The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-14
Counsel Sums Up Results of
 the Investigation
VERDICT TO COME LATER
Mrs. Sutton is Not Satisfied With Ina quiry But Declares She Will Carry the Case Higher, But it Is
 Not Known How.

Annapolis. Md, August 1s-A large au- dience was present this morning at the beginning of the last day of the open sessions of the court of inquiry investi- gating the death on October IS, 1907, of Lieutenant James N. Sutton. Jr., United States Marine corps. The attraction was the summing up by Henry M. Davis. counsel for Mrs. Sutton, and A. E. Bir- ney. counsel for Lieutenant Adams and possibly something from Maj. Henry Leo- nard, judge advocate. MT. Davis argu- ment did, in fact. lead the judge advo- cate 10 speak, though briefly. and what he said was not in the nature of argu- ment touching the case. Members of the court were all in blue undress uniform. which gave the scene in the court room a more formal air than when. as has been the case hitherto, they wore white duck
 Mrs. Sutton was not present at the afternoon session. It was explained pri- vately that she had been so affected by the touching references of MT. Davis to her lost son at the morning session that she did not feel able to appear in the afternoon. Mrs. Rose Sutton Parker. her daughter, was present throughout the proceedings, however, and followed the arguments with the closest attention.
 The court will sit tomorrow in private to discuss the findings, which will. when reached, be forwarded to the navy de- partment at Washington, whence the an- nouncement of the result of the inquiry will be made
 Mrs. Sutton said tonight that if the findings of the court of inquiry declare, as did those of the former board of in- quiry. that her son committed suicide, she will carry the case still further, though in just what way she is not now pre- pared to say.
 Mrs. Sutton, Lawyer Birney declared in his summing up, had earned the designa- ton of an accuser He denied the pos sibility of Lieutenant Sutton having been beaten to death and then shot to conceal the crime. He said MT. Davis had ig- nored the evidence of all the higher off cers. Mrs. Sutton herself had cast the worst slur upon the memory of her son when she said he would have if insulted, run and told the colonel" and not as he should have, according to MT. Bir- ney replied with a blow. MT. Birney placed Lieutenant Sutton in the attitude of a whipped coward. He pictured the now famous automobile ride and the two fist fights and declared Sutton had gone to camp and armed himself with the pur- pose of doing murder.
 Again branding Sutton as a rank cow ard, MT Birney strongly praised Lieuten- ant Adams for his bravery when, as he had testified, Lieutenant Sutton fired upon him. He fully justified the treatment to which, according to his client and his brother officers, Lieutenant Sutton was subjected.
 Mir Birney contrasted the grief of the ,fc | with that of Mrs. Sutton. He then at tackled Sutton as a breaker of regulations and a man of objectionable habits. The evidence of crime, in this, he said, rested entirely upon Mrs. Sutton's "preternatural vision and upon the fimsy evidence of Dr. Schaefer, the expert of gunshot wounds, which, he said, had been so strongly contradicted as to give 1t weight only in the mind of an imbecile.
 That Lieutenant Sutton shot himself &C., cidentally while drawing the pistol from under him, he said, was quite impossible Either he deliberately committed suicide or shot himself while attempting to shoot someone else who was above him, perhaps on him. And this, later, MT. Bir- ney declared to be suicide.
 He closed with a tribute to Lieutenant Adams and to the other officers. Major Leonard, the judge advocate, said ne rose 10 protest against lWo Poihes III Mir Davis argument He himself came here, he said, with every good wish for and willingness to help Mrs. Sutton and Mrs Parker to bring all the evidence pos sibe before the court They had not. as they should have done, given him all the evidence and facts in their possession, but this he blamed on their counsel. On the other hand, the defendants had given him every assistance in the presentation of the facts
 MT Davis disclaimed reflection upon ths judge advocates conduct of the case, which Major Leonard imputed to him. Commander Hood. president of the court, then declared the inquiry closed.