The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-09-19
TRIAL OF LUCIEN
YOUNG BEGINS
Naval Commander Pleads Not Guilty
to All the Charges.
EXPERTS ARE EXCLUDED
JUDGE ADVOCATE WEST THE
FIRST WITNESS.
"A ARE ISLAND. Cal. Sept. 1S.-The
wi Young court-martiaI convened at

"A ARE ISLAND. Cal. Sept. 1S.-The
wi Young court-martiaI convened at
10 this morning. Commander
Young, Judge Gear, his attorney. and
the full board were present. Naval
Constructor Holden Evans was in the
room and this gave rise to the question
of the exclusion of naval experts. After
consulting the naval rules and regula-
tions, Rear Admiral Glass decided that
Constructor Evans must retire. The
charges and specifications were read
and Commander Young pleaded not
guilty TO each of the six charges.
Lieutenant Yates of the Benniug ton,
called as the first witness, was not
present. so Ernest E. West, the judge
advocate, was called and depOsed that
he was custodian of the logs of the
Bennington at Washington, d. c.
Logs Put in Evidence.
West produced them for the last days
of the months of November and De
cember, 1904, and said that for the first
six months of this year the logs were
not filled out under the signature Of
Commander Lucien Young. Judge Gear
objected, as the logs were not produced
=
ment to rely on Vests statement was
substituted by the Offering of the books
as a whole. Gears objection then was
withdrawn. West was dismissed as a
witness and warned by Admiral Glass
not TO discuss the trial outside. He
then resumed his seat as judge ddVO-
| cate.
Ensign sahn on the Stand.
Ensign Sahn of the Bennington was
the next witness. He testified that
Young was i'm command of the Benning
ton from November. 1904 TO July 2l
1905. with the exception of a brief sus-
pension at Panama. He said that on
July > boiler b exploded. being forced
aft against the bulllhead between the
fore and aft firerOOms. The Benning-
toms hull books were produced and
identified by the witness and offered in
evidence. Judge Gear objected and
after discussion Rear Admiral Glass
upheld the objection and the books We're
not produced in evidence.
Emil Frederickson, the water-tender
of the BenningtOn's forward firerOOm,
the next witness, was sworn, and the
court adjourned.
Emil Frederickson. a water tender in
the fir room on the Bennington, was
on the stand at the commencement Of
the afternoon session. He testified to
being aware of the boiler A, c. and d
being oVerhaul5d and repaired, but did
not know if boiler B had been. He also
testified there was no routine i'm the
engineer department by which safety
valves were lifted once a week when
not under steam. On cross examination
this witness was proved to have been
a deserter at one time and been con-
fined to the brig. Captain Drake. as
sociate counsel for Commander Young
asked that Constructor Holden Evans
be allowed 10 assist Judge Gear and
himself. The court decided TO allow
this.
Testimony of Machinist.
Boyd King Seavey, a machinist of the
second class on the Bennington, testi-
fled that h knew the lifting gear lead
ing 10 both decks to be out of order
from November last till the time of the
explosion. He knew of no routine work
requiring the safety valves to be moved
each week And. while sentinel valves
were obsolete, they had nothing 10 do
with the safety of the boilers as far as
some was concerned. The safety valves
had not been used except on boiler c.
On the trip from Honolulu to San Fran
cisco the boiler was ordered set $50
pounds pre- ssure by Commander Young
through Chief Machinist Wheeler.
Chief Machinist Mate Charles Wheel
er of the Bennington testified that at
the time of the explosion n was on
the after deck. He had been told by
Chief Machinist Clark to let the SEN
tinel valves alone and had obey6d or
ders. He had seen the safety valves
of boilers a. c, and d Overhauled Feb
ruary last when they were in fairly
good condition. He set the valve on
boiler c at about 1870 pounds between
Honolulu and San Diego.
Boiler 3 Out of Repair.
John q. Harmon. water tender on
the Bennington. was the next witness
He said that boiler 3 had been out of
order one year and four months. and the
others had been repaired. He never
saw Commander Young in the engine
room, but on crOss-eXaminaJiOn admit
ted that the commander might have
been there without him seeing him.
The court adjourned till Tuesday
morning.
nTIOnFA