Show TAW TARDY soldiers ARE AR E HARO HAR 0 TO HANDLE conscientious objectors find difficult time in their army life CRUELTY AMONG CHARGES t four pion non commissioned officers A are re tried before and new light Is thrown on man ner of drilling london much trouble Is being experienced perien ced by tho the british military authorities les ties in the handling of that par ocular variety of british recruits who rail call themselves conscientious object fors ors the term tena itself was originated by mr asquith at the time ome when as prime minister he be introduced into the house of commons the famous conse conscription rip alon hill bill it will be recalled that in announcing the fact that all britt british sh subjects between the ages of eighteen and forty one would be compelled to loin join the colors mr asquith included among those who would be exempted that they had a men who could prove conscientious con scle netious objection object loW to carrying arms anas or to taking life la in the course of the last year a large number cumber of those conscientious objectors jobje c have claimed exemption and while very few have been successful in winning dispensation from military service the majority have been incorporated in special regiments which are ar e used ned abroad or in england for special lasor labor which although not involving the carrying or the use of arms Is of notional national importance in connection with the war the officers who have been placed in charge of these special units have been experiencing a considerable amount of trouble in the handling of these men and a great number of the nates have been and sentenced to prison terms the latest case to come before the public Is that of tour four non commission ed officers who were brought before a court martial on charges of private soldiers of the battalion the case Is particularly interesting inasmuch us as it throws a now light on the manner in which the drills for new recruits take place ill III treatment charged the cases arose out of allegations of ill 11 treatment made by charles dulces dukes and geo george rge beardsworth who are conscientious objectors at the time of their trial for disobedience of military orders A war office inquiry into ie case of these men followed with the result that the non officers implicated were ordered to be tried by court mardal the accused were vere corporal thomas cheers lance corporal J W A williams lance corpo ral J W williams and acting sergeant fred marshall the first to be tried was marshall and he was charged with treating a soldier in birkenhead park on august 22 last by forcibly compelling private charles dukes to execute certain gymnastic exercises and that in doing so he used unnecessary violence thereby causing patu and suffering to private dukes captain rimmer said that in spite of the refusal of witnesses who had bad given evidence at the inquiry to attend that court brigadier general edwardes had directed that the ourt court c must be held although it was as a r result e of the statements of these witnesses that the charges against noncommissioned no n officers were preferred ed on being brought before the commanding comman d officer in order t that bat he be might take a summary of their evidence dukes and beardsworth ardsworth Bg refused to give evidence they had been summoned to that court martial and had emphatically al refused to attend w it nesses tell story eight civilian witnesses had been sub penned and from two of these letters had been received stating that they declined to attend under these circumstances he would proceed pi with what evidence he had and would cau call corporal baker who was the gymnastic instructor of the regiment and who would identity identify the prisoner marshall as the man who handled dukes and beardsworth on the occasions named and who must have Ill treated them it if such ILL treatment did occur corporal robert bobert baker gave evl evidence to the effect that he was in Birken birkenhead hend park on august 22 in charge of the gymnastic party private charles dukes was brought to him for training by the accused and corporal I 1 W williams and he was wag put through the gymnastic exercises as edby those two samuel lindop of arthur street birkenhead spoke of being in the park watching the gymnastic exercises lie he saw tour four soldiers told off to shove another one about but he could no not identity identify the plan alan who was being A loved about the man was rushed up to the vaulting pole and then rushed an w the water jump chere he was thrown in ahr soldiers were t nock ing him bout about 0 out dut he could not nok didenti ty ry tiny any of them arthur 0 I 1 arry of Freder lct street latchford 1 trail trad union anch secretary of the I 1 Fat at lonal union of gelernt workers taid ald he MW aw dukes on august 24 2 t and he be was as a a very distressed condition indeed was practically impossible isible for him K 00 express himself three days later he saw the injuries on the lower part of the legs cs and ankles as well as several bruises anthe arms the injuries bug suggested that he had bad been bean thrown about roughly this closed the evl evi dence on the first charge the second charge of george beardsworth was then proceeded with wife tells her story lilian Ee ardsworth said she bho birkenhead park on august 31 she was standing near the water fountain and saw her husband being taken over the obstacles tie ile refused to go over the tha vaulting horses so they threw him over at the water jump he refused find and they threw him partly into the water this was repeated at the inclined plane when an officer said stand clear III 1 and the man fell after several attempts they dragged him to the top end doubled him up and he fell head over heels they then threw him over the esca escalating lading board which was about seven feet high like a sack and he be was caught on the other side for the mhd defense russell roberts Il called corporal williams who said that on august 21 when duke was alleged to have been in the park he was scrubbing floors counsel contended that there was no evidence on the first charge the accused giving evidence on the second count described what tool took place with regard to beardsworth he refused to do the drills or go over the obstacles and therefore re witness acting under orders assisted him over in doing so no more violence than necessary was used than in dealing with a man who w he was resisting beardsworth was not pushed into tile the water nor was he struck or kicked A foreman shipwright gave evidence that he be saw beardsworth being corn com pullo rily drilled considering that th tho wan IA rea resisting aalthe ithe time he mgt was riot not forell forcibly I 1 ay handled d police sergeant hackston stated the proceedings in u the that he saw park on the date named in the charge lie he said beardsworth was not ed 11 he e was not in ft A state of exhaustion and was not bleeding from a wound in the face russell roberts said that beardsworth had biad been of the inalienable right of 0 the british soldier to be and havo have big case heard but he had been the first clients bu cut t toillie to il deny y that right for foi the til s witnesses who had be been ea need these charges would have broken down because of their own weight and it would have been possible that the men would have been under a cloud for many months captain objected to the prejudice which had bad been introduced by mr roberts it was not the duty of a commissioned noncommissioned non officer to use unnecessary force in carrying out hla his duty the prisoner marshall was reman remand ed for the court to consider its decision casion J IV williams was charged with treating dukes by forcibly cutting his hair and in doing so using unnecessary force thereby causing pain and suffering to dukes cheers was charged wIth throwIng a kitbag at the man both pleaded not guilty and owing to the refusal of the witnesses of tho the tact fact to give evidence the prosecutor intimated that he be was not in a position to proceed with the charge and the prisoners were found not guilty and discharged |