Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-25
WASTE OF CARTRIDGES
Loose Handling of Ammunition
by Soldiers.
TESTIMONY IS STARTLING
Investigation of the Brownsville At
fair Resumed.
FINDINGS OF C0URT-MARTIAL
Men Of 25th Infantry Declared to Be
Guilty Of Shooting Up the
Town Last August.
TESTIMONY IS STARTLING
FINDINGS OF C0URT-MARTIAI

| VOWn Last aug ust.
l 49,
! The Senate COMMITTEES on military affairs
continued its investigation today at the
Capitol and heard some rather startling
testimony from white soldiers of the 26th
\ Regiment, U. 8. A. The 18th Regiment
| occupied the barracks at Brownsville I'M
| mediately preceding the coming Of the 25th
| Regiment of colored soldiers. Testimony OF
| these-white soldiers today was TO the effect
that before leaving Brownsville to make
| room for the colored troops thousand
| rounds of ammunition of the discarded
| Krag-Jorgensen rifles were sold q dealer
| in Brownsville and another 200 rounds were
given away. 1t was even testified by SOL
| dier on the stand today that he as artificer
| Of Company K, 18th Infantry, had been Or
| dered by the quartermaster sergeant OF that
company to blot out the numbers OF six
! Krag-Jorgensen rifles. and these rihes were
not turned in but were kept privately with
| the stock, indicating government ownership
eliminated.
| The testimony generally indicated the
| greatest possible looseness in the handling
! of ammunition by the 18th and orher white
| regiments in which soldiers who are Veter,
ans in the army and who testified TO-DAY nao
served.
Court-Mart1alS 1uoAutSS'
The following dispatch, signed "McCas-
| KEY" commanding the Department OF
| Texas, and addressed to Maj. Gen. AIMS
worth, was laid before the committee:
Mai. Penrose was exonerated by the
| court martial but the court found that
| the shooting in Brownsville was done BY
| the men of the 18th Infantry.
| This finding approved by Gen NC
| Caskey, commanding the Department OF
\ n ovNt ut
the Capitol. A great deal of interest Is
| manifested here in the full report of the
court showing that the shooting up OF
| Brownsville was by men Of the 2oth In
| fantry 1t is not known here just how
| this shooting was traced to the men of the
18th Infantry. and some senators are in
| ciined to believe that no testimony taken
| at Fort Reno could be relied upon to so
| place the responsibility for the shooting
| except by inference.
| The reference to the soldiers in Gen Nc
Caskey's dis2atch is not clear to officials
| at the War Department. 1t is stated that
| the soldiers were not on trial and that the
| court-martial was not called on to deter
! mine the question as to who "shot up
Brownsville.
Loose Care of Ammunition.
The first witness before the committee to-
day was Private Algernon Jebb. Private
| Jebb has been In the army for twenty-five
| years and his experiences have been so
varied that it took long time for him
to recount the various places in which he
! has served. His testimony showed an i'm
| mense amount of Indifference in the 26th
| Regiment to any strict account for ammu-
| nition He said that the Texas Rangers
used a rifle that was known as 1920
| which Is something like Winchester Of
| the 1908 type, and which would shoot
Krag ammunition. He did not know the
name Of this gun other than stated He
| told Of a surveying expedition which he
| had which carried him fuo
| miles from Brownsville, and he said that
| the regiment had such large surplus sup
! ply of Krag ammunition that it was given
| away freely. This surplus, he said was
brought back by the regiment from the
| Philippine Islands, and being surplus,
| there was no necessity for an accounting Of
| it. He said he had no doubt the large
amount Of this surplus was left at Browns
| vile when his regiment was ordered away.
| He told of giving members of the Texas
| Rangers whom he met out on the surveying
I expedition ammunition when they asked
| for it. He had given tweny rounds to one
| man and gave some to others.
He said he gave it to his friends. and as
| the surveying party came back to the fort
| every ten or fifteen days they could easily
get all the ammunition they desired, and
| there was no special necessity for taking
care Of it. He said they gave some of 1t
away in order to get rid of it, as it was
heavy to cart around. Private Jebb said
that when he went on rifle practice from
Fort Brown he would help himself to the
ming short he and other men were accus-
! toned to take more ammunition than the
amount they were expected to use. and
| they did not turn this back II 1t was not
actually used on the range.
This testimony was surprising to mem
bers of the committee and Private Jebb
was closely questioned concerning his state
ments, but he did not take back anything
that he had said. He said that when citi-
zens came to the fort It was not unusual
to give some one who was pretty well
,l,ra mi
tion was so large, in fact, that he was told
by the quartermaster sergeant that they
could sell some of it in order to add to
their funds belonging to the company. The
money secured from the sale of this am
munition was supposed to go into the COM
pany's funds.
Rations Unsatisfactory.
''It is pretty hard for company" said
the witness ito get along with the rations
provided; it is pretty hard to get along
on the government rations."
This he said in explanation of the neces-
sity to get more money from some source
with which to add to the government ra-
lions. The Krag ammunition that was sold,
he said had simply been abandoned, the
Krag rifle at that time having been turned
in, the company getting the Springfield rifle
in which the Krag ammunition could not be
fired.
Senator Warner-"It was not unusual for
a company to sell surplus supplies?"
| mo sir
IF YOU had more ammunition than you
| wanted you could see it. could you?"
IF it was surplus ammunition. If 1t had
never been taken up on the companys rec
1 ords, / suppose it could be sold
! Asked to explain how such surplus could
| be accumulated. he said some of 1t came
back with the regiment from the Philippine
Islands. He said there was an awful lot Of
confusion in marking boxes and In various
| ways ammunition was there that was not
| to be accounted for
Each soldier of his company. he said
could have extra ammunition stored away
in the lockers and when inspection day
came all that was necessary was to put
some clothes over it so that 1t could not be
seen by the officer making the inspection.
They had, he said more than 1900 rounds
of this ammunition which was surplus.
| 1t was keut in the storehouse. He had seen
| the Rangers fire this same ammunition in
| their rifles. He had never heard that the
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