The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1906-08-20

serves.
Not only does justice demand
that these assassins suffer The
penalty of their foul crime-nof
only does the blood OF the innocent
ery aloud for vengeance-but the
dignity and manhood of the great
state OF Texas, which has also been
grossly outraged by these uniform
ed murderers, should likewise de-
mand their punishment. And
much more should the National
government seek to wipe out the
stain on the federal army, by turn
ing over the offenders to the law.
That it is within the power of the
army officers at Fort Brown to ferret
out the guilty ones cannot be doubt
ed, and it is perhaps true that the
commanding officer and his subor-
dinate officers are doing their best
to this end. It should be said in
! justice to the commanding officer,
Major Penrose, that he has appear
ed deeply moved at this tragedy,
and his sincerity cannot be doubt
ed when he declared that be would
do all in his power to see that the
deed was punished.
And yet, the fact remains that
equally as gross outrages by other
negro troops on this border have
gone unpublished. At Fort Ring
gold, not so many years ago, the
negro soldiers with all order from
the lieutenant then in command at
that post for all the ammunition
they wanted, fired repeatedly on
the little town of Rio Grande,
wounding one man and endanger-
ing the lives of all the inhabitants,
whom they really wished to muir
der. If any of the soldiers who
were implicated in that murderous
attack were ever punished, the peo-
pie here have vet to learn of it.
The officer, who was more guilty
than any of his men, instead of be-
ing punished according to law,
was not even deprived of his COM
mission, but on the contrary has
been promoted twice since. Other
outrages at FL Paso and other
border points by negro soldiers
have likewise gone unpublished.
Considering these facts, it is not
unreasonable to fear that, should
those guilty of the outrageous as
sault upon Brownsville be permit
ted to leave here, they too may
never bepunished. THE HERALD,
in behalf of this outraged town,
and in behalf of good government,
feels that it should insist upon
every effort being made by both
state and federal authorities to
bring the fiends to justice. It
would seem that the army officers
in particular, for the sake of the
effect upon the remaining negro
troops, should realize the import
ance of having these murderers
punished. Should they go unhung
and even unmolested, continuing
to disgrace the uniform OF the
United States army by still wear
ing ii, they cannot but feel that
this very uniform renders them i'm
mune from the penalty of the law,
whatever their risdeeds, and be
emboldened to repeat such outrages
whenever they will. On the other
hand, if an example be made of
these offenders, the effect upon the
army must be most salutary, not
only promoting discipline, but in
creasing the self respect of the men
IN the ranks themselves, and, more
important still, iusuriug the safety
OF the people by rendering less
likely the repetition of such out
RACES. The entire army should
feel ashamed that Brownsville has
been under arms for a week and
is still so, maintaining a guard
against United States soldiers.
Once more let THE HERALD
urge upon the civil authorities and |
the citizens committee to move