The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-12-06
BROWNSVILLE RAID
TREATED BY TAFT.
Good Of the Service Demanded
Discharge of Colored
Soldiers. { "
MURDERERS SHIELDED (.
BY SERVANTS OF LAW
Men Sworn to Support Govern
ment Hid Facts of Crimes, /.
!, i He Reports.
Special To The Journal,

Special to The Journal. &
Washington. Dec. CO. There. can be
no doubt that the squad of men who
moved. together from the fort to the
town and did this shooting were guilty
of murder in the first degree. He Gin
spector General Garlington), became
convinced that there was conspiracy
the criminals and while he conceded
that there might be a number of men
innocent both of the crime and of the
suppression Of evidence, he deemed. it
necessary, in the interest and for the
good of the service to recommend the
issuing of the order, which he had told
the men would be made and enforced,
unless evidence pointing to the crimi-
mails was forthcoming
The above are extracts from the an
nual report of Secretary Of War Taft,
issued yesterday, in which he reviews
at length the discharge of three COM
panies of colored soldiers as the result
of the shooting up" of Brownsville,
Texas. President Roosevelt has been
criticized for indorsing the order Of
General Darlington, but Secretary
Taft's report is eloquent in the defense
of the attitude of his chief
T., Soldiers Shielded slayers.
Every effort was made to clear the
mystery that enshrouded the raiding of
the little Texas town, says Secretary
Taft, but the secret has proved impen-
etrable. 1t was not the desire to dis
charge the entire battalion for the
crimes, which evidence indicates were
committed by members of the battalion
but the knowledge that single battal-
ion of soldiers, which harbored from
nine to twenty ! murderers. would
strike terror in the hearts of any com
mnnitv in which it CHANGED to be sta
toned, forced the issue.
Every angle Of the affair is treated
in the report. The evidence with a few
exceptions, points against the soldiers.
The bullets which were suot with reck-
less a bandon into houses and hotels,
one of which killed barkeeper and
another that seriously wounded the
chief Of police of Brownsville, accord
ing to reliable testimony, were of the
caliher and model of those used in the
new army service rifle. Expressions
shouted by the raiders as they pursued
their murderous march thru the town
indicated that they sought to avenge
the Sights Of which they had been the
brunt.
80 Woman and Babes Fired On. mi
In the favor of the men is the testi-
hony tldC HoHe was dDSeHI at I0licall
and all rifles We're clean when exam
ined.. 1t, is also said that no rifles were
missing when the men were called to
arms, altho one, of the racks was
broken. This accident resulted from the
haste of the men to get their rifles
when the call to arms was sounded, &C.
eording to testimony.
/ From seventy-fv to one hundred and
fifty bullets were fred during the raid
according to the evidence in the hands
of Secretary Taft. In nearly every in
stance these were fired into buildings
at from four to six feet above the
floors. In one case the balls were sent
crashing into room in which were hud-
died woman and several children
The shooting of the chief of police
and the killing of the barkeeper were
exceedingly brutal. The former, hear
Ing the shots and cries Of the raiders,