The Clarksburg telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1874-1926, 1908-12-17
Lodge SPEAKS
Continued nom page 1

y NN$S<AAbA4Ape0 A1Oul Wtt&G ~ TO ~
proposition that, in the opinion Of
the committee the saooting was done
by some soldiers belonging to the
2sth Infantry was adopted BY a vote
OF s TO 4. one senator not voting.
Thus 1t will be, seen that every official
body which has heard the testimony
has decided that the shooting at
Brownsville on the night OF the i 9Th
of August. 1906, was the
Work of Soldiers Is
of the 25th Infantry
Mr.. Lodge declared that while
there is a great deal OF evidence that
the shooting WIS done by the soldiers
there is no evidence that Ii was done
by anybody else. There is. ne said.
no physical lmpossibility of time,
distance or alibi to prevent our at
tributlng th9 shooting to the SOL
diers.
In fact he said, cit was easier
for the soldiers to do Il than for
lanybody else because they were both
Armed and Organized.
Motive was. not lacking. Some Of
the soldiers had had trouble with
some of the Inhabitants. Justly. Or
unjustly. some OF them had been
maltreated by some Of the inhabi-
tants and they had felt. in greater
or less degree the bitterness OF race
prejudice. Their freedom OF move
ment had Just been curtaiied owing
to an affair in which a white woman
was involved. They were suffering,
therefore at the moment from the
TROUBLES which had arisen between
them and some of the people Of
Brownsville" Mr.. Lodge referred to
testimony OF witnesses to show that
eleven appearing before the senate
iconmittee. before the Blocksman
| and Burdy inquiry or in the PEN
rose court -martiai testified that the
men who did the shooting were rec
ognized by them as soldiers and me-
groes., Five = ~ 1900
Witnesses Recognized Them
as soldiers and six witnesses recog-
nized them as negroes by their
voices. II submit" said Mr.. Lodge,
that that is a mass os direct cvi-
dence sufficient to sustain and af-
frmhtive proposition In court and
not to he done away with by sug-
gestions about the darkness OF the
night and differences that all these
witnesses were lying because the ar
tificial lights were few and there was
no moon"
| Mr.. Lodge reviewed essential fea-
lures of the testimony in the
Brownsville affair and said that the
bullets found in the houses and
the shell in the streets. taken to-
gether could have been used in only
one rife. andt hat was the
Springfield New Model
and there were no new model
Springtields in the possession OF any
one except the troops of the United
States. He spoke of the Testimony
of the soldiers as constituting "a
Uniform denial"
THAT which renders all this testi-
mony to me of doubtful value. and
deprives it of the weight it would
otherwise have said Mr.. Lodge. sis
Hts extraordinary Uniformly 1t Ia
possible for $50 or 200 men to tell
without exception a story agreed up
on before hand but no two witnesses
can tell the truth. as they understand
| 1t in precisely the same way, about
the same event. The soldiers have
the strongest possible motive for de-
nying participation in or knowledge
of the shooting. There could not
have been any strong personal mo-
tivc to induce the witnesses on the
other side to testify otherwise than
iitruthfully."
Mr.. Lodge declared that he was
bred-tip with a profound sympathy
for. and interest in, the negroes of
the United States and had always
tried to aid and serve them. the bill
which he reported. and which pass
ed the House of Representatives rep
Presenting the last attempt made to
secure them
Their Political Rights
in the South.
II have encountered criticism,
odium and political attack in their
behalf, which cannot be said of
many of those who outside OF this
chamber have for one reason or an
other busted themseires with this af-
fair and sought to make capital out
of it l, speak therefore sas their
friend when3sI say that no greater
misfortune has happened to them in
late years than this effort to make a
race issue out 81 q case ofssmilitary
discipline"
"Self-selected champions o fthese
soldiers in various parts of the coun-
try sought, he said. not for equality
before the law. but for
Special Treatment
for the Brownsville soldiers on the
ground of race. ''As friend of the
negro race deplore the agitation
which had this end in view.. he said
these soldiers are entitled to the
same treatment as soldiers and citi-
zens that white men would be en-
titled to. neither more or less He
deplored any appeal to sympathy for
Criminals. which he said had become
the fashion OF the time. II action in
] this matter was to be determined by
sympathy. he said. his sympathy
would not go to the men who did the
shooting. but to the harmless boy
who was killed; to the Lieutenant OF