The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-02-05
SENATOR'S EXAMINE
 NEGRO WITNESSES Military Committees First sit- ting on Brownsville Afray FORAKER TAKES CHARGE
Has Negro Soldier to Show Process of Cleaning Gun-Says Lantern Used In Reading Roll Gall After
 shooting up."

Washington, February 1.-The nvestiga- tion by the Senate committee on military affairs in the Brownsville afray was be- gun today. number of negro soldiers of the Twenty-hfth infantry, discharged from the army without honor because of their alleged participation in the shoot ing up" of the Texas town were in at tendance when the committee began it's first sitting. They were not invited into the committee room as a whole, but were assigned to an unused part of the cor rdor There was only one white man in the group of witnesses.
 The attendance of members of the con- mittee at the hearing today was large. but it is expected that after the Investigation is well under way it will be necessary for the chairman to appoint a sub-com- mittee to take testimony. Senator Foraker took charge of the calling of witnesses, and first summoned Harris of Company D to the stand. He said he is now employed as a porter in the Elliott National bank in Boston, and in reply to further ques- tions, he said:
 'on that night we had some disturb anee-some shooting, 1 mean. I was asleep in D barracks, and about F o'clock l was aroused by the noise of guns. I put on my trousers and shoes, but no blouse or leggings. Then there was the sound to arms, and Company D got dressed and we started for our guns"
 The witness then told of getting the guns in the dark after the racks had IJo hn1 ha aalx am showed that there is but one key to rack, and that this key will unlock only one rack, and that the keys are in the possession of on-commissioned officers.
 The witness said that when the com pany formed outside, Captain Lyons of Company D was present and immediately called the roll, and personally counted his men, and that none was absent. He said that no person had joined the company after the formation.
 After the formation he declared that no men could have fired from D barracks without having been detected. He told of the patrol of the town for police duty by the company and the fact that no sol diers were found in the town, and finally he told of the return of the patrol and the surrender of arms and the locking of arms in the racks. The inspection of guns on the following morning was ex- plained. It was found, he said that, none of the guns had been used or if they had they had been cleaned over night.
 Senator Foraker read from the report of Major Blockson, who investigated the affray for the war department, in which the major said he did not take much stock in the story of the clean guns as defense, because the guns could have been cleaned by the men while returning from Shooting up' the town, and that the cleaning could have been done 1n.=A minute or two.
 Calling for guns furnished the commit tee by the war department, Senator For aker first had one gun identified by the witness as a new model Springfield rifle and another as the Krag-Jorgensen. The former was in use by D company. but the witness was familiar with the krag. Harris took the Springfield Ike an eX- pert, threw back the shell, sighted along the barrel and made the members of the committee look nervous.
 Mir Foraker asked the witness to show how a gun is cleaned.
 Cant that be dispensed with?" asked Senator Lodge.
 No want to show how long it takes to clean d gun so it will pass inspec- tion."
 How long does it require?" Mir For al1er asked.
 Harris said it could not be done in less 
 through the movements. He testified that a gun cannot be cleaned to pass inspec- ton without a regulation rod and that only four such rods are provided for each company. He said that one shot would put the gun in condition to require al- most as much cleaning as six or more shots his inference being that it would have been impossible for any guns of D company to have been used in the "shooting up'' of Brownsville.
 After testifyng that it would be in- possible to clean the guns in the dark, Harris was examined by Senator Warner relative to the merits of the krag-Jorg- ensen and the Springfield arms and the difference between smokeless and black powder in corroding the gun chamber.
 II developed that each Krag-Jorgensen was furnished with a cleaning rod. The Springfelds are not. Each man as Brownsville, testified Harris, had twenty rounds of ammunition before the dis turbance and inspection was made iin- mediately after the firing. He did not know that any ammunition was missing, no complaint having been made.
 When cross-examined regarding the roll Call Harris said that a lantern was used in reading the call, and that all men responded to their names.
 Senator Overman asked the witness if it were not possible for one man to an swer for another. The witness said he could mot think that this would be done.
 Senator Warner developed the fact that trouble had previously occurred between the negro troops and people in Texas. and that Harris, when he heard the shooting, feared that members of his company might be involved Harris stated that he had talked with soldiers who had claimed to have been insulted and pushed off the sidewalks by Browns vile citizens. and he thought trouble might ensue in consequence thereof.