Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-12-19
President Transmits Informa-
ton Sought Regarding Dis
charge of Negro Troops
ARMY ANNALS BLACKLIST CRIME
That is What Mr.. Roosevelt Terms tho
Shooting Up" of the Town of
BrownsvilIe-Goes Back to Grant for
Precedent-cIaims Support of Every
Good Citizen Of Country.
Continued from Page one.)

firing meant that the townspeople were
attacking the soldiers. 1t was not I'M
til or 3 o'clock in the morning that
any of them became aware of the
truth. / have directed careful in
vestigation into the conduct of the Of
ficers, to see If any Of them were
blameworthy, and / have approved the
of the war department
that two be brought before court
martial.
AS to the non commissioned officers
and enlisted men, there can be no doubt
Whatever that many were necessarily
privy, after 1t not before the attack,
to the conduct of those who took ac-
tual part In this murderous riot. re-
fer to Major Blocksom's report for
proof OF the fact that certainly, some
and probably all of the non-commis-
stoned officers in charge of quarters
who were responsible for the gun
racks and had keys thereto in their
personal possession knew what men
We're engaged in the attack.
Major Penrose, in command of the
post, in his letter gives the reasons why
he was reluctantly convinced that some
OF the men under him--as he thinks.
from Z to 10-got their rifles. slipped
out Of the quarters to do the shooting,
and returned to the barracks without
being discovered, the shooting all oc-
curing within two and a half short
blocks of the barracks. 1t was possible
for the raiders to go from the fort to
the farthest point of firing and return
In TO iy11ttn he ic
lance did not exceed $50 yards.
Such are the facts of this case. Cen
eral Nettleton, in his letter herewith
appended, 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 Springfield rifles
at close range. with the purpose of kill
ing or manning the inmates, including
the parents and children who were still
in the well-lighted house, and whose
escape from death under such circum-
stances was astonishing. He states
that on another street he daily looks
upon fresh bullet scars where a volley
from similar government rifles was
fired into the side and windows of a
or frightened guests from abroad, who
could not possibly have given any Of
Tense to the assailants. He wires that
the chief of the Brownsville police is
again on duty from hospital, and car
ries am empty sleeve because he was
shot by federal soldiers from the adj
jacent garrison in the course of their
foray; and not far away is
the fresh grave of an unoffending cit
izen of the place. a boy in years, who
was wantonly shot down by these Unit
ed States soldiers while unarmed and
to escape.
THE effort to confute this testimony
so far has consisted in the assertion or
that the townspeople shot
one another in order to discredit the
absurdity too gross to need
and unsupported by shred
of evidence. There is no question as to-
the murder and the attempted murders;
there is no question that some of the
soldiers were guilty thereof; there is no
question that many of their comrades
privy to the deed have combined to
shelter the criminals from Justice.
These comrades of the murderers, by
their own action, have rendered it nee
essary either to leave all the men, in
Guiding the murderers, in the army, or
to turn them all out; and under such
circum stances there was no alternative,
for the usefulness of the army would
be at an end were we to permit such
TO no cd Inn
punity.
I'm short, the evidence proves COM
,lusively that a number of the soldiers
engaged in a deliberate and concerted
attack, S cold blooded as it was cow
ardly; the purpose being to terrorize
he community, and to kill or injure
men, women and children in their
homes and beds or on the streets, and
his at an hour of the night whep con-
.erted or effective resistance or de-
tense was out of the question, and>
when detection by Identification of the
in the United States uniform
vas well-nigh impossible. So much for
he original case A blacker never
stained the annals of our army.
Were Fairly Dealt With.
ANY dSScIllOH llldI LllSSc llCu WSiO
lealt with harshly because they were
,olored men is utterly without founda-
ion Officers or enlisted men, white
men or colored men, who were guilty of
such conduct, would have been treated
n precisely the same way: for there
IAN be nothing more important than
or the United States army. in all its
membership. to understand that its
arms can not be turned with impunity
against the peace and order of the
.ivil community.
There are plenty of precedents for
he action taken. I call your attention
% the memoranda herewith submitted
rom the military secretarys office of
he war department. and memoran-
lum from the military secretary en-
dosing a piece by eX-'Corporal Hesse,
low chief of division in the military
office, together with let
err from District Attorney James Will
zinson, of New Orleans. The district
attorneys letter recites several cases
n which white United States soldiers,
being arrested for crime, were tried,
md every soldier and employee of the
'egiment. or in the fort at which the
soldiers was stationed, volunteered all
hey knew, both before and at the
rial. so as to secure justice.
chrome case the soldier was aeQuft-