Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-06-18
REFUTED BY SEN. FORAKER
SAYS PUBLISHED ANALYSIS OF
TESTIMONY GROSSLY UNTRUE
At Wilberforce University Thursday
Distinguished ohioan Will Discuss
Brownsville Case at Length.

Senator Foraker left the city for Ohio
this afternoon. on Thursday he will speak
at Wherefore University, a negro educa-
tional institution, when he will refer to the
Brownsville affair at length.
My attention has just been called to the
statement published in a New York paper
OF Sunday purporting to be review and
analysis of the testimony that has been
taken In the Brownsville investigation, and
setting forth the claim that 1t shows con-
Clusively that the soldiers of the 18th Bat
talon did the shooting" says Senator For
aker in a formal statement.
1T Is SO grossly Inaccurate and unjust
that plain duty to the truth, well as to
the accused soldiers. requires that some
thing he said in answer, and inasmuch as
am more familiar with the testimony than
anybody else, this duty seems to fall upon
me.
The testimony given by the soldiers in
their own behalf is not. in my opinion.
shaken by the testimony by the citizens OF
Brownsville. That testimony, in the first
place. is but a repetition of what was first
taken by the citizens committee and att
erward more deliberately retaken by MI
Purdy. No important item of new evidence
has been brought forward against the SOL
diers in this examination.
Ninety per cent of what the citizens
have testified about haG relation to matters
over which there was no controversy. FOR
instance. everybody comedies that the town
was shot up: that somebody did it: that
these people who did II passed through the
streets and alleys where the shooting was
done, and that they had guns or revolvers.
or firearms of some sort. and that one man
was killed and another wounded. The only
dispute is as to whether the raiders We're
identified as soldiers of the garrison.
Concerning the Evidence.
There are two kinds of evidence relied
upon to show that the soldiers did it. One
consists of the shells and bullets that were
secured from the streets and houses of
Brownsville The results of the micro
scopiC inspection, interpreted in the light of
the other testimony of the case, completely
disposed of this part of the case. The only
other testimony is that of people who claim
TO have been eye-witneSSeS to the shooting.
This consists of statements by various peo-
pie that when they heard the firing they
looked out Of their windows and houses and
down dark alleys, where there were no
lights. at distances varying all the way
from 80 feet up to $50 feet, and recognized
the men who were doing the firing as ne
grOes wearing the uniform of United States
soldiers. The officers OF the battalion nave
testified generally and specifically as to the
darkness of the night BY specifically i
mean have given specific incidents coming
within their personal experiences that illus
trated how dark the night was. According
to this testimony, in the language OF Maj.
Penrose the night was so dark that he
could not distinguish one of his officers,
who were all white men. from one of his
enlisted men, who were all colored, at
distance Of ten feet. nor could he at that
distance tell anything about how man was
dressed.
Impossible Conditions.
"An these officers have testified that the
claims of the citizens who testified that
they saw the raiders and recognized them
as soldiers at the distances and under the
stated by them are utterly
impossible These officers are intelligent,
high minded. honorable men. At one time,
when the case was only partially inVesu-
gated they were of the opinion, and frankly
stated It, that their men were guilty, but
that fact only strengthens their testimony
as they now give 1t that the testimony OF
the citizens by which they claim to identity
their soldiers. is utterly unreliable, untrust-
worthy and by them unbelievable.
''I do not know whether any more testi-
rnouy will be taken. and, of course, DO NOT
know If any should be taken just What II
will be. and / cannot therefore. with pro
priety. predict ultimate results but nave
no hesitation in saying that the testimony
taken down to this time utterly fails, In my
opInion, to show that the soldiers, or any
of them, had anything whatever to do with
,ba shooting up of BROWNSVILLE.