistence department;
Colonel George B. Davis, assistant to
Commissary General Eagan; Miss Mil
lard, General Eagan's stenographer,
and Mr.. Rodgers, a clerk in the office
of the commissary general. They tes-
titled that General Eagan had been
| laboring under a great mental strain
ever since General Miles appeared be-
fore the val investigating commits
sion.
Colonel Davis said that as time went
on his excitement increased to such an
extent that he did not and apparently
could not attend to the routine duties
Of his office. Later on, General Eagan
reached such a state that he could not
attend to any business. The day be-
fore General Eagan appeared before
he commission he read his statement
over to the witness who urged him to
modify it somewhat, but he would not
listen and, walking up and down the
room, said he would not change a word
Of it. He was hen in a very nervous
state.
General Eagan followed Mr.. Rodgers.
During the war with Spain, he said,
he had been in his office every day
with one exception and had worked
early and late. He had given his tes-
timony before the commission under
oath-preferably so. He had first
read General Miles statement in the
Washington papers. For a long time
he feared that he might not be called
before the commission, but he finally
received a to appear. Even
then he was not fully prepared. as his
statement necessarily involved the
preparation of records, etc. He had
held a conversation with the secreta-
ry of war in the course Of which he
told the secretary that he desired 10
defend himself by bringing proceedings
against General Miles, but was told
that the immunity granted by the
president would prevent any such ac-
ton. Witness accepted this as the
fact, but he did not think that this i'm
munity covered the inter-
view in which General Miles had by
inference declared him to be a MUIR
derer for gain. Witness said he be-
came greatly excited. This statement
of General Miles, in the opinion Of the
witness, had taken away his (Eagan)
character. He could not proceed
against General Miles in the courts or
otherwise and he felt that he might be
better dead in the gutter. His honor,
as a soldier. he said, had beer at