Evening star., 1915-06-09
TWO MORE CAUGHT
NCOURT'S 'SDRAGNET
Ensign Confer and Midship-
man Rogers Join ''Goug-
ing Defendants.
LATEST TURN IN INQUIRY
SOMETHING OF SURPRISE
Secretary Daniels Letter Amphfy-
ing Scope of Investigation De-
ivered to Judge Advocate.

AAS oSope VI AHsCStiSdIAoA oe
ivered to Judge Advocate
| ANNAPOLIS. Md. June o-one eN
sign in the navy who became so with
the receipt of his diploma upon gradu
| alton from the Naval Academy only
| last week and an additional midship-
man of the second class were TO-DAY
| made additional defendants before the
court of inquiry which is investi eatnE
| the "gouging" scandal at the institu-
| tion.
| That the scope of the investigation
| might from time to time widen and
, more midshipmen and former midship-
| men. now officers. become involved had
been expected. but that this step would
be taken so quickly was something of
| a surprise.
| The additional defendants are En-
sign w. A. Confer and Midshipman A.
| C. Rogers.
| Midshipn1an Rodgers was present when
the announcement was made by the
court and at once joined the seven
Hldshlpmen who defendants
| "hen the case opened. The Navy De
| partment has been requested to order
| Ensign Confer to Annapolis immedi-
ately. He is on leave.
Telltale Paper Found.
| Commander Traut testified yesterday
| that the evidence derived from scraps
of paper found outside the exanlina-
| tion room tended to show that Confer
had received assistance, and that a
| memorandum in the handwriting of
| Rogers contained both questions that
\ were given in the examination and
| their answers
At the opening of todays proceedings
capt Russell. president of the court
| delivered to the judge advocate LET
ter from Secretary of the Navy Dan
fels amplifytng the precept under which
| the court is acting, to include an in
vestigation Of every phase of the prep
aration Of questions by all the depart
ments of the academy.
Relates Suspicious Circumstances.
Commander F. A. Traut, head of the
department of modern languages at
the Naval Academy, testifying late
yesterday. told of suspicious circum-
stances surrounding the first examina-
tlon in his department. Testimony
| previously had been given to- show that
| the papers which Midshipman j. n.
| Moss claimed to have received by mail
from an anonymous source and the
4 W
| dope" were papers that had been pre-
pared by the instructors for the ex-
| animation In modern languages.
one morning. according to the testi-
| mony, after the examination papers
| had been prepared. as Commander
| Traut and Prof. Fernandez. one of the
| instructors In the commanders depart
| ment. were about to look over the
papers. Prof. Fernandez told the com
mander he thought he had placed
| paper with a Distinguishing sentence
! on it on top of certain package of
| papers. When this package was ex-
| amfned by the two this particular
paper was not on top. There were a
| few other papers containing the same
| sentence in the package, and although
Prof. Fernandez was somewhat dis
| turbed over the incident, the COM
| mander suggested to him that perhaps
| the particular paper had got in among
the other papers. In the light of sub
| sequent events, however, the incident
| was regarded as significant
Another suspicious circumstance. re-
lated by Commander Traut, occurred
about a week later. One of the in
structors reported to the commando
that some one evidently had tried to
get into his desk, as there were marks
| as though tools had been inserted to
spring the lock of a drawer. The com
mander did not think. however, that
this had been accomplished. But owing
to the fact that the drawer contained
ers the commander decided to remove
the examination papers to his home.
Scraps of Papers Found.
On the morning of May 20, the com
mander testified. an hour after the first
and second class examinations in mod
ern languages had taken place there
was found large pile of pieces of pa
pers torn up. They had on them an
swers to examination questions and
when they were pieced together it was
found they were sheets ordinarily used
by midshipmen. Later two sheets Were
found containing answers completely
worked out. One was labeled: This
is the third part of the first question.
The scraps of paper were compared
with examination papers and the writ
ing finally was identified. The matter
was reported to the superintendent,
who ordered an investigation.
After the first examination it was no
ticed that a number of the midshipmen
had passed examinations out of proper
ton to their work during the year.
The Dismissed Middies.
The nature of the charges against
the three midshipmen dismissed was
made known yesterday for the first
time. r. Byers and J. W. Cronan of the
third class were caught in an attempt
TO steal EXAMINATION pdpcfs from Ihe
rooms of the department of mathemat-
ics and c. C. Gill of the second class
was adjudged guilty by an investigat-
ing board Of attempting to bribe a
civilian employe to secure papers for
the examination in electrical engineer
ing.
Scope Of Inquiry Broadened.
Secretary Daniels today broadened
the scope of the court of inquiry now
sitting at the Naval Academy so that
its report will include a summary OF
methods employed In safeguarding ex-
animation questions, the means en-
Moved in placing responsibility in case
az their loss, as well as recomenda-
tions for the improvement of existing
conditions.
II has been established by the testi-
mony that there is no definite system
of preparing or guarding examination
questions at the Naval Academy: that
the head of each department attended
to these matters. and In different ways.
and that a considerable number of per-
sons are in possession of the ques-
tions for a period of some length before
the examination.
Officers Elected by Birth Abraham.
ATLANTIC CITY. N. J., June AT
the concluding session of the conven-
ton of the Order of Birth Abraham
last night, Leon Sanders of New York