The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-10-30

you to read that record and say under
your oath, that the findings and SEN
tence are not an outrage and a mon
strOus injustice, and 1 defy you to
print that record and let the people of
Georgia, say, with all the facts before
them, whether you or I should be con-
demned.
1T is claimed that 1 was inefficient,
even incompetent as a military officer.
If the charge were true, it would seem
indeed strange in view of the oppor-
tunities / have had to become proficient
For nearly ten years have been in the
military service of the state, giving
largely of my time and energies to
properly acquaint myself with my du-
ties. In that length of time | have at
tended numerous state encampments.
l have risen through every successive
grade in the military service from pri-
vate to captain. Twice before the
Statesboro riot had served on riot
duty, once at Savannah in 1895, and
once at Tampa, Fla, in 1898.
AT the outbreak of the Spanish
American war I was among the very
frst to sign the first enlistment roll that
reached Savannah, and for five months
served as volunteer private and SER
geant in a Georgia regiment of infan-
try. Surely this amount of actual serv-
Ice and experience ought to have made
a man of the most mediocre natural
ABILITY reasonably proficient as captain
of military company.
Is Ineffiency a Crimes
But assuming for the sake of argu-
ment, that the charge is true, has it
ever before been heard of that it was
a crime to be inefficient, a felony to
be incompetent? This is indeed a new
doctrine which you have engrafted on
the military law. 1t has usually been
hn
not a court-martial, afforded the prop
er means of proceeding in cases of in
efficiency and incompetency.
In what respect was 1 considered
lnefhcient? In not being familiar with
the manual of riot duty? When has
ever such a manual been issued for
the guidance and instruction of the
officers of the state troops? 1 have
never yet seen or heard of any manual,
pamphlet, general order. special order
or circular from your headquarters,
specifying and outlining the duty of
an officer performing riot duty. Such
a manual is now being prepared by the
field officers of the First Infantry.
1t is the only kind of active service
that the state troops are ever called
upon to perform, and is about the only
kind of duty concerning which no spe-
cific instructions have ever been is
flee. 1t is a matter left wide open to
the discretion and judgment Of the Of
hcer in command at the time. When
he exercises his best judgment and
takes such action as the circumstances
seem to him to require 1t is the duty
of his chief to uphold
him and support him, and the troops
under his command, instead of joining
in the hue and cry and condemning
him without Rowing the facts.
Ignorance of Officials.
And since inefficiency and incom-
potency have been suggested, what
should be said of the efficiency and
competency of a commander-in-chief
and his adjutant general who were so
unfamiliar with the military law as
not to know that a sentence of dis
m1ssal carried with it a disqualified
ton forever from holding civil or mill
itary office?
You signed the order of dismissal
without either you or your adjutant
general knowing the full legal effect
of your action. In your ignorance you
were about to debar me from ever
holding elective or appointfve office
under state, county or municipal gov
ernments, and render doubtful even
the right to practice my profession as
a lawyer. 1t is charity to the men,
bers of the court to assume that they,
too acted through ignorance in not
removing the disqualification when
fixing sentence, else their action would
be too intolerable for patient consid-
Grafton.
Every one knows that 1 was I'M
done at Statesboro by those whom l
was sent there to assist, and but for
that fact there is no room for doubt
that my mission would have been en-
esYfno ell L A.
gun. VIII any one stand up and
say before the people of Georgia that
the time for firing had ever arrived
up to the moment when l was unex-
pectedly assaulted by the court bailiff
and thrown down the stairway into
the hands of the mob? The court of
inquiry would not say so, the charges
and specifications preferred before the
court-martial did not say so, the judge
advocate in his argument would not
claim it. neither will you say it now.
With Brand of Murder.
"I challenge you to come out and
declare before the people of Georgia
that 1 should have fired on those peo-
pie at any time prior to the moment
when l was put out Of the fight.
Should I, or should 1 not? If SO, be
a man and say so.
IF not, you should revoke the order
Of dismissal and publicly confess the
outrage which in a moment of weak
ness you perpetrated on an officer who
has ungrudgingly given ten years of
service to his state and country. You
know, know, everybody knows, that
had one shot been fired during those
two hours while I was on that Court
House stairway. holding back those
frenzied people at the point of the bay
onet, pending the arrival of Col.
Grayson with his reinforcements, who
I assumed was on the way, the tndis-
eliminate slaughter which would have
ensued would have caused me to be
branded as a murderer and a monster
from one end of the land to the other.
You know, as well as /, that I would
have been indicted, tried and convicted
in the civil courts for murder. Hun
dreds would have, sworn-and truly,
too-that firing was wholly unneces-
sary, that not a single deadly weapon
had been brandished by the mob, that
not a shot had been fired nor missile
thrown, that not a single soldier had
been seriously injured, and that those
narrow and winding stairways, nat
urally the strongest of defensive posi-
tions, could have been held indefinite
ly with the bayonet alone by the troops
under my command. And all OF 1t
would have been true.
would Not Have Granted Pardon.
And down in your heart you know,
and all Georgia knows, that had I
been tried and convicted of murder un-
der such a state of facts, you would
not have had the courage to grant