The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1908-04-30
Could EInd No kvIoenee.

IN his message 10 the senate or Dec.
19, 1906. he said:
"A blacker crime never stained the an
mails of the army 1t has been supple
mented by another. only less black, in the
shape of a successful conspiracy of ST.
lence for the purpose of shielding those
who took part In the original conspiracy
of murder"
AT another point in that same mes,
sage he said:
Yet some of the noncOmmissioned off,
GERS and many of the men of the three
companies in question have banded to-
gether in a conspiracy to protect the as
siSsins and would be assassins who have
Gissraccd their uniforms by the conduct
above related. Many of these nOncom-
missoned officers and men must have
known, and all of tHem may have known,
circumstances which would have led TO
the conviction of those engaged in the
murderous assault They have stolidly,
and as one man. broken their oaths of
enlistment and refused to help discover
the criminals"
Senator Foraker then at some
length reviewed the testimony ad-
duced at the several hearings, disclos'
ing the fact that the so-called eye
witnesses" were unable to establish
the guilt of the soldiers, and showing
cOnclusively that the statements OF
George w. Kendall and his wife. Jose
Martinez and j. p. McDonel were
fiimsy and undependable.
Az to a Motive.
He then took up the question OF
whether or not there was any motive
for such conduct, as the soldiers were
charged with, saying:
There is an attempt to show that
they had a motive in the fact that
they were debarred from drinking
with the white people in the saloons
of Brownsville; that one OF their num-
ber-a man by the name of Newton
was brutally assaulted, knocked down
with a revolver, and painfully injured
without any sufficient justification or
excuse, and that another soldier, by
the name of Reed, when returning
from MatamoraS was pushed into the
water by customs officer on account
of some tritling misbehavior.
The evidence shows that the sol.
diers freQuented the saloons but very
little and that they never made any
complaint to their oficerS or to any,
body else on account OF being de.
barred by some OF the saloons OF
Brownsville from drinking at the same
bar with white people.
"On the contrary, the testimony
shows positively that they did not
make any such complaint.
The testimony shows that the TIL
man saloon, where Frank Natus was
the barkeeper, provided separate
bar and accommodated the soldiers in
such way that no one of them ever
made the slightest objection on ac'
count of the treatment they received.
"If the soldiers had shot up the
town on account or discrimination
against them by the saloons. it is rea-
tn fhpV would hAVn
shot into saloons that did not allow
them to enter, rather than into sa-
lOon-for the Tluman saloon is the
only one they did fire into-wher0
they were provided with accommoda-
tions to which they had never taken
any exception.
TT would seem more reasonable to
suppose that II the shooting Of Natus
had any reference to the treatment
of the soldiers by the saloons, that he
was killed by somebody who objected
to the saloons accommodating the sol
diers rather than by the soldiers who
were accommodated.
"As another evidence that the SOL
diers were seeking revenge, Major
Blocksom reported that the house Of
the deputy customs officer Starck,
which was fired into, stood next door
to the house occupied by the deputy
Private Newton, and that it was doubt
less fired by mistake, the soldiers
thinking thy were firing into Tate's
house instead of into Starck's house.
There is no testimony to justify
such a conclusion except only the fact
that the major reasoned. or thought
he did, that because Newton had been
assaulted bv Tate he and his COM
panions desired to revenge Newton's
wrongs by shooting into Tate's house
in the hope they might kill him or
some member of his family.
A Possible Clue.
"The testimony shows that Starck
had during his service made more
than 600 arrests OF smugglers and
other violators of the law and that
some months before this shooting
affray he had, in the discharge of his
duty as a deputy customs officer, un-
dertaken in the nighttime to arrest u
smuggler who was landing on the
Texas side at a point near Browns
Vile.
cape. Starck commanded him to halt,
but e kept up his flight. Starck pur-
sued him in the darkness until COM
ing close upon him the smuggler
turned to resist. when Starck knocked
him down and severely injured him
by striking him over the head with
his revolver in practically the same
way Newton was felled. When
Starck took the man in custody he
discovered that the smuggler was an
inhabitant of Brownsville by the name
of Avillo, whom he knew well, and
who, Starck says was we'll acquainted
with his premises; that he4had worked
for, him at his house. 'GtaTck says
this man whom he thus arrested wac
taken before the commissioner, where
he was bound over to await the action
of the grand jury; that he forfeited
his bond and was fugitive from
Justice at the ,4me when this shooting
affray occurred.
at is far more reasonable to sup
pose that the men who shot into
Starcks house were men who were
Rvenging the supposed wrongs Of
Avillo, and possibly Of themselves,
rather than soldiers from the garrison
trying, by shooting into Starck's house
by mistake, to aVenge the wrongs or
Newton
This is confirmed by the fact that
Newton is shown by the testimony to
have been on guard duty the night Of
the ARRAY, and to have been of post
and asleep In the guardhouse when the
shooting commenced.
so far a. the trouble with Private
Rel! is concerned, Il was OF too trivial
character to merit any attention.
Reid himself did not make any COM
plant of his treatment when he re-
ported the occurrence to his captain.
but. on the contrary. according to the
testimony OF Captain Macklin, laugh.
tngly remarked that he got about
what he deserved
Moreover, the trouble with Reid oc.
Cured only the night before the
ARRAY. There was hardly time left
after its occurrence for forming the
carefully preconcerted, well-planned
conspiracy to use the language Of
Major Penrose
1T may be safely concluded, there
fore, that the trouble with Reid did
not furnish any motive for what oc-
Cured