Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1915-06-21
NELSON'S CONNECTION
IN "CR|BB|NG" SCANDAL
Witness Closely Questioned About
information Given Out.
GAVE HELP TO SEVERAL.
Government Also Trying to Nail Re-
ports Of False Keys in Possession
of First Classman.

Oi EISt NtdSSmdn.
The court in inquiry engaged in the
investigation of irregularities in the
examinations of the midshipmen.
heard for the first time this morning
( how Ralph NJ Nelson, of New York "a
member of the class graduated two
weeks ago, became involved in the
scandal. and is among the original
/ seven defendants TO the inquiry, and
vas recommended for dismissal by
/ Superintendent Fullam
Points along this line were brought
out in the testimony of William r
Nichols.a member of the former fourth
/ class. Shown by the Judge Advocate
sheet of the late annual examina-
tion in Spanish for his class, Nichols
admitted that he had seen several of
the sentences and verbs contained
thereon prior to the examination
Nichols then told that the informa-
tion was contained on dope" sheets
in the possession of Midshipman FitZ-
patrick. and later said that he was
told to go to the room of Midshipman
Nelson. He said that several of his
classmates were in Nelson's room
when he arrived there. and that Mel
son was reading off the sentences, etc.
while the others copied them down.
The sheet which Nelson had, wit
ness said, was typewriter, but he
could not say that it was an official
sheet, as he did not see it at close
range, nor did he gain any impression
from Nelson what the information was
other than dope" and added that
Nelson remarked to all of the mid
shipmen in the room not to be dis
couraged if they found upon eXamina-
ton that the dope" was wrong. He
said. personally, he held no faith in
the dope"
Nichols said that was the first time
he had ever visited Nelson's room, and
could not say that he considered the
incident unusual
During the earlier proceedings to-
day the Judge Advocate made every
effort to gain some evidence as to
where the original examination paper
came from. +. II. Jones, roommate of
T w Harrison. Jr. one of the defend
ents. who admitted in Saturdays tes-
timony that he he'd seen a copy of the
questions on the table i'm his room, was
closely pressed upon this point, but
said he had no idea as he di3 not pay
much attention TO the paper.
Harold Biesesmeier, another former
fourth classman, who on Saturday tes-
tilted that j. p Anderson,a classmate,
asked him to do some translating for
him. and declined TO tell where he got
the dope" from. was also pressed as
to why Anderson should have made
such a remark and whether it implied
il might have come from some in
said he paid no further attention to
Andersons declination.
Almost the entire time of this
mornings session of the court was
consumed by the examination of Mich
OILS. during which Congressman Hayes
of counsel for the defense, raised oh
lection rs to the line of questioning
employed by the Judge Advocate. The
court was cleared TO consider the oh
lection and after more than half an
hour President Russell announced the
objection was sustained, on the ground
that questions must be confined to
something more definite. rather thar
vague rumors that witness had heard.
The interogations in question bore
upon the reports that MidshipmanNel
son was in possession OF false keys TO
drawers in rooms of the academic de-
departments that probably were to be
used for improper purposes. After
the court had passed ruling on the OBJ
lection, the Judge Advocate then ask
ed the witness to give the exact state
ments he had heard concerning the
| illegal possession of keys. Counsel
again objected, referring to the broad
precept convening the inquiry permit
| ted it,
Midshipmcn Nelson. how ever, stated
that he kngew of no personal state
/ ments. but he understood that the
court had developed the fact as 70 the
keys being in possession of Nelson.
Commander de Steguer of the court.
then asked the witness whether he
had ever heard Of fourth classmen
going to the rooms OF first classmen
TO receive information of the sort and
the reply was that he had not