The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-20
President ReciteS the Crime Committed at Brownsville. SAYS CLAIM MADE
 FOR MEN IS ABSURD Reports of Officers Accompany Statement Sent to
 Senators.
  if Blacks Persist In Standing By Crfm- inals There VIII Be Day of Rech- oning says Chief Executive Cites Precedent For Action.

Washington, Dec. 19-President Roosevelt today complied with the re- quest of the Senate made on the second day of the season in transmitting to that body transcript of testimony and documents connected with the dis charge of 8 battalion of negro troops of the 18th Infantry.
 The message was decidedly severe in the criticism of the soldiers alleged to be concerned in shooting up the town" of Brownsville, Texas. Its read ing was listened to intently.
 The full text of the Presidents mes- sage is as follows:
 To the Senate:
 In response to Senate resolution of December addressed to me, and to the two Senate resolutions addressed to him, the Secretary of War has, by my direction, submitted to me a re- port which herewith send to the Sem ate, together with several documents, including letter of General Nettle- ton and memoranda as to precedents for the summary discharge or muster ing out of regiments or companies, some or all of the members of which had been guilty of misconduct.
 I ordered the discharge of nearly all the members of Companies B, C, and D of the 10th Infantry by name, in the exercise of my constitutional power and in pursuance of what, after full consideration, I found to be my con- stitutional duty as Commander In am glad to avail myself of the oppor- tunity' afforded by these resolutions to lay before the Congress the following facts as to the murderous conduct of certain members of the companies In question and as to the conspiracy by which many of the other members of these companies saved the criminals from justice, to the disgrace of the United States uniform.
 I call your attention to the accom- panying reports of Major Augustus P. BIocksom, of Lieutenant Colonel Leon ard A. Lowering, and of Brigadter GeA- eral Ernest A. Darlington, the Inspec- tor-General of the United States Army, of their investigation into the conduct of the troops in question. An effort has been made to discredit the fairness of tho investigation into the conduct of these colored troops by pointing out that General Darlington is Souther- ner. Precisely the. same action would have been taken had the troops been probably have been made in more summary fashion. General Darlington is a native of South CarolIna; Lieuten- ant-ColoneI Lowering Is native Of New HamDSnlrGs N1a1OF blOckSCm IS q native of Ohio. As 1t happens, the dis closure of the guilt of the troops was made tn the report of the officer who comes from Ohio, and the efforts of the officer who comes from South Carolina were confined to the endeavor to shield the innocent men of the companies in question, if any such there were, by securing information which would en- able us adequately to punish the gull ty. But I wish it distinctly under stood that the fact of the birthplace of either officer is one which absolutely refuse to consider. The standard Of professional honor and of loyalty to the flag and the service is the same for all officers and all enlisted men of the United States Army, and l resent with the keenest indignation any effort to draw any line among them based upon birthplace, creed, or any other consideration of the kind. l should put the same entire faith in these reports if it had happened that they were all made by men coming from some one State, whether in the South or the North the East or the West, as l now do, when, as it happens, they were made by officers born in different
 No Conflicting Testimony.
 Major Blocksoms report is most careful, is based upon the testimony of scores of eyewitnesses--testimo which coaflicted only in nonessentlals and which established the essential facts beyond chance of successful con- tradiction. Not only has no success full effort been made to traverse his findings in any essential particular, but, as matter of fact every trustworthy report from outsiders amply corrobo- rates them, by far the best of these outside reports being that of General A. B. Nettleton, made in letter to the Secretary of War, which I herewith append; General Nettleton being an ex- Union soldier, a consistent friend of the colored man throughout his life a lifelong Republican. a citizen of Illi- nois, and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under President Harrison.
 It appears that in Brownsville, the city immediately beside which Fort Brown is situated, there had been con- siderable feeling between the citizens and the colored troops of the garrison companies. Difficulties had occurred there being a conflict of evidence as to whether the citizens or the colored troops were to blame My impression is that, as a matter of fact in these diff aculties there was blame attached to both sides; but this is wholly unm- portant matter for our present purpose, as nothing that occurred offered in any shape or way an excuse or Justification for the atrocious conduct of the troops when, in laWless and murderous spirit. and under cover of the night. they made their attack upon the citizens.
 The attack was made near midnight on August 13. The following facts as to this attack are made clear by Major BIOCkSOnS lnNeStlBdllOn anu nave not been. and. in my judgment. can not be. successfully controYerted, From nine to fifteen or twenty of the colored sol diers took part in the attack They leapt over the walls from the barracks and hurried through the town. They shot at whenever they saw moving. and they shot into houses wher they saw lights In some of these houses there were women and children, as the vould-be murderers must have known. Tn one house in which there were two women and five children some ten shots went through at d height of about four and half feet above the door, one putting out the lamp upon the table. The lieutenant Of police Of