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14
The Commoner,
Why Negro Troops Were Discharged
In his annual report Secretary of
"War Taft devotes considerable' space
to a defense of the administration's
action in discharging, without honor,
a battalion of negro troops. The As
sociated Press sent out an extract
from the secretary's report as follows:
."I am very sorry to record a most
serious breach of discipline and the
commission of a heinous crime by cer
tain members of a battalion of the C,
Don the night of the 13th an'd the
morning of the 14th of August, at
Fort Brown, Brownsville, Tex.
"On the 12th of August it was re
ported in Brownsville that a white-
woman was seized by the hair by a
colored soldier and dragged on the
ground. This report among the
townspeople caused great bitterness
and excitement of feeling, -which gave
such concern to the officers of the bate
talion that on the night of the same
day they sent patrols into the town to
bring back their soldiers to the fort.
AT few minutes after 12 o'clock mid
night of the next day, August 18, i. e.,
on the morning of August 14, shots
were fired in the fort toward the town
from the neighborhood of each barrack
of -.the' three companies. The fort is
really-in the town and only separated
from the houses by a wall. The first
shots seem to have been fired in the
air. Immediately afterwards a num
ber of men,' variously estimated from
Do it Now! Don't Wait
Until It'.s Too Late!
TTyOEEP your body cleanl
Most people are very neat
and clean in their outward
K
appearance, but how about the
inside?
Are you clean inside?
And if not, how can you face the world
wnn clean thoughts, clear Intelligence
a fair, just, bright mind and get your full
share of capacity for work and enjoyment?
"
Neglect of exercise, rich over-feeding
and carelessness about stools, often leave
the delicate internal mechanism in a
nasty mess.
The small intestine Is compelled to ab
sorb the poison of decaying matter Instead
of wholesome nourishment.
The liver gets inactive; the bile doesn't
wum on ; xne eyes get yellow; the skin I
gets dead like putty and pale like dough.
disfigured with bolls, pimples, blackheads
and liver-spots.
There's only one solution to the prob
lem: Keep clean inside all the time. That's
the answer.
If you can not diet, or keep your mech
anism going by proper exercise, take Cas
carets, the sweet, fragrant, harmless little
vegetable tablets, that "act like exercise7'
on your bowels, and gently but powerfully
clean out and disinfect the whole dlgestlvo
canal.
A Cascaret every night before going to
bed will "work whilft vnn ! ,i
- .. ----w j www CL11U
make you 'feel fine In the morning."
u nave Deen neglecting yourself for
some time, take a Cascaret night and morn
ing and break up the "constipated habit"
without acquiring a "cathartic habit."
Cascarets are sold by all druggists, 10c,
25c and 50c. The 10c size trial box is a
neat fit for the vest pocket or lady's purse.
Be sure to pet the vp.nuin, tu it,-
"long-tailed C" on the box and the letters
They are neyeV
CCC" on each tablet,
sold In bulk.
744
nine to twenty climbed over the wall
between the fort and the town. There
was much direct evidence that these
men were colored soldiers in khaki
and blue shirts, carrying the new ser
vico rifle. From seventy-five to one
hundred cartridge shells and used
clips and some undischarged cart
ridges were found upon the streets of
the town the next morning, and Mafar
Penrose, commanding the battalion,
tlien identified them: as ammunition
for the new service rifle and" reluct
antly admitted their conclusive weight
as evidence that the shooting was done
by some of his men.
"The raiders advanced up an aliey
leading from the fort through -the
town and first fired into the room of a
house on the alley at the end of the
first block, in which were two worsen
and five children. One of the bullets
knocked over and put .but a lighted
lamp on the table .in the room. Ten
shots were fired, nearly all going
through the house at about four and
one-half feet above the floor. The
raiders then encountered the chief! of
police on-a horse. He had heard the
shooting and hurried toward - the
sound. "When he saw the soldiers,
the number of whom he 6stimated to
be fifteen, he turned and tried to es
cape. They fired on him, killed his
horse, and wounded him in the arm
so that it had to be amputated. Two
policemen who had separated from
him were also shot at A bullet
pierced the hat of one of them. .The
raiders then fired into Miller's hotel,
on the alley at the end of the second
block. There was a light in the hotel
and a guest at one of the windows.
Six bullet holes were found in the
hotel the next day.
"The party then divided. One squad
proceeded farther down the alley to
the third block toward a saloon which
had .been one of those in which it had
been insisted that the colored men
must drink at a separate bar. The
barkeeper heard them nomine an of.
"tempted to close the door, but was
snot ana instantly killed near the
door. The fatal wound was declared
oy a competent surgeon with army
experience to have been made by a
bullet of the caliber of those used in
the service rifle. A Mexican in the
same saloon was shot in the hand.
"The first volley awakened many
of the sleeping garrison and attracted
the attention of the sentinel, who dis
charged his gun three times and called
the guard. The sergeant of the guard
called out the guard, and then he
directed the call to arms to the bat
talion. The bugle sounded and the
men rushed to the gun racks, which
the sergeants and corporals in charge
say had not been opened until they
opened them with the keys which had
been in their possession for more
than twelve hours. One gun rack was
broken open in the hurry of the men
to answer the call to arms. The com
missioned officers were awakened by
the firing, dressed hurriedly, and came
out to call the roll of the men of the
various companies. They supposed
that an attack had hepn mnda imnn
the barracks by men in the town, and
did not know until some hours later
that the shooting had been done by
soldiers, and that their men were
suspected of any offense. As soon as
they were informed of the facts by
the mayor, they caused all the rifles
of the enlisted men to be 'examined.
Every rifle was thenfound to be clean.
The evidence makes it quite clear
that the firing had not ceased when
the men began to form in line, and
therefore that all the guns with which
the firing was done, could not have
been in the racks when the sergeants
in charge of quarters wont to unlock
the racks, although they testified that
tuey were mere. It is also nflrtnln
that during the formation of the com
panies, or immediately after, the men
who had done the shooting must have
returned to their places so as to re
spond to the roll or that some one
answered for them.
' "Since the occurrence every effort
has been made by the commissioned
officers and by competent military in
spectors sent for the purpose, through
cross-examination of each member of
the company who was present in the
fort that night, to find some clue by
which the enlisted men who committed
this crime could be detected, and not
the slightest evidence tending to es
tablish the identity of a single man
has been forthcoming.
"Under these circumstances the
question arises, is the government
helpless? Must-it continue in' its ser
vice a battalion, many of the members
of which show their willingness to
condone a crime of a capital character
committed by from ten to twenty of
its members, and put on a front of
silence and ignorance which enables
the criminals to esca.pe just punish
ment? These enlisted men took the
oath of allegiance to the government,
and were to be used under the law to
maintain its supremacy. Can the gov
ernment properly therefore keep in
its employ. for the purpose of maintain,
ing law and order any longer, a body of
men, from 5 to 10 per cent of whom
can plan and commit murder, and
rely upon the silence of a number of
their companions to escape detection?
"It may be that in the battalion are
a number of men wholly innocent,
who know neither "who the guilty men
are, nor any circumstances which will
aid in their detection, though this can
not be true of man v. Ttan.miao tho
may be innocent men in the battalion,
must the government continue to use
it to guard communities of men, wom
en and children when it contains so
dangerous an element impossible of
detection? Certainly not.
"It goes without saying that if the
guilty could be ascertained they
should and would be punished, but the
guilty can not be ascertained, and the
very impossibility of determining who
are the guilty ones make the whole
battalion useless to the government
as an instrument for maintaining law
and order. The only means of ridding
the military service of a band of
would-be murderers of women and
children, and actual murderers of one
man, is the discharge of the entire
battalion.
"Can a real and logical distinction
be made between the crime of treason,
under the circumstances supposed, and
the crime of murder in this case?
"It is a mistake to suppose that this
order is in itself a punishment either
of the innocent or of the guilty. A
discharge would be an utterly inade
quate punishment for those who are
guilty whether of committing the mur
der, or of withholding or suppressing
evidence which would disclose the
perpetrators of such a crime.
"But it is said that the order forbids
re-entry by the discharged men into
the army or navy or civil service, and
this is a penalty. When an employe
is discharged for the good of the ser
vice, it naturally follows that he can
not be taken back, and the president
in formally stating this result is not
imposing a penalty in the proper sense
of the term. He is only laying down a
rule of ineligibility for the service
with respect to which it is his execu
tive duty to prescribe the rules of ad
mission. Should hereafter facts be
disclosed, or a new state of facts arise
from which it can be inferred that the
public service will suffer no detriment
from re-entry of any one of these men
into the service, his ineligibility can
beremoved by a mere executive order.
"The suggestion made in some quar
ters that this battalion has" been
treated In this way simply because
the men are colored hardly merits
VOLUME C, NUMBER
notice. Tha r. ... ,. .
the racial feeling ron ?0T m
them and the MzeTL"
toay have been the L. 0Wn3vllle
nlshed the motivebut certain?
a justification, for the Tnlo? ty not
men, women and children- but Tit
extent only in explanation of tKr
cumstances is the fact of thJ ?r'
at all relevant." heIr color
TALKING BY WIRE
Three-fourths of the wire mileaR0
of the country is used by telonC?
and two-thirds of the waS Tfi
operation of wire mileage is pad by
the telephone companies.
fvJ? numb?!; of messages reported
for the year 1902-and, mind you, that
was four years ago and the wave of
wire talking" has increased rapidlv
since then makes a nice total of
over $5,000,000,000. Ohio leads in tho
number of messages, with 558,707,801,
and Illinois comes next in the talk
traffic, with 541,161,932, but Pennsyl
vania, with 493,417,718, is a close
third. Strange to say, New York has
but 300,098,123. A little figure at tho
bottom of the report revealed the fact
that there are 684 railroads in the
United States having telegraph or
telephone lines, these being all dis
tinct railroad corporations in name,
at least.
It is estimated that the above fig
ures will probably be more than
doubled before the nex,t census, and it
looks as though the talk wave might
be regarded as pretty certain evidence
of prosperous times. National Magazine.
Sure of Her Consent
She You say you are going to mar
ry me?
He Yes, dear.
"She Bui; you're not sure that I'll
marry you."
He Oh, well, I'm going to tele
phone your father tomorrow. I guess
he'll give his consent. Yonkers
Statesman.
PATENTS
SECURED OR FEE
RETURNED
Free report an to Patentability, Illustrated Guld
Book, and List of Inventions Wanted, sent free.
EVANS, WILKENS & CO.,Washlngton,D.C
FOR XMAS" Tropical Fruits, plantation picked,
preserved and packed. Banana Figs, 25c package.
Tropical Food Co., Koy West, Fla.
Subscrlbirs1 Advertising Department
This department Is for the exclu
sive use of Commoner subscribers,'
and a special rate of six cents a
word per insertion the lowest rato
has been made for them. Address
all communications to The Com
moner, Lincoln, Nebraska.
THE LITTLE HOTEL WILMOf
close by the Pennsylvania Station in Phil
adelphia has a number of llrst-rate rooms at $1
a day. The Commoner is always on file.
OKLAHOMA FARMS,
for list and booklet.
Guthrie, Okla.
SEND STAMP
T. A. Bnggett
ri A R M S. L. A BELL, CORTLAND,
- . Ohio.
FOR $1.00 WE MAIL POSTPAID. 4 OALI
fornia Grape Vines, largest sorts, includ
Inpr Seedless Raisin, Flamintr Tokay, Black Mo
rocco, Red Emperor. , We tell how to trrow
them in any climate. - Fresno Nursery Co., Box
43. Fresno. California.
INVESTMENTS 1700 ACRES CHOICE
bottom land, $0.25 per acre, life time
chance. Geo. W. Register, Poplar Bluff. Mo.
TTIOR SALE CHOICE 80 ACRES. EIGHT
J- miles east of Lincoln, well Improved.
Price $100 per acre. Address I. J. Holland.
Lincoln, Nebr., or call at residence 43rd and
Randolph St
GREER COUNTY, OKLAHOMA, HAS
, experienced a crop failure in twenty
years. Bier crops corn, cotton, alfalfa, cane,
sorghum, wheat, oats, rye, millet, maize, kafflr
corn, fruits. Sun shines three hundred days in
year. Malaria and pulmonary diseases un
aY0, i!anns and business openings for sale.
Addison HaU, Granite, Oklahoma.
MUSIC TEACHERS, PUBLIC AND PRI
yate. We have a new system of inesti
mable value to the profession. Address, A. S.
S. M. No. 6, 28 Cheshire St., Clev eland, O.
l
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