Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-03-28
NEW POINT BROUGHT UP
DARKNESS OF NIGHT OF BROWNS
VILE SHOOTING.

Second Lieut.. L1awrason. Company B, 18th
Infantry. resumed the stand today before
the Senate committee on military affairs.
investigating the Brownsville shooting. and
his direct examination by Senator Foraker
was continued.
A new point was brought out. Lieut..
Lawrason said that on the night of the
shooting 1t would have been possible for
men to have come from the rear OF the
barracks and to the front porch and there
have Joined their company. This teSti-
mony was brought out by Senator Warner
as bearing on the oSs;bilitieS of men who
were out in the town shooting it up scaling
the wall and going from the rear porch
near the wall to the front of the barracks.
and there have taken their places In line
without being detected. The witness also
said that the night was 50 dark that he
thought men might haye watched the SEN
tinel and when he little distance
from the gate have gone into the town
without being SEEN 1t was dark, he
said. although the stars were out. that
when the soldier ran to the lieutenant S
quarters to notify him to report and passed
him on the parade grounds going in the
opposite direction. they ran past each other
before he saw the man at all
Couldn't Identity Shells.
Lieut.. Lawrason. Company B. 18th Infan-
try. was on the stand until the committee
adjourned yesterday afternoon. On practi-
caliy all material points his testimony cor
roborated that given by the men of his
command. and also by the men Of Compa-
MES and D. He was shown bullets taken
from the walls of houses in Brownsville.
but could not say whether they had been
fired from the Springfield rifles. with which
the 18th Infantry was equipped or whether
they had been discharged from kraS or
gensen cartridges by krag rifles or car
bines He further gave testimony iMpiy irg
that the shells picked up in the streets may
have been discharged on the range at Fort
Niobrara and carried to Fort Brown and
also that he certain that two of the
rifles identified by expert examination of
the shells as having been used to fire GER
tain lot of the cartridges had rot been out
of the chests in which they had been pack
ed at NiCbrara.
. Lieut.. Lawrason told of his efforts to get
the company formed amid the confusion
attending the cali to arms. He said that he
had posted his men along the wall in the
rear of the barracks at the order of Maj.
Penrose.
Senator Foraker asked the witness If the
men could have cleaned their guns while
stationed along the wall LawrasOn thought
this would have been impossible. as they
had no equipment except that in the butt of
their guns and which he thought inadequate
for the cleaning of guns for inspection II
the guns had been fired.
According to his story. on direct examlna-
ton Iawrason was with his company along
the garrison wall for about two and one
half hours when they were dismissed BY the
command of Major Penrose. who first gave
instructions to Lawrason to see that all of
the company guns were locked In the racks
and that all of the guns not in use were
accounted fer. Lawrasor saw the guns
placed in the racks and the racks locked
after he had carefully verified the count.
Then he called his quartermaster sergeant,
Walker McCurdy, and went to the store
house.
Examination at Storehouse.
The witness said that the quartermaster
sergeant did not know the mission at the
storehouse until ne arrived there. 1lawrason
called for the arms chests and they were
found, he had previously testified at the
Penrose court-martial at San Antonio. Tex.
under iron hunks. iron bars for the support
of mosquito netting and ether property.
He detailed to the committee his exanina-
ton of the arms chests which contained all
of the reserve rifles as well three Gem
pany shotguns. He told the committee
that he was sure he would have detected 1t
If any of the rifles had been missing, and he
was equally sure that the chests had not
been tempered with since they were packed
at Fort Niobrara before the removal of the
negro troops from that post to Fort Brown.
Company BIS decapper and the shells more
than a thousand IN number. were put in a
box and shipped to Fort Brown to be de-
CAPPED there He did not know what had
become of the box aafter the arrival of the
company at Brownsville, but there was con-
siderable property left on the rear porch of
the barracks.
The Inference plainly shown by Senator
Forakers questions was that the box may
have been accessible to Mexican boys or
others and that shells bearing marks that
could be traced to Company B rifles may
have been carried into the town and after
ward thrown in the streets for the purpose
of manufacturing evidence against the
negro soldiers. Senator Foraker had not
completed his direct examination when the
committee adjourned for the daY