The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-07-21
FIVE HAVE DIED
rssEs IN CARTER CASE PASS
vi WAY SINCE COURTMARTIAL.
z. WEsTCoTT THE LAST.
rcs HALL, HALE AND BUR-
xrTT HAD PRECEDED HIM.

81 Of These save
-t,ut witnesses for the Gov
.nt-TwigGs, Hall, Hale and
nett Were Inspectors on the
IN connection With Which
.,e Frauds Are Said to Have Been
r,,itted-Their Evidence Cam
n. Used at the Trial of Car
-. Alleged Conspirators-That
wos+cott, Preserved in Record
- the case, May BE.
nh. death of Robert F. Westcott'
tiob occurred at Richfield Springs
w., -. york on Friday. recalls the fact
.sot since the trial of Captain Carter
-. curt martial here in Savannah
sorr important witnesses for the gov
eminent have died.
,rhese are Marion Twiggs, John NJ.
yau s. NJ. Hale, and on Friday r. F.
n-ostcott. Another witness, though
Of euch Importance as the others
'o,,,ad killed himself in Philadelphia
.-sa,+b ago. This was r. S. Burnett.
,ru.iqgs. Hall and Hale were all i'm
rortant witnesses for the prosecution,
and all of them appeared against Car
90. Of the court martial. They were
i,snactors on the work at Savannah
and Cumberland Sound and they gave
evidence to show and prove the
breaches of good faith in the execution
If the contracts which the government
alleged. One by one they have passed
away.
Westcott's evidence was not given at
the court-martial. At that time, in
deed he was making every effort in
his mower to shield the defendant, who
had married his daughter, from expos
IRE and conviction and was permitting
10 90 unchallenged the statement that
he had advanced Carter the large sums
of money which that popular officer
had been spending for the four or five
wears that preceded his arrest. At the
preliminary hearing before Commits
sioner Shields, in New York, upon the
application for the removal of Greene
and the Gaynors to Savannah, West
colt appeared as a witness against
them and gave evidence which went
far towards showing their guilt of the
high crimes and misdemeanorS with
which they were charged.
To the reflective mind, the death of
these four important witnesses sug-
gests ground for criticism of the sys-
TEN of American Jurisprudence. 1t has
been more than four years since Capt.
Carter was arrested and accused, with
the contractors who had done most of
the work on Savannah harbor, of en-
bezzling millions of government money.
The men who were accused with him
of these Offenses have never been
brought to trial and just at present
seem not much closer to it than they
were a year ago. Meantime witnesses
are passing away every year, and if
the defendants can avoid trial for a
sufficient number of years there will be
no living persons who of their own
knowledge can testify to their guilt.
1T makes a man just little bit ill.,"
said one who has followed the case
closely, yesterday. cit seems to me
that in the effort to protect those un-
justly accused of crime against pun
ishment they should not receive, our
American code has swung to the oppo-
site extreme and thrown actual impe-
diments in the way of justice. A man
accused of crime, who has enough of
this worlds goods to take advantage
Of all the technicalities of the law,
seems to be able indefinitely to post
none his trial. If he is ever tried and
the witnesses against him live long
enough to be present on that occasion,
ne IS likely to receive justice, but there
long, long wait before"
II VIII be possible to use the evidence
OF Mr.. Nestcott, given before the COM
missioner, it is believed, in the trial of
Inc case against Green and the Gay
hors on that occasion counsel for
the defendants had an opportunity to
cross-eNamine the witness and they
aValled themselves at great length of
lhe privilege. The essential facts to
which he testified can thus be brought
10 the attention of the jury.
But the evidence of the other wit
nesses is gone. Fortunately for the
governments case this evidence can be
had from other sources, and If the
uedd inspectors were alive they could
only tell in another form what will be
lesuned to by some other inspectors or
Ulher employees of the government or
the contractors on the work of harbor
Improvement.
POSSIBLY when the number of wit
HeSses the government introduced
asalhst Carter at the court-martial
ana the number that have since ap-
Pedreu IN the case are considered, 1t
Is scarce remarkable that some of
.Ieui nave died. 1t is at least an illus
uauon, however, of the danger of
Vns judicial delays, and an index of
tne miscarriage of justice that might
-. . uIle result, should these delays con-