The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-02-05
|FORAKER PET ! TAKES STAND Brownsville People Shot
 Up Town. SOLDIERS WERE INNOCENT Declared Men Were All Present When .AssemblY' Sounded. Negro serseast rs.tiaes Befere the seaste Cemmittee Being Aaided In
 Evidence sy the senator
 From 0hie.

Washington, Feb. 4.--rhe investi- gation by the Senate committee on military affairs of the Brownsville. Texas. affray was begun today.
 A score of negro soldiers of the ssth infantry. discharged from the army without honor because of their alleged participation in the shooting up'' of the Texas town were in atten- dance when the committee began it's first sitting. They were not invited into the committee room as whole. but were assigned to an unused end of the corridor. There was only one white man in the group of witnesses.
 The attendance of members of the committee at the hearing today was large, but 1t Is expected that after the investigation is well under way, 1t will be necessary for tho chairman to appoint subcommittee to take testi- mony.
 Senator Foraker took charge of the calling of witnesses and first sum moned Harris of D company to the as a porter in the Elliott National Bank in Boston and in reply to fur ther questions he said:
 'sOn that night we had some distur- bance--some shooting. I moan. was asleep in D barracks and about 1a o'clock was aroused by the noise of guns I put on my trousers and shoes. but no blouse or ieggfnga. Then there was the sound to arms and D compa- ny got dressed and we started from our gums"
 The witness then told of getting the gums in the dark after the racks had been opened. He described the racks and showed that there Is but one key to q rack and that this key will un- look only ono rack and that the keys are in the possession of non-commis- soined officers.
 AIi Men Hsresien4.
 The witness said that when the company formed outside, Captain Ly- ofi& of D company was present and sifnmediateiy called tho roll and psr- E0nally counted his men and that none was absent He said that no persons had joined the company after the for- nation and he declared that no men could have fired from D barracks with out having been detected
 He told of the patrol of the town by D company, and the fact that no SOL dlers were found fin the town. and finally he told of the return from the patrol and the surrender of arms and the locking of arms in the racks. The inspection of guns on the following morning was explained. It was found, he said. that none of the guns had been used. or if they had been, they had been cleaned over night
 Senator Foraker read from the re- port of Major Biocksom. who investi- gated the affray for the War Depart ment. in which the Major said he did not take much stock in the story of the clean guns as a defense because the guns could have been cleaned by the men while returning from shoot ing up" the town, and that the oIean- ing could have been done in a minute or two.
 Calling for guns furnished the committee by the War Department Senator Foraker first had one gun identified by the witness as a new model Springfield rife and another as the Krag -Jorgsen. The former was in use by D company. but the witness was familiar with the Krag. Harris took the Springfield like an expert. threw back the shell. sighted along