The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-12-18
CADET bOOZ HA2|NG INQUIRY
FATHER. MOTHER AND SISTER OF
VICTIM TELL THEIR STORIES.
Young Booz Had Informed Them of
the Indignities Put upon Him by
Upper cinssmen mt West Point
Tobasco sauce Incident Related.


BRISTOL. Pa. Dec. 1.-THE military
board Of inquiry appointed bv the Sec
Rotary OF war to investigate charges made
~ the relatives and friends Of oscar L.
Booz, the former West Point cadet. wfn
It Is claimed. died as a result OF hazinr
at West Point. began taking testimony
mere today The board consisting or
Maj. Gen John r. Brooke, commanding the
department Of the East; Brig Gen Rates
ana Col Clouse. deputy judge advocate
general arrived here this morning. They
We're met az the railroad station by Will
IAN H. Booz. the father OF the former
cadet, and Rev. Alexander Allison. pastor
OF the Bristol Presbyterian c.aurch. the
worshiping place of the Bnoz family The
INQUIRY was held In the pastors study
The entire Booz family was present
The inquiry began AZ 1850 O'Clock. the
hrst witness called being Mr. Rooz. who
was invited to tell all he knew.
Mr Booz stated that Oscar entered
the academy on June TO- 1898 Soon after
letters were received from him stating
that he had been hazed
MT Booz said that his son had com
planned 70 him of the indgnities to
which he was subjected at West Point
put when Mr. Booz spoke 10 Lieut. Blake
~ ABOUT II he was told that the hazing
would stop after the cadets got back In
me barracks. He told his son he would
letter
was received IN which oscar said he had
peen In a fight and received a pair OF
piack eyes. and that he had been knocked
out oy blow over the heart. Mr. Boox
SAID ne went to West Point to see his
son: oscar told his father he expected
70 be hazed. but he did not want to he
treated brutally. The father said oscar
was treated
Mr.. Booz thereupon told how Oscar had
informed him that tohasco sauce had been
forced force down his throat; Mr. Booz said
tnat when Oscar came home. IN the fall
or ls9s he was broken In health and
was never wen after that Oscar liked
TN; the father said. but not brutality.
While In tents, the father continued
Oscar said the cadets would pun the
blankets from him and pour hot wax from
candle on his body. Mr. Booz also
said Oscar told him that tohasco sauce
was poured down his throat both in camp
and at the table
In answer to another question MFR.
talked with at West Point was the son
OF ex-COngressman Phillips of Ohio
Mr.. Booz thought the officers at the
academy could stop the brutality, but he
the cadets were not treated like Oscar
was and he was at a loss TO understand
how they had treated his son in such
severe manner Oscar spent all of last
year at home in an endeavor To build
up his health. In June of that year he
accepted position with n law firm al
tHitueipHiti, nut was compelled to leave
that occupation owing TO his throat
In conclusion Mr.. Booz said that oscar
would never mention any names When
he felt very badly he would talk of the
brutal treatment he had been subjected TO,
but never revealed the identity of his
prosecutors.
Mrs. Booz, Oscars mother said Oscar
never told lie or acted one. Oscar
wrote to her that he liked the surround
lngs at West Point, but complained of
the treatment he had received at the
hands of the upper cassman. Her son
told her In letter that the place was
unnt for young man who wanted TO do
right, and parents should not send their
sons there
are brutcs and billes" At this point
Mrs. Booz. trembling perceptfbly, said
that Superintendent Mills should be made
60 apologize for calling her son a liar.
She said the upper classmen, according
to her son. were not III to he soldiers
Nellie Rooz sister OF the deceased
young man. was next called Her testi-
mony related principally TO a letter re-
ceived by the family on August from
Oscar In Il he told Of the fight he had
with another cadet and that he fought
until he was winied The cadets began
to taunt him and call him a coward. and
said he was a disgrace 70 the corps
II he did not 60 into the fight, they said
the fellows would make life unaearahle
for him. He was sorry that he went
into the hght He thought II best for
him TO leave. West Point. and asked
his father for permission to resign. Os-
car described many little indignities which
we're practiced on him.