The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-12-20


engaged in the attack.
Major Penrose. in command of the post,
In his letter Included in the Appendix
gives the reasons why he was reluctantly
convinced that some of the men under
hinl-as he thinks, from to 10-got their
rifles slipt out of quarters to do the shoot
ing, and retired to the barracks without
being discovered, the shooting all occur
ring within two and a half short blocks
of the barracks. 1t was possible for the
raiders to go from the fort to the fartbest
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. Cen
eral Nettleson. in his letter herewith APP
pended, states that next door to where
he is writing in Brownsville is a small
cottage where children's party had just
broken up before the house was ,riddled
by United States bullets, fired by United
states troops, from United States Spring
field rifles at close range. with the pur-
pose of killing or manning the inmates,
including the parents and children who
were still in the well-lighted house, and
whose escape from death under such cir
cumstances was astonishing. He states
that on another street he daily looks upon
fresh bullet sears where yolley 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 posi-
blv have given any offense to the assail-
ants. He writes that the chief of the
Brownsville police is again on duty from
hospital and carries an empty sleeve be-
cause he was shot by Federal soldiers
from the adjacent garrison in the course
of their murderous foray; and not far
away is the fresh grave of an unoffending
citizen of the place, a boy in years. who
was wantonly shot down by these United
States soldiers while unarmed and at
tempting to escape.
The effort to confute this testimony 50
far has consisted in the assertion or inn
plcation that the townspeople shot one
another in order to dscredit the soldiers
an absurdity too gross to need discus
sion, and unsupported by shred of evil
dence There is no question as to the
murder and the attempted murders; there
is no question that some of the soldiers
We're guilty thereof; there is no question
that many of their comrades privy TO the
deed have combined to shelter the Grim
inals from Justice. These comrades of
the murderers by their own action. have
rendered it necessary either to leave all
the men, including the murders, in the
army, or to turn them all out; and under
such circumstances there was no alter
native, for the usefulness of the army
would be at an end were we to permit
impunity.
In short, the evidence proves conolu-
sively that a number of the soldiers en-
gagged in a deliberate and concerted at
tack, as cold blooded as it was cow
ardly; the purpose being to terrorize the
community, and to kill or injure men,
women, and children in their homes and
beds or on the streets, and this at an
hour of the night when concerted or eff
fectiye resistance or defense was out Of
the question, and when detection by iden'
tification of the criminals in the United
States uniform was well-nigh impossible.
So much for the original crime. A black
err never stained the annals of our army.
1t has been supplemented by another,
only less black, in the shape of sue
cessful conspiracy of silence for the pur-
pose of shielding those who took part In
the original conspiracy of murder. These
soldiers were not school boys on n frolic.
They were full-grown men, in the uni
form of the United States army, armed
with deadly weakons, 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 sturdest rigor to hunt down
crimnality; 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
stoned officers are primarily responsible
for the discipline and good conduct Of the
men: they are appointed to their posi-
! tions for the very purpose OF preserving
| this discipline and good conduct, and OF
| detecting and securing the punishment OF
! every enlisted man who does what is
| wrong They fill, with reference to the
discipline, a part that the commissioned
| officers are of course unable to fill, al
| tho the ultimate responsibility for the
discipline can never be shifted from the
| shoulders of the latter. Under any ordi-
nary circumstances the first duty of the
noncommissioned officers, as of the COM
| missioned officers, Is to train the private
| in the ranks so that he may be an eff
fcient fighting man against a foreign foe,
But there is an even higher duty, so OBJ
vlous that 1t is not under ordinary cir
| cumstances necessary SO much as to al
Jude to 1.-THE duty of training the soldier
so that he shall be a protection and
not a menace to his peaceful fellow citi-
zens, and above all to the women and
| children of the nation. Unless this duty
| is we'll performed, the army becomes a
| mere dangerous mob; and IL conduct such
| as that of the murderers in question is
not, where possible, punished, and. where
| this is not possible, unless the chance Of
| its repetition is guarded against in the
most thorogoing fashion, it would be bet
banded. 1t is vital for the army to be
| imbued with the spirit which will make
| every man in 1t, and above all, the Of
| fcers and noncommissioned officers, feel
! it a matter of highest obligation to dis
cover and punish, and not to shield, the
| criminal in uniform.
| Yet some of the noncommssioned Of
fcers and many of the men of the three
companies in question have banded to-
| gether in a conspiracy to protect the as
sassins and would-be assassins who have
| disgraced their uniform by the conduct
above related Many of these noncom-
| missioned officers and men must have
known, and all of them may have known,
| circumstances which would have led to
| the conviction of those engaged in the
| murderous assault. They have stolidly
and as one man broken their oaths of en-
| listment and refused to help discover tho
! criminals.
By my direction every effort was made
| to persuade those innocent of murder
among them to separate themselves from
| the guilty by helping bring the criminals
TO justice. They were warned that IL they
| did not take advantage of the offer they
would all be discharged from the service
and forbidden again to enter the employ
of the Government. They refused 20
profit by the warning. / accordingly had
them discharged. If any organization OF
| troops in the service. white or black, is
E, guilty of similar conduct in the future
] shall follow precisely the same course.
| Under no circumstances will | consent 20
| keep in the service bodies of men whom
] the circumstances show to be menace
! to the country. Incidentally l may add
| that the soldiers of longest service and
highest position who suffered because OF