The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1917-03-29
DANIELS D|SM|SSES
THE. NAvY'S BEST SHOT
REFUSES TO CONSIDER STRONG
RECOMMENDATION FOR
LENiENCY.

| While the navy department has
been making canvass of young offi-
GERS sufficiently skilled in gunnery to
protect American armed liners, the
most expert young officer in the SER
vice, Lieutenant Thomas M. Upton,
has been dismissed from the service
| by Secretary Daniels on a charge of
intoxication.
| The case has caused stir in naval
circles because every officer on the
court which tried the young officer
pleaded for clemency and Rear Ad-
miral Leigh c. Palmer, chief of the
bureau of navigation, added an earn
est appeal of his own to save him.
Rear Admiral Palmer pointed out
that the young officer, who comes
| from New Mexico, had II years ex-
cellent service behind him, that this
was his first offense and that he not
only was the best gunnery officer in
the service but had established a
! worlds record by not missing a single
SHOT with his turret at long range and
under conditions almost as difficult as
sea.
Admiral Pamer's Appeal.
This officers record is clear of all
previous offenses," said Admiral
Palmer in his appeal to Mr.. Daniels,
land he has been in the naval service
for over II years. A perusal of his
record shows that he is steadily in
creasing in efficiency that he is inter-
.ested in his profession and the naval
service, that he is held in high esteem
by his previous commanding officers
and that he has just made 400 per
cent and obtained an e (excellence)
for the practice, the score being the
highest ever made with that type of
turret."
Admiral Palmer then proceeds to
show that his services are of real
value and that the navy can not afford
to lose him. Lieutenant Upton was
held to be just the type which the
navy urgently needs for the peculiar
type of expert gunnery required to
protect vessels against submarines.
Palmer and other naval officers was !
that his sentence be held in allegiance
for a year and that if at the end of
that time his conduct had been along
the line of II years of previous SER
vice punishment other than dismissal
be melted out to him.
Secretary Daniels Reply.
Secretary Daniels who has strong
views on the liquor question, after re-
ceiving Admiral Palmer's recommend
alton, replied that mo punishment
other than Dismissal could adequate
ly rebuke the young officer for his
having yielded to intoxicating liquors.
Lieutenant Upton therefore has been
dismissed.
Meanwhile Admiral Mayo, COM
mander of the battleship fleet, has
been overruled by Secretary Daniels
COHCeTHlHS lne case Oh Lieutenant Ed
ward c. LANCE of Wisconsin, who also
was tried by court martial for over
indulgence in intoxicants.
Admiral Mayo recommended that
the sentence be held in allegiance for
a year and then mitigated to loss of
100 numbers if good conduct was
shown. He based his plea on the ne
cessity of saving for the navy "the
services of a capable young officer"
Admiral Mayos recommendation was
Endorsed by the majority of the court
which tried Lieutenant LANCE but
Secretary Daniels has declined to be
guided by it,
mo punishment could be adequate
for this serious offense except dis
missal,' was his reply. Lieutenant |
l ange has been dismissed