The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1908-12-23
THE TRUTH OUT
As to Who Did Really Shoot Up
Brownsville, Tex.
SHOOTER C0NFESSES


Employed to Work the Case .
by the War DEPARTMENT. Di'
chaged Negro Soldier Tells a
About it,
Washington, Dec. 15.-Presiden
Roosevelt sent to the Senate Tues
day special message IN refereoc
to the shooting up of Brownsville
Texas, by battalion Of negro sol
6iers in the summer Of 1906. lc
cluded in the message is the genera
report Of inspection by Herbert J
Brown, q colored detective, who wa
employed by the war department i!
conjunction with Capt. W. G. Bald
win to probe the occurrence g
Brownsville. Brown submitted ths
following to the detectives agency
which he says is the confession oi
Boyd Conyers, one Of the discharge
negro soldiers, who now lives a;
Monroe, Ca, and who helped shoot
up the Texas town in August, 1905
In his confession to Brown Con.
yers says:
The rumors Of trouble over tho
assignment Of colored troops to
Brownsville were circulated before
the troops left Fort -Nicbrara, and
preparations wsTe made among the
men to "get even with the crackers,
so the whites were called. Some
cartridges were held out at rango
practice, but more en- route te
Brownsville. Pretence was made
that they were given away at sta
tions along the road. Some were,
bat large number were secreted.
At inspection in Brownsville.
Lieut.. Lawrence, Company 3, threat
ened punishment to the men who
were short OF ammunition, but roth
ing was done about it, and the de-
6ciency was supplied.
The friction with citizens Of
Brownsville began at once. In
Boyd Conyers' language, "W hiskey
made all the trouble. Il we hadn't
been Grinking we wouldn't have had
the nerve to shoot up the town
It was agreed, as gathering OF
q few men in the saloon Of Allison,
the colored ex-soldier, on the after
noon Of August IS, 1906. that the
raid should take place that night a.,
- o'clock. It seems to have been.
delayed few minutes to let
Tamayo, the Mexican scavenger, get
away from the 3 barracks.
John Holloman, the money lend
er Of Company B, was the chief con-
spirator and leader in the raid and
custodian and distributor Of the
cartridges, but his plans could not
have been carried out had not Serg:..
George Jackson, OF Company 3, Gin
charge of the keys to the gun racks
N 3 barracks. and Sergt. Reid, in
command Of the guards, co-operate''
both before and after the raid.
The four men who led the raid
were John Hollonan. John Brown,
Boyd Conyers and Carolina de
Saussure, all of Company 3 (and
probably r. L. Collier, Of Company
CT HoIloman was in barracks,
Brown 10 the bake shop, Conyers
and de Saussure in the guard house
The two latter were IN the same
detail, and had been relieved at
about II o'clock, de Saussure on the
post at the guard house, and Con-
yers on No. 2, around the barracks
and facing the town. Holloman got
the party together. Conyecs and .oe
Saussure slept on the same bunk u
the guard house, claiming that they
wanted to get under the nosqulto
net, and they had the trick OF taking
their guns into the bunk instead OF
placing them IN the open rack, on
the excuse that they didn't rust 50
badly under cover, but really so the
absence Of the guns from the open
: guard house rack would not attract
attention, and their own absence
would be ascribed to a visit to the
closet, which was back Of the guard
house. These two men slipped out
the rear door Of the guard house,
passed through the sally port, and
Joined Holloman and Brown.
The party crossed the waH o,
the fort down near the enc OF A
barracks, went up the roadway t.
the entrance to the CoWen aileE'
where the signal shots were nreo'
These sbote were Immediately tai
lied onto by the alarm shots. OF
Joseph B. Howard, guard on NO. :
and formed the series testified to D!
Mrs. Katie E. Leaby, Of Bro#nsViile'
Yer testimony is further borne out
nv the statement that not over thlrtE
seconds elapsed before number 81
men of Company 3 swarmed out on
the upper gallery and opened q rus
illade on the town.
# is an absolute certainty tnat II
would have been impossible lo'
sereet. Jackson to have opened tae
sun racks, FOR the men to have as
sempled. secured their guns, loaded
them, gone out to the gallery an,
started firing, all after the trst sno
was fred, all around, as they tes1i
fed unanimously. from sounS
slumber, in less than two minutes
in the confusion Of dark barrac!
room. Beyond the possibility OF
doubt, the racks had been opene'
and the inside conspirators "er
ready to pour out on the sigma
shots. The testimony is ample ina
there we're scarcely twenty second
between the last Of the signal shot
and the first general volley from
barracks
The number firing from the oa'
racks is unknown, but pe1nap
twenty men were involved. a SINAI:
49,