The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1907-01-18
NEGROES TERMED
NIGHT ASSASSINS
SEVERE WORDS OF PRESIDENT
IN DESCRIBING MEN GUILTY
OF BROWNSVILLE AFFAIR.
Roosevelt Declares Evidence Against
CoIored Troops Is Positive - Ban
on Civil Employment Under Gov
eminent Is Lifted.

Washington, Jan. Is. = President
Roosevelt Monday sent to the senate
a special message regarding the
Brownsville incident, which gives adj
ditional evidence collected by Assist
ant Attorney General Purdy and Maj.
Blocksom, who were sent to Texas by
the president to investigate the affair
The president submitted with his mes
sage various exhibits, including maps
of Brownsville and Fort Brown, a
bandoleer, 33 empty shells, seven ball
cartridges, picked up in the streets a
few hours after the shooting; three
steel-jacketed bullets and some
scraps of castings of other bullets
picked out of the houses in which
they had been fired.
Calls Them Midnight Assassins.
The president declares that the evil
dence is positive that the outrages
of August 81 were committed by some
of the colored troops that have
been dismissed and that some or all
of the members of the three COM
panies of the Twenty-fifth infantry
had knowledge of the deed and have
shielded the guilty ones. The negro
troops are referred to by the presi-
dent in his message as midnight as
sassins" and he declares that very
few, if any, of the soldiers dismissed
without honor" could have been ig-
norant of what occurred.
hot nj Of fhn xuhi q re
the soldiers from all civil employment
under the government is revoked by
the president This clause, the presi-
dent says, was lacking in validity.
The discharged troops, however, will
be forever barred from reenlisting in
the army or navy, and as to this the
president says that there is no doubt
of my constitutional and legal power"
Secretary Taft's report, giving the
sworn testimony of witnesses, is
transmitted with the message. The
testimony of IA eyewitnesses is given
and the president declares that the
evidence is conclusive that the weap-
ons used were Springfield rifles now
used by the United States troops, in
Guiding the negro troops who were in
the garrison at Brownsville.
Taking but a brief time to pass the
legislative, executive and judicial APP
preparation bill, carrying nearly $751;
100000, the senate devoted the re-
mainder of the day to discussing the
presidents message.
TiIIman Scores President.
Washington, Jan. 14.-Senator Till
man spoke on the Brownsville Incl
dent in the senate Saturday. He
characterized the presidents action
in dismissing the negro troops "as
nothing more nor less than lynch
ing" He challenged anyone to pro-
duce in the army regulations or ar
ticles of war any foundation for the
tiny and treason made against the sol
diers, although he declared there was
no doubt that the soldiers were re-
sponsible for the outrage at Browns
ville."
Senator Tillman held that it was
Piles of liberty of English and Amer
lean law that the innocent should suf-
fer because of the sins of the guilty;
also he declared that man shall be
considered innocent until he is proved
guilty.
I'm this cas- he Sad, "167 men
have been punished, while not more
than 20 have been charged with par
ticipation in the crime
Should Not Have Been Sent to Texas.
Senator Tillman maintained that the
negro troops should not have been
he said, against the protests of one
of the Texas senators and the con-
gresham from that district. They
were sent there, he continued, with a
wholly inadequate number of officers,
as there were only five officers for the
three companies.
Hopkins Defends Smoot.
Washington, Jan. 12.-The first
speech in defense of tho right of Reed
Smoot to seat in the senate was de-
livered Friday by Seeator Hopkins of
Illinois.
Senator Hopkins took the position
that senators were not federal officers
to the extent that the senate could
pass upon their qualifications and ELI
gibility or could impeach them for
high crimes or misdemeanors. If
senator was to be punished, it must
be done by the state or federal
courts. Only federal officers, he
maintained, were Improbable, and
this impeachment must be for acts
committed as such federal officers.
The precedent cited was the unsuc-
cessful effort to impeach Senator
Blount of Tennessee, charged with
reasonable correspondence with a
foreign nation, more than 10C years
ago. The conclusion then, Senator
Hopkins said, had never been re-
versed, and that was that the senate
had no right to try the case, as Sen
ator Blount was not an officer of the
United States.
A general service pension bill was
passed by the senate Friday which, If
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