The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-08
HAzING WAS TOUGH
oo1 AND BRETH HAD A HARi
"00 TINE AT ACADEMY.
erRoNG EVIDENCE YESTERDAY
o1.s TERMINATE AND BRETH's
DoO RELATIVES TESTIFY.

"a. Ruruam Testifies to Treat
n,ent of BOOz - Abused oaue's
.f-,id to Make COmplaints-breth
49,, of Typhoid Pneumonia but
p.Intiyes Said He Suffered
Nervous PrOstration as a
~ of His Treatment at the
academy.
r-.f,delpbia, Jan. 7.-According to the
..,,,oov adduced before the Congress
-, investigating Committee, which Is
-.,.,iring into the charges OF hazing 1t
vet Point Military Academy Oscar
ooo2 Of Bristol, Pa, and John E.
49,, Of Altoona, Pa, had rough time
20 5uring their "plebe" year in that In
sdtuuon.
1-ao star witness of the day was ex-
la., Anthony ]. Rurnam, Jr., son OF
1..7.e Rurnam of the Court of Appeals If
.,a state of Kentucky, who was BOOB
.,.t,oa+e while in camp. The committee
.,so heard for the first time testimony III
-as,r5 TO the experiences of Broth from
Mo Inns of his father, brothers and sis
tiers.
Burnam, who was dismissed from the
Academy for deficiency in studies, said
pooz became unpopular after his tight
NTH cadet Keller. Personally he was
,,,of fellow, but the cadets of the upper
oiasses always tainted him as a coward.
Drring the twelve months Burnam was
at the Academy there were ten fights,
and as far as he knew no one was pun
;ebed Abused cadets, he said, feared to
make complaints because they felt. the
bazers would make life all the more mis-
erabIe for them. Booz, while in their
tent had told him of how upper-class
mon had compelled him to swallow TOBIAS
m sauce under penalty of being called
o,+" The fourth-cass men were allowed
tbeir liberty on Saturday afternoons, ac-
cording to the regulations, but the up
ner-class men would not allow them to
leave camp. If they disobeyed them the
"plebes," as rule, would be punished
for it.
In the case Of Breth 1t was testified by
members of his family that he died of ty-
mold pneumonia, but that he. suffered
iron, nervous prostration as a result of his
alleged i'll treatment at the academy.
Bretb told one of his brothers and sisters
Thai one night ne was haZed three times
Inv three separa te sets Of cadets. He stood
the first two ordeels, but was rendered un-
conscious from exhaustion by the th1rd
SET When he became conscious he found
the hazers rubbing him vigorously, and
tbev appeared to him to be frightened. A
cadet named Bender made him sit on the
point of a bayonet while Bender played
= violin. He fell off the bayonet and was
made to 81 on it again.
Breth told his relatives he was put
through all the various hazing exercises,
which resulted in him being laid up In
the hospital with nervous prostratlon'
Breth wrote home to his family that the
surgeon said it resulted from overwork,
hut this he said, was not so. His broth
ers and sisters wanted to make com
plant. but he told them not to do so, as
he feared the cadets would haze him
more severely He was compelled to Of
ten eat soap and chew the end or ropes,
which his relatives believed impaired his
digestion. Cadet Breth was discharged
from the academy for deficiency in math-
ematics. After he left the academy ne
told his brother that West Point was
the best institution in the world, but
added that the place was run by the
upper class men,"
Tomorrow the Bretn IaHly win summit
further evidence in the way of letters from
the cadet while he was at West Point.
The committee got into legal tangie
with Lucen Alexander, secretary OF the
Board of Examiners for the admission of
law students to the bar. The COMMITTEES
wanted to learn what sort of an average
Booz made in his examination, but Mr..
Alexander refused to state, except on an
order from the courts of this city, beheV-
ing that under a rule of the courts he
would be in contempt for making such
information public.
The committee allowed him until 10
o'clock tomorrow morning to choose
whether to be in contempt of the courts
Of Philadelphia or the United States House
of Representatives
The committee will probably conclude
Its work here tomorrow, and will begin
the taking of testimony of the cadets at
West Point on Wednesday.