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Show IOECATUR'S CASE SIVENJO COURT Findings Are Decided Upon and Forwarded to Admiral I Sands. I CASKS OF FOSTER AND IMARZONI COME NEXT Most Damaging Thins Against Decatur Is His Own Admission. Ad-mission. I : ahlpmnan Deoatur, Jr.. who for three days has boon on trial before a naval court-martial court-martial for the alleged hosing of Midshipmen Mid-shipmen l6aac N McCrary and Gaylord I'hurcli was given to the court bhortly beforo 3 o'clock, thla afternoon At 4:4i the court had decided upon ltn llndlngs, 'vhlch will bo forwarded to the superintendent superin-tendent of the Naval academy for his ac- I i """ I Bonaparte Will Approve. Under thc law the record then goes to the Secretary of the Navy, but Secretary Honauarte has announcer) ihit h- rj:ird-H rj:ird-H ed his duties In tho matter as merely ministerial, and that unless some glaring I i run- Should have passed the Buperlntend- ent s notice he will approve the action of Admiral Sands. Foster's Case Today. mm mmuw The ease ot Midshipman W, w Foster of New Albany, Ind , will be taken up to-H to-H morrow and that of P B. Marzonl of H Pensacola, Fla , as soon as the case I J ..gainst Poster in concluded. Bnh .ir- J ' first class men, and both are charged with hazing Midshipman S. Roberts of J Joliet, 111., on several different occasions. No Corroborative Testimony. ' The prosecution Introduced witnesses B this morning to disprove tin- statements of ' those who had testified for the defense It Is conceded that the decision In the case will rest on very narrow lins. Although McCrary and Church testified to separate nets of hazing on the part of Decatur, there was no additional witnesses to any I t r I, and Decatur has dented them all em- I t phaticallj I strongest uase on "wo. 10 It Is generally admitted that the strong- t est case has been made on the fourth specification, which states that Church r was hazed by blng compelled to do "No. ., 1C." Although Decatur claims h did not order him to do this, he admits that he did ord-r him to report to his (Decatur's) ,, room, and that some one else gave him v this order In his presence Midshipman P. B. Marzonl, a witness for the defense, U AUK) made this statement. Marzonl Is un- , der charges of hazing. Arguments of Counsel, if At the afternoon session Daniel R. , Randall opened the ease for the defense, and addressed himself to the first three specifications, all of which concerned tho ; allegations of the hazing of Mld.vhlpman i McCrary. K. S. Theall. counsel for the defense, devoted his r. marks to tho phase of the case presented by the fourth specification, alleging the hazing of Midshipman I 'hurch. Judge Advocate Harrison replied for the prosecution. ,' Randall Urges an Alibi. ' Mr. Randall, opening for the accused, directed his attention entirely to the specifications which alleged the hazing of Midshipman McCrary He said that 1 the defense labored under the difficulty I that the specifications were so drawn ,' that the Incidents charged might have occurred at any time within tin- space of ' six week.-, but that fortunately McCrary had made it definite by saving that the Immmm hazing had taken place on the day that Decatur had his picture taken In the group of officers and non-commlssloned officers, and thai the picture had been taken after dinner and before study hour. The defense had proved. Mr. Randall said, that only one picture had been so taken, and the evidence showed that De-1 De-1 catur could not possibly have been In his rooms when the hazing wa.i alleged to have been done. He urged that an alibi pjj v...- completely established. I Absolutely Denied It. The prosecution, he said, must stand on ' tho case as made out by Its own wit nesses, and the allegation as to the time, place and Identity made by Mc Crary had been absolutely disproved. The overwhelming proof was that Mi -ijBBBBBj Crary was not in Decatur's room when he said that he had been hazed Mr. Randall urged very strongly In his clos- iing remarks that the testimony of De- atur was of as murh weight as that of McCrary. and that he absolutely denied that he had ever hazed the I. iii. i Mr Theall confined himself to the discussion dis-cussion of the fourth specification, which charged that Decatur had based Gaylord Church by compelling him to perform ' No 16." No Definite Time Fixed. He said that they were not so fortunate In this part of the charges as the other. Inasmuch as the witness had not fixed a definite time as to his hazing, and the defense de-fense was ompelled to cover a period Of several weeks. Still, he sale), they were favored by the fad that they knew that the accused denied ever having hazed Church In any manner Knew Him by Instincf. Church's own testimony, Mr. Theall continued, con-tinued, raised a sufficient doubt BS to Decatur's guilt. He quoted from the record rec-ord to show that Chinch had said that he did not know Decatur at the time of the hazing except "by Instinct," and that he "was under the lnipressien" that Decatur De-catur was the one who had hazed him. Th remarks of the Judge-advocati were extremely brief. Ho said that his theory of the testlme.n of McCrary was that the letter had made an honest mistake as to the day on which Decatur had hazed him but that he was unable to believe that he had concocted a deliberately false statement state-ment against an upper classman. Admissions Damaging. As to the fourth specification, the judge-advocate judge-advocate said that the admissions of the accused to the effect that he had ordered Church to his room and th ri permitted him to be. based Justified the conclusion that he had ordered him there for that purpose The Judge-advocate Informed the ccurt that In case It did not consider am of tbe charges proved exactly as the tpeclficatlon laid down, but considered that the proof showed that the charge v,as Justified the court had the authority to find the accused not guilty as to certain cer-tain words In th specification but guilty 1 certain substituted words and gulltv of , the charge. Another Charge If Acquitted. An Intimation has been received from an official source that should Decatur be nequltted of hazing by the court-martial he would be rearrested and a charge of neglect of duty lodged against him This would be based on the testimony brought out during the trial of the present case and his admission that he was In the i'oom when Church was hazed by being ccmpelled to perform "No. 16." The room was Decatur's, and he was the ranking officer present. |
