The morning journal-courier., 1908-12-15
President Sends Special Mes sage to the Senate Giving Negro Troopers
 Statement,
SECRET STORY OF RAID
Roosevelt Urges Reinstatement of Those Who Help Convict Men Guilty of Shootlng-up
 Texas Town.

containing a confession of member of the dismissed battalion, stating that the Texas town was shot up by the colored soldiers who were dis charged, that the facts had been sup pressed by a remarkably successful conspiracy of silence, and giving the names of the alleged rlngleaders in tho attack This confession, togeth- CT with corroboratiye statements was obtained by one Of large number of detectives whom the war department has had engaged on tho work of solv- ing the shooting arfray mystery for the past six months
 The knowledge that government de- tectlves had been employed in thirty six states, as admitted in the message, to get information to throw light on thc ease, created comment in the sen ate and house, which just now Is sen stye about the use Of secret service men Senator Foraker cndeavored to take the edge off the presidents un- expected message by telling the sen ate that men claiming to represent the government have been badBorlnE, threatening and otherwise trying 10 force confessions regarding the Brownsville affair ever since congress adjourned,
 Tho ohio senator got word early in the day that the President had Q Brownsville message ready and sccur- od the floor before the document could ho read He presented an amendment to his pending bin for the rclnslaio- mcnt of the dismissed soldiers, asking for the appointment ot a board of re- tired army officers to review all the testimony in the case
 T thought we hnd done all tho ln- yootigatinE necessary" said Forakcr but i have been getting lot of lot- tor. since congress adjourned" /" and hc held up q large package, written by discharged soldiers Informing me how men claiming Co be representing tho United states government have been tryng to force the soldiers to make confessions or course, these were not secret service men, because they could not hc lawfully so employed but these detectives tried by persuasion and threats 10 get Inc men to make con- rcssions to save themselves from prose- cution. nn tho plea that others had made similar confessions"
 Then senator Forakcr read what purported to De a letter 10 him from 2 soldier. telling at length of the efforts of a detective 10 Induce him to tell who really shot mp Brownsville senator ForaSor showed resentment when it appeared that the detective had made special efforts to get hold of letters written he the senator His object clearly was to disrredit the alleged con- fcssians obtained by the Presidents agents
 Presidents special Message.
 The presidents special message fig as follows
 "To the Senate;
 "t incloac herewith letter from ! tho secretary of war transmitting a | report of the Investigation made by | Herbert ] Browne, employed by the department in conjunction with Cap- ! tain w. c Baldwin to investigate as ! far as possible what happened at Brownsville on the 18th and ith Of 1 August. 1906 The report and docu- ments contain some information Of l great value and some statements that are obviously worthless but l submit them in their entirety
 This report enables us to fix, with tolcrahle dcHutcncss at least, some of the criminals who took the lead in the lmurderous shooting of private citizens at Brownsville lt establishes clearly the fact that inc colorod soldiers did the shooting, but upon this point fur thcr record was unnecessary, ns tho fact that the colored soldiers did the shooting has already been established beyond all possibility of doubt The investigation has not gone far enough to enable us tD determine all the facts and we will proceed with fl; but it has gone far enough to determine with sufficient accuracy certain facts of enough importance to make it advisa- hlc that l place the report before yOu It appears that almost all the mcm- hcrs of Company E must have been actively concerned in the shooting either to the extent of being partcI- pants or to the extent of virtually on- Icouraging those who were participants AS to Companies C and p. there can be no question that practically every Imam in them must have had knowl- edge that the shooting was done by Isomc of the soldiers of E troop, and possibly by ono or two others in one of tho other troops This concealmeni was itself a grave offonsc. which waf greatly aggravated by their testiryinp before thc senate committee that they were ignorant of what they must have known.
 Nevertheless, lt s to be said in par tal extenuation that they were prob. ably crowded by threats made by thc more desperate of the mon who had ac. lually been engaged in the shooting, az to what would happen to any man whc failed to protect the Wtongdoers More. over. there are circumstances tending lo show that these misguided men were encouraged to persist In their course of coucealmcnt and denial feel therefore, that Che guilt of the men
 who. after the event thus shielded lht perpetrators Of the wrong by refusing lo tell the trulh about them, though
 serious. was in part due to the unwisC and improper attitude of others, and that some measure of allowance should he made for the misconduct In othol words. | believe we can afford to rein
 state any of these men who now truth. fully tell what has happened give all the aid they can to fix the responsl
 biity upon those who are really guilty and show that they themselves had nc guilty knowledge beforehand and were in no way implicated in the affair, save