Evening star., 1925-08-27
NURSE PROSECUTOR
SCORED BY WILBUR
Lieut.. Gordon. Marine. Is
Admonished by Chief for
Lack of Zeal.

r Secretary Wilbur has agsi. sx.
pressed his disapproval ot the recent
court martial proceedings in which
two Navy nurses were acquitted Of
rharses OF illegal importation Of iiCuo"
an a transport, by ad1nonishing Lieut..
Andrew L. W. Gordon OF the Marine
Corps for his conduct as prosecuting
offcer in the trial.
(; Failure Of Lieut.. GcrdoH to present
to the court statements in his nos
session from the two rursss. Miss
Ruth NJ Anderson ard Mss Catherine
CLANCY, drew the chiet criticism from
the Secretary. He also elsa oDroved OF
the prosecutors failure - croSs-ex-
anime Miss Anderson and concluded
that lit is perfectlv uuo2"s7r that
there was not effort upon vCur Ddr5 10
Establish the guilt Of the accused.
Z Previously Disapproved.
Before taking this action in y letter
YESTERDAY, the Secretary had previous
lv disapproved the acauittal verdict i'll
the case. but this had ~ punitive ef-
feet. as the verdict is final. His letter
20 Lieut.. Gordon, whicll will he 1iled
with his record, declared that the
Department notes thaJ on failed 10
conduct an adequate prosecution ~
these cases" and dcduced tfst ii
fs perfectly apparent tnat there was
NO effort upon vour Nc-J 70 establish
the guilt Of the accused
There were furnished ror for use
IN connection with the rrie' Of these
cases" il said. certain srs;enlents
signed by the above nurses which
should have been Offered in evidence
for the consideration ot the court You
state that you did no; offer these
statements as evidence because YOU
were informed by counsel for the ac-
FUSED that they would object to such
statements on the ground that they
were not freely and voluntarily made.
You should have. Of course. antici.
psted such objection and should have
been prepared to offer testimony con-
,cerning the circumstances under
which the statements wsra made.
/ 'It appears that YOU did not even
confer with the person 10 whom those
statements were made FOR the purpose
of ascertainins whether or not the
statements were freely ard voluntarily
made, that you relied upon the com
mon report that the statements
confessions had been obtained by
promise Of immunity or clemency. and
upon the fact that two Endorsements
had been made that no proceedings
should be taken by courtmartial
against the accused. and you state
this appeared TO me TO corroborate
by which said statements or confes-
stons, had been obtained
Based on Record
You must have observed that in
these Endorsements there was no sug-
Eestfon that the accused were not
guilty OF the offense charged, or that
the admissions made by Them were
other than voluntary. but that the
previous excellent record Of the ac-
icused.
An even greater lack OF diligence
and zeal is shown in your failure 70
cross examine Miss Anderson who
offered herself as a witness in her own
behalf. At the time Of this trial YOU
had in your possession statement BY
Miss Anderson in part as follows:
a During January. 1925. received
as a gift, package which knew was
intoxicant liquor, buf did not know
the amount and kind as I did not
open It,"
y The Secretarys letter then quoted
part Of the direct examination of Miss
Anderson, in which she testified that
friend had sent her box. but that
she did not know where the contents
came from or what the box contained
She fatty denied the charge of import.
ing liquor.
4 Attacks His Zeal.
"In view of the fact that Won had
In your possession n written state
ment from the accused showing that
she knew what was in the box and
believed that Ii was intoxicating
liquor" the letter continued. 1T should
nave been obvious to you either that
the accused proposed TO commit de
Hberate and willful perjury by denial
~ the facts that she had previously
admitted in writing or that she was
taking refuge behind the fact that
she had not opened the bottles and
demiJohn contained in the package"
:, The Secretary held that Lieut.. Cor
don should have compelled Miss An
derson on cross-examination either TO
admit or deny that she knew that
: The labels on the bottles indicated their
contents and knew their contents as
far as could be determined without
actually opening them.
# I'm the case of Miss CLANCY" the
Secretary concluded, ''it Is noted that
The court. OF its own motion recalled
witness for the purpose of tablish-
ing a point which 1t was evidently of
the opinion that you had not suffi-
cientiy covered In your presentation of
the prosecutions case"
The Secretary then admonishe6 the
prosecutor in the future to be more
jealous in the prosecution OF cases
Which may be entrusted to YOU