Morning Report for the Prison Mess of Presidio of San Francisco: January 1918. David Nemetzky was confined on January 23, 1918, following charges being filed against him for misappropriation of Army goods.
Morning Report for the Prison Mess of Presidio of San Francisco: February 1918. David Nemetzky was released from confinement on February 22, 1918, the day after being tried by a general court martial and being acquitted of the charges.
Fold3.com is in the process of publishing the morning reports for the Army from 1912-1939. I just found these two morning reports on fold3.com for David Nemetzky from his time at the Presidio of San Francisco, California (just my second find for him in these records - this series of records is being added to daily). He was stationed at the Presidio of San Francisco from May of 1914 to June of 1916, and again from April of 1917 to March of 1918. These morning reports are from January & February of 1918, when he was imprisoned at the Presidio Guard House. When I found the Army Monthly Reports (1912-1939) on Family Search in November & December of 2019 (which are now being indexed and will be published in the upcoming months - I have indexed a total of 41 monthly reports for David Nemetzky, including 15 from when he was at the Presidio), I was surprised to find that he had faced a general court martial in February of 1918.
I was able to obtain a copy of the general court martial (minus one very important page) from the National Archives in St. Louis in March of 2020 (right before COVID shut down their services). A couple of months ago, the National Archives reopened and I (finally) obtained the missing page from the National Archives. Reading through the general court martial transcript (unlike the 1904 & 1912 general court martial transcripts, this transcript was 100 pages), he was falsely accused of misappropriating goods intended for the US Army; in particular, he was accused of misappropriating food, including butter, eggs and a turkey.
It turned out that he was picking up the groceries for a local San Francisco lady while he was out purchasing food for the Hospital mess (kitchen). He was falsely accused of misappropriating the food he purchased for the Army and giving it to this lady. These false charges were maliciously invented by a subordinate non-commissioned officer (known as a troublemaker) as well as a couple of the cooks who went along with this subordinate NCO. At this time, David Nemetzky was a Sergeant First Class and was the ranking NCO over the soldiers who proffered these false accusations. (To explain, a Sergeant First Class during WWI only had one rocker underneath the Sergeant chevrons. The rank system in the US Army was reorganized in 1920, which would make this rank the equivalent of a Staff Sergeant today).
By January of 1918, he was aware of the trouble that was brewing and openly packaged and took with him ten pounds of butter off base in order to 'show' those around him that he was 'illicitly absconding' with military property. He (of course) brought the butter back later that day and put it back where it came from. He was charged with five counts of misappropriation of military property and tried by general court martial on February 21, 1918. The lady for whom he picked up and delivered groceries testified for the prosecution, which did not go well for them. She was very clear in her testimony that she only received items that she had sent for and asked him to pick up for him. Both cooks who testified for the prosecution gave different details (and different stories) as to the circumstances of each of the occurrences in which the misappropriations were alleged to have happened. The subordinate NCO (who also testified for the prosecution) was shown to harbor animosity against David Nemetzky due to the simple fact that he wasn't in charge of the Hospital mess.
Several local merchants that he had transacted business with testified for the defense. Each testified that their dealings with David Nemetzky was above board and done in complete honesty. He testified on his own behalf and explained the circumstances under which he worked and that even though he picked up this local lady's groceries (the word groceries was not used anywhere in the transcript), he always made sure that everything he purchased for the Army was put to use for the Army and that none of what he purchased was ever misappropriated. He also explained that the subordinate NCO was a bad influence within the organization. The missing page I mentioned earlier was a huge reveal that explained that one of the cooks involved in 'corroborating' the false charges had been unduly influenced, likely by the subordinate NCO. He was found not guilty on all counts, but was warned to not intermingle Army business with personal business. He was released from confinement the next day and allowed to resume his duties.
Below is a copy of the order approving his acquittal. The order details the charges and the conclusion of the general court martial. As I mentioned, the transcript is 100 pages long. I have typed up the transcript and posted it on Family Search.
General Court Martial Order 154 - March 25, 1918
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