Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-07-25
President Hood Defeats Plan for
Long Sessions.
TWO SPECTACULAR WITNESSES
Sergt. De Hart Forgets Salient Evil
dence and Willing Cannot
Remember.

as precept, or organizing order, from
the Secretary of the Navy. This precept
specifies the names of the members of
the court and rigidly defines its func-
tions.
There are three members Of the court,
Commander John Hood. I. S. ~, the
presiding officer: Lieut. Henry n. Jensen,
L. S. n. and Maj. Wendell c. Neville.
u. S. NJ. c. Added to these is the
Judge advocate. Mai. Henry Leonard.
To lawyers accustomed to practice be-
fore courts of law the first mark of dis
tinction Is the question of admissibility
of evidence Almost anything in the way
of evidence goes before a naval court
of inquiry. except outright hearsay evil
dence. And frequently in the Sutton
inquiry that has been allowed.
Interested witnesses are also allowed
to attend the hearings, sometimes before
they have testified. or after they have
testified. and even when there is GER
tainty that they will be recalled.
Judge Advocates Duty.
The judge advocate is not prosecut-
Official question asker of the court, it
being his duty to bring out everything
pro and con. that has any bearing or
the case.
The accused party. whether there is
such D one-there is none in the Sutton
inquiry-has the right to select a brother
officer as counsel The brother officer
cannot be compelled to act as counsel.
but if he is willing he is detaVled from
other duty while engaged on the case.
Under the terms Of the naval regula-
tons covering courts of inquiry tile
mother and sister of Lieut. Sutton have
no right to have counsel in the present
instance That they and their attorneys
appear In the case is due to the courtesy
of the Navy Department.
Another peculiar function of the court
is the question "a skiing privilege 1T has.
The court can ask any question 1t wishes
and neither the defendant nor the Judge
advocate nor anybody else can stop II.
But before a question is asked by the
court every member OF the court must
agree that it is to be propounded.
Thus when question occurs to Com
mander Hood. or Lieut.. Jensen or Mai.
Neville. he writes it out on slip OF
paper and submits it to the other two.
as presiding officer. reads it out. And the
witness has to answer 1t.
Hood Prevails Over Leonard.
When Mai Leonard. the Judge advo-
cate, landed in Annapolis the night be-
fore the court opened, he declared him.
self as favoring long daily sessions. He
time and money as possible.
What was the use of drooling along
The members of the court were Dusy
men. So were the officers who had been
called to testify. So was the judge ao-
vocate. .os
Nth a smile. he. himself, was on duty at
Portsmouth. n. H.. the only cool summer
assignment he had ever had since ne en-
tered the Marine Corps. 1t was to De
from 8 o'clock in the morning until .
o. clock in the evening. with not more
than an hour for lunch. If the judge ad-
yocate could so persuade the court.
The Judge advocate is persuasive
man. Once, in Picking, during the Boxer
uprising. he persuaded himself that ne
the mercies of the Chinese during hot
engagement. Maj. Leonard dragged the
private out of danger. But when tney
reached shelter one OF Maj. Leonard
arms was hanging limp at MS sloe. ~
had to be amputated.
But for once his responsiveness failed
him. When he went up against Com
mander Hood he bounced on. The com
mander notified him that the court would
meet daily at 10 am. 1t would Sit until
IL or 1876 o'clock-maybe until l o'clock,
il the situation justified it. Then 1t would
take a recess until . o'clock, when II
would reconvene. AT o'clock, no matter
what the situation was, it would adjourn
for the day.
Session Closed by Clock.
So every day when the clock in the
tower of the academic building. where
the court sits. chimes out eight bells-fo,
the clocks at the Naval Academy strike
nauticalwise and not land-lubber fashion
the commander looks up over his gold
trimmed spectacles at the man who has
the witness at the time and says, in q
,,n;aa r, heard the
| length of the table:
This will be the last question"
And that ends the days proceedings.
Mrs Sutton and her daughter, Mrs.
| Parker, present a striking picture as they
sit with their counsel. Henry E. Davis
and Edmund and Henry Van Dyke, d.
rectly across the table from Lieut.. Adams
and his counsel. Arthur e. Birney and
Capt. Thomas Brown. Not once since
the inquiry began have the faces of either
| woman shown the slightest trace OF
emotion.
Occasionally during Lieut.. Adams tes-
timony Mrs. Parkers lips have curled.
| But even when, on the first day
his head not two feet away from the
| hem Of Mrs. Parker's skirt. and showed
/ the court how Sutton looked to him as
| he lay on the ground when that last shot
was fired, not any expression of sorrow
| or pain cast it's shadow upon the coun-
| tenance Of either the mother or sister OF
| the man whose death was being SO
! graphically illustrated.
De Hart Holds His Own.
| BY far the best witness who has yet
! been on the stand was Sergt. James De
| Hart. Nothing that any of the attorneys
! could do to rattle him made a break in
| the story he told on direct examination
| by the judge advocate.
| He and Attorney Davis clashed almost
continually during his cross-examination
by the sutton attorney. But every time
it was the lawyer and not the enlisted
man who reeled from the shock of con-
tact.
Il don't remember De Hart would
say, again and again. in reply to ques-
tons from Davis. And. try as he would,
the man who has had years of expert
ence. both prosecuting attorney and
as defender of criminals. could not
frame his questions so as to draw from
De Hart that which De Hart did not wish
to have drawn from him.
! Slightly above medium height. blond,
rudy checked. clear-eyed and self
possessed. De Hart rarely hesitated Owe,
an answer. He came straight across
with his replies. and, although they
frequently exasperated Davis they told
the attorney nothing.
| Once De Hart relaxed his ordinarily
/ severely military attitude and threw
| the courtroom into commissions. He had
/ just said that he bumped into sutton
on the reservation and Sutton pointed
| two revolvers at him and told him 10
/ halt.
What. IL anything, did you think
Lieut.. sutton intended to do if you did
/ not haiti" Maj. Leonard asked De Hart
Il did not think. sir; just haltei :
said De Hart, with the trace of grin
! Even Commander Hood laughed