Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-23
CLASSED AS MARTYRS
DISMISSAL OF coLoRED TROOPS
SUBJECT OF CRITICISM.
Address by Thomas I. Jones, Colored
Attorney, in Which President
Roosevelt is Scored.

The dismissal OF the colored troops by the
President was the subject of criticism by
Attorney Thomas L. Jones at meeting of
the National Anti-Jim Crow Car Association.
held Wednesday evening at GIG D street
northwest. Attorney Jones said, in part:
1.-THE question which brings us together
is one of more than ordinary interest and
Importance to the 100000 colored Amer
leans in this country. AS I stand before
you, my fellow-citizens, the words Of the
great Prophet jeremiah loom up before
me, oh, that my head were waters and
mine eyes a fountain of tears, that might
weep day and night for the slain Of the
daughters of my people,
by the stroke Of the pen of the chief
magistrate of the nation, Theodore Roose-
welt, 200 of the truest, most gallant and
the bravest of American soldiers have been
dismissed from the army and turned out
like dogs upon the cold charities of the
world. These martyrs, who have not only
sustained the honor and the dignity Of the
American flag at home but whose gallant
and patriotic service in distant possessions
in the far east has won the praise and
admiration of the world, have nowhere to
lay their heads
Services and Hardships.
when think of the services these black
patriots have rendered to their countrys
flag, the hardships, the deprivations away
from country and their native land, and
when I think of their wives and children
and the great sacrifice which they endured
facing the mouth of the cannon, the shower
of shot and shell to uphold the glory of
the flag of their country, and when I think
that in their old age, by reason of the
service they have rendered to their country
NJ Tor C ut hnr no ion rar.
avocation in life; and when think that by
this sweeping order of their enemy in the
White House they are discharged from the
army, denied their law-given right of
pension, debarred from the Soldiers Home
and prevented from either enlisting again
or holding any position under the govern
ment-when l think of all this I can but
wonder whether patriotism Is but a name
and the gratitude of this nation mere
mockery.
There is a maxim OF law, hoary with age,
which says that it is better ninety nine
guilty persons should escape than one inno-
cent should be punished. The American
people will demand of the President of the
United States to tell them what evidence
he has in his possession upon which he has
In this act convicted without trial or jury
hundreds of American soldiers and dis
missed them from the army in disgrace.
Alleges Injustice.
1.-THE injustice practiced upon these faith
is so palpable as to arouse the righteous in
dignation of all who believe in the square
deal and the open door of hope which the
President has openly and publicly expound-
ed. but which, in later days, for reasons
known best to himself, he has repudiated,
and Joined hands with that element of the
south which has always been opposed to the
negro in this country and will do anything
to keep him down.
Has the President forgotten that at the
battle of Santiago when he was enveloped
in a cloud of shot and shell and bullet and
when his regiment had almost been exter-
minated, when the list New York Regiment
had failed of their mission, and when hope
seemed to have fled, 1t was then the black
American soldiers, climbing the parapet,
walking over the PROSTATE forms of the
dead and dying in the midst of rain and
hail of Spanish bullets, assembled the hill
and saved him from death, rescued his COM
mand from humiliation and planted the
American flag of victory on Ell Caney's
bloody summit?
Has he forgotten all this and the fact
that he Is today the President of the United
States by reason of the services of the very
black men that he has dsgraced? When I
think of this outrage on his part can but
say: Oh, Justice, where is thy virtue; oh
Liberty, where is thy throne"