The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-01-06
PRESIDENT ASKS SENATE
TO REINSTATE TROOPS
Anticipates Action on Brownsville
Bill in Special Message.
ONE NEGRO LEADER C0NFESSES
Two Petty Officers and All Of Com.
pany BInplicated-Senator For
aker Characterizes the Investiga.
tors Work as "Atrocious."

tors Work as "Atrocious."
Washington. D. C.-The ghost Of
the shooting up" of Brownsville
bobbed up again in the Senate, with
President Roosevelt and Senator For
aker as manipulators Of the dark
mystery.
The President sent in a special mes
sage embodying the reports OF detec-
tives engaged in seekingout the mem.
bers of the dismissed battalion Of the
regiment and endeavoring, by secret
methods, to- obtain from them confess
sions, admissions or important tnfor-
nation bearing upon the famous night
at the Texas army post town.
The chief investigator or detective
Is Herbert J. Browne, a former Wash
ington newspaper man, assisted by
Captain W. F. Baldwin, Of Roanoke,
Va, chief detective for the Norfolk
and Western Railroad, and several
negro detectives. They reported to
the Secretary of War, who handed
their findings to the President for re-
view.
The detectives assert that they
have discovered the identity of eleven
active participants in the raid on the
town, and give their names. They
also give what purports to be a true
account Of the alleged conspiracy,
which they say originated with Com
cany B of the negro regiment-the
Twenty-ffth Infantry. Two petty CT
'dcers are implicated as having guilty
knowledge of the proposed raid, one
of them giving aid to the venture
both before and after it was carried
out.
An interesting feature Of the Presi-
dents message Is the suggestion tina
the innocent and the less criminally
implicated of the negro soldiers be
reinstated, provided that they now,
In the face Of what purports to be the
absolute facts, tell all they know OF
the matter. The Investigation is to
be continued. :,
The chief source Of the detectives
Information is Boyd Conyers, of Mon
roe, Ca, a former private in Company
B, first tapped" by a negro detective,
and later questioned until he is said
to have told the essentials. Another
informant is Elmer Brown, also of
Company B. Conyers Is said to have
tried to commit suicide when he dis
covered that he had been talking to
detectives, fearing the vengeance
of the men informed on. While in
this state of unrest he appealed to
Senator Foraker, from whom he re-
.ceived several letters. Investigator
Browne presents one of these letters,
which he refers to as extremely OBJ
structive," asserting that Conyers
seemed to regard 1t as a mandate to
adhere to the false story told by him
before the Senate Committee on Mill
tary Affairs, and as absolving him
from any and all obligations to aid
in %uncovering the truth"
Browne writes that similar infu-
ences were encountered at many
points, adding largely to the difficult
ties Of obtaining admissions OF even
the most obvious facts relative to the
raid.
Senator Foraker anticipated the
special message when he obtained the
floor early In the day and read ex-
tracts from letters from former Sol-
diers Of the Twenty-ifth Regiment,
telling Of the procedure of Govern
ment detectives in attempts to get
confessions from them. He intro
duced an amendment to his original
bill for the re-enlistment of these
soldiers, providing that a commission
of three retired army officers be Gre
ated to determine whether the dis
charged soldiers are innocent Of COM
plicity in the shooting up Of Browns
vile, as a prerequisite for their re-
enlistment, instead of leaving that
duty with the President, as provided
in the Warner bill.
Immediately following the read
ing of the message Senator Foraker
again took the floor, protesting
against the methods Of the Govern
ment detectives and speaking for his
amendment.