Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-06
A TEXAS TOWN ANGRY
PROTESTS AGAINST GEN. GRANTS
STATEMENTS.
Sentiment Of Brackettvi1le Expressed
in Letter to the President From
the District Attorney.

Formal complaint has been made to the
President by some of the citizens OF BracK-
ettville, Texas, against Gen. F. d. Grant,
commanding the military department Oh
Texas. About a month ago Gen. Grant
issued a general order in regard to the
case of non commissioned officer who was
court-martialed for conduct prejudicial 10
good order and military discipline in drink
ing with enlisted men in public places. In
his review of the case Gen. Grant descant-
ed on the evils Of drinking in the army,
and spoke in severe terms Of the vile char
acter Of some Of the bar rooms and other
public resorts in Brackettville visited by
some of the soldiers at Fort Clark near by.
Gen. Grants remarks were published in
The Star and other papers, and excited the
ire of some Of the citizens of Brackettville.
At their instance Mr.. James F. Moran,
district attorney for that district, and also
chairman Of the republican county com
mittee, wrote a vigorous protest to the
President, in which he said:
Sir: beg leave, on behalf of this little
town, to call your attention to general
orders No. 5, issued by the department
commander of Texas, reviewing the trial of
Sergt. Haynes and denouncing this commu-
nifty in unsparing terms. The publication is
as unwarranted as the attack. and the &C
cusations are unsupported by the actual
facts. The reviewing officer admits de-
parting from the evidence in the case and
resorting to the general notoriety to sup
port assertions that do not now, and, In
fact, neved did, exist. His source Of in
formation must certainly be supplied in the
same manner in which he is now supplying
1t for Others l refute every accusation
made in this charge against this commu-
nifty, and deny all of its allegations. There
are saloons here, it is true; there Is also
gambling going on; possibly there are lewd
women to those who know how to find
them. What town in the United States is
yxyhn VCjt oft hnr nf coid tic ov.
list under the very shadow Of the Capitol.
In twenty years one man has been indicted
for buying soldiers clothes, and not in all
this time has any one ever been accused
OF buying government property. The facts
Of this particular ca Sc show on their face
that the assertion that 90 per cent Of the
courts martial and dishonorable discharges
could be traced to the pernicious influences
of the vile resorts of Brackettville' Is not
true. and that 1t Is the tyranny practiced
by petty officers in court-martialing a SOL
dier for taking drink Of liquor that has
been the prime cause. The business of the
decision Of Maj. Kendall in passing upon
the facts Of the case before him stands out
In marked contrast to the TRADE of the re-
viewing officer in departing from the case
to wantonly vilify an unoffending commu-
nifty.
This little town Is probably no better,
but certainly no worse, than any other
town Of its SIZE and it certainly is not the
act of brave, generous and intelligent
officer. from fortified position to attack
1t in this manner. The townspeopIe are
made up of pioneers and old soldiers, who
blazed the way into the wilderness, fought
the Kiowa and Comanch on the very
ground ON which Fort Clark now stands
and built their rude huts on the banks of
the Las Moras. the site of the present town,
ana OLD soldiers who in the eos marched
with sherman to the sea, fought with Lyon
IN the west, and whose valor, devotion and
patriotism made the name OF Grant immor-
tai. At the first call in 1898 no less than
twenty of the sons Of those old vetera ms
at once enlisted On the bloody field of El
Caney the life Of one was sacrificed on his
country's altar. In the trenches of Manila
another OF the men from Bracket went
down to rise no more. Another with Hare
through the wilderness In the Philippines
won his shoulder straps. The rest, wealth
er-stained and SCARED, returned to thedr
old home.
These are the men that the reviewing
omcer calls 'vultures' and their home a
den. protest against this unwarranted
attack on this defenseless community T
protest against the language used nv the
reviewing officer. 1 protest against the
reading of said review before the troons
ana L most strenuously protest against its
publication in the daily papers. That this
libel on this community may be effectualIv
erased. l ask that the findings of the re-
viewing officer be reversed and the iudo-
ment OF Maj. Kendall sustained: that tbe
PRESIDENT disapprove the action of the 70.
viewing officer and require him to nuhHsb
saao dlsapproval In all manner as the ori9i-
nal review ~ 'e oiisi-