Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-04

Barracks without your knowing H.!
Sergt Harrs-"I do not think 1t could.
In reply to questions. he sad they formed
Nm line and marched outside the wall or the
barracks ground. and he saw no one pass
SIN or out. The only men who Old not re-
sspond when the company was counted on
were those who were away on duty Capt;
5Lyon was present. They then proceeded
Ito patrol the town. He did not know the
names of streets they passed along, but
,they went by the post office and came back
the main street back to the gate.
Senator Foraker-"Did you find any sol
oilers In the grounds?'
Sergt Harrs-"We did not see a soldier.
In front of a saloon We saw a man with
"a Winchester rifle standing in the street
Zone of the men. turning to Capt. Lyon,
isaid: Here is a man with rifle. The
man answered that he was an ofncer OF
the law. Then Capt. Lyon said Move on
We returned to the barracks and went into
the reservation. We sat down on the
grass for three-quarters Of an hour. That
was about 1:30 o'clock.
/" Senator scott-"When you went out into
the town did any colored soldiers fall into
line with you? Could they have done 1t
without your noticing Them"
Serst. Harris-'No. sir. was In the rear
of the company all the way and would
have seen them"
After that, the witness said. he went TO
bed again There was a light In the bar
racks when they returned. but 1t vas soon
put out.
The Inspection Described.
.at o'clock in the morning. No man was
absent except those authorized to be alb
sent. They had breakfast and then fell In
line for drill as they supposed. but instead
of having a drill they had an inspection.
The inspection was not expected until the
order for inspec- of arms was given.
They took more time than Is usual at an in
-spection first inspecting the arms and then
the ammunition The inspection, he said.
was satisfactory to the officers. as he heard
no one called to account. Usually II a
mans gun found in dirty conLition,
or there was any question about his am
muntion. something was said then and
there and he was ei...er reprimanded or or
dered to work in the kitchen couple OF
days court-martialed. But they found
no dirty guns. Capt. Lyon himself did
the inspecting.
Senator Foraker said that 1t had been
suggested that these guns might have been
cleaned before the inspection in the MORN
ing. He read from Maj. Blocksom's report
to that effect.
Army rifles were then called for and a
Krag-Jorgenssen and a modern Springfield
rifle were produced. The witness had used
a Krag- Jorgenssen prior to last April, when
his company received the new Springfield
rifle and ammunition. 1t was Springfield
rifle that they had in Brownsville. He de-
monstrated with the rifle In hand the oper-
alton that is gone through In cleaning 1t
and said that a ramrod must be used in
order to clean the bore. Smokeless powder
that is used made the gun very harc to
clean. although 1t did not discolor 1t as
much other gunpowder. The ramrods
used by a company. he said, are but four
in number and they are in possession of
sergeant and are had by the men only on
their asking for them. Later the testimony
showed that these rods are not locked up
and might be taken by the men If they
cared to run the risk of discovery He said
that it would take at le=st ten minutes to
clean gun. the barrel had not only to
be cleaned first with brush, then with the
rod, and then with a piece Of cloth at the
end of the rod. but 1t has to be oiled care
fully. He said that failure to clean
gun thoroughly always brought down a re-
buke by the officer inspecting arms and that
the least defect in cleanliness would be de-
aected. He also said that gun is made
Just about as dirty by firing one cartridge
by firing a large number. He said that
usually the inspection was at 8 O'Clock. but
that morning Ii was at about o'clock. 1t
was light, however. when the inspection
was made. so that the guns could be looked
At carefully.
Accessibility of Ammunition.
Sergt. Harris was then closely questioned
In relation to the manner IN which ammu-
milton is distributed among men for target
practice and accounted for by them either
by actual fire or by being returned to the
proper officer. He did not believe it was
possible for a man to secure any cartridges
because of the strict discipline in that re-
spect. He knew place in Brownsville
where man could buy any cartridges. that
could be used In the new Springfield rifle.
In reply to questions by Senator Talia-
ferro. the witness said that he coufu mot
state from his own knowledge that that in
spection resulted In finding all the, gums 1
clean and unused but he believed that had
that not been the case he would have heard
something said. He heard nothing.
Senator Overman--'Is 1t not possible that
at the roll call some men might have been
absent and some one else might have an
swercd for them?"
l-alI he ,syhf do IL
Senator Foraker-"Would you be familiar
with the voices of the men?'
Witness-''Yes, sir; was very familiar
with their voices l listened very carefully
as they answered their names as I hoped
that no one would be found absent from
my company. 4
Satisfied His Men Were Present.
The witness added that because of his ia
miliarity with his mems voices he felt sure
there was no one absent except those au-
thorized to be absent. OF his company
seven were guard duty and two were
absent on passes, but there were no other
unaccOuntcd for.
In reply to a question by Senator Pet
tus the witness said he had heard seventy
I'VE or eighty shots fired on the night Of the
18th. "
Asked what he had thought was the
trouble at that time. he said he thought
perhaps the soldiers and citizens had got
mixed up in some way, He did not be-
heve that any of the members of his COM
pany were mixed up in 1t, and for that
reason listened carefully as they answered
the roll call, and while 1t was too dark to
see the men all clearly, he was satisfied by
their voices that they were all there. He
said that he thought there might be some
trouble between soldiers and citizens be-
cause there had already been trouble anu
1t had been claimed that some OF the men
had been insulted by some of the people
there. He said they had had other troubles
in 1879 and 1900 In Texas. The fact that
they had had trouble before was the cause
for him supposing at that time that there
might be such troubles that night. ,
He had known OF the feeling between the
soldiers and the citizens. He had heard
that the soldiers were not allowed to come
into saloons. but he knew OF that only by
hearing II talked of.
You had reasons to fear that there
would be trouble?' asked Senator Warner.