Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-12-20

hostility TO the soldiers and that the
bullets were directed toward the bar
racks but not the slightest trace of
any bullet holes could be found in the
barracks. and the great weight of the
testimony indicates that these witness
es were mistaken. The facts as stat
ed appear from the careful inveStiga-
ton and report of Major Blocksom of
the inspector generals corps of the
army, supplemented by affidavits and
oral examination of many witnesses,
conducted by citizens committee at
the invitation of Major Penrose, and
by the report of Major Penrose. Ma
jor BlocksOm began his investigation
three days after the occurrence.
Penalty For Conspiracy of Silence.
"Since the occurrence every effort
has been made by the commissioned
officers and by competent military in
spectors sent for the purpose through
cross examination of each member of
the company who was present in the
fort that night to find some clew by
which the enlisted men who commit
ted this crime could be detected, and
not the slightest evidence tending to
establish the identity of Il single man
has been forthcoming. All the enlisted
men of the battalion We're advised that
if evidence was not forthcoming lead
ing to the Identification of those who
planned and committed these murders
and attempted murders it would be-
come necessary TO discharge all the
men present at Fort Brown that night
sfI
re-enlistment in the army or service in
the navy or in the civil service.
Inspector General Darlington then
examined every man who came with
in the operation of the proposed order
and was entirely unable to elicit sin
gle circumstance leading to the identi-
ficatiOn of the murderers. He became
convinced that there was Il conspiracy
of silence in the battalion to protect
the criminals and, while he conceded
that there might be Il number of men
in the battalion innocent both of the
crime and of suppression of evidence,
he deemed il necessary in the interest
and for the good of the service TO rec
ommend the issuing of the order which
by authority he had told the men
would be made and enforced unless
evidence pointing to the criminals was
forthcoming. This department concur
red in General GariinGton's recommen-
dation, and the president then directed
the discharge of certain named mem
berS of the battalion, which incluNcd
all the enlisted men of the battalion
who were present at Fort Brown on
the night in question, without honor,
and forever debarred them from re-
enlisting in the army or navy of the
United States as well as from employ
ment in any civil capacity under the
The order of discharge
has been duly executed.
The order has attracted much atten-
ton and has been severely criticised
as unjust because it condemns many
innocent men to undeserved punish
ment. 1t is not improper, therefore, in
this report to review the case and
state the reasons which not only juSti-
fed it, but made it necessary.
"First.-Out of battalion of 10 en-
listed men in the army of the United
States from nine to twenty men formed
a preconCerted plan to revenge them
selves upon the people of a town in which
they were stationed for the insults they
felt that the townspeople had heaped up
on them. In accordance with the plan,
they left their barracks under cover of
rne darkness-about midnight-and pro-
ceeded to discharge their weapons into
the houses of the town for the purpose of
killing those against whom they felt a
grievance. They came very near killing;
some one or more of the three women
and seven children who were sitting or
sleeping in two of the lighted rooms
xt-1nf fIp fire in, foot Il
kill one man, wound another and serious
ly injured the chief of police They ac-
their firing with expressions
indicating the malice which prompted
their action. There can be no doubt.
therefore, that the squad of men who
moved together from the fort to the
town and did this shooting were guilty
of murder-and murder in the first de-
gree-and that if they We're discovered
they could be properly subjected to cap
ital punishment. The purpose of one
was the purpose of ALL
'Second.-Within ten minutes or more
after this crime was committed, when
the whole garrison was aroused by the
noise of the fusillade and by the call to
arms which followed it, the guilty men
to their places and must have
been among the last men to take their
places, for the reason that the firing con-
tinued after the formations had begun.
The absence of the rifles from the racks
could not have escaped the attention of
the sergeants who had the keys of the
racks. if indeed they had the keys. and
yet all the sergeants swear that the rifles
were in the racks. untouched Before the
next morning all the guns were clean. 1t
Is impossible that many of the battalion
who did not take part as active members
Of the conspiracy to murder were not
made aware by one circumstance or an
other of the identity Of the persons who |