The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1908-12-14
In the Brownsville Case But
ReiterateS Belief
THE GUILT OF THE NEGROES
Roosevelt Submitted a Special Message
to the Senate To-day on Subject
Recommends Leniency to the
Innocent.

washington ~. ", Dec. l4.--Pfesi-
dent Roosevelt sent TO the Senate 10
day a special Brownsville message do
nouncing the negro soldiers and re.de.
claring their guilt, but recommending
law allowing the secretary of war
within year 10 reinstate any he finds
innocent and those who have done all
in their power TO aid in the punish
Inent Of those who we're guilty. 1Ie
submits long statement Of investiga-
tion by the war Office detectives.
President Roosevelt says.---
II enclose herewith letter from
the Secretary OF War transmitting a
report Of the investigation made by
Mr. Herbert J. Browne, employed by
the department in conjunction with
Capt. w. @. Baldwin to investigate as
far as possible what happened at
brownsville on the 18th and 14th Of
August, 1905. The report and docu-
ments contain some information Of
great value and some statements that
are obviously worthless, but | submit
their in their entirety"
This report enables us to fix with
tolerable definiteness ut least some OF
the criminals who took the lead in the
murderous shooting OF private citizens
at Brownsville. II estabhshes clearly
the fact that the colored soldiers did
the shcotingj but upon this point fur
tier 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
TO enable ps to determine all the facts,
and we will proceed with IL; but it has
gone far enough TO determine with
sufficient, accuracy certain facts OF en-.
ough Importance 10 make it advisable
that / place the report before you. 1t
rppears that almost all the members OF
Company D must have been actively
concerned In the shooting, either TO the
extent OF being participants or to the
extent Of virtually encouraging those
who were participants. As to Com
panies @ and ID, there can be no ques-
tion that practically every man IN
them must have bad knowledge that
the shooting was done BIZ some of the
soldiers Of B Troop, and possibly by
one or two Others in one Of the other
troops. The coneealment was itself
grave offenses, which was greatly ag-
grayated by their tcstifying before the
Senate committee that they were ig-
normant Of what hey must have
known
Nevertheless, il ia to be said in par
tial extenuation that they were prob
ably cowed by threats, made by the
more desperate Of the men who had
actually been engaged in the shooting.
as to what would happen to any man
who failed to protect the wrongi0ers
there are circumstances tend
ing TO show that these misguided men
were Encouraged by outsiders to per-
sist in their course of concealment and
denial. feel, therefore, that the
guilt of the men who, after the event, |
thus shielded the perpetrators Of the
wrong by refusing to tell the truth |
about them, though sdious, was in
part due to the unwise and improper
attitude Of others, and that some
measure of allowance should be made |
for the misconduct. In other words. I |
believe we can afford to reinstate any
Of these men who now truthfully tell |
what mas happened, give all the aid |
they can to fix the responsibility upon
those who are really guilty, and show |
that they themselves had no knowledge |
beforehand and We're in no way imph.
Gated in the affair, save by having |
of it afterwards and failing
and refusing to divtilge it,"
Under the circumstances, and in view |
of the length Of time they have been
sut Of the service, and their loss of the |
benefit that would have accrued to them
by continuous longtime service, we can
aford to treat the men who meet the
given above as having been
punished BY the consequences
hey brought upon themselves when they |
necessary the exercise Of the
power. recommend that a
aw be passed allowing the secretary of /
war, within fixed period Of time, say a
year, to reinatate any Of these soldiers
whom he, after careful examination,
inds to have been innocent and whom he
inds to hsved one all in his power to
ielp bring to justice the guilty
Meanwhile the investigation will be
continued. The results have made it OBJ
-ious that only by carrying on the inves-
igation as the war department has actu-
lily carried it on, is there the slightest
.hance Of bringing the offenders to JUS
ice or Of separating not the innocent,
or there were doubtless hardly any in
locent, but the less guilty from those
whose guilt was heinous.