Evening star., 1909-07-12
Close Friend of Sutton :
Scouts Theory of Suicide

Further light is thrown on the ira gle
death Of Lieut.. James Sutton of the
Marine Corps, who was shot through the
head early in the morning of October II,
1907, after a quarrel with his brother Of
fcers while returning to the officers
quarters at the Naval Academy
John III. Layne, private secretary to
Senator Lorimer of Illinois, who roomed
with Lieut.. Sutton for several months
prior to the officers departure for the
Naval Academy early in 1907, furnished
some interesting details. He knew Lieut..
Sutton more intimately, probably. than
any one outside OF the young officers i'm
mediate family, as, besides being ROOM
mates, Mr.. Layne and Lieut.. Sutton were
close friends.
Sutton Was Misrepresented.
Il have never believed. and never will
believe, that Lieut.. Sutton committed sui
cide." Mr.. Layne declares. ANY one
who had known Lieut.. Sutton as have
known him, and who examined the evil
dence upon which the first naval court
of inquiry based its first finding of sui
eide, could not help believe as / do.
There has been about this whole affair
a mysterious atmosphere, mlSrepresenting
Lieut.. Suttons true character and per-
sonality, and [ am convinced misreprc-
ScIlIlffB WHdl really ndpptleu dl the time
of his death.
1T has been said that Lieut.. Sutton
morose, had few friends and drank
heavily. Nothing, so far as / know, is
farther from the truth. L never knew a
man whose future seemed brighter
There never was a man who took more
hopeful view of his prospects than he.
He was steady to a degree and had
all the friends any man could want. His
whole life seemed wrapped up in working
out the brilliant future which he believed
awaited him and in devcting himself 10
his mother and sister, of whom he talked
To me often.
Hoped for Great Success.
II remember he had pictures of his
mother and sister on his bureau. On
many evenings he would take the pic
lures down and relate to me events in
his past family life, making it clear
that he hoped to win the admiration OF
his family by making success of his
life.
Because of his devotion to his mother
and sister other women did not seem to
interest Lieut.. Sutton at the time. Ho
had no love affairs that ever heard
him speak of.
..Of course, 1 don't know about Miss
Stewart. as this happened after We had
separated, but the fact that there was
no other woman makes it possible that
Miss Stewart may nave been lne nrSC
girl Lieut.. Sutton became interested in.
In describing Lieut.. Sutton's dispo-
sition ] can say that although / do not
consider myself the easiest person to get
along with, l never had an unfriendly
word with him during the entire time
we were together. / never heard him
say an unkind word to any one and 1
never heard any one quarrel with him.
Up in Mathematics and Engineering
lone of the noticeable traits about
Lieut.. Sutton was his devotion to his
work. He was expert at mathematics
and engineering, and devoted consider
able time to these two subjects. always
willing to forego pleasures to be at his
books.
''On the other hand. he was weak at
languages, which kept him back in his
examinations, but instead of being dis
couraged he worked all the harder, de-
termined to win out in the end.
'In fact, this determined spirit was
very characteristic of Lieut. Sutton. When
things went wrong he did not seem to
ever become discouraged but always took
to work to remedy whatever had gone
wrong His disposition was philosophical
and enviable in this regard. as his spirit
of never give up helped him at all times.
"The statement made by somebody that
sutton had few friends is absurd. While
but what his friends showed their devotion
to him in some form or another. He was
invited out almost continually and had
many callers at the room who seemed in
terested in him and everything he did.
Furthermore, the friends that Lieut..
Sutton had were the kind of men any one
would be proud to know. They were
serious minded, sober men, with a. pury