Gilpin observer., 1907-01-17
NEGRO SOLDIERS
ANOTHER SPECIAL MESSAGE BY
THE PRESIDENT.
RESULT Of INVESTIGATION
President Recounts Evidence of Which
colored Soldiers Were Discharged
Says His Power Was Ample and
Not Subject to Review.

colored Soldiers Were Discharged
Says His Power Was Ample and
Not Subject to Review.
Washington.-By direction Of the
President, Secretary Taft Monday is
sued special order modifying the spe-
cial order dismissing the negro battal-
ion of the Twenty-fifth infantry, strik-
ing out the clause relating to the ex-
clusion of the discharged soldiers from
employment in the civil service.
The secretary, now that the War De-
partment's inquiry has closed, will I'M
dertake to pass separately upon the
applications for re-enlistment of the
discharged men wherever they are sup
ported by evidence of their non-com-
plicity in the affray.
With message summarizing the
facts upon which he based his dis
charge of colored soldiers and declar-
ing his power ample and its exercise
fully justified except in one particular,
the President Monday sent to the Sen
ate the full report of the investigation
of the Brownsville affair made by an
assistant to the attorney general.
The President states plainly that the
dCllOu uG lOOh CduuOL De TeVeTSeQ eA-
cept by another executive order.
In my message to the Senate of dis
missal without honor of certain mem
bers Of the three companies of the
Twenty-fifth infantry" says the Presi-
dent, Il gave the reports Of the Off
GERS upon which the dismissal was
baseu. These reports were made in ac-
cordance with the custom in such
cases, for it would, of course, have
been impossible to preserve discipline
in the army save by pursuing precisely
the course that in this case was pur-
SUED.
"Inasmuch, however, as in the Sen
ate question was raised as to the suffi-
cheney of the evidence, l deemed it
wise to send Major Blocksom and as.
sistant to the attorney general, Purdy,
to Brownsville to make thorough in
vestigation on the ground in reference
to the matter. l herewith transmit
Secretary Taft's report and the testi-
mony taken under oath of the various
witnesses examined in the course OF
the investigation.
Il also submit various exhibits, in
cluding maps of Brownsville and Fort
Brown, photographs of various build
ings, letter from Judge Parks to his
wife, together with bandoleer, thirty
three empty shells, seven ball cart
ridges and four clips picked up in the
streets of Brownsville within a few
hours after the shooting three steel jack
ct bullets and some scraps of the cas-
ings of other bullets picked out of the
houses into which they had been fired
Fourteen eye witnesses, namely,
Charles r. Chase, Amado Martinez,
Mrs. Kate Leahy, Palermo Preciadoi
Ynacio Dominguez, Macedonia Ra'
mirez, George w. Rtndell, Jose Marti.
nez, J. P. Mcdonald, F. H. Sanborn,
Herbert Elkins, Hale Odin, Mrs. Hale
Odin and Judge Parks, testified thai
they saw the assailants or some OF
them at varying distances, and that
they were negro troops, most of the
witnesses giving their testimony in
such shape that there is no possibility
of their having been mistaken. Two
other witnesses, Joseph Bodin and
Genero Padron, saw some of the assail.
ants and testified that they were sol
diers (the only soldiers in the neigh
borhood being the colored troops).
1.-The testimony of the witnesses on
the position of the bullet holes show
that fifteen or twenty of the negro
troops gathered inside the fort, and
that the first shots fired into the town
were fired from within the fort; some
of them at least from the upper gal.
leries of the barracks.
1.-The additional evidence thus taken
renders it, in my opinion, impossible
to question the conclusions upon which
my order was based. have gone most
carefully over every issue of law ana
fact that has been raised
Il am now satisfied that the effect
of my order dismissing these men with
out honor was not to bar them from
all civil employment under the gov
ernment, and, therefore. that the part
of the order which consisted of dec.
laration to this effect was lacking in
validity, and l have directed that such
portion be revoked.
las to the rest of the order, dismiss
ing the individuals in question without
honor and declaring the effect of such
discharge under the laws and regula-
tions to be a bar to their future re-en-
listment either in the army or the navy,
there is no doubt of my constitutional
and legal power.
"The order was within my discre-
ton, under the constitution and the
laws, and cannot be reviewed or re-
versed save by another executive or
der.
"rhe facts did not merely warrant
the action l took-they rendered such
action imperative, unless l was to
prove false to my sworn duty.
'If any one Of the men discharged
hereafter shows to my satisfaction that
he is clear of guilt, or of shielding the
guilty, will take what action is war
ranted; but the circumstances l have
above detailed most certainly put upon
any such man the burden of thus
clearing himself.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT"