Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-01-15
CONDUCT OF TROOPS
Continued from First Page.)

fired through the Springfield, but not
through the Winchester, the latter showing
six
The bullets which 1 herewith submit,
which were found in the houses, could not
therefore have been fred from Win
chester or any other sporting rife although
the cartridges might have been put into a
might have been fred from Krag. but
the cartridges would not have gone into
a Krag. Taking the shells and the. bullets
new Springfield rifle was the weapon used
by the midnight assassins and could not
by any possibility have been any other rife
Of any kind in the world This of itself
establishes the fact that the assallants
were United States soldiers and would be.
conclusive on these points IL not one sol
der had been seen or heard by any resi-
dents In Brownsville on the night In ques-
ton; and 4 nothing were known save the
finding OF the shells, clips and bullets
Testimony of witnesses.
Fourteen eyewitnesses, namely, Charles
r. Chase, Amado Martinez, Mrs. Kate
Leahy, Palermo Preciado, Ynacio Domin-
guez, Macedonia Hamirez, George w. Rem
dali, Jose Martinez, J. z. Mcdonald, f.
II. A. Sanborn, Herbert Elkins, Hale Odtn,
Mrs. Hale Odin and Judge Parks, testified
that they saw the assailants, or some OF
them, at varying distances and that they
were negro troops. most of the witnesses
there is no possibility of their having been
mistaken. Two other witnesses, Joseph
Bodin and Genera Padron, saw some of
the assailants and testified that they were
hood being the colored troops) Four other
witnesses, namely, s. c. Moore, DR.. Thorn,
mond, testified TO hearing the shooting
and hearing the voices of the men who
were doing It, and that these voices were
the men who were doing the shooting.
About twenty-five other witnesses gave
testimony corroborating to a greater or
less degree the testimony of those who
saw the shooters or heard them. The testi-
mony of these eyes or ear witnesses would
-N-t1 Oh, nd oil nf ffo
diction the fact that the shooting was
committed by ten or fifteen or more of the
testimony Of theirs would be amply sufn-
cient in itself II not a cartridge or a bullet
had been found, exactly as the bullets
and cartridges that were found would have
established the guilt of the troops even
had not q single eyewitness seen them or
other witnesses heard them.
position of the bullet holes show that
fifteen or twenty of the negro troops gath
cred inside the fort and that the first
within the fort some of them, at least
| from the upper 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 a distance of 300 yards or
| advance they shot in two hotels and some
nine or ten other houses. Three of the
private houses into which they fired con-
| tanned women and children. They DELHI
erately killed Frank Natus, this bartender,
| shooting him down from a distance of
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
! two inches from the head of the woman.
/ They shot down the Lieutenant 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 policemen. who were his companions,
shooting one through the hat. They shot
least eight bullets into the Cowen house.
r1ttttI IN, ha inf
room table. Mrs. Cowen and her five chill
dren were in the house; they at once threw
hit they red into T the starck house the
bullets going through the mosquito bar
( of bed from eighteen to twenty inches
above where little children were sleeping.
There was light in the chlldren's room.
The shooting took place near midnight.
The panic caused by the utterly expected
increased the confusi6h There is conflict
Of testimony on some Of the minor points,
yOnd I possibility Of h R e question. 1
InvestiEatIon by Purdy.
The examination of Mr.. Purdy, assistant
to the attorney general resulted merely
/ in strengthening the reports already made
shooting It appears occupied about ten
minutes although 1t 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 gath
| cred behind the wall of the fort, begun
nrlnB, some OF them on the pOrCneS OF the
/ barracks, gone out into the town, fired in
the 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 return being somewhere in the
neighborhood of ten minutes-without many
of their comrades knowing what they had
done. Indeed, the fuller details as estab-
lshed by the additional eviderce taken
since 1 last communicated with the senate
make It likely that there were very few Il
any of the soldiers dismissed, who could
have been ignorant Of what occurred. 1t is
well nigh impossible that any of the non
commissioned officers, who were at the bar
racks should not have known what oc-
Cured
Additional Evidence Conclusive.
The additional evidence thus taken
renders it in my opinion impossible to
question the conclusions upon which my
order was based. l have gone most care
fully over every issue of law and fact that
has been raised. am now satisfied thai
the effect of my order Diminishing these mer
without honor was not TO bar them from al
civil employment under the government
and therefore that the part of the order
effect was lacking in validity, and have
directed that such portion he revoked. A:
TO the rest Of the order dismissing the in
dividuals in question without honor ant
declaring the effect of such discharge unde
J the law and regulations to be bar L
their future re-enlistment either In thu
army or the navy, there Is no doubt o.
my constitutional and legal power Thu
order was within my discretion, under thu
! reviewed or reversed save by another exc
; cutive order. The facts did not merely war
rant the action / took-they rendered sucl
r action imperative unless l was to prov
, false TO my sworn duty.
l II any one of the men discharged here
after shows to my satisfaction that he 4
clear of guilt or of shielding the guilty,
will take what action is warranted; bu
! the circumstances l have above detaile
) most certainly put upon any such maj
the burden of thus clearing himself.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
The White House, January IA, 1907.
This message is accompanied by a lette
E from Secretary Taft to the president fl
: which he set out copies OF instructions t
4 Major Blocksom and Mr.. Purdy and give
I an exhaustive review of the evidence take
! by them on the second visit to Brownsville
E WO%N7T<N1N1NNNO7