States in quest of information. The appendices give statements as to
the results obtained. They indicate a general knowledge on the part of
the ex-soldiers that the raid came from inside the fort, and that the
soldiers of Company B were the guilty parties.
We earnestly urge that we be permitted to continue the investigation.
Several detectives are still in the field, and within the coming week a
number of affidavits will be forthcoming.
With some repetition of matter appearing later in the report, Boyd
Conyers's story is given here in narrative form:
REPORT OF T.B. SKIDMORE.
"The rumors of trouble over the assignment of colored troops to
Brownsville were circulated before the troops left Fort Niobrara, and
preparations were made among the men to 'get even with the crackers,'
so the whites were called. Some cartridges were held out at range
practice, but more en route to Brownsville. Pretense was made that they
were given away at stations along the road. Some were, but a large
number were secreted.
"At inspection in Brownsville, Lieutenant Lawrason, Company B,
threatened punishment to the men who were short of ammunition, but
nothing was done about it, and the deficiency was supplied.
"The friction with citizens of Brownsville began at once. In Boyd
Conyers's language, 'Whisky made all the trouble. If we hadn't been
drinking we wouldn't have had the nerve to shoot up the town.'
"It was agreed, at a gathering of a few men in the saloon of Allison,
the colored ex-soldier, on the afternoon of August 13, 1906, that the
raid should take place that night at 12 o'clock. It seems to have been
delayed a few minutes to let Tamayo, the Mexican scavenger, get away
from the B barracks.
"John Holloman, the money lender of Company B, was the chief
conspirator and leader in the raid and custodian and distributor of
the cartridges, but his plans could not have been carried out had not
Sergeant George Jackson, of Company B, in charge of the keys of the
gun racks in B barracks, and Sergeant Reid, in command of the guards,
co-operated both before and after the raid.
"The four men who led the raid were John Holloman, John Brown, Boyd
Conyers, and Carolina de Saussure, all of Company B (and probably R.L.
Collier, of Company C). Holloman was in barracks, Brown in the bake
shop, Conyers and De Saussure in the guardhouse. The two latter were in
the same detail, and had been relieved at about 11 o'clock, de Saussure
on the post at the guardhouse, and Conyers on No. 2, around the
barracks and facing the town. Holloman got the party together. Conyers
and De Saussure slept on the same bunk in the guardhouse, claiming that
they wanted to get under the mosquito net, and they had the trick of
taking their guns into the bunk instead of placing them in the open
rack, on the excuse that they didn't rust so badly under cover, but
really so the absence of the guns from the open guardhouse rack would
not attract attention, and their own absence would be ascribed to a
visit to the closet, which was back of the guardhouse. These two men
slipped out the rear door of the guardhouse, passed through the sally
port, and joined Holloman and Brown.
"The party crossed the wall of the fort down near the end of A
barracks, went up the roadway to the entrance to the Cowen alley, where
the signal shots were fired. These shots were immediately tallied onto
by the alarm shots of Joseph B. Howard, guard on No. 2, and formed
the series testified to by Mrs. Katie E. Leahy, of Brownsville. Her
testimony is further borne out by the statement that not over thirty
seconds elapsed before a number of men of Company B swarmed out on the
upper gallery and opened a fusillade on the town.
"It is an absolute certainty that it would have been impossible
for Sergeant Jackson to have opened the gun racks, for the men to
have assembled, secured their guns, loaded them, gone out to the
gallery, and started firing, all after the first shot was fired; all
aroused, as they testified unanimously, from sound slumber, in less
than two minutes, in the confusion of a dark barrack room. Beyond
the possibility of a doubt, the racks had been opened and the inside
conspirators were ready to pour out on the signal shots. The testimony
is ample that there were scarcely twenty seconds between the last of
the signal shots and the first general volley from B barracks.
"The number firing from the barracks is unknown, but perhaps 20 men
were involved. A smaller number went to the ground and followed the
leaders up the alley. It will be remembered that one of the witnesses
testified to hearing some one of the group of soldiers exclaim, 'There
they go!' Whereupon these men leaped over the wall and ran up the alley.
"Boyd Conyers is the man whose gun jammed at the exit of the alley by
the Cowen house, testified to by Herbert Elkins, and it was taken from
him by De Saussure and fixed in the street where the light from the
street lamp at the corner of Elizabeth Street shone on them.
"Less than five minutes elapsed from the time the first shot was fired
until these men were all back inside the fort.
"Conyers stated that Reid was told that they were going to shoot up
the town, and he had laughed and said, 'Don't go out there and let the
crackers get the best of you.'
"When Conyers and De Saussure reached the guardhouse they ran in the
back way and got into their bunks. Sergeant Reid came in and swore at
them, but Conyers was so excited and out of breath that he could hardly
stand, so Reid stationed him at the rear of the guardhouse in the dark
where he could not be scrutinized so closely.
"Holloman came around with extra cartridges about daybreak and Reid
passed them out. The guns were all cleaned before daylight."
This day personally appeared before me William Lawson, who, being duly
sworn, deposes and says:
"On June 5, 1908, I was sent to Monroe, Ga., to interview Boyd Conyers,
one of the soldiers who was stationed at Brownsville, Tex., in August,
1906. I was sent by Mr. Baldwin to get in with Conyers and ascertain if
he knew who did the shooting at that point. I was not given the names
of any of the members of either of the companies stationed at that
point, nor was I given any other information, except the fact that a
shooting occurred at the time and place above mentioned, and that Boyd
Conyers was suspected of knowing who did same.
"I arrived at Monroe, Ga., on June 5, and stopped at the home of Esther
Crews, colored. I met Boyd Conyers, who is known as 'Buddie' Conyers,
on the morning of June 6, but had very little conversation with him,
but was introduced to him as an old soldier. On the morning of June
8, between 8 and 9 o'clock, I met Conyers about halfway between the
station house and Main Street. We talked some twenty or twenty-five
minutes. I broached the Brownsville case, and mentioned the fact that
the soldiers had shown their good sense by keeping their mouths while
at Washington. I then asked him what the motive was for the shooting.
He told me that the 'crackers' at Brownsville had made threats that
they would have no negro soldiers at Brownsville, and the soldiers had
made it up in their minds that if they bothered them that they would
go in and clean up the ground. He also said that they mentioned this
to Sergeant Reid, who was commander of the guards, and that Reid said,
'All that I have to say is to take care of yourself and the boys when
you go down there.' S.H. Parker, whose home is at Charleston, S. C, was
present and heard the same conversation.
"About then a gentleman called Conyers to come and clean some clothes,
and Conyers left, and nothing further was said about the matter at this
time. I was with Conyers nearly every day, and went to Gainesville,
Ga., on an excursion with him on the 15th of June. I did not mention
the Brownsville matter to Conyers again until on the 29th of June, when
I returned from Atlanta, having gone there on June 27. On this date I
met him at Joe Blassingame's and had a pint bottle of liquor, offered
him a drink--he would not drink in the house, but we went up the street
and we stopped under a storehouse porch, near Main street. We took a
drink or two, and I started the Brownsville case again. He told me that
he was doing guard duty at the time of the shooting at Brownsville,
and was stationed at the outlet toward the town. He said that when the
guard was called the night of the shooting they mentioned to Sergeant
Reid what had occurred downtown, and he said, 'Boys, if you are not
satisfied, you will have to go and get satisfied,' and they remarked
that they were going to get satisfaction that night. Reid then laughed
and said, 'Boys, don't you go down there and let them get the best of
you.' He then assigned the guard and went away.
"In this conversation Conyers told me that John Brown, J.H. Holloman,
and a man named Powell, and several others, came down where he was on
guard, and that they went downtown and just gave them hell, and after
they shot out all of their cartridges they ran back to the barracks,
and when they got back to the barracks they found that the alarm had
been sounded and the officers were calling the roll. Holloman, Brown,
and himself were late for roll call, but that some one answered for
Brown and Holloman, but that he was late, and that Reid told him that
they had gotten themselves and himself in a hell of a hole, and told
him to go to the guardhouse and pretend to be asleep, which he did.
"He told me that they had slipped a few cartridges when at target
practice and that before inspection, after the shooting, Reid gave
him some cartridges to replace the ones he had used. He further said
that they had all agreed before they went out that they would keep
their mouths, and that he would have told them at the investigation at
Washington all about the shooting, but that he was afraid. I had no
further talk with Conyers, because I saw that I was being suspected by
the negroes around Monroe, Ga.
"WILLIAM (his x mark) LAWSON."
Witnesses:
H.J. Browne.
Geo. W. Madert.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, _ss._:
Subscribed and sworn to before me, a notary public in and for the
District aforesaid, this 16th day of October, A.D. 1908.
[SEAL] GEO. W. MADERT,
_Notary Public_.
This day personally appeared before me Herbert J. Browne, of
Washington, D.C., who, being duly sworn, deposes and says:
"I was employed by the War Department in May, 1908, in company with
Captain William G. Baldwin, of Roanoke, Va., chief of the Baldwin
Detective Agency, to investigate the conduct of the battalion of the
Twenty-fifth Infantry, stationed at Brownsville, Tex., which conduct
resulted in the Brownsville raid, so called, on the night of August
13-14, 1906, wherein one Frank Natus was killed, Lieutenant of Police
Dominguez badly wounded, and the houses of several citizens were shot
into. Captain Baldwin has charge of the secret work for the Norfolk and
Western Railway, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, the Southern Railway,
and the Atlantic Coast Line, and is one of the best known and most
responsible detectives in the country.
"In conjunction with him I have been continuously employed upon this
work since its inception in May.
"The facts set forth in my report addressed to General George B. Davis,
Judge-Advocate-General, War Department, under date of December 5, 1908,
are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.
"In particular I visited Monroe, Ga., to corroborate the investigation
at that point of William Lawson, a colored detective in the employ of
Captain Baldwin, whose affidavit and reports are annexed to and made a
part of my report of December 5, 1908, above referred to.
"I had several interviews at Monroe with Boyd Conyers, ex-private
of Company B, Twenty-fifth Infantry, one of the guard on the night
of the Brownsville raid, and found that William Lawson's statements
regarding Conyers were substantially and essentially correct. I
personally obtained from Conyers further information detailing how
the cartridges used in the raid were surreptitiously and illegally
obtained and distributed, how the principal raiders proceeded, when
and by whom the gun racks in Company B were unlawfully and secretly
opened for the purpose of the raid, how the raiders were protected
during and subsequent to the raid and given opportunity to clean their
guns, and, in particular, was furnished by Conyers with the names of
eight participants in the raid other than the three named by him in his
statements to William Lawson, a total of eleven, including himself, the
said Conyers, all members of Company B, Twenty-fifth Infantry.
"The leaders of the raid, as named by Boyd Conyers, were John Holloman,
John Brown, Carolina de Saussure, and himself. Following them were
William Anderson, James Bailey, Charles E. Cooper, William Lemons,
Henry Jimerson, James 'Rastus' Johnson, and Henry 'Sonny' Jones.
Sergeant Reid, in charge of the guard, was accused by Conyers of
knowledge before and after the raid. Sergeant George Jackson, in charge
of the keys of the gun racks of Company B, was accused of opening the
racks for the raiders, and of again opening them subsequent to the raid
in order that the guns might be removed and cleaned.
"I found Boyd Conyers in a disturbed frame of mind. No claim is made
that his original declarations to William Lawson were other than those
of a criminal boasting to one of his own race of his crime and of his
success in escaping discovery. His subsequent declarations to me were
given partly during moments of contrition and in a desire to unload
his conscience by a confession and partly as the result of careful and
persistent questioning.
"I found the effect of the letter from Senator Foraker to Conyers
extremely obstructive. He seemed to regard it as a mandate to adhere
to the false story told by him before the Senate Committee on Military
Affairs, and as absolving him from any and all obligations to aid in
uncovering the truth. Similar influences were encountered at many
points, adding largely to the difficulty of obtaining admissions of
even the most obvious facts relative to the raid.
"HERBERT J. BROWNE."
Subscribed and sworn to before me this 9th day of December, 1908.
[SEAL.] J.B. RANDOLPH, _Notary Public_.
APPENDIX E
REPORT OF T.B. SKIDMORE,
Presiding Judge of Election, Precinct No. 1, Rio Grande City, November,
1906
RIO GRANDE CITY, TEXAS, 11/12/06.
_Hon. Jno. R. Hulen, Adj.-Gen.,
City._
SIR:
As the presiding judge for this Precinct, No. (1) one of Starr County,
Texas, at the late general election held in this city on the 6th day
of November, 1906, in the upstairs room at the court-house, used by
the district judge as the court-room, permit me to make the following
report of the proceedings had that day:
Having had no call nor communication from the Republicans of this place
for representation among the (4) four clerks of the election subject
to appointment by the presiding officer, they had already been named,
taking care that one man who had theretofore voted the Republican
ticket was chosen and also one man whom I knew to favor Mr. Gregorio
Duffy, the ruling spirit locally of the opposition to the Democrats.
Also, having heard ugly rumors of threats accredited to the
Republicans, I had notified eighteen (18) law abiding citizens to be
present at the polls as early as half-past seven A.M. on the 6th of
November, 1906, then and there to take the oath of office and act as
the peace officers during the election. Of these only 12, I think,
appeared and were sworn in.
As soon as the election judges assembled they and those of the peace
officers present and the supervisors were sworn in.
At this point the presiding officer stepped to the front door and
noting that a body of armed men on horseback and afoot had assembled
on the outside at the 100-foot limit from the polling place, asked
who had dared come to the polls thus armed and was told they were the
Republican voters.
Immediately Mr. F.W. Seabury called me to the foot of the first flight
of steps and introduced me to a Mr. Creager, who, after replying
that the armed men outside were Jose Pina's peace officers, demanded
representation among the clerks of election. I told him that all
parties had representation, but when he insisted on some of the names
he suggested, it being agreed to by the person, I put Domingo L. Garza
in the place of the Duffy representative I had called to act as clerk.
From the names Mr. Creager suggested as inside officer, I also chose
Mr. Jose Pina, believing that by having him under my direction, the
agreement between Mr. Seabury and the presiding judge on the one
hand and Mr. Creager on the other, that the voters should come up
stairs in pairs--one Democrat and one Republican together--could best
be maintained, for the reason that the said Jose Pina had been the
agency who, through his magisterial capacity incident to him as county
commissioner for this Precinct, had appointed the (40) forty peace
officers that Mr. Creager said the Republicans had at hand to preserve
the peace and insure a fair and quiet election.
Thereupon Mr. Garza and Mr. Pina and the balance of the peace officers
called by the presiding judge were sworn in, and word reaching me that
threats of breaking in the front door below were being made by the
Republican crowd outside, the janitor was ordered to open it; the polls
were declared open and the timepiece set at eight o'clock A.M.
During the course of the first half hour--possibly it was that
long--the agreement of pairing the voters coming up to the vote was
observed. Then, noting that for some minutes nearly all the voters had
been Republicans, inside peace officer, Jose Pina, was directed to see
why there were no Democrats coming in.
On his return he told me it would be all right and that there were no
Democrats at the door just then, but another of my deputies from below
in response to my call came up and told me the Republicans had taken
possession of the staircase and lower door and would only let such
Democrats in as forced their way by them at peril of their lives.
At the end of about (2) two hours the disorder became so great that
repeated demand had to be made on Mr. Jose Pina and the other inside
officers to regulate the people outside the rail. On seeing that even
Mr. Pina could not control his Republican friends I had to threaten the
crowd with closing the polls if they did not preserve order, and remain
in line instead of filling the area outside the railing to such an
extent as to threaten to tear it loose from the floor.
Immediately after the fourth threat of this kind, I was informed and
could see from the faces of the crowd that only trouble would ensue
if I tried that method to handle them, so I let them have their own
way and thereafter they did break the railing supports loose from
the floor. Thereafter, I repeatedly called on Mr. Juan Hinajosa, the
Republican challenger, to enforce order and refused to receive any more
votes until his people should get into line.
On entering the polling place, my only object was to see that a fair
election should take place, and I do not think that I neglected any
precaution to have it so. I repeatedly sent word to my peace officers
below, after about half-past ten A.M., to clear the stairs and lower
corridor of all who had already voted, but none of them could be found
generally, and when one was found he would send back word that he could
do nothing with the crowd and that Democratic voters were being turned
away from the lower door and only Republican voters were being allowed
to enter.
I have since been told by the peace officers of the election, that fear
for their lives led them to desist from trying to enforce the entry of
Democrats into the line going to the polls.
I have also since learned that Democratic voters who were business men
of the town, left their places of business as many as three and four
times and went to the polls to vote, but were denied entrance by Mr.
Pina's armed deputies and other Republicans and their sympathizers. And
also that four desperate characters with Winchesters in their hands
were picketed in front of the lower entrance to the court-house, and
that when asked if they were voters Mr. Gregorio Duffy replied, "No,
they are only some posts driven in the ground there for a rear-guard to
keep out the Democrats."
Also on examination of the certified list of poll-tax payers of this
precinct after the election, I find that 126 of them did not vote, and
nearly all were Democrats. Why, I have not had time yet to inquire, but
you will note that this failure to vote bears out the statements of the
peace officers appointed by the presiding judge.
During the course of the election 160 out of the 367 voters who
deposited their ballots were sworn, and I believe that if the legal
voters only of those 160 had been permitted to vote and the Democrats
of the 126 poll-tax payers who did not get to vote had been permitted
to do so that the majority would have stood about 40 in favor of the
Democrats instead of 103 against them, as it did result.
Permit me to explain in closing that I had reasons to believe before
the election that the Republicans intended to appear in force and with
arms at the election, but, under the advice of Judge Welch, I had
made no arrangements up to the evening before the election for peace
officers of my appointing, but that, when I told him about five o'clock
P.M. on November 5th that 30 or 40 strangers from Mexico were in town,
Judge Welch told me to appoint whatever number I thought proper to
guarantee a peaceable election, but especially admonished me not to
have so many as to give the semblance of an armed force at the polls.
Such being my course beforehand, I felt myself morally responsible for
the lives of the men I had appointed as peace officers, and therefore
never sent them any command during the day to use force in handling
the crowd, and that they were all men of good enough sense to see the
futility of such a course is shown by the fact that they did not in any
instance act arbitrarily.
In conclusion let me add that I had no interest to serve and none at
stake in this election, and that my only interest now in submitting
this report is to help, as best. I may, in maintaining the majesty of
American law and the purity of the ballot box, and the sanctity of the
elective franchise thereunder to the utmost confines of this American
Union.
I am, Sir, yours sincerely,
T.B. SKIDMORE,
_Late Pres. Judge of Election in Precinct No. 1 of Starr Co.,
Tex., on Nov. 6, 1906_.
Duffy has since been murdered.
APPENDIX F
PORTION OF A MESSAGE FROM GOVERNOR T.M. CAMPBELL, REFERRING TO RECENTLY
ENACTED LAWS AND THEIR ENFORCEMENT
AUSTIN, January 14, 1909.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
As members of the Thirty-first Legislature, you have each voluntarily
undertaken an important task. Your duties are important and your
responsibilities are serious. You have assembled under favorable
conditions. The State Treasury is on a cash basis. The State is
generally prosperous, and the people are contented and happy. The law
is supreme in Texas, and all the laws are now very generally enforced
and obeyed.
There is no substantial reason to doubt that the welfare of the State
and the happiness of the people will be promoted by the intelligence
of your work, and by your fidelity to the people with whom you made a
covenant at the ballot box. You need make no serious mistakes, as the
will of the people has been ascertained upon all important matters
which demand the attention of the Legislature at this time.
Organized avarice, though in attempted disguise, can hardly be expected
to override the popular will. Selfish interests and those seeking
special advantages and exclusive privileges will have their ready
advocates on every hand, and wholesome legislation heretofore enacted
for the protection of the people will doubtless be assailed. A word of
caution is therefore offered to the end that the chosen representative
of a confiding constituency may be on his guard. It is not unlikely
that designing forces have organized and will be maintained at the
Capitol which will test the wisdom, integrity and patriotism of this
Legislature.