The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-12-18
THE HAzING OF BOOz
HOARD or INQUIRY HNs BECI y
TAKING TESTIMONY.
STORY OF TABASCo SAUCE.
WROTE HOME on THE INnIGNITiES
HEAPED UPON HIM,

BcoE Died of Tuberculosis Of the
LarynN-Physician said the Ia
basco sauce MiEht Have Affected
HIs Throat-satd ne Expected 90
he HRsed at West Point. hut he
Did Not Want TO he Treated
nrutalIy
Philadelpha a. Dec. II Tho taking of tcs-
timony in the ease of Oscar l. BooR the
West Polu, cadet who died two weeks ago
from injuries which his parents alleged
we're inflicted az the West Point Military
Academy was begun to-day by che Board
OF Inquiry appointed by the Secretary of
War.
Two sessions were held Bristol. the
home of he Rooz family. and another 70
rhis city IN the late afternoon. The mcm-
bcrs of tho board arc Gems. Brooke Clous
and Bates. accompanied by capt Dean OF
the Fifth Artillery who acted as re-
cordcr
The couU sat In the study OF the church
which adjoints the Booz homestead. The
witness were William II. Booz father.
Mr. Sarah Booz. mother. Nellie Booz.
sister Of the young man; Rev. pr. All
son. Dr Weaver, q Bristol physic an who
attended oscar Booz ard several others.
The board left for New York to-n ght and
viii sit at West Point tomorrow after
noon.
what Boos wrote Home.
Alr Booz. the father. testified that hts
son had written home on several occa-
sions that he had been hazcd. lie entered
the academy IN June. ISIS. and in August
he wrote home that he had been ia a
hght and had received pair of black
eyes. and that be had hecn knocked out
by a blow over the heart. Mr. Booz said
he went so West Point TO see his son AMI
told him he must stand a. oscar told his
father he expected 90 be hazed. hut he
did rot want TO be treated brutoily. The
father said Oscar did not want his moth
~ TO know how he was being treated.
Mr. Booz chen told how oscar had in
formed him that tahasco sauce had been
forced down his throat. Oscar said the
cadets would pull the blankets from him
and pour hot wax from a candle on mis-
NNANa WI AARaa AARANA NJ NNN NttAHNAN r
the academy could stop the brutality. but
he would not say they condoned n. he
could not understand why they had treat
ed mis- son in such a severe manner. Oscar
spent all OF last year az home in an en-
deavor 20 build up HE healsh. He never
would reveal the identity of his persccu-
tors
Mrs Booz testified her son had writ
ten her that West Point was unit for %
young man who wanted 10 do right and
that parents should not send their sons
there
Had 90 swallow THbRsco sauce.
Nellie Ro0z. sister Of the deceased
young man. testified that In a letter re-
ccivcd by the family on Aug. T. Oscar
told Of the heht he had with another
cadet and that he fought until he was
winded The cadets called him a coward
and a disgrace TO the corps. II he did
not 20 into the nght he said. the "fcl-
lows would make life unbcarable for
him" Hc asked his father for pcrmis-
sion to resign. oscar described many
little indiRnities which we're praciiced on
him. II he had not swallowed the IA
basc0 sauce he would have stranglcd
They were holding him down and he
could do nothing else.
Dr. J. s. Cohen. a throat specialist teH-
tliltl nero AutH hAAfANaAtA ANHA trt'aN ttsAfi
tuberculosis OF the lnrynx. and that when
he came to this city for treatment his
case was hopeless. He thought that II
tabasco sauce had been forced down
i3Ooz's throat Il may have made him more
susceptible to tuberculosis.
siRmond s Albert ciassmate OF Os-
car BoOz. said that Booz was not hazei
any more than any other cadet lie was
one OF Boozs terminates while in camp
lie and Booz and other fourth-year men,
he said, were made to do ridiculous
stunts'esuch as making the upper class
mems beds and other unmanly ami dis
graceful things What he meant by the
latter. he said, was none Of the public !
business One night some fourth-year men
were forced TO open their mouths and
shut their eyes, when some one squirted
into their mouths what he believed TO be
tahasco sauce. II did not hurt Albert be-
catlaa there Vae not enough Of H.