Perth Amboy evening news., 1907-01-14

He challenged any n to produce in
the army regulations or articles of var
any foundation for the charge. of con
spiracy of silence, mutiny and treason
made against the soldiers, although he
declared there was no doubt that the
soldiers were responsible for the out
rage at Brownsville"
Mr.. Tillman held that it was contrary
to the fundamental principles of lib
erty of English and American law that
the innocent should suffer because of
the sins of the guilty; also lie declared
that a nan shall be considered inno-
cent until he is proved guilty. I'm this
ease,'' he said, "167 men have been
punished while not more than twenty
: in the crime"
Mr.. Tillman maintained that the ne
gro troops should not have been sent
to Texas. They were sent there, he
said, against the protests of one of
the Texas senators and the congress
man from that district. They were
sent there, he continued, with a wholly
inadequate number of officers, as
there were only five officers for the
three companies.
This was DONE" Mr.. Tillman ex-
claimed, without any thought or care
on the part of the president or secre-
tary Of war as to results. The first
thought of the president was to pro-
tect the negroes and to punish the cit
liens by abandoning the post.
Especially Major Penrose and Cap
tain Macklin,' Mr.. Tillman said, 'are
shown to have acted with gross neg
ligence and incompetence" /.
All of the soldiers who got in trou-
BILE were from Macklins company. said
Mr.. Tillman, who added that Macklin
did not believe that a negro had seized
Mrs. Evans by the hair and that he
made no effort to detect the soldier.
This. he believed, raised the question
as to whether or not Captain Macklin
was in sympathy with the men in their
scheme of revenge.
Declaring President Roosevelt was
more responsible than any other
man. Mr.. Tillman read from an army
order issued by the war department on
Feb. s, 1906, and signed by the presi-
dent:
THE uniform of the enlisted man is
a badge of honor. 1t entities him to
peculiar consideration. 1t shows that
in the great majority of cases he has
learned those habits of self command.
of self restraint, of obedience and of
fearlessness IN the face of danger
which put him above most of his fell
lows who have not possessed similar
privileges. To strive to discriminate
against him i'm any way is literally an
infamy, for it Is in reality one of the
most serious offenses. which can be
committed against the stability and
greatness Of Our nation"
''That is the milk of the cocoanut,"
calculated Mr. Tillman, who said it
was this sort of STUFF that put into
the head of the negro soldier that he
was entitled to demand social equality.
would you deny those privileges to
white soldiersge Senator Nelson asked.
81 will go as far - any man in Civ
ing Willie men, either soldiers or citi-
zens, their rights" answered Mr.. Till
man.
why should not the coiored soldier.
If he conducts. himself as Il white sol
der, have the same consideration
persisted Mr.. Nelson.
"For the simple reason that God Al
mighty made him colored. He did not
make him white rctorte1 Mr.. Till
man, who added that caste feeling was
universal and pulsated even in the
bosom Of the senator from Minnesota.