Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1917-12-12
Executions Follow Conviction
by Court-martiaI and WASH
ington'S Approval of Sen
tence by Military Tribunal.
HANGING TAKES PLACE
ON HUGE SCAFF0LD
Doomed Men Go to Their
Death BraveIy, Bidding
Goodbye to Company That
Had Been Guarding Them.

rev noHn'ho JoJssAL SPECIAL LEASED wIsyI
san Antonio, Tex, Dec. 11.-Thir-
teen negroes soldiers Of the Twenty
fourth United States infantry, were
hanged to death simultaneously at
dawn today in expiation of their
murder of Houston citizens last Au-
gust, when members of that regiment
engaged in a mutinous rioting in the
clty's streets. In the dark of the
night four army trucks conveyed the
lumber for the scaffold to little
clearing in a lonely mesquite thicket
on the big government reservation
where the negroes, convicted by court
martial were to die.
And there, by the light of bonfires,
army engineers erected the death
traps to which, at o'clock in the
morning other motor trucks hurried
the condemned negroes and the Off
GERS and men of the military guard
Motor Truck Keeps Secret.
1t was the army motor truck, the
one incident making this military exc
cution different from previous ones,
that enabled the officers In charge to
Keep secret the time and the place of
the hanging. 1t was the army truck
that so quickly. obliterated all traces
of the execution and carried the dead
bodies to a place nearby which is as
indistingushable as the execution site
before official announcement had
been made as to how the order of the
court martial had been carried out.
Good bye, boys or Company c."
hs Inc Il.
condemned men of the Twenty fourth
United States infantry as the traps
were sprung and they dropped to their
death on the scaffold which had been
erected last night.
Men of Company C, Nineteenth in
fantry, have been guarding the negro
prisoners since they were brought to
San Antonio to stand trial before a
court-martal for completely in the
riot at Houston on August 23 last.
Hanged on One Scaffold.
The execution took place in an ar
royo, about two miles east of Camp
Travis, on great scaffold which had
been erected during the night by en-
gineers from the post.
column consisting OF approxi-
mately 125 cavalrymen and 100 in
fantry soldiers assembled at the cav
airy guard house, where the negroes
were confined, at $3.50 a. IN. today.
Trucks were provided to convey the
prisoners to the scene of the execu-
tion.
Col Millard Waltz, post command
er, was in command of the column
that led the way to the scaffold.
The column arrived at the scaffold
at $40 a. m A flood light had been
arranged to give light for those in
charge of the actual work of prepar-
ing the nooses and adjusting them TO
the necks of the condemned men.
The cavalry and infantry guard as
sembled in hollow square formation
around the scaffold and the prisoners
were given the order to march upon
the death traps.
Go Bravely to Death.
without tremor they stepped out
with soldierly tread and singing a
hymn they walked to their places.
Prayers were said by negro minis
ter and by two army chaplains and
then the men were ordered to stand
on the traps. Resuming their song
they stood erect and displayed the
greatest fortitude when the ropes
were adjusted.
At 1917 the major in charge OF the
execution gave the order to spring the
traps. The triggers had been ar
ranged one for each drop, and six
men were assigned to each one. At
the word of command they pulled on
the triggers and the thirteen negroes
dropped to their deaths. Eleven of
them died almost instantly, the other
two quivering a moment or two after
the rope became taut.
No civilian spectators were allowed
at the execution. Sheriff John Tobin
and several of his deputies helped to
adjust the nooses, they having pre-
pared the hangman's knots for the
army men.
No Civilian Spectators.
Only army officers and Sheriff
John Tobin of Bexar county were
present when the sentence was carried