The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1909-07-22
SUTTON TRAGEDY
ACTED IN COURT
Lieut.. Adams Shows How Ma
rine Officer Was Killed.
VICTIMS MOTHER WIfNEss
Government Gives Evidence of Its In.
tentlon to Thoroughly ventiiate
the Misunderstanding Of
the Days Testimony. s

. Annapolis, Md, July 20.--In stage
setting replete with all the features
OF a theater production one of the
principal actors in the Sutton tragedy
enacted with the intensity of dramatic
detail the midnight fight under the
trees in the marine barracks grounds
which resulted in the killing of the
young marine lieutenant either by his
own hand or that of a companion Off
Ger.
Using a stalwart, stolid orderly as
lay figure, Lieut.. Robert G. Adams,
who was the first witness called at
the second inquiry into the death of
Lieut.. Sutton, rehearsed the incidents
4 that led up to and endeu in the trag.
edy of October IL, 1907. Fa .'..' 3
Witness Acts the Tragedy.
Lying full length on the floor at
times the blue-garbed figure of the
. living participant in the battle in the
dark personated the dead officer while
the orderly occupied relatively the
same position that the chief actor had
assumed on the night Of the shooting.
. Not ten feet away sat the mother and
sister who had heroically worked for
two years to compel the reopening of
the case and who are now seeking to
prove that their son and brother did
not take his own life as officially de-
clared by. the first court of inquiry,
cident.
That there is trying ordeal ahead
of Lieut.. Adams to-day is certain
When he left the auditorium where
the sessions of the court are to be
held, Lieut.. Adams was visibly affected
by the severity of the examination he
had undergone and which seemed to
indicate that if the verdict of the first
court of inquiry is reversed. he may
be compelled to face an even more
serious charge, since by his own tes-
timony he is revealed as the man
against whom Sutton harbored a
grudge.
To Be Thoroughly Aired.
All through the proceedings the de-
termined purpose of the government
to ventilate the affair thoroughly with
out thought for consequences was APP
parent. The lawyers representing
Mrs. Sutton and her daughter were
given the fullest latitude to quiz the
young lieutenant of marines.
The second question asked by Mr.
Davis, the examining counsel for the
Sutton family, pointed to the belief
by the members of it that Lieut.
Adams knew more of the circum-
stances of the death of Lieut. Jim.
mic" Sutton than he described and
that he had an active part in accomp.
fishing it,
Defended by an able lawyer and
protected by a court absolutely fair
and free from prejudice, the young
officer at times visibly discounted,
was permitted the fullest license to
evade direct answers upon which his
mind was in doubt.
Substance of Testimony.
A ride to the marine camp in an
automobile with Sutton and two other
officers of marines, Lieuts. Utley and
Osterman. an alteration between Sut-
ton and the witness, and deferred
encounter when the senior officer in
terfered, as the automobile was
stopped short of the camp with the
intention of avoiding being caught re-
turning after hours; later aGciden-
tai meeting of the witness and SUIT.
ton, on the border of the woods near
the barracks and the fight between
the two men, with Sutton armed with
a revolver in either hand and firing
five shots, the last of which he di.
rected at his own head while lying
on the ground, these were the points
in Lieut.. Adams testimony.
The witness said he had risen from
the PROSTATE Sutton whom he be-
lieved to be exhausted, and stood
few feet back of him when he saw
Sutton raise his right hand and fire
a bullet into his own head. Just previ-
ously someone of the officers who had |
come upon the scene had cried that |
Lieut.. Edward P. Rocker had been |
shot and killed, the witness said. |
Adams had made no attempt to take |
the revolver from Sutton's hands |
when he broke away, or was pulled |
away from him, he said, in reply to
Lawyer Davis oft-repeated question. |
Sutton had previously threatened to
kill him, and was generally avoided |
by the marines, because of his wild |
talk and actions, according to the
witness.
Threaten Sympathetic Strike.