Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-01-15

from the garrison, and this testimony
OF theirs would be amply sufficient in
itself IL not cartridge or bullet
had been found; exactly as the bull
lets and cartridges that were founG
would have established the guilt Of
the troops even had not a single eye.
witness seen them or other witness
heard them.
Jumped Walls of the Fort.
The testimony of the witnesses and
the position Of the bullet holes show
that fifteen or twenty of tho negro
troops gathered inside the fort, ana
That the first shots fired in,a ,ho
town were fired from within the fort;
some OF them at least from the up
per galleries of the barracks.
The testimony further shows that
The troops then came out over the
walls, some of them perhaps going
through the gate, and advanced II
distance of 800 yards or Whereabouts
INTO the town. During their advance
they shot into two hotels and somo
nine or ten other houses. Three of
the private houses into which thew
fired contained women and children.
They deliberately killed Frank Natus,
the bartender, shooting him down
from n distance of about Is yards
they shot at a man and woman Mr.
and Mrs. Odin, and their little boy.
as they stood in the window of the
Miller Hotel, the bullet going less
than inches from the head of the
woman. They shot down the lieuten-
ant of police, who was on horseback
killing his horse and wounding him
so that his arm had to be amputated
They attempted to kill the two police.
men who were his companions, shoot
Ing one through the hat. They shot
at least 8 bullets into the Cowen
house, putting out n lighted lamp on
the dining-room table. Mrs. Cowen
and her five children were in the
hour; they at once threw themselves
prone on the. floor and were not hit
They fired into the Starck house, the
bullets going through the mosquito
bar of bed room eighteen to twenty
inches above where little children
wero sleeping. There was light in
the children's room.
Town Was In Panic.
The shooting took place near mid.
night. The panic caused by the ut
terly unexpected attack was great.
The darkness, of course, increased
the confusion. There is conflict of :,
testimony on some of tho minor
points, but every essential point Is
established beyond possibility of hon
est question. The careful examina-
ton of Mr.. Purdy, Assistant to the
Attorney-General, resulted merely in
strengthening the reports already
made by the Regular Army authori-
ties. The shooting, it appears, occu.
pied about ten minutes. although It
may have been some minutes more
or less. 1t Is out of the question that
the fifteen or twenty men engaged in
the assault could have gathered be-
hind the wall of the fort, begun fir
ing, some of them on the porches of
the barracks. gone out into the town,
fired in tho neighborhood of 200 shots
in the town, and then returned-the
total time occupied from the time of
the first shot to the time of their re-
turn being somewhere in the neigh
borhood of ten minutes-without
many of their comrades knowing
what they had done. Indeed, the
fuller details as established by the
additional evidence taken since | last
communicated with the Senate make
it likely that there were very few, If
any. of the soldiers dismissed who
could have been ignorant of what &C.
Cured. 1t is well-nigh impossible
that any of the non-commissioned Of
ficers who were at the barracks
should not haveknown what occurred
Maintains His Position lis Legal.
The additional evidence thus taken
renders 1t in my opinion impossible
to question the conclusions upon
which my order was based. l have
gone most carefully over every issue
of law and fact that has been raised
am now satisfied that the effect of
my order Diminishing these men with
out honor was not to bar them from
all civil employment under the Gov
eminent. and therefore that the part
of the order which consisted of n de-
claration to this effect was lacking in
validity, and have directed that such
portion be revoked. AS to the rest
of the order, dismissing the individ-
uals in question without honor, and
declaring the effect Of such discharge
under the law and regulations to be
a bar to their future reenlistment
either In the Army or the Navy, there
is no doubt of my constitutional and
legal power. The order was within
my discretion, under the constitution
and the laws, and can not be review
ed or reversed save by another
Executive order. The facts did not
merely warrant the action I took
they rendered such action imperative
unless was to prove false to my
sworn duty.
If anyone of the men discharged
hereafter shows to my satisfaction
that he is clear of guilt, or of shield
ing the guilty, will take what action
is warranted; but the circumstances