The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-06
TAFT'S REPORT TELLS OF
 BROWNSVILLE OUTRAGE

was very carefully considered before ] can not see my way clear to rescind
 The fact Is that a certain amount or or race prejudice between white and universal throughout the country, and no matter where colored troops arc sent sent there are always some who make tact, however, as shown by our records that colored troops are quite as well disciplined and behaved as the average logical to anticipate any greater trouble from them than from the rest Friction occasionally arises with in- stationed, but the records of the army also tend to show that white soldiers average greater degree of intemper- times happened that communities which objected to the coming of col ored soldiers, have. on account of their good conduct. entirely changed their havior to the War Department.
 change or station was necessary for these colored troops, and one third oi the regiment Ca battalion) had all ready been sent to Fort Bliss, Tex, more than six months ago. Since that time no complaint concerning their ment so far as I know. It was also necessary to send the entire regiment to the same locality and to have sent two moves for the battalion now at Fort Bliss within about six months This would have been an injustice to addition. have entailed considerable ex- tra expense upon the government.
 Trusting this explanation may be satisfactory to your constituents, re- main.
 Very truly yours,
 Secretary of War"
 The battalion was accordingly sent to Fort Brown in command of Major c, W. PenrOse. and arrived there July zS. 1906. Soon after its arrival, un- the enlisted men and some townspeo- pie. As is usual in such cases, there was contradictory evidence as to the were doubtless due primarily to the resentment of certain of the towns people at the proximity of a negro bat talion The instances of friction were numerous and notorious enough to be the cause of much discussion in the barrack rooms of the three companies The feeling of the enlisted men was also aroused by a discrimination in- sisted on in most of the saloons of the town. in which separate bars were pro- vided for them. No serious injury was done to any of the colored soldiers. al though one of them was knocked down by a government official named Tate with a clubbed revolver for jostling
 
 was pushed off a gang plank by a cus- toms inspector into the mud of the Rio Grande, because drunk and disOrderly as it was claimed.
 On the 18th of August it was report ed in Brownsville that white woman was seized by the hair by a colored soldier and dragged on the ground. This report among the townspeople caused great bitterness and excitemest of feeling, which gave such concern to the officers of tue battalion that on the night of the same day they sent pat rols into the town to bring back their soldiers to the fort. few minutes after 12 o'clock midnight of the next day. August 13, i, e, on the morning of August IA. shots were fired in the fort toward the town from the neigh borhood of each barrack of the three companies, The fort is really in the town and only separated from the houses by d wall, The first shots seem to have been fired in the air. Immediately afterwards a number of men, Varlously estimated from nine to twenty, climbed over the wall between the fort and the town. There was much direct evidence that these men were colored soldiers in khaki and blue shirts. carrying the new service rifle. From seventy-five to one hundred cartridge shells and us~ clips and some un 1ischarS"l ar tridges were found upon the streets of