Tacit Conviction

At San Diego, Calif., a court martial dissolved itself and disappeared, leaving behind it the announcement that it had "adjourned to await the action of the convening authority."

The force of this announcement was that the defendant had been found guilty and the Secretary of the Navy must announce the sentence, for in cases of acquittal it is the invariable rule that the defendant be notified before the court adjourns.

The gentleman thus tacitly found guilty was Colonel Alexander S. Williams, U.S.M.C., against whom Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler, until recently Chief of the Philadelphia police force, lodged charges of drunkenness. General Butler, who had been a guest at Colonel Williams' home, swore that later that evening he had been drunk in public at a hotel to which the party had gone. The defense produced witnesses who said the Colonel was not drunk, and offered medical evidence to show that he might have staggered because of illness. The Colonel did not testify in his own behalf.

He may expect reduction in numbers or rank, possibly even dismissal from the service. If he had been drunk on duty the sentence would be more severe.