Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-19

President Roosevelt and Secretary TAFT
today made response to the Senate resolu-
tons introduced by Mr.. Foraker, Mr.. PEN
rose and Mr. Culberson, calling for full in
formation respecting the blanket discharge
of Companies Il, and ID of the 10Th In
fantry tcolored), in consequence of the MD
night raid at Brownsville, Texas. August
IL last. Although the President and the
Secretary of War were separately called
upon for certain specified information. COW
ering a much wider field in the case of the
Secretary of War than in the case of the
President. it wa deemed eXpedent to com
bine the two reports and forward them
with all the appendices to the Senate at the
same lime as practically one report. That
was made possible because the subject
matter Was the same IN both reports, the
only difference being that each contained
matter not III the other.
The Presidents report made in spe-
cial response to the resolution introduced
by Senator Penrosc, requesting the Presi-
dent To communicate to the Senate IF not
incompatible with the public interests full
information bearing upon the discharge of
the culoreu troops. 1t is accompanied by
fun copies of the reports of Major A. p.
Blocksom, Lieut.. Col. l.. A. Lowering and
Gen f. \. Darlington. all of the army, the
report OF Mr.. y. b. Nettleton of Illinois of
a private investiea ton made by him at
Brownsville a report by the military sec
rotary giving few instances where regi-
ments or companies were discharged during
the civil war because of misconduct on the
part of some or all of their members, and
statements from two newspapers giving
what are described precedents for the
discharge OF the colored battalion. The
character and point of each OF these latter
documents are fully described in the Presi-
dents message.
Reports of Three Army officers.
About nne-tenths of the Presidents re-
Spouse is made up of the reports of the
three army officers. Major Blocksom made
the original investigation at Brownsville,
and his report includes all the testimony
taken by the Brownsville citizens commit
tee, which is most important, inasmuch as
it forms almost the sole basis for the
Charge that the murderous raid upon
Brownsville was made by colored soldiers.
Col. Lowering conducted subsequent in
vestigation at Fort Reno and examined a
large number of the members of the bat
talon, but developed nothing to strengthen
the testimony taken at Brownsville. Gen.
Darlington also made an investigation at
Fort Reno and by special instructions from
the President cndeavored to the best OF his
ability 10 induce the soldiers to expose the
names of the men guilty of the raid at
Brownsville, but to no effect. Each of the
soldiers examined said he had not taken
part in the raid and had not seen or heard
anything that would indicate who did. The
soldiers were given until a certain date to
furnish the desired information, failing
which. by order of the President, they were
summarily discharged without honor
These three reports were published in
pamphlet form about a month ago and
copies furnished to every newspaper in the
country. The pamphlet formed the answer
of the War Department to the storm of
protests from all parts of the country and
was the cause Of the independent lnvesti-
CATION subsequently conducted under the
auspices OF the Constitutional League of the
United States, the report of which was to
the effect that the soldiers of the 10Th In
fantry could not and did not take part In
the so-called midnight raid
The Presidents message and appendices
also have been printed In pamphlet form
and mailed to all the newspaper offices in
the United States. That is not the case,
however, with the special report of Secre-
tary Taft and appendices prepared in re-
Spouse 10 tne tOraker ana CulDerSon reSo-
lutions. The Secretary's report was print
ed as a separate document and copies given
TO the three press associa tons in this city,
but all the special information called for
by the Foraker and Culberson resolutions
was sent to the Senate in manuscript and
not made available to the press or the pub
lie untii after II reached the Senate. IL is
assumed that the Senate will order II to be
printed for It's own convenience.
The Presidents message IS as follows:
The Presidents Message.
To the Senate:
In response to Senate resolution of De-
cember addressed to me. and to the two
Senate resolutions addressed TO him. the
Secretary of War has. by my direction, sub
mitted to me a report which / herewith
send to the Senate, together with several
documents, including a letter of Gen. Net
Teton and memoranda as to precedents for
the summary discharge mastering out