Omaha daily bee., 1909-08-14
SUICIDE BAR TO HEAVEN
Attorney for Mrs. Sutton Makes This
Statement in Argument.
CHARGE OF CONSPIRACY MADE
Lawyer for Lieutenant Adams Says
Entire Case is based ON the
Frantic rawlings Of n
omar


ANNAPOLIS, Md, Aug. 1S.-The session
Of the court of inquiry Investigating the
death OF Lieutenant Sames N. Sutton, u.
S. NJ. C., reached the concluding stage to-
day when Henry e. Davis, counsel for
Mrs. Sutton, the mother Of Lieutenant SUIT
ton, summed UP his case. The announce
ment Of the Judge advocate that he would
present no argument, Mr.. Davis said,
placed on himself a burden he had not ex-
pected to be called on to bear. He would
review the testimony only in the broadcast
manner, he said.
Mr.. Davis went back to the coming of
Lieutenant sutton to Annapolis and alluded
to him as a mothers offering to her
country's service" He referred to the
lieutenant's hopes and aspirations as
shown by letters to his mother and brother
and to the events of the day prior to the
tragedy. his companions, etc. arguing that
everything tended to negative the idea
that Lieutenant Sutton contemplated sui
eide. He criticised the composition Of the
original board of inquest, of which the re-
corder was Lieutenant e. S. Willing, but
for whose derellctlon Mr.. Davis said, Lieu
tenant Sutton might still be alive.
The board Of inquest, he said, acted with
indecent haste, with no notice to Lieuten-
ant Sutton's family. placing upon him the
brand Of suicide, thus denying him Chris
tlan burial according to the family faith
and consigning him to an unconsecrated
grave; stripping his parents of hope of a
reunion with him hereafter and condemn
ing him, as they were compelled to believe,
to eternal punishment.
Conspiracy to BIacken Dead.
Tbaro ,r,o. Al. na.t. 5aatouoa ,.ang-
fest conspiracy or suppression and false
hood to help the living and blacken the
dead, the only thing sought to be estab-
lished by the witnesses involved was the
suicide OF Sutton, which, Mr.. Davis said,
the evidence wholly failed to show.
The speaker alluded to the interviews
had by Sutton's sister, Mrs. Rose Sutton
Parker, with her brother's fellow officers,
to Lieutenant Utley's brutal assertion
Of hatred" Of Lieutenant sutton and to
her plea to Lieutenant Adams for help
only to remove the stigma of suicide from
her brothers name.
Mr.. Davis said the tragedy did not fol-
low a drunken brawl, that Sutton's alleged
former escapades shed no light upon the
case and that these and other matters
should never have been brought into
the case. He sketched the events of the
bNGAAA6 anu lSl dE SilOWn ny NHhL ne
declared was uncontroverted facts and
criticised the finding Of the first board
of inquest, declaring that a vast amount
Of testimony had not been brought out
by the board of inquest, though easy Of
access.
Mr.. Davis declared that the fights that
Immediately preceded Sutton's death were
not fought by Sutton, but by the others,
who have on the witness stand acknowl-
edged bitter enmity against Sutton. He
pointed to the marked difference in the
testimony OF Lieutenants Adams, Utley,
Osterman and others, and declared that
Sutton, after going to camp and armlng
himself for self-protection returned toward
the scene of the fight merely to recover
his clothing.
himself because he thought he killed
Rocker, saying that the evidence showed
that there was no appreciable interval be-
tween the exclamation He has killed
Rocker" and the firing OF the fatal shot.
Lieutenant Adams, he insisted, had to all
~intents and pursoses, admitted his guilty
relation to the death of Sutton. Sergeant
De Hart, he charged, before
this court the most fragrant perjury, The
mystery as to the whereabouts and pos
session of the smaller weapon belonging
to Sutton between the time of the fatal
shooting and its coming into possession Of
Colonel Doyen proved its close connection
with the crime, and he declared the uni
Identified hand that gave that revolver to
Sergeant De Hare was stained with blood.
At the conclusion of Mr.. Davis argu-
ment A. f. Birney, counsel for Lieutenant
Adams, addressed the court. He COM
pared the honor OF an officer to the honor
Of a woman and declared the young lieu
tenants involved would be relieved Of all
responsibility for Sutton's death. He said
the charges were based entirely on the
frantic rawlings of a woman"
Mr.. Birney concluded late this afternoon
and the public proceedings in the case
then closed.
The findings Of the court will be for
warded to Washington and announced from
there.