FINDINGS OF THE COURT.

The court having duly weighed all the testimony presented to it in the case do find as follows, to wit:

That G. W. Spears, a prisoner of war taken at Island Numbers 10, in the Mississippi River, and brought into Camp Randall April 20, 1862, was on the morning of May 16, 1862, shot dead through the chest between the hours of 6 and 8 o'clock by Clarence Wicks, a sentinel of the guard on post 30 in said camp. And the court does further find that the prisoners quartered near guard post Numbers 30 prior to this transaction had been very insolent and abusive to sentinels, not only using the most offensive and insulting language to them when ordered to obey the rules of the camp, but throwing missiles and water at themand by threatening their lives. These thigs were done more particularly in the night when prisoners were ordered by sentinels had orders from officers of the guard prohibiting them from receiving further insults or assaults from the prisoners, and orders to this effect had been given on occasions previous to the transaction under inquiry by officers of the day.

And the court further finds that between the hours of 6 and 8 o'clock-supposed to be about the hour of 7 a. m. of May 16, 1862-a prisoner of war came near the beat of sentinel Numbers 30 where in the presence of said sentinel of beat Numbers 30 he, the said prisoner, unbuttoned his pantaloons, stripped them below his buttocks and squatted down with the evident purpose of committing a nuisance on the ground. The sentinels on beats Nos. 30 and 31 ordered said prisoner to get up and go to a sink, as his act was forbidden in that place. Said prisoner refused to leave, but continued in the act. For the purpose of enforcing obedience to his order the sentinel on the beat Numbers 30 threw a small stone and hit said prisoner on the cheek. Still said prisoner did not move, but thereupon a band of six or seven other prisoners of war came rushing toward said sentinel Numbers 30 in a threatening and tumultunous manner, using as they advanced violent and insulting language toward said sentinel, G. W. Spears being foremost among the six or seven thus advancing and having a missile of some sort-a stick or a bone as it would appear-in his hand. The said Spears was particularly violent in his demeanor and twice called the said sentinel a son of a bitch. Sentinel Numbers 31 thereupon called to sentinel Numbers 30 to prohibit the said band of six or seven persons to advance any nearrer up the beat of him, the said sentinel Numbers 30; to fire upon them if they did not halt and cease their abusive language. Said sentinel thereupon considering it necessary to protect himself from threatened violence and insult fired upon the most advanced of the prisoners, ball entering his chest, killing him instantly.

and the court further finds that the said G. W. Spears, formerly a private soldier in Company B, of the First Alabama, Tennessee and Mississippi Consolidated Regiment, a prisoner of war, was shot to death by Clarence Wicks, then and now a private soldier in Company E. Nineteenth Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, at the hour and day