The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1905-11-11
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER ii, 1895.
Behavior is a mirror In which every
one displays his own Image.
Goethe.
A Murderous Code.

The pathetic tragedy OIL young JanheS
r Branchs death ut Annapolis has
directed the attention Of this community
with peculiar distinctness to some man
ncrs and customs Of the United States
Naval Academy, and We have no doubt
this interest will inure largely to the
benefit Of that institution.
Tho death OF a gallant and promising
youth Is q heavy tribute to pay for
abolishlng custom which, however de-
fensible 1t may be In theory, has Obvious
Nv become both brutal and murderous
l., practice. TO say that boy no less
than man should be willing to maintain
his. first rights even to the death, If need
be, is to state a truth that is instructive
and unusual among all high peoples. But
there is an impossible gulf between
making such statement and defending
u code which permits student to de-
x nland satisfaction by mortal combat from
a superior officer who, in his line Of duty
reported the challenger This was the
ground Of Merlwether's challenge-and
under the code of Annapolis, Branch had
( to take severe punishment for doing his
duty. or be counted coward.
How far he was removed from this
charge is shown by his enduring two
hours Of remorseess pounding that re-
long before the twenty-fourth round was
reached
1t Is all very we'll to speak with snug
comfort Of the need Of enduring pain
If boys arc to learn to be courageous men,
and it is true that precept alone will
never make q cowardly boy q brave man.
But does the annapolis code offer any
such promise? In this case from all the
evidence before us, 1T is apparent that
q fight was forced on young Branch
for having discharged his duty. and when
tho Issue was accepted, the referee and
seconds stood by while a boy six inches
shorter and fifteen pounds lighter than
his opponent was pounded to death In a
contest which for fierceness and brutality
could not have been surpassed In the
prize ring.
It Is another example OF that slavlsh
Bubseryience to code which enabled
Aaron Burr to kill Alexander Hamilton |
under the guise Of defending his honor.
and like the duel. when once the natural
sresentn1ents fora real affront becomes a
formal code Under which any bully can
assault the peaceabe, then like the duel
that code will have to see tho
whole pitiful and degrading matter In
Its true light
Consider for moment whether true |
man OF tried courage and high purnoso
could have In like conditions issued such
challenge or continued to fight after
his opponent was battered out of all
sembance OF humanity. Nay more
would not the truest courage have been
TO refuse to countenance by formal
duel, a code which made tho perform
unce OF duty an ostraclzing wrong?
What would General Lee have done
even as a boy? And IL the slow strength
of barbarous custom Is too strong for
the cadets 10 break up themselves.
every brave man in our country should
help by the weight of his Influence TO
overthrow that custom from without.
The cadets have many lessons to learn
tnd not the least is that brute strength
and untamed ferocl,y are not Of the
courage that makes heroes.
The young men at Annapolis have
worked a terrible wrong, May they learn
from the suffering 1t has caused. the
truth, the bravest are the tenderes,, ana
not the most brutal.