New-York tribune., 1903-04-04
angry At GEN. GRANT.
Il Hornets Nest Stirred Up an a
Teras TO1Cn.
[BY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRIBUNE ]

Washington, April 3-GeneraI Frederick D.
Grant. commanding the Department of Texas,
has aroused the ire of the citizens of Brackett-
Vile, near the military post of Fort Clark, Texas
and through James F Moran. district attorney
Of that section. who is also chairman of the
Republican Committe of the county they have
formally protested against General Grants COM
ment on the case Of a non-commissioned officer
who tried recently by a military court on
the charge, among other things, OF drinking with
an enlisted man of his command The court
acquitted the accused man. but General Grant
took exception to the findings. and incidentally
criticised at length and with some spirit the
conditions which prevailed at BrackettviIIe His
comment was printed exclusively in The Trib-
une of March Is. In the protest addressed to
the President the district attorney says:
Sir beg leave. on behalf Of this little town. TO
cali your attention TO General Orders No s. issued
oy the experiment commander of Texas rev1ewIns
community in unsparing terms The publication is
as unWarranted as the attack, and the accusa-
viewing officer admits departing from the evidence
in the case and resorting to the general notorety
fact never did exist His source Of information
must certainly be supplied in the manner
in which he is now sJppiyfrR it for others. re-
fute every accusation made in this charge against
There are saloons here, It IS true; there is also
"a stin0lns gong on; possibly there are Ie~a women @
in the United States is wholly without either? All
Capitol In twenty years one man has been indicted
Tor buying soldiers clothes and not in all this
time has any one ever been accused Of buying gov
ernment property The facts Of this particular case
show their face that the assertion that 80 per
cent of the court martials and diShODOra ble dis
charges could be traced TO the pernfcous influences
OF the vile resorts of Brackettviie. is not true.
and that 1t is the tyranny praCtised by petty Offl
GERS in court martialing a soldier for taking a
drink Of liquor that has been the prime cause. The
business Of the decision of Major Kendall in pass
ing upon the facts of the case before him stands
out in mark contrast TO the TRADE of the review
ing officer in departing from the case to wantonly
al UnOffP0diUg
This little town is probably no better. but GER
tainly no worse. than any other town Of its size
and Intelligent officer. from fortified position. to
attack II in this manner The townspeople made
up Of pioneers and old soldiers. who blazed the
way into the wilderness, fought the kiOWd ana
COmanche on the very ground on which Fort Clark
now stands and built their rude hUts on the banks
the Las Moras the site Of the present town. and
man to the fought with Lyon in the West. and
whose vaIor, devotion and patriotism made The
no less than twenty of the sons of those old vet
erans at enlisted. On the bloody field of FL
Caney he life of one was sacrificed on his cOun-
try's altar In the trenches Of Manila another OF
the men from Bracket went down rise no
more. Another with Hare through the wilderness
in the Philippines his shoulder straps. The
rest weather stained and Scared. returned to their
old home.
These are the men that the reviewing officer calls
against this unwarranted attack this
language used BY the reviewing oficer- I
protest against the reading of said review before
the troops, and I strenuOUsly protest against
its publication IN the daily papers. That this libel
on this community may be effeCtUally erased ask
versed and the judgment IF Major Kendall sUs-
tained that the President dsa pprOye the action OF
said dsapproval in all manner as the original re
View.