Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-18
THE SHELLS EXAMINED
Experts Report on the Browns
vile Shooting.
GUNS OF COMPANY B
Cartridges Declared to Be From
Springfield Rifles.
IDENTIFIED BY CERTAIN MARKS
Hearing 4.esumed by the Senate Com
mittee on Military Affairs
This Morning.
IDENTIFIED BY CERTAIN MARKS

Reports of experts of the ordnance de-
partment of the army, who examined the
| thirty-three discharged shells picked up in
the streets of Brownsville on the morning
| following the ARRAY were laid before the
Senate committee on Military affairs today
by the officers who examined the shells at
| the Springfield arsenal under glass and
| microscope. The conclusion of the War
| Department, expressed in a letter to Chair
man Warren from Secretary Taft, which
was presented by Lieut.. Hawkins of the
| ordance department, is that the shells were
| discharged from Springfield rifles which
were in the hands of members of Company
/ B, one of the discharged companies OF the
18th Infantry.
| Secretary Taft's letter says the shells
were examined by Lieut. Hawkins and G.
A. Spooner, expert inspector of gauges used
| in the manufacture of muSketS at the
| Springfield arsenal
! All the rifles in the possession of the
! three companies of the 18th Infantry on
August IL were in the hands of these ex-
perts and two regular ball cartridges were
| discharged from each rife and the dis
| charged shells subjected to full examina-
| ton. The results were given by Secretary
Taft, in part, as follows:
Marks on the Shells.
THAT the marks eleven of the shells
| picked up at Brownsville correspondexactly
| with the marks on the cartridges dis
| charged by them from one of the guns of
! B Company;
That the marks on eleven of the shells
| correspond exactly with tie marks on the
cartridges discharged by them from an
other of b Companys guns;
That the marks eight more of the
shells correspond exactly with the marks
on the cartridges discharged by them from
a third gun of Company;
''Th9t ma he mi
three of the shells CORRESPOND with the
marks on the cartridges discharged by
them from fourth gun of Company. but
| that in this fourth case, due probably to the
fact that the cartridge had failed of dis
charge in another rifle, they bore double
marks, and so made the Identification with
the fourth rifle she'll less certain and COM
plete than in the first three cases.
Lieut.. Hawkins and Inspector Spooner
state that their examina tons prove beyond
reasonable doubt that the three groups of
shelis-eleven. eleven and eight-were dis
charged from three specifically numbered
guns of Company, and that in all proba-
bliity the fourth group of three shells was
discharged from another gun of the same
company"
Secretary Taft's letter stated further that
from an official list of Companies B, c and
d, and the number of guns assigned to
| them on August b. it appears that two of
| the guns. enc from which eight of these
shells were discharged. and one from
which eleven of the shells were discharged
were guns in the storehouse of Company 3,
which had not been issued to enlisted men,
| but were in charge of the quartermaste
sergeant, and that the third gun. from
which eleven of the shells were discharged
was assigned to Thomas Taylor, a private
of Company B. and that the fourth gun
| from which three shells were discharged
was gun assigned to Joseph L. Wilson,
| private of Company B. Concerning this
evidence the Secretary says:
| "Of course, the very reasonable hypoth-
aciC hat hn vahn thn inc
used such guns they could get the
night of August 49, and would not neces-
sarily have used the guns officially as
signed to them, makes this evidence
weighty in showing rather that some men,
bers of the battalion did it, than that the
individuals above named were guilty
| Guns of 26th Infantry.
! The final report of Lieut.. Hawkins shows
| that the cartridge shells discharged in the
guns of the 18th Infantry, which pre-
ceded the negro soldiers at Brownsville
had no marks which identified them with
| the shells under examination.
The lieutenant also examined into the
question as to the marks O: the grooves
and lands which would be made in the bull
let's discharged from the guns of the 18th
infantry, and he has samples of two bull
! lets discharged into sawdust or water from
each gun of the three companies of the
18th Infantry
from all of the rifles Of the 18th Infantry
| according to the report, had the impression
or the lands of the rifiing quite as plainly
marked as the bullets taken from the
brownsville houses. Regarding this Secre-
tary Taft's letter says:
Lieut. Hawkins has advised me that
| in his judgment, reasonable tim, for
cleaning gun is from three to five minutes
as SHOWN by the experience at the SPRING
| field arsenal, and l have directed the fire.
man OF the gun-cleaning squad at the ar
senal to be present at the disnosition Of
| the committee
The report of the Secretary of War hav-
| Ing been submitted to the committee it was
| determined to have it printed before takine,
| 1t up Tor action. Lieut.. Hawkins and Mr.
! Spooner will be called before the commit
| tee later, and they will be required to dem
| onStrate the exact manner of identifying
| those bullets with the guns from which
| they were fired They will have to prove
| possibility of error.
| Today's Testimony.
| The first witness called before the COM
! mittee today was Matias G.. Tamayo a
| Fort Brown on the night of the shooting
| and was before the committee last week.
| He was closely cross-questioned concerning
| his former testimony.
! Lieut.. Brady of the 4th Infantry that was
! stationed at Fort Brown in 1903 testified
concerning the prejudice in the town against
| soldiers. He also stated that there were
| only about a dozen American families of
| prominence in the town that one would
| care to associate with.