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Show WHEN COLORED TROOPSlTlEDj Major Snow Tried to Persuade the Soldiers to Put Down Their Guns. . SAN ANTONIO, Tex., Nov. 2. Sixty-three negro soldiers of the Twenty-fourth Twenty-fourth infantry on guard duty at Camp Logan, Houston, who were placed on trial here today on charges of mutiny, murder and rioting in Houston on the night of August 23, last, during which twenty-two lives were lost, armed themselves and left the camp in disobedience dis-obedience to orders from Major K. S. Snow after he had warned them of the consequences and advised them that Corporal Charles W. Baltimore, negro soldier, bad not been killed by Houston Hous-ton police officers, IVfajor Snow testl-tified testl-tified this afternoon.' Earlier reports, Major Snow said, were that Baltimore had been killed and the negro soldiers were incensed. Major Snow of the Twenty-fourth infantry, in-fantry, was in command of the third battalion of the infantry, numbers of which participated in the shooting up of Houston. He was the only material witness at the first day of the martial trial. The trial is being held in Gift chapel cha-pel at Camp Travis, which has been converted into a temporary court room. Armed guards with fixed bayo-.nets bayo-.nets are stationed at points of vantage van-tage in the auditorium and spacious yard surrounding a building during the course of the trial. Spectators are permitted in the gallery. All of the defendants de-fendants were seated in. the court room. There were originally sixty-four defendants, de-fendants, but one, Grant Anderson, ill of pneumonia, was unable to attend. The defendants entered pleas of not guilty when court opened. Major Snow testified that a report reached camp about 2 o'clock on the afternoon preceding the shooting that Corporal Baltimore had been shot and killed by a Houston policeman. Later, the witness said, he went to Houston police headquarters where the chief of police told him that Baltimore had not been shot but had been arrested and roughly handled by a policeman named Sparks, that Sparks had be'en suspended and would be further punished. pun-ished. Baltimore's arrest is said to have followed his asking Sparks why he had arrested a negro woman. Returning to camp, Major Snow testified, tes-tified, he found the negroes already angry and making threats. It was then he told them Baltimore had not been killed as they believed. "I talked with them, telling them they were sticking their necks in ropes; committing suicide and to put their guns down," Major Snow testified. testi-fied. "But all I said was unavailing." Twenty or thirty of the neeroes had guns pointed at him, Major Snow said, and seeing he could do nothing "he dodged between some tents and went into K company street." When he reached I company's supply sup-ply tent, the major said, he saw many negroes helping themselves to rifles and ammunition and shortly the firing broke loose. Major Snow estimated that 1000 or 1200 shots were fired within ten minutes. min-utes. The negroes seemed to be firing fir-ing toward the city of Houston, he said. It Avas too dark to recognize any of them but he kept trying to persuade per-suade them to stop firing. About this time, according to the testimpny, upwards of 100 negroes loft camp, starting toward Houston Snow then had all the negroes in camp rounded up so he could check up on those absent. The firing meantime could be heard in the direction of the city, ho testified. Snow did not witness any of the shooting in the city, he said, and did not know the names of any of the negroes ne-groes who mutinied. o- |
