The doors of the court are closed to all outsiders. The prisoner makes his plea, and retires. The witnesses are brought forward and examined, but no cross-examination is allowed. If a question is to be asked by any of the officers sitting upon the court, it must be reduced to writing, and silently handed to the Judge-Advocate. If he sees fit to put the question, it is done; if not, it is thrown aside. We will now proceed to a brief summary of the trial. “Lieutenant Edward Wells, you are charged with the willful murder of Harry Hayward, a captain in the United States service. What is your plea. Guilty, or _not_ guilty!” “Not guilty!” was the decided response. “Let the first witness be called, George Swasey, colored.” The person familiarly known as “Swasey’s nigger” took the stand. When brought forward, he glanced around as if fearful of something, and then asked: “Is Massa William Nettletum where he can hear dis chile tell de truff?” “You have nothing to fear from _any_ person, if you _do_ speak the truth, and _all_ the truth,” replied Major D. “Well den, de fact am dis. I went to see my gal. When I cum back, I met de rebs. I hid behind a log. I see’d some one stick a knife in massa cap’n, and I heard him say: “‘Oh! Nettletum, you kill me!’” All questions were answered in the same spirit, and it became evident that the negro believed Nettleton the real murderer. The next witness brought upon the stand was Alibamo Hinton. She swore that Nettleton’s tent was next to the one she occupied—that he was in attendance upon her and Miss Hayward, by permission of Captain Hayward, and that Nettleton had _not_ been out of her presence that night. In the first part of the evening, Nettleton had remained near her door; in the latter part, he had missed his captain, and had prostrated himself on a rug near the tent entrance. She had seen him there _all night_, as she had not slept at all. Miss Hayward was too much overcome to appear as a witness, and was excused. The next witness was Captain Hugh Walker. The feeling of the soldiers, to learn the result of the trial, was intense, and by the time Captain Walker was called to the stand, some twenty or thirty had crept to the edge of the tent, and endeavored to conceal themselves in the tall grass outside, to catch the proceedings. But they were discovered by Walker, who demanded that they should be removed. This was done, and a guard placed outside. Captain Walker’s oath was as follows: