Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-14
BOOZ HAZING CASE
Cadet Browns Views on the Ques.
tion Of Fighting.
he ACTED as KELLER'S SECOND
Not a Question of Honor, But Of
Courage.
ACTED As KBLLER'S SECOND
QUESTION OF EXERCISING

|. WEST POINT, N. Y, January 1.-THE
committee of the House of Representatives
resumed their Investigations into hazing at
West Point today. The committee held an
executive session at the hotel, before they
came to the court room and the conference
lasted almost two hours.
The first witness brought before the COM
| mittee today was Cadet Lewis Brown. jr.,
of Rhode Island, who was one of Cadet
Keller's seconds In his fight with Oscar l..
Booz Examined by Representative Wan
ger Of Pennsylvania, the witness said:
Il was not consulted as to the propriety
of calling out Cadet Booz, but was asked
by Keller to act one OF his seconds in
his fight with Booz of August 9, 1S9S.'
He named all the cadets who were pres
ent at the fight, but was not quite sure who
it was who acted as referee. He thought
it was Cadet Wray.
Brown went into the details of the fight
and said that while there was not an ef-
fective blow struck during the fight Booz
laid down. but was not knocked down. He
whimpered and did not get up when his
seconds asked him to do So
He had heard some person say that Booz
was hit in the solar plexus. He thought It
was Keller who said so, but the witness did
not see such blow struck.
WAS anything said to the principals pre-
vous to the fight that it was to be to q
finish?" asked Mr.. Wanger.
mo, sir; that was generally understood,
replied the Witness
Continuing the witness said: 81 never
knew man to go into fight to quit
Question of Honor or Courage.
"It is a question of honor, then. whether
q man should continue fighting when he
sees his opponent is getting the better OF
him?"
mo; l think it is a question Of courage,
SIR
Mr.. Wanger questioned the witness at
some length on the manner in which an OPP
ponent was selected to fight fourth-class
man who had refused to do something on
the order of an upper class man.
The witness said that the fourth-class
men generally had the advantage of weight
and reach.
Now, isn't it a false pretense and an
unmanly act to match an upper class man
against a new man who has only one chance
out of six of winning?" asked Mr.. Wanger.
THAT was not so in the case OF Keller
and Booz. Booz had the advantage of
height and reach and If he had continued
to fight he might have won," was the reply
The witness insisted that the scrapping
committees always tried to match the men
as equally as possible. In reply to Mr..
Smith the witness stated that he had never
engaged in any fight except when he was q
school boy.
Did you ever hear of any code OF fight
ing outside of the West Point code, where
a man must continue when he is practically
overmatched and beaten"' asked Mr..
Smith.
''There is a nice distinction. sir, between
a man fighting until he cannot continue
and man quitting when he is not dis
tressed."
''Would you, when you came here as
fourth class man. have felt 1t incumbent
on you to continue in a fight if you found
yourself being defeated?"
Might Land Knockout.
II think 1 would fight on, as l might
have chance of winning by landing one
myself" was the ready reply.
In reply to another question the witness
said that If a man was disabled through a
broken hand something like that. his
seconds would throw up the sponge.
"Oh, but your code here allows that to
be called draw, l think 1t was Mr.. Betti-
son who told us that broken hand would
get the man draw, interrupted Mr..
Smith.
well, l do not understand it that way
was Browns reply.