The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1908-12-18
TO RE|NSTATE NEGRO,
SOLDIERS NOT ENGAGED IN At
TACK PUNISHED ENOUGH.
INNOCENT ONES MUST TELL
Saws No Doubt Exists That Troops
Were Guilty, But Those Who
Shielded Guilty Given Chance.

WASHINGTON. b. C.-President Roose-
yelt sent to congress special message
dealing with the Brownsville affair.
The president. in introducing mass
of letters relative to the shooting up
OF the town, says:
Il inclost herewith letter from the
secretary Of war transmitting report
of the investigation made by HERBERT
Browne, employed by the department.
in conjunction with Captain BALDWIN,
to investigate as fast as possible WhaI
happened at Brownsville on the l5th
and 18th of August, 1906. The report
and documents contain some lnlOrha'
ton of great value, and some state
mpnts that are obviously Worthless
bu | submit them in their entirety.
This report enables us to hN with
tOlerabe uetiniteness, at least some
of the criminals who took the lead III
the murderous shooting of private Cit
liens at Brownsville. 1t establishes
clearly the fact that COlorcd SoluleTS
did the shooting, but upon this polnl
further record was unnecessary, as the
fact rha; colored soldiers did the SHOOT
inc has already been established Dc
yond all possibility of doubt.
The investigation has gone fal
enough to enable us to determine Win
sufficient accuracy certain facts o.
rough Importance, which made 1t au'
visable that | place the report before
you.
eff appears that almost all members
of company 3 must have been actiVe!F
concerned in the shooting, elther u
the extent Of being participants or u
the extent of virtually encouraging
those who participated.
las to companies and d, thcre
can be no question but that practically
every man in them must had KNOW
the shooting was done by some OF The
soldiers of b troop, and possibly Dl
one or two others in one of the otne'
troons This concealment was ltsel
grave offense, which was greatly as
srayated by their testifying before Tilt
senate committee that they were Is
norant of what they must have known
Nevertheless, it is TO be said Iii par
tial extenuation that they probaDl.
were cowed by threats made by III
more desperate of the men VINO hd'
actually engaged in the shooting d
to what would happen to any man "h'
failed to protect the wrongdoers.
"Moreoyer, there were clrcumstar
eos tending to show that these mis-
guided men We're encouraged by ontslc
ers to persist in their course OF col
cealment and denial. feel therefor
that the guilt of these men, VINO. ate
the event has shielded the perpetra'or
of the wrong by refusing to tell tn
truth about them, though serious, wa
| in part due to the unwise and impfoi
) err attitude of others, and that som
measure of allowance should be mao
for the misconduct. In other Word:
| | believe that we can afford to reli
state anv of those men who will nov
truthfully tell what happened, give
the aid they can to fix the respons
bilitv of those men who really are Sui
tv. and show themselves to have ha
no guilty knowledge of it beforehand
and were in no way implicated in tn
affair, save by knowledge of 1t ate
wards and failing to divulge it.
Under the circumstances, and
view of the length of time they hav
been out of the service and the loss
benefit that would have accrued |
them by continuous long service, W
can afford to treat those men WI
meet requirements given above as ha'
ING been sufficiently punished by tn
consequences they brought upon then
selves when they render necessary tn
exercise of disciplinary power,
Il recommend that an act be passe
allowing the secretary Of war, with
a fixed period, say year, to relnsta1
any of these soldiers whom he, ate
careful examination finds to have bee
innocent. and whom he finds have dor
all in their power to help bring to i'll
tice the guilty. Meanwhile, the inve
tigation will be continued. Resul
have made it obvious that only by ca
rying on the investigation as the VIZ
department has actually carried it G
is there the slightest chance to brlr
the offenders to justice or OF separa
ing. not the innocent, for there al
doubtless hardly any innocent, but tn
less guilty from those whose guilt
heinOuS.
lSioned) "TheodOre Roosevelt.