The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-16
RENDALLS TESTIFY
BROWNSVILLE PEOPLE EXAMINED
BY Foraker.
senate Committee Resumes Investiga-
tfon Into Conduct OF Negro SOL
diers-Say Shots Were Fired
From barracks.


Washington, May 15.-The examina-
ton OF witnesses on behalf Of the gov
eminent began today in the Browns
Vile investigation before the Senate
Committee on Military Affairs.
George W. Rendell, og Brownsville
Texas, the first witness, testified that
on the night of August 10, when the
ARRAY occurred in Brownsville, he saw
men whom he declared to be negro sol
dfers, climb over the brick wall from
Fort Brown and enter the town.
He said also that he saw a group of
from three to five men inside the gar
rison gate and saw the flash of two
or three shots fired by men in this
group. These men, he said, moved up
the wall on the side and Joined another
group of ten or twelve men and all
of them climbed over the wall at the
alley between Elizabeth and Washing
ton streets. This is the alley where
number of shells were picked UP the
following morning.
Rendell Is seventy-three years Of
age and is blind In one eye. He lives
over the Western Union Telegraph Of
fee on the corner of Elizabeth street
and Garrion road. about thirty-five feet
from the main gate entering the mill
tary reservation.
Investigation the day after the shoot
ing, he said, showed that bullet had
entered the house underneath the caves
and penetrated five thickness Of wood,
passed through the mosquito netting
over the bed Rendells wife had just
left and through the wall on the oppo-
site side of the house.
On cross examination Senator Fora
ker called attention to Rendalrs pre-
vious testimony in which he said he
heard one of the negro soldiers claim
There he goes, Just as the men were
about to get over the wall. Senator
Foraker said that the men were at
least $50 feet away at that time. He
also secured an admission from Rem
dali that the night was very dark and
that there were no lights at the point
where he had declared he saw negro
soldiers climb the wall and that this
point was fully $50 feet distant.
Kendall said he did not see any men
return to the barracks, but that he
heard a great deal of firing in the
town some distance from the garri-
son. In reply to a question he said
he thought that he would have seen
men returning had they done so and
as he was In a position commanding
full view of the gate and the wall.
The shots he heard fired inside the
wall were elevated in the air. It is
believed they were the shots fired by
the sentinel and they were fired, Rem
dali said, at about the same time the
men were climbing the walls leaving
the garrison.
Senator Foraker examined the wit
ness closely concerning the remark
alleged to have been made by one of
the men as he climbed the wall At
tention was called to the witnesses
testimony before the citizens commit
tee which investigated the ARRAY and
before the examination conducted by
Assistant Attorney General Purdy.
The witness was then positive that he
had heard the voice distinctly. but to-
day said that he had only an impress
sion that he heard a man say. There
he goes"
He is very hard of hearing and it
was with difficulty that he could I'M
derstand the questions put to him to-
day The witness was not clear as to
the manner in which the men who
climbed the walls were clothed. He
said he had not testified fully before
the citizens committee at Brownsville
for the reason that he had a great deal
of property there and feared that If
he fixed the blame for the shooting on
negro soldiers his property nor his life
would not be worth a cent"
Senator Foraker drew from the wit
ness the statement that the negro SOL
diers were the best behaved Of any
of the men he had seen at Fort Brown
in his forty years residence there.
Mrs. Kendall. wife of George w.
Kendall, then took the stand. She tcs-
titled that she was awake when the
firing began and was at the window
all the time that her husband was up.
She said she saw few men inside the
garrison moving rapidly. but did not
see any of them climb the walls She
said the night was very bright and
that she saw the fash of only one gun
and that she thought was near Com
pany b barracks.
She was of the opinion that the shot
which passed through their house was
fired from D barracks On all other
matters she corroborated the testimony
given by her husband and at the con
clusion of her examination recess was
taken.