THE MURKY LINE
In nations where military law is necessarily subordinate to civil law, the two legal systems coexist inside clearly defined jurisdictions. Occasionally, however, cases arise that push or even cross those boundaries. For the U.S. Army, such a case occurred at Fort Wayne in Detroit, Michigan, in 1887.
On July 11 of that year, during the garrison’s afternoon retreat ceremony, the prisoners in the guardhouse formed up outside the lockup while Sergeant of the Guard James Clark conducted the daily inspection of the facility. At the same time, the adjutant read the orders of the day to the assembled troops.
The orders included the announcement of verdicts and sentences of courts-martial, and it was at this moment that one of the prisoners, Private Arthur Stone, learned for the first time that he faced a dishonorable discharge and two years’ confinement at hard labor for having falsely
