New-York tribune., 1907-01-15
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
Dismissed Soldiers Not To Be Barred
from CiUa Employment.

10 the Senate: In my message to the Senate
treaunS or the dismissal without honor of GER
taIll named members of the three companies OF
Ile Zoth infantry, gave the reports of the Off
GERS, upon which the dismissal was based
se dnese reports We're made in accordance with the
custom IN such cases; for it would. of course, be
impossible TO preserve discipline in the army
save by pursuing precisely the that in
chls case was pursued. Inasmuch. however as
IN the Senate question was raised as to the suf-
nclency or the evidence. l deemed il wise to send
Major BIocksom and Assistant TO the Attorney
General Purdy to Brownsville to make q thor
ough investigation on the ground in reference to
me matter. l herewith transmit Secretary Taft's
report and the testimony taken under oath of the
various witnesses examined in the course of the
investigation l also submit various exhibits in
ciuulng maps of Brownsville and Fort Brown,
Ph0toSTapfls or various buildings, q letter from
Judge Parks to his wife, together with a ban
doieer thirty-three empty shells, seven ball cart
Tuses ana TOUR clips picked up in the streets of
brownsville within few hours after the shoot
lnS three steel jacketed bullets and some scraps
of the castings of other bullets picked out of the
houses into which they had been fired A tele
gram from United States Commissioner r. b
Sreaser of Brownsville, announces that six ad-
uluonal bullets-like the Others from Springfield
rlnes-taken from buildings in Brownsville with
supporting affidavits, have since been sent to
The Secretary of War
It appears from the testimony that on the
night Of the 18th of August, 1906, several crimes
were committed by some person or persons in
the city of Brownsville Among these were the
following:
(a) The murder of Frank Natus
(b) The assault with intent to kill the lieu
tenant of police Dominguez. whose horse was
killed under him and whose arm shot Sc
Verely that it had to be amputated.
(c) The assault with intent to kill Mr.. and
Mrs Hale Odin and their little boy. who We're in
the window OF the Miller Hotel.
(d) The shooting into several private resi-
dences of the city Of Brownsville. three of them
containing women and children.
- (e) The shooting at and slightly woundlng of
Precado.
These crimes We're certainly committed by
somebody.
AS to the motive for the commission of the
q
serious kind had occurred between individual
members OF the companies and individual citi-
Zens OF Brownsville, eliminating in complaints
which resulted in the soldiers being confined
within the limits of the garrison the evening
OF the day in question
CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE OF GUILT.
The evidence as will be seen, shows beyond
any possibility Of honest question that some in
dlViduals among the colored troops whom have
dismissed committed the outrages mentioned.
and that some all Of the other individuals
whom 1 dismissed had knowledge OF the deed
ana shielded from the law those whom commit
ted it.
The only motive suggested as possibly in
fuencng any one else was desire to get rid OF
the coIored troops strong that it inpeed
the citizens Of brownsville to shoot up their
own houses, TO kill one of their number, 10
assault their own police, woundins the lieuten-
ant. who had been officer for twenty years
all with the purpose OF dscrediting the Negro
troops. The suggestion is on its face ludi-
crousy impossible that IT is difficult to treat il
as honestly made. This theory supposes that the
assailants succeeded in obtaining the uniform
OF the Negro soldiers: that before starting on
their raid they got over the fence Of the fort
uncnallenged. and without discovery by the
Negro troops opened fire the town from
within the fort; that they blackened their faces
so that at least fourteen eye-Witnesses mistook
them for Negroes; that they disguised their
voices so that at least six witnesses who heard
them speak mistook their voices as being those
OF Negroes They were not Mexicans. for they
were heard by various witnesses to speak in
English The weapons they used were Springfield
rifles. for the ammunition 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 garrison at Brownsville.
and by no other persons save these troops-a
weapon which had only been in by the |
United States troops for four or five
months prior to the shooting in question. and /
which is not in the possession Of private cit
liens
The cartridges used VIII go into one other
rifle used in the United States, when especially
chambered-the Winchester of the 90 model
but it will rarely If ever go off when in it, and.
moreover. the bullets picked out of the build
ings show the markings of the four so-called
lands which come from being nred through
the Springfield, but not through the Winches-
ter, 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 rifle. !
although the cartridges might have been put
into a Winchester model of 80. The bullets
might have been fired from a Krag, but the
cartridges would not have gone into a Krag.
Taking the shells ana the DulIetS tOSeIner, the
proof is conclusive that the new Springfield
rife was the weapon used by the midnight
assassns and could not by any possibility have
been any other rife OF any KIND IN the world
This of Itself establishes the fact that the as
sailants were United States soldiers and would
be conclusive this point if not one soldier
had been seen heard by any residents in
Brownsville on the night in question, and IL
nothing known save the finding of the
shells, clips and bullets.
TESTIMONY OF WITNESSES
Fourteen yewitnesses-nameIy, Charles r
Chase Amado Martinez, Mrs. Kate Leahy Pa
lerno Preciado, Ygnacio Domnguez Macedonia
Ramirez George W. Kendall, Jose Martinez, j.
p McDonald F. H. A. Sanborn Herbert EIkins
Hale Odin, Mrs. Hale Odin and Judge Parks
testified that they saw the assailants or some
OF them at varying distances, and that they
were 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 Bodin and Genero Pad
ron saw some OF the assailants and testified
that they We're soldiers Ghe only soldiers in the
neighborhood being the colored troops. Four
other Enthusiastically, S. G. Moore. DR.. Thorn.
Charles S. Canada and Charles A. Hammond
testified to hearing the shooting and hearing
the voices Of the men who were DONG III, and
that these voices were those of Negroes. but did
not actually see the men who were doing the
shooting About twenty-five other witnesses
gave testimony corroborating to greater
1aee deqree the testimony of those who thus saw
the shooters heard them. the testinony or
these eve and ear witnesses would establish
beyond all possibility OF contradlcitlon the fact
that the shooting committed by ten or f1f-
teen or more of the Negro troops from the gar
r;son and this testimony of theirs would be
amply sufficient in itself II not cartridge or
h,,lief had been found, exactly as the bullets and
cartridges that were found would have estab-
Itshed the guilt of the troops even had not
single eyewitness seen them or other witnesses
heard them
THE testimony of the witnesses and the posi-
ton Of the bullet holes show that fifteen or
twenty of the Negro troops gathered inside the
fha 6rat