The Brownsville daily herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1897-1910, 1908-12-16

few of the men in the saloon of Al
lison. the colored ex-soldier, on the
afternoon of Aug. 13, 1906. that the
raid should take place that night at
II o'clock. 1t seems to have been
delayed a few minutes to let 'tTama-
yao, the Mexican scavenger, get
away from the barracks.
John Holloman, the money lender
of Company B was the chief conspir-
ator and leader in the raid and Gus
tOdian and distributor of the car
tridges, but his plans could not have
been carried out had not Sergt.
George Jackson of Company B, in
charge of the keys to the gun racks
in B barracks, and Sergt. Reid, in
command of the guards, co-operated
both before and after the raid
The four men who led the raid
were John HOloman, John Brown,
Boyd Conyers and Carolina De Saus-
sure, all of Company B (and probably
R. L. Collier of Company c.. Hollo-
man was in barracks, Brown in the
bakeshop, COnyers and De Saussure
in the guardhouse The two latter
were in the same detail and had been
relieved at about II o'clock, De Saus-
sure on the post at the guardhOuse
and COnyers on No 2 around the bar
racks and facing the town. HOlloman
got the party together COnyers and
De 'Saussure slept in the same bunk
in the guardhouse, claiming that they
wanted to get under the mosquito
net, and they had the trick Of taking
their guns into the bunk instead of
placing them in the open rack, on the
excuse that they did not rust so badly
under cover but really so the alb
sence of the guns from the open racks
would not attract attention, and their
absence would be ascribed to a visit
TO the closet, which was back of the
guardhouse. These two men slipped
out the rear door of the guardhose,
passed through the sallypOrt and
Joined HolOman and Brown.
The party crossed the wall of the
fort near the end of A barracks, went
up the roadway to the entrance to
the Cofey, where the signal shots
were fired. These shots were imme-
diately tailed on to by the alarm
shots of Joseph B. Howard, guard on
No. 2, and formed the series testified
TO by Mrs Katie E. Leahey of
Brownsville Her testimony is fur
Their borne out by the statement that
not over thirty seconds elapsed be
fore a number of the men of Com
pany B swarmed out on the upper
gallery and opened a fusillade on the
town
1t is an absolute certainty that it
would have been impossible for Sergt.
Jackson to have opened the gun
racks. for the men to have assembled,
gone out to the gallery and started
firing all after the first shot was
fired; all aroused as they testified un-
animously from sound slumber in less
than two minutes in the confusion of
a dark barrack room. Beyond the
possibility of a doubt the racks had
been opened and the inside cOnspira-
tors were ready to pour out on the
signal shots. The testimony is ample
that there were scarcely twenty sec
onds between the last of the signal
hOts and the first general volley from
the barracks.
The number firing from the bar
racks is unknown, but perhaps twenty
men were involved A smaller num-
Der went to the ground and followed
the leaders up the alley. 1t will be
remembered that one of the witnesses
testified to hearing some one exclaim,
There they 60" whereupOn these
men leaped over the wall and ran up
the alley.
Boyd Conyers is the man whose
gun jammed at the exit of the alley
by the Cowan house, testified to by
Herbert Elkins, and it was taken
from him by De Saussure and fixed in
the street, where the light from the
street lamp at the corner of Eliza
beth street shone on them.
Less than five minutes elapsed
from the time the first shot was fired
until these men were all back inside
the fort.
Conyers stated that Reid was told
that they were going to shoot up
the town and he laughed and said,
Don't go out there and let the crack
ers get the best of you"
When COnyerS ana lie SduSSuIe
reached the guardhouse they ran in
the back way and got into their
hunks. Sergeant Reid came in and
swore at them, but Conyers was so
excited and out of breath that he
could hardly stand, so Reid stationed
him at the rear OF the guardhOuse
in the dark, where he could not be
recognized so closely. Holloman came
around with extra cartridges about
daybreak and Reid passed them out.
The guns were all cleaned before day
light