Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1906-01-12
THE DECATUR CASE ENDS.
WHAT is HAZING p IMPORT
ANT POINT.
Judge Advocate Harrison Scores
Evident Hostility Of Midship-
man Witness To Govern
ment.
JOHN P. MILLER, HONOR FIRST
CLASSMAN, NEXT.

Ila presentation OF the caSe~Ot MI
shipman Stephen Decatur, Jr., of
Portsmouth, n H.. star member
of the graduating class, was completed
this morning As Decatur has already
been acquitted of charges of hazing
by the same court, he has twice faced
his dismissal from the Navy What
ever view msy be taken of his actions,
every one admires the game and intel
ljgent fight he has made to stay in the
service. His counsel, Mr.. Il. S.
Theall, of Washington, ID. c., has
availed himself of every possible de-
fence and he has also had the most
loyal support of his father. Mr.. Ste
phen Decatur, during the whole
course of bot1 trials.
At the opening of his statement of
the case against Decatur this morning
Judge Advocate Harrison voiced the
opinion of those acquainted with the
character Of the testimony given by
most of the midshipmen witnesses be-
fore the court martial, when he said !:
81 wish to express my growing sense
of surprise, indignation and humilia-
tion at the hostility to the govern
ment Of most of the witnesses who
have been brought before this court
aud their evident failure TO appre-
ciate the full force of their oath to
disclose all within their knowledge in
relation to the case at trial. +"
Mr.. Theall, in summing up the case
for Decatur, said that the court was
required, under the law. to find that
every reasonable hypothesis except
the guilt of the accused was excluded.
He then read from two opinions of
Attorney General Garland in oonnee-
tion with haZjng cases to show that
the only proper definition of the term
hazing, as it had been in the minds of
the members of Congress when the
Act was passed, was to be found by
an inquiry as to the meaning of the
word at the Academy at the time of
the passage of the Act. z This, he in
sisted, has been understood to apply
only to treatment of an under classman
which was bRrbarous, inhuman or
cruel in a physical sense. "If it is
established that he did so the things
allege1, - said Mr.. Theall, would
you dismiss from the service a promis-
ing midshipman, star member of
the class about to graduate, because
he sent a nonSensical message by a
fourth classman, or allowed another
TO bring him breakfast or was merely
present when q third did q physical
L a
lieve that it is in the mind of a single
| member of this court that Oongr ess
really meant that this should be. +"
Mr.. Theall contended that the rea-
sonable doubt in the first specification
had been clearly es ablished. Roberts
statement that he believed Decatur
| had given him the order to carry a
message TO an upper classman had
been positively coutradicted by De-
catur himself and DecRtur's evidence
had been coIroberated on some points.
| The second specification, he said,
| rested on the assumption that fourth
/ classmen and their seniors never had
any relations of proper nature. II
| was hard for graduate of the Naval
| Academy to relieve his mind of this
| idea, but it should not be a pTesump.
| tion against the accused. As a mat.
| ter of fact, he said, the evidence in
| this and other cases show that there
| we're prefectly friendly relations be.
| tween them in certain Ceases and the
| positive evidence in this case was that
Mailley had brought food to Decatur
under the same circumstances that
| first classmen had. Mr.. TEeall urged
in conclusion that the evidence Of the
| witnesses for the prosecution in the
L
| was contradictory and uncertain.
| Decatur positively denied being pres
ent when Church had done the six.
| teeuth" in the open room, as he said
he had.
His strongest defence on this part OF
the case was that it had not been proved
| that Decatur was the ranking midship.
man present Midshipman Graves, he
| said, had admitted that he had beer
in charge of the room for the period
| in which the affair took place.
| Judge Advocate Harrison replied
briefly and forcibly. He said that the
first specification rested on the testi.
omny of Midshipman Roberts, corTob
Grated in some points by other witness
es. The second SPECIFICATION, he said,
was admitted, aud the court had al
| ready ruled that having fourth class
| man break the rules by carrying ar
upper classman his breakfast did not
| constitute hazing. Finally he urged
| that Decatur had admitted that ht
| rad ordered Church to come to room
had heard him ordered To do the six
teenth" and made no protest. II this
does no constitute the encouragement
| and countenancing of hazing, said
| the Judge Advocate, Il know OF nc
| state of facts which would.
The next case to be tried is that OF
John P. Miller, an honor man in the
first class. He is under two charges,
supported by eight specifications il
all His counsel will be Col. Charles
H. Lauchheimer, U. S. NJ. c., anC
Mr.. Z. S. Tbeall. Colonel LAUGH
heimer is the leading expert on mill
tary law applied to naval matters il
the country.
Icy Pavements.