The age-herald., 1899-01-28
TESTIMONY CONCLUDED IN CASE
 OF COMM|SSARY GENERAL PAGAN
The Verdict of the Court May Not Be Made Known for
 Several Weeks Yet

'GGRS ltL
 presidents order granting immunity to of
 ficers who testified before the commission
 he could not do so."
 General Alger Excused
 General Alger was then excused, the
 members of the court rising to their feet
 as he withdrew.
 Colonel Alexander and Colonel Davis were
 recalled and said that never during their
 acuuaintance with the accused had they
 known him to use vulgar or profane lan-
 guage. He always had been correct ana
 clean in speech and never had they known
 him to use such language as was used in
 his statement before the war commission
 Dr. W. E. Hopkins of California and
 New York, General Eagan's son-in-law,
 was called. He came to Washington after
 General Miles had given his testimony, and
 lived at the generals house. He said
 that he then observed that General Eagan
 was very restless and nervous, and could
 not eat normally nor sleep normally. Al the table he at times would stop eating and apparently would lose himself in thought. He was intensely nervous, and showed signs of congestion of certain parts of the brain.
 Feared Something Serious Witness had had long talks with his wife about her father, and he had told her that her father must be carefully watched and that they must be prepared for any thing. General Eagans mind was non receptive at this time, and the witness be- lieved that something very serious might happen. General Eagan the witness said, was in gloomy frame of mind in conse- quence of things that had been said about him. He felt that his honor was destroyed and he did not want to see people. Gen. eral Eagan, witness further testified, did
 not want to go into a street car, and was
 ashamed to meet anyone, and keenly felt
 his disgrace. The general felt that Gen.
 eral Miles had destroyed his honor and
 that his lfe work was destroyed. In all
 the time the witness had known General
 Eagan witness had not known him to use such language as was used in his state ments.
 Crucified by General Miles Mrs. Hopkins, the daughter of General Eagan, was the next witness, General Ea-
 gan's counsel explaining that he called her against the wish of her father and husband
 and only because her absence from the trial
 might be remarked upon. She said her father came home one afternoon and stand ing in the doorway with a paper in his hand, exclaimed General Miles has cru cified me-" She said she could never forget
 the scene, and since that time her father had been a greatly changed man. ! He could think of nothing else nor talk of anything else than that General Miles had
 ruined his life He was from that time in an alarming condition, and when witness was compelled to go to New York she had returned almost at once to help care for her father. The witness spoke with much feeling in regard to her fathers changed condition and was given the closest atten- tion of the court.
 Eagan's Military Record MT. Worthington at this point read Gen eral Eagans military record from the army register and also read an interview With General Miles printed in New York paper soon after he made his statement before the war commission, with the conclusion or which the defense rested its case. At ll:lO oclock a recess was taken until 11:3O. IJpon, reconvening, Judge Worth1ngton addressed the court in behalf of the ac- cused. Counsel reviewed the statement made by
 General Miles and characterized 1t as With out a parallel in the history of the country He commented upon the statement that General Miles pretended to have known
 about the supposed beef frauds for three
 months before he had sprung them upon the country in his testimony before the war 1 Investigating commission. During that time said counsel General Miles had not commu- nicated the alleged facts to the responsible officers nor taken any steps to put stop to them.
 Eagan's Mind Affected Counsel reviewed at length the testimony which had been given tending to show that | General Eagan's mind was so seriously | affected by the accusations that had been | made against him that his friends feared | that he would go upon the street and shoot iuht O longer l himself and no longer could control his l feelings or his actions In concluding his l address MT Worthington made strong l plea for the accused, asserting that through | this whole controversy he had conducted | himself as an honest man goaded to des- | peration by the cruel and unjust accusa- ! tions of his superior officer.
 1 Colonel Davis, the judge-advocate, closed | the argument. He said that he had no other l idea from the beginning than that all the facts and the whole truth in this case pc i brought out. He said that if the accused
 thought himself aggrieved by the statement 1 of General Miles, he had a positive ana | sure remedy He had right to demand | court of inquiry, and he also had the un- | doubted remedy of resort to the civil and l criminal law But he saw fit to ignore all | these remedies and to take the law Into ms | own hands. He had prepared with dellbera- | ton statement which he had read before | the war c0nm1SSfOHt Nfiich WoS 6ioSSiy ih- | sulting and an undoubted infraction of the army regulations as charged.
 | Question of Immunity On the question of immunity, the judge | advocate stated that in all courts the lan- | guage, in order to be privileged, must be | pertinent to the issue; 1t could not be slan-
 derous or in violation of military regula- | tions
 1 This was the universal rule. The war in- 1 vestigation commission which had been ere l ated by the order of the president was an l informal tribunal, necessarily so by reason | of the great scope given to it's investigation, | and 1t was not such a tribunal as could
 punish for contempt It therefore might or
 might not receive any statement which | might be presented. In this case 1t had returned the statement to General Eagan, | declining to receive a paper of the charac- | ter presented by the accused He referred
 to General Miles statement regarding bad | beef, and said that the commanding officers