Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-20
.DELUGE OF PROTESTS
Dismissal of CoIored Battalion
is Unpopular.
LETTERS TO THE OFFICIALS
Further Discharges Suspended by SEQ
rotary Taft.
HAS ADVISED THE PRESIDENT
Definite Instructions From the Latter
Expected Before Many
LETTERS TO THE OFFICIALS
LAS ADVISED THE PRESIDENT

Acting under orders from Secretary Taft.
the military secretary has directed that
iurtner discharges of the men of the three
companies of the 25th Infantry (colored)
on account OF the shooting at Brownsville
Texas. be suspended pending further or
ders. The action was taken by Secretary
Taft pending further advices from Prest-
dent Roosevelt on the subject
The War Department has been deluged
with protests against the order for the
blanket discharge of the entire battalion.
All Of these protests reprobated the action
of the six or eight colored soldiers who
shot up Brownsville and killed one citi-
zen and wounded another, but vigorously
condemned as unfair and unjust" the pun
ishment of the remaining $50 members of
the hattallon who were admittedly not con-
nected with the affair. Since the order for
discharge was issued 1t has developed that
1t includes several men of the three COM
panies who were not even with the bat
talon at brownsville at the time. some be-
ing away on furlough, and at least one be-
ing as far away as this city on sick leave of
absence.
Taft Yielded to Protests
Many church and political organizations
Joined in the request that the case be re-
considered with view to relieving the in
nocent members of the battalion from
equal punishment with the guilty.
At a mass meeting, in the Mount Olivet
Baptist Church in New York Sunday. reso-
lutions severely denouncing the President
for his action were unanimously adopted.
Similar meetings have been held in nearly
every city.
1t was because of these and similar repre-
sensations that Secretary Taft, in the alb
sence OF the President, assumed the respon-
sibfl!ty Of calling halt in the discharge of
the soldiers. 1t least until he could person
ally communicate with the President who
was then about to leave Colon on his way
home. He sent cable message to the
President Saturday afternoon, but 50 far as
known has received no reply. Secretary
Taft, who has been to New Haven and
New York on business. returned here this
afternoon.
The President is now on the high seas
and is expected to arrive at Ponce, p R.,
this evening or tomorrow morning at the
latest. He may be heard from by wireless
telegraphy today. but it is regarded as
Taft until he arrives at Ponce. when he
can make more satisfactory use of the
cable system.
Discharge Of the Soldiers.
A press report from Fort Reno, Okla,
said the discharge of the colored troops
there began yesterday, when twenty-five
were paid off and given travel pay to their
homes The dispatch added that twenty.
five or thirty men will be discharged each
day as the rolls are completed until all
OF the three companies of the 18th Infantry
have been dismissed from the service.
1t was the plan of the War Department
to make the discharges in the way indicat-
ed, but 1t was supposed that Secretary
Taft's order had precluded any further dis
charges at this time. 1t is said at the
War Department that the only members
of the 25th Infantry already reported dis
charged in connection with the Brownsville
affair were the six suspects held in GUS
tody at San Antonio, Texas. but against
whom there was no direct evidence If
the men mentioned were discharged at
Fort Reno yesterday 1t was apparently in
violation Of Secretary Taft's orders against
such action. For that reason and in the
absence Of official information the officials
of the War Department do not credit the
story that the discharges have begun at
Fort Reno.
The men. however, have been disarmed.
and the general order issued by the War
Department has been read to them Many
pathetic Incidents have occurred at Fort
Reno, whore the disarming is in progress
Soldiers Fho have been twelve, twenty
and twenty-five years in the service have
wept like children when they surrendered
their rifles.
General divers Explanation.
1.-THE real motive which actuated the
President in ordering the discharge of
Companies B, c and D of the 18th Infan-
try" said Assistant Secretary Oliver yes
terday afternoon, docs not seem ever to
have been made clear to the people of the
country. 1t was to protect citizens from
future outraSes, such as occurred at
Brownsville. Tex. last August, that It be-
came necessary to discharge these men. Be-
fore taking such drastic action every effort
was made by the War Department to ascer-
tain the names Of those soldiers who ac-
tually fired into the dwellings of the citi-
zens of Brownsville, endangering the lives
OF their wives and children, but without
avan. The fact that the men who used the
weapons furnished them by the United
States to attack innocent citizens were
members of these three companies and that
their actions were upheld by the other MEM
bers OF the companies was sufficient ground
to dismiss all the men in the companies
Not only would those companies have
been menace to the peace Of the commu-
mites in which they might have been sta
TONED, but the fact that they had not been
Brownsville might have been an incentive
to other troops, either white or black, to
have started similar riots in the future
II wish to emphatically state that these
men are not being discharged because they
are coiored. but because they have shown
themselves individually to be unfit for serv-
Ice in the United States army. White SOL
QicISp lidO tiicy SImIdIly VlOldtcQ In6 re2us
lations Of the army and the laws of the
land. would have been summarily dismissed
In just the same way.
1t is reported that further Investigation
will be made and certain officers may be
called on for an explanation in connection
with the movements Of these men at the
time the Brownsville incident occurred.
1t transpired this afternoon that Secre-
tary Taft consulted Secretary Root Satur-
day afternoon before directing the tenn
porary suspension of the Presidents order
for the discharge of the battalion of the
18th Infantry and communicating with the
President MT Colon on the subject.
Not Surprise at Fort Reno.
FORT RENO. Okla. November 20
The order from Washington to hold in
allegiance the order discharging the ne
gro troops without honor Gid not como
as a complete surprise at Fort Reno.
Military men who have watched the ex-
tent of the public feeling against the
discharge orders have believed that the
War Department would delay the carry