The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1907-02-02
ATTEMPT TO BREAK
INTO THE ARSENAL.
Witness Of This Last Piece Of DeviItry
by Negro Soldiers Should Be
Summoned.

appear at the court-martial of Maj
Penrose, but has not been sum-
moned, is VIM. Forster, who was a
teamster at Fort Brown at the time
of the outrage. Mr.. Forster is the
man who surprised the three men
in the act of forcing the door to
the arsenal on the night before the
departure of Major Penrose and
his band of murderers from Browns
vile.
This incident has been rather
overlooked in the official investiga-
ton of this affair, yet it is an i'm
portant one. Mr.. Forster distinctly
saw the three men, two in soldiers
uniform and one in citizens
clothes, in the act of forcing the
arsenal door about three O'Clock
in the morning of Aug. "a, just
three hours before the departure
of the soldiers. The lock was
broken off aud found next day
lying on the ground some distance
from the arsenal, and the heavy
iron door forced back far enough
to admit an arm. A heavy iron
wedge was found in the opening.
This fact was acknowledged to
THE HERALD a few days later by
Lieut. Greer.
When Mr.. Forster surprised
them, the three men ran away.
He notified the guard and an in
vestigation showed that the attempt
as described had been made.
This incident was apparently |
ignored in official reports, although !
it was undoubtedly of a serious
nature, as it is more than probable
that those three men intended to
obtain gun-powder or dynamite
from the arsenal and blow up as
much of the town as they could. |
If not, then what other purpose
could they have had in view.
The Constitution League, how
ever, in its effort to defend the
negro soldiers, brought up the in
>ident, in a sworn statement of
John H. Hill, of Company
:. 18th. Infantry, to the effect
hat, on the night referred to, he
was on guard duty, and that be-
:ween the hours of l and a. M,
lie saw six or more citizens around
he arsenal. and that he sent to re-
bort the same to the sergeant of
he guards, and that an investiga-
ion was made and the lock of the
found broken. as describ-
d by Mr.. Forster.
This testimony is clearly a>for-
gerry, as Mr.. Forster, who was
.mpioyed as a teamSter in the post /
md occupied house about thirty
eet from the arsenal. swears that
lie distinctly saw three men at the
rsenal, two of them in uniform,
nd he was the only witness and
vas the one who reported i to the
,uard. Corporal Hill, who left at
lawn the next day, with the rest
# the command, evidently kne wall
bout the affair, and has endeav-
red to turn it to account in the
iefense of the soldiers.
Mr.. Forster also says that Maj.
'enrose never had any guard
tationed at the arsenal at any time,
although he assured the citizens
that the arms of all the
except those on guard,
we're locked in the arsenal after the
and the arsenal kept con-
sanity under guard under super
Tisiop of commissioned officer.
1t had always been the custom of
he commanding officers at the post,
before Penrose's time, to regularly
maintain a guard at the arsenal, so
Mr.. Foster asserts.
The event, if it establishes
nothing else, proves that Major
oenrose was guilty of misrepresent-
ng things to the citizens and was
.u1pably negligent of his duty