Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-01-14

table. Mrs CoWen and her i've chill dren were in the house; they at once threw themselves prone on the floor and were not hit. They fired into the Starck house, the bullets going through the mosquito bar about a
 bed from eighteen to twenty inches above where little children were sleeping There was light in the lchildren's room.
 The shooting took place near mid- might. The panic-caused by the ut- terly unexpected attack-was great.
 The darkness, of course, increased the confusion. There is conflict of testi-
 mony on some of the minor points,
 but every essential point is estab- Ilished beyond possibility of honest question. The careful examination of MT Purdy, assistant to the attor- ney general, resulted merely in Strengthening the reports already made by the regular army authori- ties. The shooting, it appears, Occu- pied about ten minutes, although 1t may have been some minutes more Or less. It is out of the question that the fifteen or twenty men engaged in the assault could have gathered be- hind the wall of the fort, begun flr- ing, some of them on the porches of the barracks, gone out into the town, fired in the neighbOrhOod of 200 shots in the town and then returned total time occupied from the time of
 the first shot to the time of their re- turn being somewhere in the neigh
 borhood of ten minutes-withOut
 many of their comrades knowing
 what they had done. Indeed, the fuller details as established by the additional evidence taken since last communicated with the senate make 1t likely that there were very few, if any, of the soldiers dismissed who could have been ignorant of what oc- cured. It is we'll nigh impossible
 that any of the non-commissioned officers who were at the barracks should not have known what Oc- cured.
 The additional evidence thus taken
 renders 1t in my opinion impossible
 to question the conclusions upon
 which my order was based. have gone most carefully over every issue of law and fact that has been raised.
 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 a declaration to this effect was lacking in validity. and have directed that such portion be revoked. As to the
 rest of the order, dismissing the in- dividuals in questions without honor and declaring the effect of such dis charge under the law and regulations to be bar to their future re-enlist- ment either in the army or the navy, there is no doubt of my constitutional and legal power. The order was within my discretion, under the con- stitution and the laws, and cannot
 be reviewed or reversed save by an- other executive order. The facts did
 not merely warrant the action I took--they rendered such action fm- perative unless I 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 shield ing the guilty, will take what ac- tion is warranted; but the circum- stances I have above. detailed most certainly put upon any such man the burden of thus clearing himself.
 THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
 The White House. Jan IA. 1907.