The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-01-15

RACES mentioned; and that some or
all of the other individuals whom 1
dismissed had knowledge OF tho deed
and shielded from the law those who
committed 1t.
Ludicrously Impossible.
The only motive suggested as pos
sibly influencing any one else was a
desire to get rid OF the colored troops,
10 strong that 1t impelled the citl-
zens of Brownsville to shoot up their
own houses, to kill one of their own
number. to assault their own police.
wounding the Lieutenant, who had
been an officer for twenty years
all with the purpose of discredlting
the negro troops The suggestion Is
on its face SO ludicrously impossible
that 1t Is difficult to treat 1t as
honestly made. This theory sup
poses that the assailants succeeding
In obtaining the uniform of the negro
soldiers: that before starting on their
raid they got over the fence OF the
fort unchalengcd. and without dis
covery by the negro troops opened
fire on the town from within the
fort: that they BACKED their faces
30 that at least fourteen eye-witnessea
mistook them for negroes; that they
disguised their voices so that at least
six witnesses who heard them speak
mlstook their voices as being those
OF negroes. They were not Mexicans,
for they were heard by various wit
nesseg to speak in English. The
weapons they used were Springfield
rifles; for the ammunition which they
used was that OF the Springfield rifle
and no other. and could not have
been used In any gun in Texas or any
part OF the Union or in Mexico, or
in any other part OF the world, save
only in the Springfield now used by
the United States troops. including
the negro troops in the gar
rison at Brownsville. and by no other
persons save these troops-a weapon
which had only been in use by the
United States troops for some four
or five months prior to the shooting
in question. and which is not in the
possession OF private citizens.
The cartridge used will go into ono
other rifle used In the United States,
when specially chambered-the Win
chester OF the '95 model-but 1t will
rarely II ever go off when in It; and.
moreover. the bullets picked out OF
the buildings show the markings of
the four so-called lands" which
come from being fired through the
Springfield, but not through the Win
chester. the latter showing six. The
bullets which l herewith submit.
which were found in the houses,
could not, therefore, have been fired
from a Winchester or any other
sporting rife. although the cartridges
might have been put into Win
chester model OF 'e5. The bullets
might have been fired from Krag.
but the cartridges would not have
gone into Krag. Taking the shells
and the bullets together. the proof is
conclusive that the new Springfield
rifle was the weapon used by the mid
night assassins, and could not by any
possibility have been any other rifle
OF any kind in the world.
This of itself establishes the fact
that the assallants were United States
soldiers, and would be conclusive on
this point II not one soldier had been
seen or heard by any residents In
Brownsville on the night in question,
and II nothing were known save the
finding of the shells, clips. and bullets.
Fourteen eyewitnesses-name
Charles r. Chase, Amado Martinez,
Mrs. Kate Leahy, Palermo Preciado,
Ygnacio Dominguez, Macedonia RAJ
mirez, George ". Kendall, Jose Marti-
neg. j. P. Mcdonald. f. II. A. San
born, Herbert Elklns, Hale Odin, Mrs.
Hale Odin, and Judge Parks-testifed
that they saw the assailants or soma
of them at varying distances, and that
they We're negro troops, most of the
witnesses giving their testimony in
such shape that there is no possibility
of their having been mistaken. Two
other witnesses, Joseph Bod!n and
Genera Padron, saw some of theh as
sailants and testified that they wero
soldiers (the only soldiers in the neigh
borhood being the colored troops).
Four other witnesses-namely, S. C.
Moore, Doctor Thorn, Charles S.
Canada, and Charles A Hammond
testified to hearing the shooting and
hearing the voices OF the men who
were doing 1t, and that these voices
We're those of negroes, but did not ac--
tually see the men who were doing
the shooting. About twenty-five other
witnesses gave testimony corroborat-
ing to greater or less degree the
testimony of those who thus saw the
shooters or heard them. The tes-
lltHtHS VI lllcSt wye dIitl ctLl WilueSSeS
would establish beyond all possibility
Of contradiction the fact that the
shooting was committed by ten or fif-
teen or more of the negro troops from
the garrison, and this testimony Of
theirs would be amply sufficient In it.
self If not a cartridge or a bullet had
been found; exactly as the bullets
and cartridges that We're found would
have established the guilt of the
troops even had not a single eye
witness seen them or other witness
heard them.
The testimony Of the witnesses and
the position OF the bullet holes show
that fifteen or twenty of the negro
troops gathered inside the fort, and
that the first shots fired into the town
were fired from within the fort; some
of them, at least. from the upper
galleries of tho barracks.
The testimony further shows that
the troops then came out over the
walls, some Of them, perhaps, going
through the gate, and advanced q
distance of 900 yards or Whereabouts
into the town. During their advance
they shot into two hotels and some
nine or ten other houses. Three OF
the private houses into which they
fired contained women and children.
They deliberately killed Frank Natus,
the bartender, shooting him down
from distance Of about fifteen
yards. They shot at e. man and
woman--Mr. and Mrs. Odin--and their
little boy. as they stood in the win
dow of the Miller Hotel, the bullet
going less than two inches from the
head of the woman. They shot down
the lieutenant OF police, who was on