The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1905-11-23
THE MIDDIES'
FATAL BOUT
Court Martial on Naval Ca.
det at Annapolis.
Tie PLEADS NOT GUILTY
Story Told Of Bad Blood Between
Prisoner and the Dead
Midshipman.
HE PLEADS NOT GUILTY

ANNAroiiR Md. Nov. - IT."
court martial trial Ia n" cass - Mid
Ahipman Minor M-riwrih-T. IT,. ou
three charges conn-cioi with iir death
ef Midshlpman James a. nraneh. will
whom he engaged in = Get hEhi. has
opened here.
Tho oath was administered BY tho
president Of the court. Admiral Ram
say. 10 Captain Mark AZ jndsr adyo.
cate. and he administered the oath O.
the members " ihe court without fur,
Their Incident John ". Hulse of Wash,
ingion was sworn ~ sienosFaph~r, The
court and ofic~- being sworn. ih-
charges and specifications were read
TO Mldshipmsn Msriweiher. who plead,
ri not guilty 60 the whole aud 10 zach
charge and specification separately.
The sad Incident u ID. death Of
young Branch under such rircum.
stances has been widely noticed and
has called attention 10 N. efistrnce nj
the Naval academy Of an unwritten
code governing the student body. but
quite outside the authoritative r.guls.
lions aud generally IN violation of them.
Under the code" every detail OF these
lights IA nIed. the mldshlpmen on duty
abs,aInIng from reporting them and
eIcuslng from formation those connect.
ed with them. These facts were very
rlcsrly brought out by the judge nd.
vocate. Msriweth.r had been gener.
ally dislike,i. one witness said. b.caus.
he was too ''rstty''-that IL. II was ex.
planned. that he hid not abide by the
rules laid down for the government of
the lower classmen. Some ~ thcs. were
that he should never enter lovers
lane" an academy walk: that he should
turn all corners NJ right angles. should
not look NJ an upper classmnn aud
should answer most respectfully when
addressed by one Of them: that he mus,
never touch the table nor ask for any.
thing during n meal and under no cir.
cumsiances fuss that II. TO be In the
society 81 young women. These rules
and many others are contained In that
part Of the code" relating 90 the gov.
ernment Of under classmen. Branch
had been one ~ the mldshIpmcn who.
according 60 the Testimony. determined
TO make hfe mot worth living for
Meriwcther because he would not
abide by these rules. and from that the
enmity arose.
The story Of the bad blood between
the two cadets and Of Meriwcthcr's Wis
II to Branch's room. which led 20 the
fatal fight was told by midshipmen.
Mldshipman Pritchard. Branch's
roommate. testified that Meriwether
came 10 their room when Branch was
In bed and called the latter n "d-n
liar" "d-n sneak" and other op-
probrious epithets.
Midshipman Ycager. who accompa.
MED Meriwether on that occasion. ties.
tilted that Branch called Merlwethcr
''d-n fool" Another witness said that
Mcriwetber had said he hated Branch
and intended TO force him TO fight.
Branch's roommate testified that
Branch had said he did not report Meri.
wether for the alleged breach Of rules.
A notable incident was the objec-
ton made by counsel for the defense
to Commander Sidney A. Staunton ms
member Of the court on the ground
that he had expressed the opinion that
Meriwethsr should be dismissed from
the academy. The court sustained the
objection Of counsel.
The first witnesses called were Mid
shlpmen James p. Van de Carr and
Earl v. Pritchard, classmates of
Branch. and their evidence bore direct
~ on the second charge, that Of quar-
reling with person in the naval serv-
ice, with an indirect relation to the
main charge Of manslaughter.
Ralph Yeager, classmate Of Meri-
wether and who went to the room with
him on the night Of the quarrel, tssti-
fed that Branch had called Meriwether
g "d--n fool" when he came to the