Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-14


to the events Of the night. The shoot
ing occurred about midnight.
| Jose Martinez was drug clerk who lived
| In house fronting on the north side or the
garrison road mediately opposite the gar
rison wall and B Barracks and next to the
| alley He was sitting inside his front door,
with the door open. reading by nsh ,l,
front of his door. fired. as he thinks, inside
the garrison wall. He went to the door to
see what was the trouble and he heard
| some one say, Hurry up and jump. and
| he saw negro soldiers. first In group of
five and then some twenty or more, jumping
the garrison wall They were fifteen PAGES
from him when he saw them jump He
| then put out his light, closed the door. and
| laid down on the floor to avoid injury. + If
| teen or twenty shots had been fired When
| he closed the door. He heard aeir voices
| and some seemed to be going toward Eliza
| beth street west. while others moved to-
ward the alley to the east. He heard shoot
| ing in the alley back of his house. and
looked out his back window and saw men
| in the alley back of his house-some ten or
| fifteen. He said they were soldiers De-
| cause he saw them from the window; he
saw them shooting from their hips
| The witness Mcdonald. an elderly man. a
| carpenter and builder by trade. living half
| a block from the garrison wall on Adams
| street, to the east OF washington, was
awakened by the firing. came down TO the
| garrison road. and walked west to Wash
| ington street. Saw shots fired from the IN
| side of the garrison. one from the gallery
| Of one of the barracks and one from the
| ground. He then saw twenty or more men
| assemble in front Of the garrison wall on
| the garrison road near the garrison gate
| under the lights of that gate nearly oppo-
| site Elizabeth street. He saw them divide
| into two squads. one going west toward
| Elizabeth street and the gate. and the tele-
| graph station. and the other squad going
| east to the alley around Mariners house
| He lost sight of the one going toward the
gate and the telegraph station and re-
| treated from the squad advancing up TO.
| ward the alley. He then heard !ot OF
shooting up the alley toward the CoWan
and the Miller houses. He recognized them
| as United States colored soldiers. Ihere
| were two lights on either side of the pillars
| of the gate opposite the foot of Elizabeth
| street
| G. W. Kendall. who. with his wife. oc-
| cupied a room in the second story of the
| telegraph station. was awakened oy Two
| Shots He looked out of the window toward
| the garrison wall and saw from ffteen 10
| thirty men moving around between the
| barracks and the wall. They were negro
| soldiers and were shown to be such IN the
light of the lamps of the garrison gate.
| He couldn't tell that they were armed ex-
| cept that he saw the flashes from the dis
| charged guns There were five shots fired
! within the garrison wall He saw them
| make a break for the wall and go over
/ the wall-he thinks eight or ten IN num-
| Der, but he couldn't tell where they went.
Shortly after, the firing began in the alley
| and continued for ten minutes. He heard
| the word or command One SllOt Sll uCh
| the house and room in which he was and
| threw dust on himself and wife, as they
| looked out of the window. and went
| through their mosquito bar. Mrs. Kendall
| says she was frightened and ran to the
! window when the firing began; thought the
| shots seemed to come from just inside the
| post at one SIDE of the gate. They were
| in rapid succession and, she thought ten
| or twelve in number She thought she
| saw figures of men running up inside the
! wall in the direction of their cottage. She
| couldn't tell whether they were soldiers or
not, and overcome that she could
not locate the firing afterwards.
Awakened by the Firing.
Mr.. Sanborn. the telegraph operator a
Union soldier in Maine regiment, and
who had been in Brownsville thirty years.
was sleeping in a room back of the tele-
graph office the ground floor. Was
awakened by the firing-was confused for
some minutes-and did not at once get up.
Said the firing seemed to be right in front
of the garrison gate, just outside the wall.
very near the window. After the first
firing he looked through the shades of the
blinds and saw one colored soldier come
from the direction of the alley between
Washington and Elizabeth streets along
the garrison wall. Did not seem to be hur
ried, had his gun with him. and
walked on through the small gate toward
| the quarters of the barracks. Between
the time of his being awakened and see
ing this soldier there was a few minutes
interval About the time he looked
through the blinds the firing had ceased
i'm front of him and he heard firing in the
alley back of him. The first firing was SO
near to him that he could almost feel the
conclusion. Then 1t receded up the alley.
The witness Schrieber. a boy twenty
years old living on the garrison road east
of the alley, perhaps $50 feet. was in bed
when the first shot was fired: got up and
4 tIA eta IL
couple of volleys fired from inside the gar
rison from between the barracks and the
garrison wall. He heard the bullets whiZ-
zing and went back into the house. He
heard the men walking on the barracks
porches and heard some one say Where
Is the damned stuff; get it going" This
was as he walked back into the house.
Theodore Martinez, the caretaker of the
Yturria house on the corner of Washington
street and the garrison road. was awak-
ened by the shooting from the direction
of the post. Couldn't say whether the
shooting came from the inside of the gar
rison or from the edge of the wall. Ran
inside a brick house to be protected. He
found bullet holes In the Yturria house
the next day. having an alignment from
the barracks of the post
Tamayo, the scavenger of B Company,
testified that he was at the corner of the
barracks near the kitchen of B Company,
which put him near the garrison gate.
marked with red cross on plat. He heard
a shot toward the garrison wall. but thinks
it was outside the wall, about forty-fve
yards from where he was standing, toward
the alley He had a cart and he drove
his horse as rapidly as he could. because
he expected to be shot. over to the south
west toward the administration building
on the southwest. some 400 feet, and saw
nothing more. He saw no one between
barracks and garrison wall
Proceeding north, now, to 18th street and
the COwan house. on the southwest corner
of the alley and 14th street, 1t appears that
there had been a childrens party at the
Cowan house. Mr.. Cowan had left the
house after 10 O'clock and at the time of
the shooting there were in the house only
Mrs. Cowan. the six children and the maid.
Amado Martinez. The Cowan house was a
small house, standing back a little from
the alley, with a fence four five feet
high between the lot and the alley The
kitchen was In the rear of the. house, and
on the alley a bedroom. There were
lights in the kitchen and dining room and
in the hall. The windows and doors were
all open. Mrs. COwan and her daughter
were in the dining room. next to the bed
room the alley. In which her boy. sixteen
years old. was just going to bed. AS the
firing approached she called all her chill
dren and rushed to the northwest room. her
own room, and put them under the bed to
avoid danger, while the maid rushed to the
windows of the boys bedroom, on or near
the alley, to close the windows. Just as