Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-21
LET ORCHARD HANG
|. SAYS SENATOR BORAH
PROSECUTOR THINKS SLAYER
NOT DESERVING OF MERCY
In Maiden Speech at Washington,
Attorney from Idaho Sustains
RooseveIt's Discharge of
Negro Troops
BY Associated Press.

BY Associated Press.
WASHINGTON, April Ex-senator
Borah of Idaho, who as special counsel
for that state conducted the prosecution
of w. D. Haywood, q secretary Of the
Western Federation of Miners, whose
trial on the charge of numbering former
Governor Steunenberg attracted wide
attention last year, today found oppor-
tunity in his maiden speech in the SEN
ate to express his disapproval of any
effort to secure leniency for Harry Or
chard, the self-confessed thrower of the
bomb which caused Steunenberg' s
death.
The utterance was a part of a speech
by the senator on the Brownsville af-
fray and was made in connection with
condemnation of all efforts to condone
the offense at Brownsville. 1t was as
follows:
"a d-blooded, inhuman, incarnate
devil blows to pieces a former governor
upon the doorstep of his home, Is
caught and confesses, and before the
grave of the man who died-a martyr
to law and order-is green, sentiment
alism puts a halo on the brow Of the
blacklist spirit that ever escaped the
crypts of hell.
MEN wearing the uniform of a SOL
dier Of the Union, the insignia of gov
ernment and the symbol of law and or
der, in the quiet of night, While homes
are defenseess, assault and attempt to
murder whole families and finally sue
ceed in committing one murder. To
compromise with such an act or such a
deed is cowardice; 1t is betrayal OF
government; 1t Is an insult to every
intelligent and right thinking negro,
for it presupposes he is a traitor to his
country and criminal at heart"
Notable Speech
The speech was made notable by
many striking passages of oratory, and
attracted general interest. Besides con-
tanning an analysis of the testimony
taken in the Brownsville case, it was in
reply to Senator Foraker's recent dis
cussion of the same subject.
Mr. Borah made very clear his bellef
that the evidence established a conspir-
acy on the part of some of the negro
soldiers of the Twenty-f1fth regiment
to shoot up the town.
'I contend" said Mr.. Borah, that the
evidence in this case is simply over
whelming and conclusive against the
colored soldiers unless you resort to the
proposition of a conspiracy which man
ufactured the evidence, and that is evil
IDENTIFY the view taken by the defense.
The morale of the army, he said, Is
paramount to any mans right TO re-
main in it. If any man In the twenty
fifth regiment participated In the riot,
and If others connived at the crime by
concealing knowledge of it to shield the
guilty parties, then both were guilty
alike, he declared.
Mr.. Borah called attention to Mr..
Foraker's suggestion that the citizens
of Brownsville might have shot up the
town to secure the removal of the negro
soldiers.
NOW I confess" he said, "that there
might possibly have been q desire to
attack the soldiers, but 1t seems that
this conspiracy. if 1t had an existence.
would not have turned its guns upon
it's own people,"
Mr.. Borah reviewed at length the tes-
timony in the case and then announced
his conclusion that sit discloses the
guilt of certain members of the Twen-
ty-fifth infantry as participants in the
Brownsville affair beyond reasonable
doubt"