Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-13
men ACCOUNTED FOR
Corporal Madison Tells of Roll
Call at Fort Brown.
SHOOTING FROM OUTSIDE
Thought That the Post Was Being
Attacked.
SOUNDED LIKE MIXED FIRING
Not Suggested Until the Next Day
That the Soldiers Might Have
Been Involved.
OUNDED LIKE MIXED FIRING

Been Involved.
The first witness from Company C Of the
| committee on military affairs today. This
is the last Of the three companies that were
stationed at Brownsville to be heard from
| since the investigation into the shooting up
of that place last August was begun. The
witness was Corp. Chas. H. Madison, who
had been eleven years. nine months and
eight days in the service Of the United
States when he was discharged without
honor on the 22d Of last November.
Madison testified that he was in the fight
of FL Caney, July /. 1893, and had never
had any trouble except in 1897, when he
was court-martialed at Fort Douglas, Utah,
for neglect of duty. He stated that he mad
been detailed on guard and had failed to
carry out his instructions which had re-
suited in his coart-martial. For that
dereliction he was given ten days in the
guard house. Since then he had never
had any difficulty
The testimony in relation to Company c
is of especial interest because In the view
also some of the members of the Senate
committee the men who shot up Browns
vile were members of that company.
There was not the least evidence, how
ever far Madison is concerned. to
substantiate that theory. Madison testified
that when he was sent to the hospital on
the night of the 18th he was told by
white man, whose name he could not re-
CALL but who duty on the porch.
that two or three bullets had wfizZed
| through the air over the room in which
he was sleeping. Madison himself had not
heard any bullets and no one else had
told him they haC heard any. He said that
other people were the hospital porch
when that information was given him.
Awakened by the Firing.
Corporal Madison said that he was asleep
! when the firing was begun on the night Of
August IL, and was awakened by it about
II o'clock. He slept at one end of the bar
racks Of Company C, and he heard Maj
Penrose's voice after he got up and was
partly dressed. Maj. Penrose was calling
to the men to get their guns, and he heard
some of them reply that they did not have
arms. Maj. Penrose called to them to find
the man in charge of the racks, and If
they could not find him to break them open.
After that order to break open the gun
racks he heard the men hammering on the
racks. Some were pounding on these racks
with a fire ak.
A gun rack such as had been used at
Brownsville had been brought into the
committee room, and the witness explained
his testimony by opening it and referring
to the manner Of its operation.
They had orders not to make any light,
| as they supposed some one was firing upon
| the barracks. Finally the gun racks were
| all opened. The non-commissioned officer
who had the keys to the gun racks had
| later told the witness that he was late in
getting to the barracks because he had
not heard the call to arms. When he did
get there he opened the racks. The wit
ness saw him open one rack from which
| he got his gun and heard hi msay that he
how 1t was about the fourth rack but all
| Of them had been hammered on by order
of Maj. Penrose in an effort to break them
open.
The Roll Call.
When they formed in line in front of
| barracks C. he said, Lieut. Greer went
! down the line. with Acting First Sergt.
men, and the result was they were all
| present or accounted for.
| The witness had later been ordered to
patrol the post. Seven posts were estab-
| lished from the entrance to the barracks
! around to the corral At each post there
| were three men and non-commissioned
| officer. In that way the witness was on
duty the rest of the night The guns Of
all the men except those who were on
post duty were locked up in the store
room instead of being replaced in the
racks. This was by order Of Capt Mech
| lin. The guns were counted when they
| were put in the store room, and when the
men went on duty to guard the fort they
! got their guns from the store room. At
| $50 o'clock in the morning Capt. Mechlin,
| with Sergt. Newton Carlisle of Company c,
| inspected the gun of the witness and the
guns of the three men under him. He did
| not see any further inspection of arms
! but his gun and those Of the privates with
him passed inspection.
The witness was questioned as to the
possibility of a soldier obtaining any extra
ammunition and said that 1t was impossi-
| BILE. He declared that it would take thirty
| or thirty-hve minutes to clean a gun, and
| when Senator Foraker asked him whether
his opinion would be changed If told that
distinguished officers of the army had said
| that gun could be cleaned In two or three
| minutes he asserted positively that such
| a thing could not be done after the gun
had been fired several times.
Shooting From Outside.
| The witness was closely questioned by
| Senator Warner, and said that to the best
| of his knowledge the shooting came either
| from the road outside the stone wall or
| further up in the town and was directed at
| or across the barracks. The firing, he said
| was mixed firing and did not sound like
| volleys. 1t sounded like six-shooters, shot
guns and Winchester rifles. He had looked
around the next morning, but had not
discovered any effects of the shooting. He
| said he made all the effort he could to
| find out who did the shooting but was
unable to learn that anybody in the three
| companies was connected with it. He said
| they were all surprised upon having the
| fort fired upon in a country that was not
| hostile. The next day he had heard that
clips and bullets had been found belonging
a. Cvx~tv1< ~G111 a. $I,~A ~,