The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-09-29
YOUNG
DEFENSE

,4ul~- .o-~
VALLEJO, September lS.-The OPEN
ing Of the. COURT martial of Commsn-
der Young on charges of neglect of
duty IN. Connection with the Bennington
disaster, at the Mare Island Navy
Yard, ended today with honors dis
tinctiy in favor of the accused officer.
The most biased observer must have
admitted as much. The sensation of
the day was sprung when Emil Fred
eriksen, water tender on the Ben
nington and the first material witness
called by Captain West for the prose-
cution, tangled himself up under cross
examination in a maze of contradictory
statements and lapses of memory. dis
played unmistakable symptoms of an
linus toward the accused commander
and finally wound up with an admis-
sion that he had lied while testifying
under oath before the naval board of
inquiry at San Diego. After showing
that the witness had been deserter
from the Navy, and in addition had
been twice put in confinement by
Commander Young for breaches of
naval discipline, Judge Gear turned
him loose, thoroughly discredted.
TESTIMONY AGAINST YOUNG.
Four witnesses were called by the
prosecution, and, almost without ex-
oeption, under the cross examination
of Civilian Counsel Judge Gear for the
accused, their testimony toned down
considerably the harshness of the
charges made upon direct examina-
ton. The prosecution endeavored to
show that Commander Young had been
habitually negligent in the matter of
engine-room inspections, and indorse-
ments of engine-room logs, resulting
in the sentinel and safety valves on
the boilers not receiving the care pre-
scribed by the Navy regulations, and
that the deck gear for controlling the
safety valves had been out of order
for an extended period.
The net result of the day for the
prosecution was fairly strong show
ing that Commander Young had never
made practice of visiting the engine
room nor of indorsing the engine-room
log at the end of each month, as re-
qpired by Navy regulations. and that
SD far as any witness examined could
destify, the safety valve on boiler B
Mad not blown off nor given warning
= prior to the explosion. For the defense
the net results of the day, as gained
hN viii the inn
on cross-examination and in addition
to the impeachment Of Frederiksen,
were that the sentinel valves, forming
the basis Of charges and 8 by the
Secretary of War, were obsolete and
had never been used by the engine
room crew, and that the deck gear for
lifting or mechanically operating the
safety valves while the vessel was in
port had never been used regularly.
but that the safety valves had been
lifted by bar by hand in the engine-
room.
VALVES OUT OF GEAR.
After the steam logs had been iden-
titled and offered in evidence, Freder-
iksen was summoned by the judge-ad-
vocate. The witness testified that he
had been on the forecastle deck just
prior to and at the time of the explo-
sion, but that he had not heard the
safety valve give any warning He
stated that the deck gear for lifting
the safety valves was corroded and
immovable, and threw in vicious
aside that failed to help his case, Just
the same as they>have been since"
Concerning the hand-lifting gear on
the lower deck, witness testified that
he had not seen 1t operated for eight
cen months. Asked as to whether the
cocks and valves were moved once a
week according to routine, the witness
answered no. He recalled very dis
tinctly the dates of the overhauling
of boilers G and d as of June or July,
but had no recollection of boiler B, the
exploded boiler. On cross-examinat'o on
the witness began to develop irregu-
larities in memory and a general lack
of intelligence on the things he at
tempted to criticise.
CONFESSES THAT HE LIED.
The wind up came when, in an en-
deayor to impeach the witness mem-
ory, Judge Gear asked him a question
regarding the overhauling of boilers
c and d to which he had answered in
the negative to the board of inquiry.
The question was as to whether the
boilers had been overhauled during
June and July. The witness answered
yes. Asked II he had answered so at
the board of inquiry, he stated that he
did not remember, and, when shown
that he had answered directly con-
trary, fioundered about for a moment
helplessly and then announced def
antly that he must have lied.
Boyd Seavey. engineer of the second
class, was called by the prosecution
and testified that the lifting gear was
cut of order; that the safety valves
were not lifted once a week. and that
the sentinel valves had been continu-
ally ofIt of order On crOss- eXamina-