The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-18
ARMY ROARD OF INQUIRY COM
MENCES IT'S INVESTI-
CATIONS
EVlDEECE or B0CZ'S PARENTS
WAS TAKEN YESTERDAY AT THEIR
HOME AT RRIS-
T0L, PA.
WAS UNPOPULAR AS a CADET
Seems to BE Apparent From the
Testimony NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
mate Tells OF Hazing at
West Point.


PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 1.-THE taking
of testimony in the case of Oscar L.
Booz, the West Point cadet, who died
two weeks ago from injuries which, his
parents allege, were inflicted at the West
Pomt Military academy, were begun to-
day by the board of inquiry, appointed by
the secretary OF war. Three sessions
were held during the day, two at Bristol,
the home of the Booz family and a
short session in this city late this after
noon. The members of the board, Gen
erals Brooke, Clous and Bates, accom-
panied by Capt. Dean, of the Fifth Ar
tlIlery, who acted as recorder, arrived at
Bristol at 1880 a. NJ, and shortly after
went into session. The court sat in
the study of the Rev. Alexander Alison,
pastor of the Bristol Presbyterian church,
which adjoins the Booz homestead. The
witnesses called were William H. Booz,
father; Mrs Sarah Booz, mother; Nellie
BooZ sister of the young man; Rev. DR..
Alison, DR.. W eaver, a physician, who at
tended Oscar Booz and several citizens.
Little of their testimony was new. After
hearing the Bristol witnesses the board
made a flying trip to this city, where it
took the testimony of DR.. J. H. Soils, a
throat physician, who had Oscar under
treatment, and S. A. Albert, a fellow
NAclSolll1lc VI OSCdI OOOZ. IlFf UOdiO
left for New York tonight and will sit at
West Point tomorrow.
THE FATHERS STORY.
Mr.. Booz said that his son had COM
planned to him OF the indignities to which
he was subjected at West Point, but
when Mr. BoOz spoke to Lieut. Blakely
about it he was told that the hazing
would stop after the cadets got back in
barracks. In August letter was re-
ceived in which Oscar said he had been
in a fight, and had received a pair of
black eyes, and had been knocked out
by blow over the heart.
Mr. Booz said he went to West Point
to see his son. Oscar told his father he
expected to be hazed but he did not
want his mother to know how he was
being treated.
Mr., Booz told how Oscar had informed
him that tabaScO sauce had been forcCd d
down his throat. Mr.. Booz said when
Oscar came home in the fall OF 1895, he
was broken in health and was never
well after that. oscar liked fun, the
father said, but not brutality. While i'll
tents, the father continued, Oscar said
the cadets would pull the blankets from
h1ln and pour hot wax frOR a candle ON
his body. Mr.. BoOZ also said Oscar told
him that tabasco sauce was poured down
his throat both in camp and at the in
stltute.
In answer to another question Mr.. Booa
said that the only cadet he, the father,
talked with at West Point, was the son
of ex-Congressman Phillips, of Ohio. Mr..
P0Oz thought the officers at the academy
could stop the brutality, but he would
not say they condoned it.
All the cadets We're rot treated like
Oscar was, he said. and he was at
loss to understand why they had treated
his son in such a severe manner. Oscar
spent all Of last year at home in an
enleavor to build up his health. In
June of this year he accepted a position
with law firm at Philadelphia. but was
compelled to leave this occupation owing
to his throat trouble.
In conclusion Mr.. Booz said Oscar
would never mention any names. When
he felt badly he would talk of the brutal
treatment he had been subject to, but
never would reveal the identity of his
prosecutors.
WAS A MODEL YOUNG MAN.
Mrs. Booz, Oscars mother, said that
Oscar never told a Jie or acted one
Oscar wrote to her that he liked the
surroundings at West Point, but COM
pllined of the treatment he had received
at the hands of the upper class men
Her son told her in letters that the place
was unfit for any young man who wanted
their sons there.
1.-The upper class men," Oscar wrote,
''are 'brutes' and 'bullies.'
MEDICAL. TESTIMONY.
The board of inquiry reconvened at the
Lafayette hotel in this city at O'Clock
for the purpose of hearing witnesses re-
siding in Philadelphia. DR.. J. H Soils,
who had attended Booz for two or
three months during the past summer,
was the first witness called He said
Oscar had tuberculosis of the larynx AMI
that when he came to this city for treat
ment, his case was hopeless one AMI
he so told the sister. The doctor said he
noticed that Booz had an old affection
of the throat, an adhesion between the
epiglottis and the base Of the tongue;
the adhesion was a cicatricai tissue
From the appearance of the cicatfix it
could have been there long time. The
doctor said he could not tell how long
He thought that if tabaScO sauce had
been forced down Booz's throat it may
have made him more susceptible to the
disease.
SOMETHING ABOUT HAZ1NG.
Sigmond S. Albert, who had been Il
cadet at West Point for fourteen months
and was a classmate of Eeoz, waa
called.
Albert said that Booz was rot hazed
any more than any other cadet. He was
one of BoOz's tent mates while in camp.
Albert then related how he and Booz and
other fourth year men were made to do
"ridiculous stunts such as making the
upper class mems beds and "other un-
manly and disgraceful things" He told
of one night when some fourth year men
were stood up in tent and told to open
their mouths and shut their eyes. He
obeyed and then some one squirtcd into
their mouths what he believed to be ta-
basco sauce. 1t did not hurt Albert be-
cause there was not enough of 1t. He
could not say if BooZ was one of the
victims as they all had their eyes clozei
After some further unimportant tes-
timony Albert was excused and the court
adjourned to meet at West Point to-