Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-01-15
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
CONTINUED from Page One.)

hours after the shooting; three steel-jack-
eted bullets and some scraps of the cas-
ings of other bullets picked out of the
houses into which they had been fired. A
, telegram from United States Commission
| er r. +. Creager at Brownsville. an
| nounces that six additional bullcts-like
the others, from Springfield rifles-taken
| from buildings in Brownsville with sup
porting affidavits, have since been sent
| to the secretary of war.
1t appears from the testimony that on
| the night of the 18th of August, 1906, sew
eral crimes We're committed by some per-
son or persons in the city of Browns
| Vile. Among these were the following:
| A)-The murder Of Frank Natus.
| B)-The assault with intent to kill the
/ lieutenant of police. Dominique. whose
+, horse was killed under him and whose
arm was shot so severely that it had 70
; be amputateG.
! lC)-1he assault with intent to kill Mr.
and Mrs. Hale Odn and their little BOY,
| who were in the window of the Miller
| hotel
| DJ-1he shooting into several private
| residences in the city of brownsville,
| three Of them containing women and chill
; dren.
! E)-1he shooting at and slightly
woundng of Prociado.
| These crimes were certainly committed
! by somebody.
| As TO the motive for the commission of
! the crime, it appears that trouble Of Il
! more or l"Ss serious kind had occurred
! between individual members of the COM
pani-s ana individual citizens Of Browns
vile, eliminating i'll complaints which re
suited i'll the soldiers being contined with
! in the limit Of til" garrison on the even
ing Of the day in question.
! The evidence, as viii be seen, shows
, beyond any possibility of honest ques-
ton that some individuals among the
colored troops whom | have dismissed
committed the outrages mentioned; and
that some or all OF th, other individuals
deed and shielded from the law those
who committed it.
Tie only motive suggested as possibly
influencing anyone else was IL desire Ia
get rid of the colorcd troops, so strong
that it impelled the citizens of Browns
vile to shoot up their own houses, to
, assault
! their own police. wourdng the licuten-
ant, who had been an officer for 20 years
l-all with the purpose of discrediting the
negro troops. The suggestion is on its
face so ludicrously impossible that it is
difhcult to treat it as honestly made This
theory SupposeS that the assailants sue
ceedcd in obtaining the uniform of the
negro soldiers. that before starting on
their raid they got over the fence OF the
fort unchallenSed and without discovery
by the negro troops, opened fire on the
town from within the fort; that they
blackened their faces 50 that at least
II eye-witncsses mistook them for ne
groes; that they disguised their voices 50
that at least six witnesses who heard
them speak mistooll their voices as be-
ing those OF negroes. They were not Mex.
leans, for they were heard by various
witnesses to speak in English. The
weapons they used were Springfield ri
fles, for the ammunition they used was
that Of the Springfield rifle and no other
and could not have been used i'll any gun
in Texas or any part of the Union or in
Mexico, or in any part Of the world saw f.
only in the Springfield now usct, by the
United States troops. including the negro
troors in the garrison at Brownsville
and by no other persons save these
troops--a weapon which had only been
in use by the United States for some
four or five months prior to the SHOOTING
in question and which is not in the pos
session of private citizens.
The cartridges used will go INTO on"
other rifle used in the United States
when especially chambcred for the %,
model-but it will rarely if ever go off
wncn in it, and moreover. the bullets
picked out Of the buildings show IT,
markings Of the four so-callcd lands
(which come from being fired through the
Springfield but not through the WincheS-
ter. the latter showing six. The bullets
which I herewith submit. which wero
found in the house, cold not therefore
have been fired from Il Winchester or any
other shooting rifles. although the car
tridGes might have been put into a Win
chester model of %. The bullets might
trigeS would not have gone into q Krag
Taking tn" shells ana bullets together
the proof is conclusive that the merry
Springfield rifle was the wc;ipon used r,y
the midnight asslssins ana could not by
lany possibility have been any otncr rife
of any kind iii the world This of itself
re-establiShcs tn" fact that the assail-
ants were United States soldiers and
would h" conclusive on this point if not
one soldier had been seen or heard by
any residents in brownsville on the nigh
in question and If nothing were known
save the finding of the shells. clips and
bullets.
Fourteen eyewitness. namely Chas.
Il. Chase. AInado MARTINEZ. Mrs Kate
Leahy Palermo Procado. Ignacio Dom
inGuez. Macedonia Ramircau Geo w.
Kendall. Jose MARTINEZ. ]. +. Mcdonald.
F. H. A. Sanborn. Herbert Elkins Hale
Odkin. Mrs. Hale Odkin and Judge Parks.
testified that they saw the assaiiants or
some of them at varying distances and
that they We're negro troops. most OF tn :
witnesses giving their testimony in such
shape that there is no possibility Of their
having been mistaken. Two other wit
neSSes. Joseph Bodin and Genera Padron
saw some of the ASSISTANTS and testified
that they We're soldiers Che only soldiers
liph1 Dr Nd III,