Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1906-01-16
MERINETHER RESIGNS NAVY.
HANDS IN RESIGNATION BUT
1T is NOT ACCEPTED
Louisianian Very Much Discouraged
And Has Little Hope of
Acquittal On Last
Charge.
CHESTER A. A. BL0EBAUM, OF
MISSOURI, NEXT.

Midshipman Minor Meriwether, Jr.
of Lafayette. La. whose case is be-
fore the court martial, in session at the
/ Naval Academy today, has handed in
| his resignation as 'nidshipman, but
ir will not be accepted while the pres
ent charges are pending.
Even should he be relieved of them
| the acceptance is unlikely as he has
| served only a month of his term of
| confinement TO the Academy grounds.
TO which he was sentenced on account
of his connection with the fight dur
ing which Midsbipman James Il.
Branch, of New York city, received
| fatal injuries.
However, Meriwether is very much
discouraged about being called into
account for affairs taking place before
his recent trouble with Branch and
the subsequent court martial He
would be perfectly willing to plead
guilty to the charge aud at least some
of the specifications except that he
wishes the evidence TO come out. He
believes that it will be shown that he
never had any part in cruel bazing.
but that the whole thing was regarded
as joke by all concerned. Still there
is no doubt that, under their previous
rulings, the court will regard these
things as hazing and Meriwether has
little hope of an acquittal.
The cases with which Meriwether
is charged, six in number, are alleged
to have taken place during the months
of September and October of last
yeaI. During September Meriwether
was kept at the Academy while the
other upper classmen were on leave
because he was deficient in his studies
and on account of the prevalence of
yellow fever near his home, Lafay-
etc, La.
The whole of the morning session
was occupied in the consideration of
various objections to the proceedings
by Meriwether's counsel, Mr.. James
NJ. Munroe. Before introducing his
challenges Mr.. Munroe made general
statement in which he spoke of his
high regard for the members of the
court and of the naval service general
ly His argument. however, was upon
what he thought had been an erron-
eous attitude of the members of the
court while sitting in previous cases.
He particularly urged that they had
erred in refusing to admit evidence
as to what was meant by the term
hazing when the Act of 1874 was
| passed.
Mr.. Muuroe especially urged that
| the members were mistaken in their
| definition of the word, and that their
rulings on haZing made too trivial
matters constitute the offence. He said
that he particularly wished to call the
attention of the country as far as he
could to the fact that there was no
discretion in anybody to make the
punishment less than dismissal no
| - saI Ea nA oh
| be. This, Mr.. Munroe said, was his
main reason for Offering his objec-
| tions.
Mr.. Munroe challenged Lieutenart
| John W. Timmons, the junior member
| of the court, for the following rea-
| sons: That he had fixed upon a def
milton of hazing in his mind which
was unalterable; that he had refused
| to admit evidence as to the meaning
of the term at the time of the passage
of the Act of 1874, and that he had
reached an unalterable conclusion as
| to questions inolved in the trial OF
the charge of hazing which would be
to the prejudice Of the accused.
Lieutenant Timmons and the mem
bers who were subsequently chal-
lenged, denied briefly that they hac
opinions which could not be modified
by proper evidence and also said thai
their sympathies were with the ac
used. All the members were chal
lenged in tIrn except Captain CorwiI
p. Rees, president of the court. The
challenges were all refused.
Counsel for the accused then filed
plea to the jurisdiction of the cour
on the ground that the specification
did not allege that the midshipmeI
1 franrfthoru of tht
fourth class. as he claimed, was
necessary if the offence of hazing wa
to be proved A further ground was
that as the offences had been commit
ted in a prior academic year they haC
been barred by academic and nava
usage.
A lengthy discussion between Mr.
Munroe and Judge Advocate Harrison
took place over the first point. Th'
former contended very earnestly that
as some of the midshipmen who were
alleged to have been hazed might hay'
been men who had been in the Acad
emy over a year and had been turned
back on account of failures, the spec
ifications, to be valid, must alleg
that they were new cadets. The cour
also overruIed this objection. The
| court took the same action in the de
murTer which was fled on the grount
that the SPECIFICATIONS should have al
legged some cruelty or maltreatmen
towards the under classmeD.
Midshipman Chester A. A. Bloc
baum, of st. Charles, Mo-. membe
of the third class, is the next midship
man to be tried on charges of hazing
He received his charge and specifica
tions this morning. There are six sep
arate allegations Of hazing, each, it /
charged. taking place during tn
month of September last. At tina
time Midshipman Bloehaum had faileI
| to pass his examinations to become
member of the third class aud was re
tained at the Naval Academy Will
the upper classmen were on leave. H
successfully passed a re- examination
and became member of the presen
third class.
Ordinarily there are about 20 or 3
midshipmen who lose their leave i
this manner each year and last yea
the number was increased by the mid
shipmen flom different Souther
States who were not allowed to g
home on account Of tthe prevalence c
yellow fever in their vicinity. 1t
at this time that the hazing OF th
new fourth class commonly begins an
by general report there was p gres