The Washington times., 1908-12-14

llC lOiOWHlS lllCSSdSC, lClCliillS
10 the Brownsville affair, was sent
10 the Senate today by President
Roosevelt. 1t includes his conclu-
Sions concerning the War Depart
mentS investigation and a note
from Secretary of War Wright,
submitting the general report of the
work done to detect the criminals.
The message is as follows:
I incIose herewith a letter from the
Secretary Of War transmitting report
Of the investigation made by Mr.. Her
bert J. Browne, employed by the de-
partment in conjunction with Capt w.
q. Baldwin to investigate as far as pos
sible what happened at Brownsville on
the 18th and 14th OF August, 1906 The
report and documents contain some in
formation OF great value and some
statements that are obviously worthless,
but I submit them in their entirety.
This report enables US to fix With
tOlerable definiteness at least some or
the criminals who took the lead in the
murderous shooting OF private citizens
al Brownsville. 1t establishes clearly
the fact that the colored soldiers diu
the shooting: but upon this point fur
ther record was unnecessary, as the
fact that the cOlored soldiers did the
shooting has already been established
beyond all possibility of doubt. The
investigation has not gone far enough
10 enable US 10 determine all the facts,
and we will proceed with It; but II
has gone far enough TO determine with
sufficient accuracy certain facts OF
enough importance to make il advis-
able that I place the report before YOU
It appears that almost all the mem
bers of Company must have been
.HT- In. s-eF
either to the extent Of being partici-
pants or to the extent Of virtually en-
couraging those who were participants.
As TO Companies Q and d, there can
rlan in them must have had knOWl-
edge that the shooting was done by
some OF the soldiers OF 3 Troop. and
possibly by one or two others in one
or the other troCUS. This concealmcnt
was itself a grave OftenSe, which WIS
greatly aggravated by their teStlfyinE
before the Senate Committee that they
were ignorant of whai they must have
known. Nevertheless. II is to be said in
partial eNteuuatiOn that they were
probably cOwed by threats. made by the
more desperate of the men who had ac-
tUaIlV been engaged in the shooting, as
t0 what would hanpen to any man who
failed 20 protect the wrOngdOers. More
over. there aUe circumstances tending
encouraged by outsiders 20 persist in
their course cf conCealment ana denial.
Due TO Others.
I feel. therefore, that the guilt OF the
mon who. after The event thus shielded
the perpetrators OF the wrong by re-
fusiuu to tell the truth about them.
though serious. was in part due 70 the
unwise and improper attitude OF Others,
and that some measure Of allowance
should be made for the miSconduc-. In
other words I believe we can afford
n reinstate any Of these men who now
truthfuIly tel what has happened. give
all the aid they can to fix the re-
sponsibility upon those who are really
guilty. and show that they themselves
had TO guilty knowledge beforehand and
were in no way implicated in tEe af-
fair. save by having knowledge Of It
afterwards and falling and refusing to
dlvulge It.
Under the circumstances. and in view
Of the length Of time they have been
ont Of the service, and their loss Of the
benefit that would have accrued to
them by continuous longtime service,
We can afford 20 treat the men who
meet the requirements given above as
having been sufficiently punished by the
consequences they brought upon them
selves when they rendered necessary
the exercise OF the QlEClplludTE power
T recommend that a law be passed al
lowing the Secretary Of War, within a
liked period Of time. say year. to rein
state any OF these soldiers he, after
careful examination, finds to have been
innocent and whom he finds to have
done all I'm his power to help bring to
justice the guilty.
Meanwhile the investigation will be
continued. The results have made il
obvious that only by carrying on the il
No. Fa~--,e .
actually carried II on is there the slight
est chance Of bringing the offenders to
justice or Of separating not the inuo-
cent, for there were doubtless hardly
any innocent. but the less guilty from
those whose guilt was heinous.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
The White House, December Il, 1905.
Wright'S Report.
War Department,
Washington, Dec. 10, 1908. |
Ny Dear Mr.. President:
/ have the honor to send you here
with a report Of investigation made |
by Mr.. Herbert J. Browne, who was
employed by this department in con-
junction with Capt. w. G. Baldwin to
as far as possible the oc-
currence at Brownsville on the 18th and /
l4th of August, 1906.
Sincerely yours,
LUKE +. WRIGHT.
The President
General Report.
The report is as follows:
Washington, D. G. December ,, 1905.
Sir: I have the honor to submit the
following report relative to the Investi-
CATION of the Brownsville raid:
Ex-Private Boyd COnyers, Of Company
b. Twenty-fiftn Infantry. now at Mon
roe, Ca, told William Lawson. a detec-
tive in the employ Of Capt William G.
Baldwin, Of Roanoke, Va, that he and
.hree Cor four other men or the Twenty
fifth Infantry were the leaders in the
raid This information was
at different dates during the
month Of June, 1903 (See Exhibit Al |
7 submit the afffdaVits q presented |
There are certain discrepancies of a
minor character. due to the fact hat
Lawson is illiterate and hal to depend
,n his memory for details. But it should
be borne IN mind that Lawson was un-
acquainted with the details of the