Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1906-01-17
MILD, PLEASANT PRACTICE.
IS WHAT FOURTH CLASSMEN
CONSIDER HAZING.
Manlier to Take Than to Refuse
Testimony of Plebes at
Today's Court
Martial.
CASE OF MIDSHIPMAN MERI-
WETHER CLOSED.

The defence in the case of Midshlr.
I man Minor Meriwether, Jr charged
with hazing closed shortly before
noon today aud the court adjourned
until 10 O'Clock tomorrow morning
| The line taken by the defence was that
Meriwether' $ hazing was of n lighC
and good natured kind and that tho
plebes did not object TO it.
A number of the midshipmen testi-
fed that they were perfectly willing
tozbe hazed and had gone ON certain
| floors for the express purpose of being
hazed. The most interesting feature
of the morning was rather incidental
to the trial of Meriwether and brought
out the attitude of even the fourth
classmen towards hazing and their
actions toward "A member of their own
class if he refused TO take hazing.
Midshipman Floyd Saxton. a fourth
classman. said that the members OF
the fourth class ell favored hazing
and We're perfectly willing to take It.
Only one member of the class. he said,
had ever refused ito take il and that
man had practically been put In Gov
entery by the simultaneous action of
the individual members of the class.
"They thought. " Saxton said, "that
he ought to be able to stand what tho
other members of the class were stand
ing. We regard il rs the manlier
thing TO take the hazing than TO refuse
to take it. -
The members of the court did nos
allow this statement to go unchallea-
ged and its members, particularly
Captain Rees, cateohised him severely.
1t was very evident that no patience
with this view was in the minds of
the members. Finally Captain Rees
said Then you believe in treating
a man worse than dog simply because
he has the manhood 60 resist unlaw-
full oppressio Oh 20 The witness found
difficulty in framing an answer to
this.
Fourth Classman O. Il. Van Hook
told of how Meriwether had allowed
himself to be hazed. ''T told him to
wipe a greasy smile off his face" tho
witness said, and put il in the corner
and then swallow il. p" Fourth Glass
man Theodore II. Winters, Joseph A.
Murphy and Ridgely Hunt all told OF
instances where Meriwether had pro-
tected them from hazers, and all said
that hazing was very mild and pleas.
| ant practice indeed They had known,
they said, Meri wether to sing songs
with the membesr of their class and
| MeriWether uIu nuJ 90 Oh uue
/ himself or dld ms counsel odef any
evidence in connection with the par
| ticular allegations of hazing for which
| he is being tried Mr.. Munroe, his
counsel, will urge that hazing must
consist of cruel treatment and that its
element was absent from the kind ot
hazing that Meriwether did
| Midshipman Petersen b. Marzoni,
| Of Pensacola, Fla. received word this
morning fIom "A United States Sena-
| tor at Washington that he had beeu
convicted OF hazing and sentenced to
dismissal. This was GENERALLY under.
stood TO be the case here. The records
in the cases Of Worth w. Foster, OF
New Albany, Ind, Stephen Decatur,
Jr., Of Portsmouth,. ". H., and John
p. Miller, of Lancaster KY, have
now been in the hGnds OF the review
ing authority for period which pre-
cludes the possibility of an acquittal.
In the event of an acquittal, the ac-
cused is released from arrest within q
| few hours.