The Washington herald., 1907-04-04
PENROSE ON STAND
Senate Committee Hears Ne
gro Troops Commander.
BELIEVES SOLDIERS INNOCENT
Testimony CorrOborates In Main
that Previously Gathered Piece
meal from Other ORicers-Direet
Examination Not COncIuded-Iieut.
LeeI9ie ON DirectiOn of shots.

The testimony Of Mai. Charles W. Pen
rose. who commanded the three companies
of colored soldiers at Brownsville at the
tire the town was shot up. was given
before the Senate Military Committee
yesterday. 1t corToborated in the main
that previously gathered. plecemeaI. from
the other officers on duty at the post as
to the events Of the night. the orders
given the complaint OF Mayor Combe, OF
Brownsville. that the colored men were
guilty the inspection OF their guns the
next morning, and the subsequent efforts
to discover the offenders,
Like the other officers and men of the
battalion who have testified, MAJ Pen
rose thought the post was being fired upon
the right Of the affray. but had changed
his opinion on the failure to fnd bullet
marks on the barracks. and the discovery
OF the shells and clips outside the reserya-
tion the next morning. together with the
assertions Of residents of Brownsville that
they had recognized the negro soldiers
during the shooting. Notwithstanding the
inspection showed the men were all In
line except two. that their guns showed
no evidence OF having been fired. and
their ammunition was accounted for. he
had believed some OF his men had been
implicated in the outrage. until after he
heard the testimony Of his own court
martial in which he was acquitted on the
charge Of neglect of duty in connection
with the affair
The testimony brought out there and
before the Senate committee. however.
had convinced him that his men had moth
Ing TO do with IT,
Praises Three Companies.
He spoke In the highest terms of the
men OF the three companies composing the
battalion. saying they We're the best
drilled and best disciplined in the whole
army, and the older men in particular
were fine men and soldiers in whom he
had the greatest confidence. All the
months that followed he had been unable
10 obtain from the men any proof OF guilt
notwithstanding unremitting efforts. His
direct examination had not been COM
pleted when adjournment was taken.
The, evidence given by Second Lieut. II.
q. Leckie, Twenty-sixth Infantry, was
important as showing the direction from
which came the shots which We're fired
into the Brownsville houses. His investi-
cations were at the direction Of Gen. Nc
Caskey, commanding the Department Of
Texas and showed that few Of them could
have come from the barracks, but had
A
one of the twenty-five or thirty lodged
bullets we're of the same caliber as those
issued t. the soldiers. but Leckie averred
that that ammunition could be fired from
Winchester. Krag, and other high-pOwer
guns. The one exception was declared by
the Brownsville people TO have been fired
on the night Of the shooting. but when
dug out of the awning post hy Lieut.
Leckie was found 10 be Of larger caliber
than government ammunition, and with
out its steel Jacket,
One Of the I'VE bullets fired into the
Miller house entered the bedroom of Mrs.
Odin. and, according 10 her affidavit,
passed through her hair The latter state
ment was characterized By Leckie gs alb
surd. as il the bullet had passed that close
to her it would certainly have rendered
her unconscious. AS an illustration of the
wound" produced by the high-power
bullets. he declared that If one were fred
through the committee room It would
sweep from the great oval table in the
center Of the room ali the papers with
which IL was strewn.
Tells of AIliSOn's imprisonment.
Lieut. Leckie also told OF the imprison-
ment Of Allison. formerly private in the
Twenty-ffth Infantry, who Just before
the shooting and after the colored sol
diers had been refused drinks in the
Brownsville saloons, had opened one him
self Just after the ARRAY Allison vas
arrested on the charge of assault with
intent TO kill another colored man named
Doe. The latter had declared the charge
Of assault without foundation. according
TO Leckie. and Allison also denied 1t. bat
he was kept in jail and will not be tried
until September, nearly year after his
arrest.
As against the testimony Of the Browns
vile peopis that they recognized the
negro soldiers the night of the shooting.
Maj Joseph P. O'Nen formerly Of the
Twenty-ffth Infantry. now of the Thir-
tieth Infantry. told of experiments made
at Fort Mcintosh. Tex, in which it was
shown that even with the aid of the
moonlight white, colored, or Mexican
soldiers could not be distinguished six
feet away. The tests were made at vary
ing distances, approximating those from
the second story OF the houses in Browns
vile. and showed he said, that it was
almost impossible to pick out a khaki
uniform pvpeDf close hV