The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1908-12-18
MESSAGE SENT
TO SENATE.
President Transmits Report on
Brownsville Affair.
WOULD REINSTATE SOME men,

Says investigation viii Be Continued
Foraker Reads Letters From Former
Soldier Telling Of Alleged Attempts
to Get Confession From Him.
Washington. Dec. 15.-The Browns
Vile affair consumed nearly the entire
session of the senate. Senator For
aker obtained the floor early in the
day and read letters from a former
soldier of the Twenty-fifth regiment
telling of the procedure of the govern.
from him. Mr.. Foraker introduced
an amendment to his original bill for
the re.enlistment of these soldiers pro
yiding that commission of three re.
tired army officers be created to deter
mine whether the discharged soldiers
are innocent of completely in the
shooting up of Brownsville as a pre-.
requisite for their re-enlistment, in.
stead of leaving that duty with the
president, as provided by the Warner
bill.
The presidents message, giving the
results of the war departments in
vestigatiOn of the Brownsville affair,
was read, as follows:
81 enclose herewith a letter from
the secretary of war transmitting a re-
port of the investigation made by Mr.
Herbert j. Browne, employed by the
1pnn tD1pnt in inn IT inn with
tain w. G.. Baldwin, to investigate as
far as possible what happened at
Brownsville on the 18th and 18th of
August 1906.
This report enables us to fix with
tolerable detiniteness at least some Of
the criminals who took the lead in the
murderous shooting of private citizens
at Brownsville. 1t establishes clearly
the fact that the colored soldiers did
the shooting; but upon this point fur
Their 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 been far enough
to enable us to determine all the facts,
and we will proceed with it; but it has
gone far enough to determine with
sufficient accuracy certain facts Of
enough Importance to make it advisa.
BILE that | place the report before you
Concealment a Grave OHense.
at appears that almost all the
members of company B must have
been actively concerned in the shoot.
ing, either to the extent of being par
Elephants or to the extent of virtually
encouraging those who were partici-
pants. AS to companies C and D.,
there can be no question that practic.
ally every man in them must have had
knowledge that the shooting was done
by some of the soldiers of B troop,
and possibly by one or two others in
one of the other troops. The conceal.
ment was itself grave offense, which
was greatly aggravated by their testi.
flying before the senate committee
that they were ignorant of what they
must have known. Nevertheless, it Is
to be said in partial eXtenuation thai
they were probably cowed by threats,
made by the more desperate OF the
men who had actually been engaged
in the shooting as to what would hap
pen to any man who failed to protect
the wrongdOers. Moreover, there are
circumstances tending to show that
these misguided men were encouraged
by outsiders to persist 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
serious, was in part due to the unwise
and improper attitude of others, and
that some measure of allowance
should be made for their misconduct
In other words ! believe we can afford
to reinstate any of these men who
now truthlully tell 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 no guilty knowledge beforehand
and were in no way implicated in the
affair, save by having knowledge of il
I ul'Nl NeIb anu lulllHS anu refusing u
divulge it.
Would Reinstate Some Soldiers.
Under the circumstances, and In
view of the length of time they have
been out of the service, and their loss
Of the benefit that would have accrued
to them by continuous long service
we can afford to treat the men who
meet the requirements given above as
having been sufficiently punished by
the consequences they brought upon
themselves when they rendered neces
sary the exercise of the disciplinary
/ power. ! recommend that a law be
passed allowing the secretary of war
within a fixed period of time, say {
year, to reinstate any of these sol
Giers whom he, after careful eXamina
ton finds to have been innocent ant
whom he finds to have done all in hi
! power to help bring 10 justice thu