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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (March 12, 1911)
SECTION FIVE Pages 1 to 12 WOMAN'S GARDENING AND BOOKS VOL. XXX. LIEUT. 5 k ; George A. Thacher. psychic expert, maKes thorough investigation of deep mystery at tending death of Oreg'on youth Deductions are that this case was not one of suicide. JAMES N. BUTTON. a Portland boy. born In Oregon IS year ago. waa ap pointed a Second Lieutenant In the United States Marin Corpa In March. On the night of October 1J. 1WT. he waa shot to death at the Marine Dar rarke at Annapolis. Md. The news waa telegraphed to Ms father In Portland that he had committed aulclde. To the family and friends of vnunc Sutton there - .1 waa no reasonable explanation ror ui- i ..... . . I cMe. since the young man had every- i thing to live for. lie waa Intelligent good-looking, had good health, was started In the career to which he Had Inoked forward for years and waa pre paring for a long voyage at the time of his death. There seemed to be a number of strange circumstances connected with the board of Inquest ordered by the naval author l ies on the day of the young tr.an'l death, and In l:i the Secretary of the Navy. In response to the efforts made by Mr Koaa H. Sutton, the mother of Uetitenant Sutton, ordered that the can be reon nrd In order that an Incontrover tible fin.!lng mlcht be reached as to the riuw of his tragic death. Strangely t nouch. the Secretary ordered that this le done on the ground that It waa "no In ro t.'-.an Just to t.ie officer accused by Mrm Sutton of being the cause of her eon death.' At this time there were various state ments printed In the newspapers about the connection of the occult with Mra. Sutton'a convictions that her son did not commit aulclde. but that he waa mur dered by one or more of he officers present when death occurred. The findings of the second court were not given out In detail though the sum mary Indicated that Lieutenant Sutton waa killed In a brawl and was poaalbly trytng to shoot some one else at the time. Mr. Timelier Investigates. In 191 Senator Chamberlain Intro duced a Joint resolution In the Senate providing for a Consresntonal Investi gation, but no action waa taken. Later In the year Mrs. Sutton had eome cor respondence wlnth Ir. James H. Ilyslop. of the American Society for Psychical Research. In regard to the psychic side of this tragedy. Dr. Hyslop requested tJeorge A. Thatcher, of this city, to find out what tie could about the psychic material In thla case In order that It might be placed on file with other rec ords of a similar character. Mr. Thacher baei completed Ma Invet tlgatlnn and has forwarded to Ir. Hys Inp a report on the case, lie found It necessary In making hla Investigation to atudy and analyse all the official rec orris and various documents and to con cuci an independent Investigation so far as possible In order to moke an In- tel'lglble report for psychic researchers to study. Mrs. Sutton had closely guarded all the belongings of her dead son and all correspondence and official records, so that there was a good deal of material to examine, though It old not seem to be especially promising. The psychic material la In the posses sion of the Society for Psychical Re search, but the purely physical side of Die Investigation has proved so unex pectedly Interesting that a brief mim mary U given below with diagrams. M.. Thacher eays: "I found in stu.lr- Ing the testimony before the Naval courts that the testimony of aome half doien young officers who were present at Sutton'a death as to the quarrel pre ceding the shooting and as to Sutton's alleged nasty and rather vicloua charac ter waa accepted on all sides to a cer tain extent In estimating the motive for the shooting. That motive being tt vouched for. the suicide of v vio lent young man of bad habits waa, a more or less logical sequence. It m? .le ft easy to brush aside some very strong facts which were not consistent with the theory of suicide and describe them as the second court did) aa contradic tions about details. "It seemed to me that the testimony of these young officers as to Sutton'a character was under aome suspicion be cause first If there was foul play these officers knew who killed Sutton and the concerted storv aa to his quarrel some and vicious habits would tend to exonerate them; second, because their story was) very contradictory and did not ring true; and third because Sut- ton waa expecting- to go on a long cruise and had written his mother what he waa going- to bur tor her and his latere In foreign ports, and also be cause he had spent the afternoon and evening before hla death with a young woman to wbom he waa attached, and so It seemed unreasonable to believe that he waa In the mood for murder and suicide, as the courts found. These reasons did not Justify the belief that thee officers were e-ulltv of murder. " . . - ; ' - . . but thejr aeemed to me to be auspicious . . , . . ; . .iiu , i n ill m iiiuruuKH Miquii 7 mm lo what Sutton's character really "I find from an examination of Sut ton's markings In the Naval Academy that his standing waa above 'tolerable, ttrough below three, which Is consid ered "good. Four Is 'perfect.' His marking In marine engineering, naval construction and efficiency were be tween three and four. His markings In French were poor. He waa method leal In his habits and Inclined to be studious. He was an athlete and at JO years of age waa proficient enough In Jlu-Jltsu to throw an Army surgeon, breaking his leg. at Fort Knelling. Thla surgeon had offered to demon strate that the "half Nelson" could not be broken. A Twin City paper de scribes the Impromptu match though Sutton's name waa not given. The sur geon, now stationed In New Mexico. In forms me that Sutton waa the man. Sutton waa an expert ahot and won a marksmanship medal about 10 days be fore his death for the target year of 11"7. Ilia sharpshooter's certificate. No. 157. la algned by Brigadier General O. F. Kll'ott. commandant. Sutton Wma Affable, Say Friend. " T have talked with old neighbors and frlenda and their verdict la unusually favorable. An elderly gentleman, a respected cltlxen of Portland, said to me. 'He was a sensible young msn. He was Interested In study and waa always ! at work on aome kind of a machine to run with a dvnamo which ne had in the basement. He was Invariably affable nd I never knew htm to get Into trouble with the boys In the neighbor. hood. "Another gentleman In Portland ssid, T liked Jlmmle Sutton very much. He was always polite and I never knew him to do anything discreditable; and he was Industrious. This man ssid ha waa Inclined to be gay and aometlmea did fon4iah things. Other neighbors testified that young Sutton was a home loving youth and devoted to his brothers and sisters. Hla letters show that trait very strongly. Seversl of his teachers In Annapolis testified to his happy disposition and good quali ties. On the other hand he took a bot tle of whisky to camp the night of his death, and In May of 107 he was bus pended for ten days for creating a dis turbance in camp. Sutton says himself In a letter to his father that he was told he would he rourtmartlaled. but he was not. He ssys In the letter thst he had trouble with nine officers. He waa. according to the testimony, on duty as officer of the dsy at the time. Refaaed be Haaed. When he was In the Naval Academy he threatened to use a sheath-knifa on three upper class men who were haslng him. according to his own ac count In a letter to hi- -arents which I have 'read. As the letter freely sc and gives additional details. Its frank ness Is rather appealing. Sutton de scribes the hexing In detail and says he refused to submit to It beyond a certain point and defied the upper class men. He ssys they . threatened him and went a little too far. and so he knocked one out of his way and got his sheath-knife when they ran. He adds that there was lota of excite ment and that the story grew "and my class were patting me and the 'uppers didn't know what to da- I have prom ised them that I won t let them or the bunch do me up. If they don't bother me too much everything will be O. K. don't bother any one. If anything happens don't blame me for all of It, but I won't let them do me up without a row." He adds In the aaroe letter: "Our studies are stiff and between that and tbe upper rlaas 7 en this place Is hell on carwhrela!" "These Incidents. which occurred while he waa In the Academy a couple of years before he was appointed Lieu tenant in the Marine Corps, were made much of at the hearings before tbe na- PORTLAND. OREGON. SUNDAY MORNING, MARCH 12, 1911. 0 " val courts and established the testi mony apparently of the officers who testified as to his bad character. One of them waa an upper class man, who umlt ted he had not liked Sutton since Naval Academy davs. 'On the whole. Sutton evidently had many good qualities and made warm friends aa .well as some bitter enemies. "s reserved and carried himself In ratner naughty fashion, and had a ca pacity for frank and sharp speech. 'His bank checks show that he had money transactions with the young officers. provlng a certain friendliness on his part. Sutton was undoubtemy a man to arouse Jealousy not only from hi manner, hiit from his' good' looks and his popularity ( with the other sex. Hut irom a lairiy exienned inquiry, i"am satisfied that his good qualities greatly outweighed his fallings., which I have mentioned as fully as I could learn them I think there Is no doubt but that the testimony of the officers present at hla death as to his bad character Is to be regarded with very grave suspicion. Analysis of Testimony. "In considering the testimony before the naval courts, I have tried to avoid accepting any explanation beforehand no matter how suggested, but to test the story by. the standard of Its phys leal possibility. A thing manifestly Im possible cannot be accepted even If Sutton's character was "nasty" as an officer testified. "On September 11. los, Sutton's body waa exhumed and I.awyer Van Dyke made a tracing of the top of his head, t have made a copy of that tracing and It la given herewith. It lltistrates the testimony before the naval courts In very clear fashion. - Sutton had a scalp wound on the top of his head an Inch and a half long which laid open the scalp to the bone. The bullet hole Is In this scalp wound. It Is evident thst tbe whole question of whether Sutton committed suicide or was mur dered probably rests upon the question as to whether the acalp wound waa made before the fatal shot was fired or not. Here la the crux of the whole problem. A man. athlete or not. who haa hla acalp laid open. In Jagged fash Ion for an Inch and a half to the bone la In no condition to get his revolvers and run amuck and ahoot right and left and finally, when thrown to. the ground with one man sitting on his legs and another man sitting on his middle while a third holds his shoul ders down with both hands, to draw his arm and hand from under his chest and fire a revolver bullet Into his head In the exact location of this Jag ged scalp wound. That la too obvious to require dem onstration. Surgeon Cook who per formed the autopsy on Sutton's body some twelve hours after his death. testifies positively that he found con- , stderable mud under the movable scalp in that scalp wound and he remembered distinctly scraping it out. The explana tion was offered at the hearing that the mud got under the scaln when Sut ton'a body was turned over for exam ination, but the fact'ls that the scalp wound was on .the top of his head and the top of his head could not touch the mud unless he was placed on his head after the shooting, which is absurd. ."There were two theories offered at the hearings of the courts as to how thla calp wound was inflicted. Sur geon Cook" said It .was caused by the Impact of the bullet that It split the scalp in a line In two. directions Just as the scalp would be split by a sailor rising from a ship's deck and striking his head against the edge .of the ship's ben. At -the- same time he admitted that the bullet had sufficient velocity to bore a clean round hole In the skull. It is probably not putting the case too strongly to say his theory disproves his claim. A longitudinal edge and bullet don't cut. the scalp in the same fashion by direct impact. Even- If they did how did the mud get under the movable scalp after the fatal shot? ' Theories Fall Flat. ."Another theory held by the lawyer for one of these officers was that the revolver bullet struck the skull at an angle and ploughed through the scalp and then "turned up" and bored a hole directly Into the skull. There waa no object to turn It up and deflect It into the skull, and besides the ecalp wound begins near the vertex of the sk-ull and the bullet would have had to fol low the curve of the skull towards the ear and then turn back on Itself at a lesser angle than a right angle to enter the skull directly. Then, too, the shot was fired by Sutton's right hand, it was claimed by several wit nesses, and he had an arm of medium length, so that It was plainly impos sible for him to have fired that shot from the left to the top of, his head with his right hand. Even "that ex planation. Impossible as It evidently Is, does not. show how the mud got un der the movable scalp ao that the aurgeon at the autopsy scraped it out. 'Surgeon Spear, who represented the Navy Department when Sutton's body was exhumed, ridiculed that, explaoa- 1 PECIAL EXT NEW YORK mmm MEW YORK F.VSMINO IOUKNAU PuMiabrd by the Near York Erajnc lotimal lliDIWiInt Cempanr. ai xW-SVS William alrret. Ptealdrot. Arthur Briikane. 2T52 William it rest; Tleaaurer, T. T. WUIlOM..:3 and 23 Ceau atract: Secretary. H. Iw XV UU 232 William au-aet. . Ooprrlfht. ISO. br The1 Maw Xsrk Krenlac JornaL How Surgeon PickrcII Says Lieut. J. N. Sutton Was Shot Handlnpr Stntton'a rusty pistol to the witness. Mr. Davis asked Knrsros Plckrell to hold It above hla head to Illustrate ' Just how Sutton mlcbt bare fired the shot. The witness carefully examined fhe gun, and thra grasped the re volver la bis right hand. Twisting tbe weapon nntll he held it prac tically with bnt two fingers, with the mnsxle pointing, toward the trows of tbe head, tbe witness tton of the scalp wound, saying- it was incomprehensible how any man could believe it. He had- another theory, which was that the revolver was held si thin half an Inch of Sutton's skull and that the escaping gases from the revolver barrel got under the scalp and tore the ecalp open in a line. He does not explain why the gases re leased from a cylinder should act only in a straight line, and not In every direction, which certainly tends to dis credit 'his theory. Even If his theory was correct, how did the mud get un der the movable scalp? - ' "Dr.- George Tully Vaughan. of Washington, who performed the au topsy when Sutton's 'body was ex humed. In a letter lo me of February 18 correct an interview given out by htm. He says that the theory of the bullet making the scalp wound Is ab surd. ' He says: 'I do not think It probable that Lieutenant Sutton fired the shot that ended his life. There were three unmistakable wounds, one tinder the left Jaw. another on the forehead Immediately over the right eye and a third about three Inches over the risht ear. The first two may have been made by a blow from a fist, but the third I should say was made by the butt end of a revolver. It is safe to assume that these wounds were not self-lnfllcted and were made while Lieutenant Sutton was alive. The force of the blows may have rendered him unconscious, and so, even if his posi tion permitted, he could not have ued a revolver. Surgeon Spears and Dr. Vaughan's explanations of the scalp wound were made,-of course, subsequent to the sit ting of the court of inquiry- Har ry J. Brown, rv'ashington correspond ent 'of The Morning Oregonian. was present when Lieutenant Sutton's body was exhumed. He said in a dispatch to The Oregonian without this examina tion, however, there would have , re mained doubt as to the nature of the hole in Sutton's head, and the appear ance of the scalp in the vicinity of the opening. The facts gleaned at the ex- mlnatlon were positive, ana xo Mrs. Sutton's counsel, assuring. They cleared up all doubt on at least one disputed point. In connection with the facts indicated by my Investigation Mr. Brown's account Is illuminating. Bruises Found on Head Only. It Is trua that ugly bruises were found en Lieutenant Sutton's forehead and chin and upon the top of his head, but it was previously established that he had been beaten and bruised by his assailants, or those whom he assailed, according to the ver sion accepted. Moreover, the bruises were found In spots where -tliey- were expected. The ugliest, a large, oval blotch over his right eye. showed unmlstakabl evidence 11 rv ' that he bad bean bit either by a tightly onecenTi ir-fs? ' : - : mi n Jt r snapped the trigger. Mr. Davis asked! "Could such a shot, fired at the angle yon deacrlbed. have beext fired by a man held down to tbe gronnd - by two stalwart men, while a third pinned his shoul ders to earth then,' too, when the pinioned one's arms were bowed beneath bis chest f "I tterly Impossible, replied Dr. Pickrell. clenched flat, or by some large, blunt in strument. ' It waa not such a bruise as would be made by the butt end of a revolver; it was too large for that. It was not such a bruise as would result from a blow with a stick; It was too broad for that. It might read ily have been the result of a -terrific ' Hat blow... or it might have been made .when Sutton was thrown to the ground. What produced that dark, ugly bruiao will .never be positively established. Likewise, a smaller bruise on the left aide of the chin evidences a hard struggle. Many a fist-tighter' has come out of an encounter similarly -marked. The bruises on the top of the head, three. In-number, were not apparent through-the hair, but ' the discoloration of the scalp, when the .hair .was parted, disclosed a series of long, narrow bruises, which might have been produced' in a number of waj-s. Such bruises would have resulted had Sut ton been kicked In the head with a flat toed shoe, as .he lay prostrate on the ground. They would have been produced had he been struck across the top of the head with a cane, or a stick, or the barrel of a re volver. If thrown upon his head, they may have been produced by glancing con tact 'with the ground. . But the manner In which those, like the other bruises were caused, ptobahly will never be cleared up. It Is readily perceived that even the ' principals to that memorable fight could not recall the number or character of blows exchanged.- So the bruises, numerous as they were, merely bear mute testimony as to the severity of the onslaught made upon Sutton prior to his death. . It Is hardly rea sonable to assume that any of these bruises were Inflicted after the ahot was . fired. Testimony Dlaproves Suicide. "The weight of the testimony seems to indicate that the scalp wound on Lieu tenant Sutton's hend, as well as the various bruises, were "made before the shot was fired, and if that is true, Sut ton' was doubtless physically Incapable of shooting himself. , -"Then why should the shot have been in that exact spot? The surgeons agreed that Sutton must probably have pulled the trigger with his thumb, or else held the revolver upside down In order to have fired the bullet into that spot. If he had desired to shoot himself, why not have placed the muzzle at his temple and fired in the usual way? The New York Journal, during the hearing, print ed a cartoon in connection with Ha re port of the case, which Is shown on this page. Mrs. Sutton said she wrote out the question embodied in the picture and handed it to her counsel, who asked the question of Dr. Pickrell.. The question and answer are not printed In the offi cial records of the case. It seems evi dent that either the Journal , reported the matter truly or else that It manufac tured the testimony out of the whole cloth. If the report is true, the official records are false, either through acci dent or intent. The matter is import ant because the court found that Button NO. 13. FOR shot himself. to death, and Dr. Pickrell was a Navy surgeon, who, -according to this --testimonyr said, -under' oath, that such a thing was utterly Impossible. This Is- one of the amazing things about the case. - An Impossible Kact. ."There are many other strange, things which were accepted- by the court in Ce fitmce of the physical possibility of the facts. For instance, ,the ' court finds that Sutton shot Adams ' in the hand. Adams' .testimony is explicit a few hours after the event and two. years later. He Kays he. was shot between: the fingers Just as he grasped the revolver with his open hand. And yet, ; the .surgeon who dressed his hand said that he was shot between the fingers from behind, from the back of the hand.. No argument Is required to show that the thing did not happen. Any one can- estimate the sig nificance of this impossible story of an event said to have occurred Just before Lieutenant Sutton is- alleged to have committed suicide. . -"Then, too, the court found that Sut ton next shot Lieutenant Koelker in the breast. The testimony shows that it must have .been the fourth shot, if any, which struck Roelker. Counsel for Lieu tenant Adams says. In his final address, 'and then. In the struggle, Roelker came near losing his life by the fourth shot from the revolver in the ' hand of But ton." The testimony of the witnesses, except Roelker, shows, beyond a doubt, that the fourth snot was rired in an op posite direction from the .one In which Roelker was standing. Lieutenant Adams Is specific about It. He claimed to have had Sutton In his grip at the time, and said he turned Sutton around from Roel ker before the shot was fired. "The question of how near Roelker came. to losing his life Is also of in terest. The bullet cut a clean hole through Roelker's clothes but did. not break the skin where It struck the left breast. Then the bullet was found In four different places. ' Roelker says he found It In the lining of bis coat. Corporal Todd says he found the bul let mushroomed In a book of regula tions in the pocket of Roelker's coat. Colonel Dayen says he and Roelker found It in Roelker's shirt and Lieu tenant , Sumner says it was , 'dropped down' in Roelker's clothes. Three of the accounts were given two year after the event. Coloned Dayen says the bullet. was In no way scarred and that he considered It very remarkable. Roelker said It must have been a defective cartridge. How could a spent ball or defective bullet cut a .clean hole in clothing hanging somewhat loosely on a man's body and then not (Concluded on Page 11.
