Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-12-28
WAS NOT wlLFuLLY GUILTY
Court Hold. He Did Not Intentionally
Disobey Orders of superiors-Tele-
! graph Companies Blamed for Fail
ure to Deliver Later kilograms to
.kuIp in Person.
snecia1 to rimes- Rcpuplican.

full disobedience Of military orders, oul
was found guilty Of such disobedlence
as to warrant 6, reprimand.
Il This verdict was communicated py
the recent court martial to Governor
Cummins and was disclosed yesterday,
with the findine; of the commander-in-
chief. to the effect that as he had no
mower to increase the penalty and no
desire to lessen it, he would have to
approve it.
But the governor promises comment,
later. ON the Recommendation and find
ing Of the court.
Secretary of State Hayward COM
4,unicated the verdict to Davenport
last evening at about the same hour
that Captain Kulp received the now
famous order which the court martial
has found not to have been so specific
as to guard against his assuming pow
er to- interpret it
Respecting the verdict, Governor
Cummins last evening promulgated the
following order:
II have received from the court mar
,tial before which Capt. Oliver w. kulp
was tried the record Of the trial, to-
gether with the findings, Judgment ana
Recommendation of the court.
II have carefully reviewed the rec
ord and having no authority to IN
crease the severity of the sentence ana
no inclination to lessen it, there
fore approve 1t.
"In due time an order will be Is
eued carrying into effect the judgment
Of the court martial. and in the order
fun attention will be given to the ex-
plantations and recommendations which
accompany the report.
ozone at Des Moines, this 9th day
Of December, 1907.
.Albert B. Cummins, Governor"
Wire Companies Scored.
While generating Captain Kulp OF
culpable disobedience of the order, the
court finds the telegraph companies
guilty Of great and willful dereliction
of duty. It thinks that they should
have delivered the kilograms sent to
Captain Kulp by the adjutant general
that night.
In its recommendations to the chick
executive the court includes the fol-
lowing comment on the error Of Cap
tain Kulp:
sWhile the accused did not willfully
5disobey the order given him, yet, eth
err thru ignorance or negligence, neith-
ser Of which are excusable in the mill
tary, he failed to carry out the or
der.
"The order was to stop the adver-
tised prize fight. 1t was not so specific
but that the accused might have been
led to believe discretionary power
was granted him to determine whether
or not the exhibition was in fact
prize fight.
stBut the exhibition that took place
by his permission, while it may have
apparently lacked some OF the ele-
ments of 81 prize fight, certainly was
one that should have been prevented
failure to prevent the same the ac-
cused erred"
The court finds justification for
Captain Kllp in the unconscious inf1u-
4ence Of public local sentiment. He
is criticized for not communicating
with the adjutant general and the
commander-in-ch 'The accused
should have communicated with the
commande.r-in-ch and advised him
Of changes in the exhibition says the
court In substance BY failing to do
SO he violated the military rule that
enjoins such communication from sub
.ordinates to superiors. While this
omission may not have been willful,"
says the court, "the rule is mandatory,
and a failure to observe it is a breach
Of military discipline"
The court says that it was i'm
pressed In considering the question of
whether Captain Kulp was guilty of
willful disobedience of the order, with
the fact that Kulp assembled his COM
'pany promptly on receiving the order
from the adjutant general, which the
court chslracterizes as comm endable
promptness," and Immediately assum-
ed control Of the whole situation.
4 1T finds, however, that he was "ln-
fluenced, perhaps unconsciously, by To-
cal sentiment"
No Justification for Wire Companies.
The telegraph companies are held
to have been absolutely without JUS
tification or excuse" and guilty Of
gross negligence" in failing to get the
kilograms from the adjutant general
to the captain Of the Davenport COM
pany, and it is decided that their
course could be accounted for "only by
their desire to have the exhibition take
place."
It is remarked by the court that
the Postal station at the ringside was
so close to the station of the company
Of soldiers watching the fight that it's
failure to deliver the message sent thru
it might reasonably have been con-
strued by Captain Kulp to mean that
the communicative chief was willing to
let the accused handle the situation
as he thought best"
It is remarked by the court that
"to an honorable and self-respecting
officer" reprimand is one of the Sc
verest punishments known to the mil
ttary law.
In recommending its verdict to the
commander in chief the court calls the
attention of the governor to the fact
that the accused has had an excellent
record as an officer and that he was
affected by the local sentiment and
Influenced thereby to a certain extent,
undoubtedly. The governors attention
81 a. LA - 10 ne = ,n