Goldsboro semi-weekly argus., 1909-08-14
SUICIDE THEORY OUT
OF THE QUESTION
Expert Testifies That Lieut..
Sutton Was Unable to
Kill Himself.
SKULLS BROUGHT INTO CASE
Evidence Tends to Prove That Young
Naval Officer Was Killed-Testi-
mOny of Sergeant Todd Introduced
Yesterday.

1cSttTUdys
Annapolis, Md, August 11.-A grue-
some feature was this afternoon in
troduced into the proceedings OF the
court OF inquiry into the death OF
Lieut.. James N. Sutton, Jr., OF tn,
United States Marine Corps, when the
legal representative of Mrs. Sutton,
mother of the dead lieutenant, brought
to the witness stand, DR.. Edward M.
Schaeffer, of Washington, an expert
, on gunshot wounds. The people in
the room crowded around the table
and gaZed with the keenest interest
at the doctor while he placed upon
the table glistening skulls, to the ex-
terror of one of which he affixed in
little Jumps of wax, steel rods in
tended to indicate to the members OF
the court the course of the bullet In
the skull of Lieut.. Sutton. Iieuten-
ant Adams had given dramatic IL
lustration Of the position of Lleuten-
ant Sutton when the fatal snot was
fred. The doctor was equally dra-
matte as he stretched himself upon
the table and showed by pantomime,
how in his opinion as an expert it
was quite impossible that Lieutenant
Sutton could ever have fired into his
own head the shot that put an end to
his life.
One of the points upon which the
witness dweit with special stress was
the impossfbility of Lieutenant Sutton
icing able, under the circumstances
described in the testimony, to exert
asMfFi cient pull on the trigger of the
revolver to bring down the hammer
OF the weapon upon the cartridge.
Dr. Schaeffer stated that he had had
much experience i'm the examination
of gunshot wounds, and had performed
many autopsies upon bodies upon
which such wounds appeared.
illustrating upon himself the wit
ness assumed upon the table the po-
siticn in which Lieutenant Sutton was
described to have been On the ground
when shot and declared that he, the
witness was unable to pull the trig-
ger of the small pistol he was using |
in his demonstration. With any one
sitting upon his shoulders, he said, it |
would have been utterly impossible
fer "a man in Sutton's position to have
shot himself as has been described to
have been done.
Mr.. Birney croSs-eXamined DR.. |
S2chaeffer, questioning him with an
Sl apparent intention to show tnat man
of sSutton's age might have done what
one OF Dr. Schaeffer's could not.
Sergeant Todd, who was on the
stand during the afternoon session,
said he had seen Lieutenant Rocker
come into the guard room and say:
''My God, Archie, I've been shot.
The witness had heard four shots
fired. He acknowledged having said
he had often wondered why he was
not summoned.
Mr.. Birney took the witness over
the events of the night. The running
f cure, he said, was going from the
vicinity of the camp toward the bridge
over College Creek. After the shoot
ing he say Lieutenants Adams and
psterman in the room of the officer of
the day.
In response to Questions of Mr..
Davis. Todd said that It gas Lieuten-
ant Adams who asked the wiAaess IF
he had sany spare guns" saying tflsre
,was trouble in the camp and he want
sed them for protection
Said he did not hear until next
mounting that lieutenant Sutton had
been shot. He was not asked by 4ny
one il he knew anything whatever of
the trouble. The first time, with
said, that any one had told him teat
any information he had was waI4ed
was when a newspaper man did Sc at
Wakefield, Mass, yesterday,