Show VEST PJUT OUTRAGE i i Facts Showing Brutal Treat f j I 1 ment of Cadets I I 1I I 1 Ii 1 HAZED UNTIL THEY FAINTED J I I Congresaional Committee Hears Tes J tomony Not Brought Out by the Court l artialBoozs Tent Mate Details tho r ightof His Companion I t t With Seller Interesting Evidence I I Regarding Caso of Cadet J Breth I i I Was Hazed Three Times7in Quo Night by Different Squads J J I < Philadelphia Jan According to the testimony adduced before ic Congressional I Con-gressional investigating committee I which Is inquiring Ihto the charge oC hazing at the West Point Military academy Oscar L Booz of Bristol Pa i and John E Breth oC Altoona t had arough thne of it during their Piebe I I year at that institution Tho star witness wit-ness of the day was Cadet Anthony J I 2 Burnam Jr son oC Judge Burnam of the Court of Appeals of thc State ot I T t M u LU Ij y wuu n vv while i camp The committee also heard forthe frt time testimony In re gardto the experiences oC Breths fiom I the lips of his fathers family Tomorrow Tomor-row the Breth family will submit further fur-ther evidence In letters from the cadet while he was at West Point The committee com-mittee will probably conclude its work here tomorrow and will begin the taking I t ta-king of testimony the cadets at West Point on Wednesday I ANTHONY BURNAMS STORY Anthony Burnam was the first witness I wit-ness called lie said he went to West I Point in June 189S He asked Boo to become his tentmato when they went into camp In July of that year Oscar I Boor he said was l nice sort of young I man and up to the standard of other cadets The older cadets had a lot of I fun with Booz on account of his name The upper classmen and a cadet named Bettlson in particular Burnam said ordered new cadets to do various things to see if the new men would obey them He did some thing asked of him but finally refused to do so believing the third classmen were only trying to harass him T BOOZ RENDERED HELPLESS I He was ordered out to fight by the fighting committee Burnam did not know any members of this committee I After the contest Burnam saw Booz I lying in his tent He looked dejected I and had been crying Booz told him he I had been called out and that he r j hr r l n ibt In tho tnmnLh I 1IchrcfldCred12lmabsojute1 I helpless I Burnam said other cadets said that I I Booz had laid down The upperclassmen upper-classmen kept taunting him saying he would make no soldier This was kept I w up until he resigned I BOOZS OPPONENT AN EXPERT I B rnam said Boos like all other i fourth classmen was always tired out r by tIe severe routine Keller his opt op-t ponent in the fight was an expert with I lyis fists Burnam said and was a fine gymnast Booz studied very little on account of his eyes hurling him On this account he stood low in his class FORCED TO TAKE TOBASCO f OScl told Burnam how upper classmen class-men told him Boo to take tobasco rsauce Boos said Burnam was given D small bottle of tobasco sauce and told I to lake all of it before he left the table He took it by the spoonful On one occasion oc-casion Booz told him that he put a lot of the sauce on a piece of steak In lendIng lend-ing not to eat it An upper classman noticed this and ordered Booz to eat T I hI steak Oscar told Burnam the stun ruining his stomach V BOOZ WAS UNPOPULAR I I Burnam suid he had taken tobasco sauce but never more than a drop at a time He did not know that physical violence had ever been used to Induce I I Booz to take it He said Booz was very unpopular and if he had made a complaint he would have been treated still l worse st EFFORTS TO STOP HAZING Ior not the officers of the academy try to prevent hazing They do but the officers are not always al-ways around when the hazing is going c on When any hazing was in progress I a number of cadets were usually on duty to watch for the officers and warn I I the hazera 1C one should come along i r CALLED OUT TO FIGHT I I Whfle Burnam was in the fourth classa period of about twelve months there wore about ten men called out to flght Fighting was prohibited at the academy and yet no action was taken by the academy officials topun ish any one as far as Burnam knew Burnam knEw little about the membership member-ship of the fighting committee As far as he knew they were appointed by the class president and were not elected by the classmen In answer to Mr Drlggs Burnam said he was discharged from West Point fOr deficiency In studies especially In the drawing and mathematics He said he positively had jno tnemles there either among the ofilciafs or the cadets JOHN BRETHS CASE The hearing was resumed after 0 short recess at 220 oclock and the case oJohn Breth Altoona Pa JJQ cn died frpm an ailment which It is alleged he received indirectly as a result of haz 117 ing at West Point was taken up fJDuo first witness Dr E E Goodman GOOeman of Altoona the Breth of Aloona family physician said Breths physical condition COUdilon before entering the Military academy was excellent ex-cellent DI Goodman treated him two weeks after he came home from West Pplnt for hemorrhages Last October he again treated him for typhus pneumonia pneu-monia from which he died < < BECAAIE VERY NERVOUS Younglreth never told Dr Goodman I Good-man anything about hazing at West P9lnt All the Information I I PQ1t Al Informaton the doctor had came to him from the boys family I He became very nervous about the year I lIe returned from West Point and the physicians often wondered what could have caused It I had been reported repored 1 I that Brcth was compelled to eat soap at West Point The doctor knew noih injg about that but if the boy had eaten soap It would have explained his physical condition on his return home I > BRETHS FATHER HEARD Samuel J Breth father of Cadet oJ Cae Breth was notified that his son was I dismissed from tho academy for deficiency I I ciency In mathematics Mr Breth said mist of the family had received letters I from the son in regard to hardships at Vest Point The father and mother knew that the boys at the academy were more or le l q hazed and Cadet Brcth and his brother Harry had nun I derstanding between them that If he had anything to write about hardships John would wrlle to Harry only HO that the parents would not worry WAS SEVERELY HAZED He said Harry and one of the daugh ters visited John at the academy in August 1897 and on their return home they saId John had been severely hazed and that he had nervous prostration 4 At West Point John told them he had been so severely hazed that he became unconsclous The only one that war r < mentioned us being among the hazers was a cadet named Holder CADET WAS CHOOCIIOOED The father learned from the son Harry that John had been choo ohoocd On IJK deathbed the father wild the boy went through the choo choolng motions Harry Breth the brother was called and offtMvd to submit copies of extracts of letters he received from John The I committee decided that it J wanted the originals which arc now at the Broth hoinestead In Altoona He was ex cured until the letters l could be produced pro-duced and In order that Miss Rosa lL Bieth f sister might return home and send them to the committee her testimony tes-timony was then talen HAZED THREE TIMES She received a letter from her brother while he was In West Point hospital In which ho said the surgeon told him that he had a light attack of nervous prostration from overwork John however how-ever told the other members of the family when they visited him at West i f Point that his condition was due to I hazing John said he was hazed three limes in one night John wrote home I that he had to eat eight slices of bread soaked in molasses i HEALTH WAS RUINED Miss Brcth said On his deathbed he told mo West Point Is the cause of 1 the breakdown of my health He mentioned the names of Bender and Young as being awful hazel While In the hospital she said John told her I that he was visited by upper classmen and told that he had better get out of here eBRUTALL BRUTALLY TREATED William A Breth another brother WiIam brothel of John Breth told substantially this I cnr 1 Tnk 1 vuu U UVI UO LV me that he had to do so much eagling that he often became exhausted and that his muscles felt like leather A cadet named Bender made him sit on the point of bayonet until he fell off He was made to sit on it again and during his operation Bender played a violin BENDER WAS A TYRANT On another occasion on a hot July day after a hard days drill he was compelled to don a rain coat and holdout hold-out dumb bells On Saturday nil cadets ca-dets were given n certain amount of liberty but Bender prevented him from IQlngcauP My brother made camp a complaint com-plaint about it which resulted in Bender Ben-der exercising him more severely He regarded the feet Inspection as a joke DRAGGED OVER ROUGH STONES One night he was dragged out of bed leaving the bed clothes behind him and was dragged over rough stones in the company street On another occasion occa-sion he wasso exhausted exercising that on the next morning the officer 5n charge of the drill compelled him to drop out of line because of his weakness weak-ness nessFAINTED FAINTED FROM HAZING Mary C Breth another sister of Breth was called and corroborated the testimony of the other members of the family She said her brother told her that one night he was hazed by three separate sets of cadets lie stood the first two but fainted during the third act of hnzInS When he regained consciousness con-sciousness he saw several men rubbing him They appeared to be greatly STenty frightened Miss Broth also said that her brother In speaking of hazing said I he often ate soap and chewed rope ends at West Point PoInt At oclock the committee adjourned until 0 J oclock tomorrow |