REPORT OF AN INVESTIGATION MADE BY HERBERT J. BROWN, EMPLOYED BY THE WAR DEPARTMENT IN CONJUNCTION WITH CAPTAIN W.G. BALDWIN, WITH A VIEW OF LEARNING WHAT HAPPENED AT BROWNSVILLE, TEX., ON THE 13TH AND 14TH OF AUGUST, 1906
Washington, D.C., December 5, 1908.
Sir: I have the honor to submit the following report relative to the investigation of the Brownsville raid:
Ex-Private Boyd Conyers, of Company B, Twenty-fifth Infantry, now at Monroe, Ga., told William Lawson, a detective in the employ of Captain William G. Baldwin, of Roanoke, Va., that he and three [or four] other men of the Twenty-fifth Infantry were the leaders in the Brownsville raid. This information was obtained at different dates during the month of June, 1908. (See Exhibit A.)
I submit the affidavit as presented. There are certain discrepancies of a minor character, due to the fact that Lawson is illiterate and had to depend on his memory for details. But it should be borne in mind that Lawson was unacquainted with the details of the Brownsville raid and was given information which could have come only from one familiar with the secret history of the affair. Lawson's first report included the names of Conyers, John Holloman, John Brown, and "another man." Subsequently he supplied the name of James Powell, but I think the original name given was that of Robert L. Collier, Company C, one of the relief guard. This information was corroborated in the presence of witnesses, but before Lawson could finish his work Conyers became suspicious and would give no further evidence incriminating himself. From then on he furnished to A.H. Baldwin, Captain W.G. Baldwin, and to myself information piecemeal and reluctantly. The name of Carolina de Saussure, his bunk mate, was the last one obtained.
Conyers tried to commit suicide after he found that he had made his statements to a detective, declaring that the other negroes would kill him when it got out. He finally wrote to Senator Foraker and received a reply, a copy of which is annexed. That reply he construed to mean that he should stick to his original story told before the Senate committee at all hazards, and there he stands. I have every reason to believe that his confession is genuine and gives for the first time the true secret history of the Brownsville raid.
The list of participants given in this report Conyers furnished me personally. I believe it is substantially correct, but with the influences shown to be backing Conyers to adhere to his false testimony given before the Senate committee still being exerted he cannot be relied on to support his own confession until it is thoroughly sustained from other sources.
Evidences of similar encouragement to stick to the lies told at Brownsville and before the Senate committee were found in many places, and subsequent to the date of the Foraker letter they became stronger and more obstructive than ever.
The investigation has been conducted with strict recognition of the advisability of preserving secrecy, and with discretion. No promises of immunity were made. The knowledge on the part of the ex-soldiers that the Government could not punish them after their separation from the service, coupled with the belief that by preserving silence they would aid in the passage of the relief legislation now pending in Congress, has added to the difficulty of securing information.