The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-12-23
no GATHER FACTS
President Determined to Stand Pat
and Thwart Foraker's Attempt to
Be Avenged for War on Trusts.
Would Defy Congress If Resolutions
Was Passed Commanding Rein
statement of Black Soldiers.

the president s course is entirely in har.
mony with that which he pursued whom
he ousted John Goodnow of Minnesota,
and Robert w. McWade of Pennsyl-
vania, from the consular service in the
far east. He was urged by friends Of
both these gentlemen to permit the
cases against them to be brought to
trial, but he refused: admitting frankly
that he had not sufficient evidence to
convict them Of crime. At that time
he. said that he would never consent, as
president, to keeping men in govern
ment employ who had laid themselves
open to the grave suspicious which had
attached to Goodnow and McWade.
While there was not enough evidence to
convict them in court, there was
enough, in his opinion, to demonstrate
that they were not entitled to remain
in the service.
i (; With the co1ored troops, it is quite
conceivable that white men may have
fblacked their faces and stshot. up =
Brownsville for the purpose of injuring
the reputation Of the colored troops Of
the .Twenty-ffth regiment. It is also
conceivable that the man who shot
| Captain Macklin of that regiment last
night was also white man, with face
BACKED. But while these things are
clearly possible, the president holds
that they are extremely improbable.
| / ''shot Up Other Towns.
In their ~eagerness to attack the
4 presid dent, some of the more prominent
defenders of the colored troops insist
upon circulating the report, in the press
and elsewhere, that the order of dis
charge embraces also the members of
1 the battalion who are on furlough. It
| is enough to say that this statement is
1 false. The men on furlough at the
/ time of the riots are still in the service
land will remain there. The shooting
Of Captain Macklin last night is water
on the presidents Wheel according to
those who are following the case in this
| city, and serves to show something of
the desperate characters of the men. in
the discharged battalion. ......
/ AS bearing on this same point, Sena-
tor Lodge, who is to make reioinder
to the Foraker speech, has had inserted
in the Congressional Record that part
Of the evidence in the case taken from
war department records which shows
that the Twenty-ffth regiment has ON
several occasions since 1885 been guilty
Of precisely the conduct charged
against it at Brownsville. On the night
of Sept: 10, 1885, about twenty mem
bers of the Twenty fifth regiment, then
stationed at Fort Meade, near Sturgis,
S. D., "shot up'' that town, but killed
no one. They fred several volleys into
houses on the main street of the town.
and court martial. decided that the
marauders belonged to Company II.
"Broke Loose in Nevada.
June 80, 1899, the Twenty-6fth regi-
ment was on train en- route to Frisco,
where it was to sail for the Philippines.
The train stopped for supper at Winnie
mucca, New, and the officers proceeded
to a hotel, two blocks from the depot.
The troops got out Of the car toward
the rear Of the train and hocked to
1 saloon hear at hand, of which they took
possession, terrorizing the vicinity.
| Many shots were fred, and the saloon
keeper was severely wounded. His
establishment was damaged to the ex-
tent of 5000 in goods destroyed and
stolen. BY the time the officers reached
E the scene, all the men were back in
their places in the cars. and it was not
possible to ascertain who had done the
mischief.
Oct. 10, 1899, dozen members Of
Company Twenty regiment,
wantonly assaulted four peaceful In
dams at San Carlos agency, California,
beating them into insensibllity. A mum
Der of arrests were made, and four men
turned state g evidence, securing the
conviction of the others. This is the
only one Of the outragesg which was fol
LEVIED by any punishment until the out
rage at Brownsville occurred.
! Feb. 10, 1900, at night, twenty mem
bers Of Company A of the Twenty fifth
regiment got possession of their guns
and went to El Paso, Texas, nearby,
where they stormed the Jail and rescued
! two Of their comrades improsined for
drunkenness and disorderly conduct.
During the melee many shots were fred
and the Jailer was killed. Two Of the
soldiers were also killed.
Every Gun IN Place.
The soldier in charge q the rifles al
D the fort said the keys tosthe gunstocks
were stolen from under his pillow while
/ he slept. A rollcall, ordered at once,
showed the guns in the racks, which
lwere locked. and every member Of the