Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-12-20
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
CONTINUED from Page One.)

have known. in one house in which
there were two women and five children
about ~. feet above the floor, one putting
out the lamp upon the table. The lieu
tenant of police of the town heard the
firing and rode toward it. He met the
raiders who. as he stated, were about
Is cclored soldiers. They instantly start
ed firing upon him. He turned and rode
off. and they continued firing upon him
until they had killed his horse. They
shot him in the right arm Git was after
WARD amputated above the elbow. y
: number of shots were also fired at two
| other policemen. The raiders fired sev
| eral times into u hotel. some of the shots
! being aimed at a guest sitting by Il Win
dow. They shot into a saloon, killing
! the bartender and woundinS another
! man AT The same time other raiders
fired into another house ir which wo-
i men ana children w"rr sleeping. Two of
! the shots going thru the mosquito bar
over the bed in which tn" mistress of the
, house and her two children Were lying.
Several other houses were struck by bull
: LET'S. 1t was at night. ard the streets of
the town arc poorly lighted. SO that none
Of the individual raiders were recognized:
but the evidence of many witnesses of
all classes was conclusive to the effect
that the raiders were negro soldiers.
j.; The shattered bullets. shell. and clips of
| the Government Lilies. which Were found
on the ground, are merely corroborative.
So are the bullet holes in the houses ::
, some Of which it appears must. from the
direction. have been fired from the fort
+ just at the moment when the soldiers
| left it. Not a bullet hole appears in any
| of the structures of the fort.
The townspeoplc were completely
| SURPRISED by the unDrovokcd and muir
| derous savagery of the attack. The sol
| uiers werc the aggressors from start to
| finish They met with no substantial re-
SiStance. and ono and ell took part in
| that raid stand as deliberate rurderers
who did murder one man.. who
tried TO murder others. and d;,, who
| The act was one of horrible atroCity. and
| so far as ! am aware. unparalleled for
| infamy in the annals of the United States
Army.
The white officers of the companies
were completely taken by surrrize and
| at first evidently believed that The firing
| meant that the tnwnspeople We're al
| lacking the soldiers. 1t was not until ;
| or o'clock in tn" morning that any of
| them became aware of the truth. I have
, directed a careful investigation into the
conduct of the officers. to see if any of
| them were blameworthy. and I have ar
proved the recommendation NJ the War
| Department that two be brought before
a cOurt-martial.
As to the noncommissioned officers and
| whatever that many were necessarily
privy. after if not before the attack, to
| the conduct of those who took actual
part in this murdcrous riot. | refe: to
| fact that certainly some and probably
, all of the noncommiSsioncd officers in
charge of quarters who were responsible
| for tho gur-raCks and had KEYS thereto
| in their personal possession knew what
men were engaged in tie attack.
| Major Penrosc, in command of the
post. in his Letter Gncluded in the APP
pentliX) gives the reasons why he was
reluctantly convinced thai some of the
| men under hin-as he thinks. from { to
| 10-got their rifles, slint out of quarters
| to DO the shooting. and returned to the
barracks without being discovered. the
| shooting all occurring within two and Il
! half short blocks of the barracks. II 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 rot exceed $50 yards.
Such are the facts of this case. Cen
| eral Nettlcton. in his letter herewith ap-
| pended. states that next door 10 where
| he is writing in Brownsville is a small
| cottage where u chldren's party had
| Just broken up before the house was rid
died by United States bullets. fired by
| United States troops. from United States
| Springfield rifles, at close range, with the
| purpose of killing or manning the in
| mates including the parents and children
who were still in the well-lighted house,
and whose escape from death under such
| circumstances was astonishing. He
states that on another street he daily
| looks upon fresh bullet scars where Il
volev from similar Government rifles
WdS HTeu INTO tnt S'ue ana WlntONS vi d
| hotel occupied at the time by sleeping or
| frightened guests from abroad who could
| not possibly have given any offense to
| the ASSISTANTS. He writes that the chief
| of the Brownsville police is again on
| duty from hospital. and carries an empty
| sleeve because he was shot by Federal
| soldiers from the adjacent garrison in
| the course of their murderous foray: and
| not fer away is the fresh grave of an
| unnffendng citizen of the place. = boy in
| wears, who was wantonlv shot down by
| these United S.ates soldiers while I'M
| armed and attempting to escau".
| The effort to refute this testimony SO
| far has consisted in the assertion or I'M
| plcation that the townspeoplc shot one
another in order to discredit the soldiers
| an abSlirdity too gross to need discus
| sion, and unsupported Ey 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
wcr" guilty thereof; there is no
| question that many of their conf
rades privy TO the deed have combined
to shelter the criminals from justice.
| their own action, have rendered Ii neccs-
| Sary either TO leave all the men. incl,d-
| ing the nlurderers. in the Army. or to
| turn them all out; and under such cir
| culnStante S there was no alternative, for
| tie usefulness of the Army would be at
| an end wcrc We to permit such an ou.-
rage to be committed with lmpunty.
In short. the evidence proves conclu-
|
| gagged in Il deliberate and concerted at
| tack, as cold blooded as II was COwardly:
| the purpose being to terrOriZe the COM
| munity, ard to kill or injure men, wo-
men, and children in their homes and
beds or on the streets, and this at an
hour of the night when concerted or cf-
| fective resistance or defense was out of
! the question. and when detection by
, identification of the criminals in the
| United States uniform was rwel-nigl inn
| possible So much for the original crime
| A blacker never stained the annals of our
| army. At has been supplemented by an
other. only less black. in the shape of a
| successful conspiracy of silence for the
purpose of shielding those who took part
| in the original conspiracy Of murder
! These soldiers were not school boys on
q frolic. They were fuil-grown Inen, in
the uniform of the United States Army
armed with deadly weapons sworn t.
! uphold the l1ws of the United Stater. and
under every obligation of oath and homo,
not merely to refrain from criminality
but with the sturdcst r.gor to hunt
down criminality: and the crime they
committed or connived at was murder
They prevented the power put into their
hands to sustain the law into the most
deadly violation of the law The non
| commissioned officers are primarily re-
sponsible for the discipline and good con,
duct Of the men: they are appointed tC
their positions for the very purpose OF
!