Richmond planet., 1917-12-15
of
rent
TIE Government Ia mered

teon Negroes, soldiers of the Twenty
fourth United States Infantry, were
put to death by hanging Simultanc-
ous.y at dawn today in cXpiation of
their murder of Houston citizens last
August, wncn members Of that rcgi-
ment engaged in mutinous rioting in
the city's streets. korty-one other
Negroes were sentenced to life I'M
prisonmcnt, four others for short
terms and five were acquitted.
In the dark of the night army
motor trucks conveyed the lumber for
the sc2ffold to a little clearing in n
lonely mesquite thickct on the big
Government reservation whore the
Negroes convicted by court.martial
were to die.
And there, by the light Of bonnres.
army engineers erected the death
traps to which at 5 O'Clock IN the
morning other motor trucks hurried
the condemned Negroes and the Off
GERS and men OF the military guard
1t VAS the army motor truck the
'nly incident which made this mill
.4fJ execution different from y. ~
Gus ones, that enabled the officers in
charge to keep secret the time and
the place Of the hanging.
MEN WHO PAID DEATH PENALTY.
And 1t was the army truck that so
quickly obliteratcd all traces Of the
execution and carried the dead bodies
to Il place near by, which is as in
dlStlngu$hablc as the execution site,
before Official announccmcnt had been
made OF how the order OF tine court
martial had been carried out and the
following men had paid the ultimate
penalty:
Sergeant William G. NcSbitt.
Corporal Larsen j. Brown.
Corporal James Wheatlcy.
Corporal Jesse Moore.
Corporal Charles ". Baltimore
Private William breckenridge.
Private Thomas G.. Hawkins.
Private Car.os Snodgraas
Private Ira Is. Davis.
Private James Divine
Private Frank Johnson.
Private Roslcy w. Young
Private Pat MacWhorter.
The bonfire illumination for the
hanging just as the eastern sky was
Strcaklng with gray through the
morning clouds, the bleak Landscape
OF dull gray and bronze against which
the new timbcrS Of the rough scat
lo!d stood out, the khaki clad mill
tary guard, officers with coat collars
upturncd against the cod, all made
an unlorgrttablc picture But now
one might tramp for hours over the
brush covered acres Of the military
reservation without finding either eX-
cCutlon site or burial place, though
the hanging occurred not more than
hundred yards from bath houses
which have been built near Il swim
ming pool in the Salado Creek for
men OF the National Army canton
mcnt at Camp Travis.
ALL OF THE l3 NEGROES STOICAL
The condemned Negroes had known
Of their fate since Sunday. Twelve
Of them sought spiritual consolatio
OF army Y. NJ. G. a. workers. The
thirteenth, whose name has not been
disclosed. gave no inklng that he
knew. Outwardiy all of the Negroes
were stoical. They did not know the
date OF the execution. but last night
they were taken from tho cavalry
guard house. where they have been
prisoners more than a month, and
placed in separate barracks.
Aside from less than a dozen Off.
GERS Of the Southern Department and
tire Sheriff Of BeXar county, no ono
in the city or the army camps knew
of the execution. The other Negro
defendants were ignorant Of the fate
OF their companions until after the
formal announcement had been made.
The condemned men were aroused
this morning a few minutes before
regular army rcvcillc, $50 o'clock.
The military guard had been sum
moned silently and no sound was
heard in the camp where nearly 10000
men were sleeping except the purring
OF the army truck motors awaiting
their loads.
The Negroes dressed in their reg
ular uniforms as carefully as for in
spection.
They displayed neither bravado nor
fear. They rode to the execution
singing hymn, but tho singing was