The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-12-20

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 killing or mniming G
the inmates, including the parents and
children who were still in the we'll
lighted house, and whose escape from
death under such circumstances was as
tonishing. He states that on another
street he daily looks upon fresh bullet
scars where volley from similar Gov
ernment rifles was fired into the side
and windows of hotel occupied at the
time by sleeping or frightened guests
| from abroad who could not possibly
have given any offensc TO the sssail-
ants. 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 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 uuarmed and attempting to es-
cape
Effort to Confute Absurd.
The effort tn confute this testimony
so far has consisted in the assertion or
| implication that the townspoople shot
! one another in order To discredit the
soldiers absurdity too gross 10 need
discussion, and unsupported by shred
| OF evidence. There is no question as 10
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 COM
| rsdes privy to the deed have combined
TO shelter criminals from Justice These
comrades of the murderers, by their
own action, have rendered it necessary
either to leave all the men, including
the murd erors. 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 10 permit such an out
rage to be committed with impunity.
In short, the evidence proves conclu-
sively that a number of the soldiers en-
gagged in deliberate and concerted at
tack, as cold blooded as il was coward
ly; the purpose being to terrorize the
community, and 10 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
fective resistance or defense was out of
the question, and when detection by
United States uniform was well nigh
impossible So much for the original
crime. a blacker never stained the an
mails of our army 1t has been supple
mented by another. only less black, in
the shape Of successful conspiracy OF
silence for the purpose of shielding
those who took part in the original con
spiracy of murder. These soldiers were
not school boys on a frolic, They were
full grown men, in the uniform of the
United States army, armed with deadly
weapons, sworn to uphold the laws of
the United States, and under every OBJ
legation of oath and honor not merely
TO refrain from criminality, but with
the sturdiest rIgor TO hunt down crimi-
nality; and the crime they committed
or connived at was murder. They per
verted the power put into their hands
10 sustain the law into the most deadly
violation of the law. The non-commis-
stoned officers are primarily responsible
for the discipline and good conduct of
the men; they are appointed to their
positions for the very purpose of pre-
serving this discipline and good con
duct, 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, although the ultimate re-
sponsibillty for the discipline can never
be shifted from the shoulders of the lat
ter, Under any ordinary circumstances
the first duty Of the commissioned
officers, as of the commissioned officers,
is to train the private in the ranks so
that he may be an efficient fighting
man against n foreign foe. But there
is an even higher duty, so obvious that
it is not under ordinary circumstances
necessary so much as to allude 10 it
4. .., -. -all hot
he shall be protection and not a men
nee TO his peaceful fellow citizens. and
above all to the women and children
Of the Nation. Unless this duty is we'll
performed the army becomes mere
danperous mob; and if 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 thoroughgoing fashion, IL
would be better that the entire army
should be disbanded 1t is vital for the
army to be imbued with the spirit
which will make every man in it, and
above all, the officers and commits
stoned officers, feel il matter Of high
est obligation to discover and punish,
and not to shield, the criminal in uni
form.
Protecting Assassins.
Yet some Of the non.commissioned
officers and many of the men of the
three companies in question have band
ed together in a conspiracy to protect
the assassins and would assassins
who have disgraced their uniform by
the conduct above related. Many of
these nou.commissioned officers and
men must have known, and all of them
may have known, circumstances which
would have led 10 the conviction of
those engaged in the murderous as
SAINT. They have stolidly and as one
man broken their oaths of enlistment
and refused to help discover the GRIM
inals.
BY my direction every effort was
made to persuade those innocent of muir
der among them 10 separate themselves
from the guilty by helping bring the
criminals TO Justice, They were warned
that if they did not take advantage
OF the offer they would all be dis
charged from the service and forbidden
again to enter the employ of the Gov
ernment They refused to profit by the
warming l accordingly had them dis
charged. If any organization Of troops
in the service, white or black, is guilty
of similar conduct in the future ] shall
follow precisely the same course. I'm
der M circumstance will | consent 70