The San Francisco call., 1904-04-14
NELSON'S CASE
IS SUBMITTED
Fate of officer Accused of
Duplicating Pay Accounts
Rests With rt-Martial
HE ASKS FOR CLEMENCY
Attorney Pillsbury Claims
Client Did No Wrong. but
Erred Through Negligence


The trial Of Lieutenant Frederick B.
Nelson. who is charged with duph-
eating his pay accounts, was concluded
yesterday before the cOurt-martial at
the Preside. The arguments and evil
oence are now before the court and il
rests with that body TO hand in its
verdict when il meets again on Friday
morning al 10 O'Clock.
The first witness called when the
court convened yesterday at o'clock
was Nathan Boas, who testified again
relative to the manner in which he nd
vanced money on Lieutenant Nelson 5
pay accounts for the month Of May
and how Nelson had assigned the &C
counts 10 him. He also stated tnlt
Nelson had given him a note for the
amount of Sl46 So. which he had prom
Used 10 pay 10 him or remit to him
from Manila on or before June 25. 1908
No money had been forthcoming at
that time from Nelson, so BOas stated
that he had sent the pay account 10
the paymaster at Manila some time
early in July. The paymaster had re-
turned the account. with the statement
that there must be some mistake in
the matter" in November Nelson's 5
brother. ". B. Nelson of Philadelphia,
had remitted the amount of the ac
count 10 Boas. and that squared the
matter so far as BOas was concerned.
The next witness called was William
III. Comegys, paymaster Of the Depart
nent of California, who gave evidence
in a general way as TO the methods Of
doing business in the paymaster's de-
partment.
In the meantime answers to the in
1errogatories which had been sent to
w y. Nelson in Philadelphia were
read. They were simply documents
stating that the letters which Lieuten-
ant Nelson had written TO his brother
on June II. 1908. while in the Philip
pines, requesting him 10 pay the
amount due BOas had never reached
him. The documents further conveyed
the Information that had the letters
reached him he would have paid the
account at once.
PILLSBURY FOR DEFENSE.
H. d. Pnlsbury. for the defense.
stated that all the trouble was due 10
negligence, in fact. he summed up his
line Of defense for the accused by stat
ing that the position the accused was
placed in was entirely due 10 lack OF
precautiOn. He said that the pay ac-
count which. was made over to BOas
was not a bona fide account Boas
haO received a note for the amount
leged pay account over Nelson's head
az a club 10 make him pay the note
Nelson he said. had in no way hy-
pothecated the pay account in the
sense Of the word which was used in
the charge against him. The accused
has already been under arrest three
and 4 half months. He was guilty Of
10 crime and had made no attempt 10
defraud the Government He was sim
ply guilty Of bad judgment and a lack
Of business methods.
Attorney Piusbury then referred al
length 10 the fine character that his
client had always borne. not only in
the army. but in his previous career.
He dwelt ar great length upon the high
standing Of the different officers who
had testified regarding that character.
He summed up the whole argument
by stating that it was neglect and ac-
cident and he entFeated the court 10
consider the previous fine record Of
the accused when they were delivering
sentence.
Captain Clarence E. Dentler. judge
advocate Of the court. summed UP the
case briefly and concisely. He said in
part:
Lieutenant Nelson on April 2s. 1908 assigned
hs MAJ account 20 J. Boas and promised 10
uaI the same OF or before June .. He DID
rrf d. this, but duplicated his pay account
and drew the same for that month in the Phil
irplnes. Accused himself states that he as
signed his pay account and that he also gave
rhe moner-lender note 10 cover the amount.
CLAIM AGAINST UNITED STATES.
June -. 1903 as the account had not been
squared by Nelson, n became claim against
the United States. Boss had waited until
July and then wrote 70 the paymaster gen
eral in Manila. hut advised that there
was q mistake Boss then pressed his claim
against the Government
lt is true tho claim has since been paid by
Nelson's brother. but that does not alter the
fsct that duplicate accounts were drawn, and
the accused must have known that in view
these facts he would be dishonored IN the
e,es of his brother officers and the world.
The case was then submitted TO the
court, which Immediately adjourned TO
meet on Friday morning at 10 o'clock,
when z decision will be handed down
Lieutenant Nelson is now under ar
rest IN the post, his wife and child be-
ing with him.
The problem exercise drill OF the
Ninth Cavalry on the golf links at the
Preside yesterday was by far the
snappiest and most realistic exhibi-
tion that Major Bigelow and his men
have given here. The Preside was