Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1915-06-25
THE COURT OF INQUIRY
ATTITUDE OF NAVAL OFFICERS.
DR.. Riiey's Letter to the Baltimore Sun
---Flaming Headlines---'The
Evidence Does Not Bear
Them Out.


Riley. of this city.the Annapolis His
torian," a man of letters and expert
enced journalist, magazine writer and
author of several books, has the fol-
lowing to say;
ITO the Editor of The Sun:
"Sir-The attitude of the officers Of
the Naval Academy in believing the
present court CT inquiry is unneeessa-
ry is not understood. The appointment
of the tribunal was reflection upon
the management OF the Naval Acad
emy. and especially its treatment of
the late purloining of examination
papers When the facts are fully un-
derstood by the public, the officers of
the Academy its heads of departments
and its corps OF instructors. they viii
be more than willing to stand by the
verdict of the people.
From some very apparent reasons
the published reports of proceedings
have not. so far, conveyed the true
situation. Testimony is not printed in
full. and in reading sentences TO make
them brief the corners are turned so
sharply that the vital point is some
times eliminated For instance when
Admiral Fullam, il response 10 a ques-
ton. replied: That in order to show
the midshipmen accused the gravity
of the offense of gouging he said if he
was not sustained he would consider
il no honor to remain at the Naval
Academy as superintendent would
rather go 10 sea on a collier" it was
reported briefly in one of the metro
politan papers that Admiral Fullam
attempted to explain with not one
word of the real evidence OF the item
When the seven primarily recon-
mended for dismissal are spoken of
editorially in your paper as goats"
you did not know. as / do. for / heard
the testimony, that Admiral Fullam
had already testified that he had in
of the board Of investigation that he
had ordered, and to see that every
concerned in having i'm
advanced information re
cciyed proper punishment These
graduated he would leave to the dis
cretion of the Secretary of the Navy.
when il is printed that the super
tried to impress on all in au
thority the necessity of upholding his
decision in the examination papers
recommendations, the reports did not
add that he said he did this because
he wanted to uphold the high stand
ards and traditions of the Naval Acad-
envy"
1T was published abroad that Mid
II. II. Adams, honor man of
the class of 1915, had seen the advanc-
ed sheets of the modern language ex-
aminations. Naturally this would give
D shock to all friends of the Navy and
he Naval Academy that honors had
10 be won in that way When the
testimony was heard it was: 4, Mid
shipman, now Ensign, Adams testi-
fying) saw two questions, written on
yellow paper, unofficial paper). |
looked at them. Then were so diff
cult l paid no attention to them |
could not recognize them on exami-
nation
Flaming headlines, in black title
proceedings of the court. and. in the
language of young cadet of St.John's
College, the evidence does not bear
Them out"
THE insinuating and offensive man
ner of the cross examination of Ad-
miral Fullam would indicate to aud
tors that he. and not the accused, are
4,.sa -, a1I ne
weeks of evidence not one scintilla of
proof has been adduced to attack the
probity, the intelligence or the eff
cheney of single officer, professor or
instructor of the Naval Academy.
They discovered the purloining of the
examination papers in two depart
ments and took measures that pre-
vented single midshipman of all the
nine hundred from getting an iota of
benefit of the larceny.
Their subsequent acts in ferreting
out offenders were strictly in accord
lnce with the law of Congress. While
in the process of continuing his in
yestigations to the ultimate the SUI
of the Academy was
halted in his proceedings by a court
Of inquiry. if one might judge by the
line of defense. not TO see that mid
We're guilty. but if Rear
Fullam and his official con-
feres were not the real criminals and
not those who are alleged to have at
tempted to profit by very grave
irregularity.
En- pasant. though not of the in
quiry, not a single Baltimore paper
published an account of the extraor-
dinary incident here of Wednesday
last. when Rear-Admiral Fullam was
given the degree of doctor of laws at
st. Johns College The enthusiasm
was so reat.the applause so loud and
long from learned men and cadets.
women and youths that the program
was halted. No event of the day car
ried the audience off of its feet like
that which accompanied an honor
worthily won by a man and afficer
who always performs his duty with
regard first always to the best inter
ests of his country.
The people of Annapolis know the
Naval Academy and its life better
than any other portion of the gen
eral public. They are, substantially.
unit. indignant against an attempt
to throw odium on the officials of the