Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1917-04-25
DRUNKENNESS
FEAR CAUSE OF
COURT MART|ALS
TW0-THIRDS CASES At WAR FRONT
ARE CHARGEABLE AGAINST THE
TWO CAUSES, 1T Is FOUND.
DRUM HEAD COURTMARTlAL, WITH
Summary EXECUTIONS FEWER
THAN MIGHT BE SUPPOSED.

~ IAH VI tbC
Immediately behind the front have deyel-
court martial eases at the war front and
oped from either drunkenness or fear.
sometimes fro both, according to Mon
sieur Rene de Planhol who has had more
than two years experience as counsel for
the defense in such eases. Drumhead
court martials, with summary executions
of spies and dcsertcrs, have been far less
frequent than might be imagined. Not only
have sentences to death been %infrequent.
but, extraordinary as it appears, the YER
diets of justice at the front are seldom
executed.
The general in command of the sector
has the power of suspending all court mar
.tial sentences until the end of the war. and
he exercises that prerogative nearly al
The only penalties Immediately applied are
those of death and punishment that in
voles military degradation. Even in these
eases the condemned man usually begs 10
be sent back to the battle line and his re-
quest is sometimes accorded after a GER
tain lapse of time.
Sentences to prison and hard labor are
few. II is considered absurd to lodge in
prison rugged soldiers whose misdeeds
would thus have the effect of relieving
them from fighting while well behaved sol,
diers are risking their lives. That is why
military jurisdiction at the front has be-
essentially a jurisdiction Of honor.
The changed conditions of warfare nave
developed situations to which old martial
laws are not adaptable. A much disputed
point is: When has an infraction of dis
cipline or a crime been committed .'in the
presence of the enemy" an aggravating
circumstance under military Jurisprudence.
In trench warfare the old definitions of
presence of the enemy have become OBJ
~solete; great latitude j. now given for
leniency on this point and it is exercised
in all but the most fragrant eases.
Under the old martial laws the suspcn-
sion of sentences for first offences was
not obligatory but was simply a matter of
discretion on the part of the general COM
handing. Amendments passed by pa-lia-
Hell Ill II tOuEcc VI IN DICStul VIII
make such extensions of sentence obligI-
tory for all cases exception those Of CAPT
tai offence.
Drunkenness, the most frequent Of all
infractions Of lav,sand discipline is pun
ished by Imprisonment from " months
upward.
A frequent and effective means of de-
fence invoked by counsel for accused sell
diers is the citation for gallant conduct on
the BATTLEFIELD. 1t often happens that a
soldier refractory TO army discipline IL
a greater fight and between court mar
tials, accumulates honors and decorations
that it is difficult to ignore.
One Of the most obstinate drinkers and
most ~insolent men of his regiment when
under the influence of liquor, went back
to the front by favor OF a suspended sen
tence and won the signal honor of an in
dsvidual citation in IN engagement in
which his regiment was collectively citeu.
He appeared before the courtmartial with
a new bar on his war cross ribbon and his
judges couldn't refuse his request for "an-
other chance at the Germans"
Cases of desertion with downright fear
a the cause are not uncommon, and Mon
sieur dc Planhol concludes that very few
soldiers are totally exempt from fear.
Men who have fought bravcly in numerous
actions, he says, finally give way TO what
he calls "nervc wear" their moral cour-
age is no longer sufficient TO overcome
physical fear and they run away from
danger. Their number, though, is small in
comparison with those who forget their
duty in the stupcfaction of excessive
drinking. Even these, considering the mil
lions Of men modified, are 80 small a per-
centage "a TO constitute no reflection on
the army a n whole.
Anyone from a private TO a colonel may
act a. a defender of the court martialed
soldier. Civilians also are allowed to rep
resent them and some eminent French law
ycrs, such a. Maitrc Demange who was the
chief counsel for Captain Dreyfus, Moitrc
Pelletier, and Maitre Henri Gerand have
acted a counsel for the defense of sol
diers at the front,