The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-20
ROOSEVELT TELLS TIE SENATE
 WHY NEGROES WERE DISCHARGED

the town heard the firing and rode to- T ward It. He met the raiders, who, as he stated, were about fifteen coiorea soldiers. They instantly started iiring upon him He turned and rode off. and they continued firing upon him until they had killed hts horse. They shot him in the right arm Qt was atter wards atnputated above the elbow.) A number of shots were also fired at two 1 other policemen. The raiders fired several times Into a hotel. some or the 2 shots being aimed at n guest sitting by a window. They shot into saloon, killing the bartender and woundlnB another man. At the same time other raiders fired into another house III which women and children were sleep ing, two of the shots going through the mosquito bar over the bed in whlcn the mistress of the house and her two children were lying. Several other houses were struck by Outlets. 1t was at night and the streets of the town I are poorly lighted, so that none of the individual raiders were recognized; put t..e evidence of many witnesses of all Iclasses was conclusive to the effect that the raiders were negro soldiers. The shattered bullets, shells, and clips of the Government rifles, which were found on the ground, are merely corro- borative. So are the bullet holes in the houses; some of which 1t appears must from the direction have been fir ed from the fort just at the moment when the soldiers left 1t. Not bullet hole appears in any of the structures or the fort.
 The townspeopIe were completely surprised by the unprovoked and mur- derous savagery of the attack. The soldiers were the aggressors from start to finish. They mat with no substan- tial resistance and one and all Wno took part in that raid stand as deli herate murderers, who did murder one man, who tried to murder others, and who tried to murder women and chil- dren. ne act was one of hOrrible at- Tocity, and so far as I am aware, un- paralleled for infamy in the annals O. the United States Army.
 The white officers of the companies were completely taken by surprise, ana at first evidently believed that the firing meant that the towns-people were at, tacking the soldiers. It was not until 2 or o'clock in the morning that any of them became aware of the truth. l have diFected careful tnVesugation into the conduct of the officers. to see if any of them were blameworthY, ana IT have approved the recommendation of tbe War Department that two be brought before a court-martial.
 Non-Coms Were Privy.
 As to the noncommissioned ofdcers and enlisted men, there can be no doubt whatever that many were reces- sarily privy, after if not before tue att itaok, to the conduct of those who took actual part in this murdero1s riot.
 
 lproof of the fact that certainly some and probably all ef the noncornmission- cd officers in charge or quarters who were responsible for the gun-raeks and had keys thereto in their personal &posession knew what men were engag- ed in the attack
 Major Penrose, in command of the post. in his letter (included in the Appendix) gives the reasons why ne the men under hirn--as he thinks from Isecen to ten--got their rifles, slipped out lof quarters to do the shootings and re- turned to the barracks without being discovered, the shooting all occurring within two and a half short blocks or the barracks. It was possible for the raiders to go from the fort to the farthest point of firing and return in less than ten minutes, for the distance did not exceed $50 yards.
 Such are the facts of this case. Gen eral Nettleton, in his letter herewith appended states that next door to where he is writing in Brownsville is a small cottage where children's par T ty had just broken up before the house was riddled by United States bullets, fired by United States troops, from Uni ted States Springfield rifles, at close range, with the purpose of killing or mafming the inmates, including the pa rents and children who were still Tn the Well-lighted house, and whose es- cape from death under such ctrcum- stances was astonishing. He states that on another street he daily looks upon fresh bullet scars where vol lev from similar Government rifles was fired into the side and windows of a hotel occupied at the time by sleeping or frightened guests from abroad who could not possibly have given any of fense to the assailants. He writes that - the chief of the Brownsville police Is again on duty from hospital. and car ries and empty sleeve because he was shot by Federal soldiers from the adJa- cent garrison in the course of their murderous foray; and not far away is the fresh grave of an unoffendtng citt- zen of the place. q boy in years, who was wantonly shot down by these Uni7 ted States soldiers while unarmed and attempting to escape
 The effert to confute this testimony so far has consisted in the assertion or implication that the townspeople shot one another in order to discredit the soIdiers-an absurdity too gross to need discussion. and unsupported by shred of evidence. There is no question as to the murder and the attempted murders; there is no question that some of the soldiers were guilty there of; there Is no question that many of their comrades privy to the deed have combined to shelter the criminals from justice. These comrades of the mur- darers. by their own action. have rem dered 1t necessary either 10 leave all the men. including the murderers, in the Army. or to turn them all out; and under such circumstances there was no alternative. for the usefulness of the Army would be at an end were We to permit such an outrage to be committed with impunity.
 Cold BIOOded and COwardIy.
 In short, the evidence proves conclus- tveIy that a number of the soldiers en- gagged in a deliberate concerted attack as cold bloOded as 1t was cOwardly; the purpose being to terrorize the com munity, and tc kill or iniure men, women. and children in their homes and beds or on the streets. and this at an hour of the night when concerted oI effective resistance or defense was out nf the duestion, and when detection by Identification of the criminals in the United States uniform was well-nigh impossible. So much for the original crime blaoker never stained the an- nals of our Army. It has been supple mented by another. only less black, in the shape of a successful conspiracy of those who took part in the original conspiracy of murder These soldiers were not school boys on q frolic. They were full grown men, in the uniform af the United States Army armed with deadly weapons. sworn to uphold the laws of the United States, and under every obligation of oath and honor not merely to refrain from criminality, but with the sturdiest rigor to hunt down criminality; and the crime they com mitted or connived at was murder They perverted the power put into their hands to sustain the law into the most deadly violation of the law The nancommissioned officers are primarily