August 13, 1906: The Brownsville Affair

August 13, 1906: The Brownsville Affair occurs. It is one of the meanest examples of official American racism. Given the discrimination, the dishonesty of the accusers, and the timing, it has been called "America's Dreyfus Affair."

The Buffalo Soldiers were black soldiers in a segregated U.S. Army unit, stationed at Fort Brown, near Brownsville, Texas, across the Rio Grande from Matamoras, Mexico. On August 12, a rumor got around that a white woman had been raped. The base's officers declared an early curfew for August 13, in the hope of avoiding trouble from the city's white residents.

But on August 13, in Brownsville, bartender Frank Natus (white) was killed, and police Lieutenant M.Y. Dominguez (Mexican, but, under Texas law at the time, considered "white") was wounded by gunshots. Immediately, the white residents of Brownsville cast the blame on the black soldiers.

The Army officers, all of them white, stood up for the black soldiers, and had documentary proof that no one had left the base that night. It ended up not mattering: White Brownsvillians, including the Mayor, still said that black soldiers had shot the white men, and phony evidence against them was planted, on the orders of Captain Bill McDonald of the Texas Rangers.

The Cameron County court did not return any indictments, but residents kept up complaints about the black soldiers. The case was given to Brigadier General Ernest Garlington, the Inspector General of the Army, and he recommended to President Theodore Roosevelt that the entire 167-member 25th Infantry Regiment be dishonorably discharged, meaning they would lose their pensions, and be ineligible for federal civil service jobs. (This was before the G.I. Bill of Rights, which increased veterans' benefits, but a dishonorable discharge makes a servicemember ineligible for those as well.)

It got worse: Their commanding officer, Major Charles Penrose, was court martialed for "neglect of duty, to the prejudice of good order and military discipline" -- specifically, for trying to shield his soldiers from prosecution. During the trial, Penrose not only denied the charge, he called McDonald a "contemptible coward." Which is the least of what he was: He was also a bigot, a liar, and, for abusing his authority to punish men who had been legally let off the hook, was guilty of both fraud and obstruction of justice. Penrose was acquitted of the charge on March 23, 1907.

After more investigation, several of the soldiers were allowed to re-enlist. Following publication of a history of the affair in the early 1970s, a renewed military investigation exonerated the discharged black troops. The government pardoned the men in 1972, and restored their records to show honorable discharges, but it did not provide retroactive compensation to them or their descendants.

Only one of them, Dorsie Willis, had survived to that time. Congress passed an act to provide him with a tax-free pension. The other soldiers who had been expelled all received posthumous honorable discharges. Willis lived until 1977.

*

August 13, 1906 was a Monday. These baseball games were played on that day:

* The New York Highlanders and the Chicago White Sox played 9 innings at South Side Park in Chicago, and were tied 0-0, when the game was called due to darkness. Jack Chesbro had allowed 6 hits, Doc White only 2. Willie Keeler went 1-for-4 for the Highlanders, who became the Yankees in 1913.

* The New York Giants swept the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-2 and 2-1 at the Polo Grounds. Christy Mathewson was the winning pitcher in the 2nd game.

* The Brooklyn Superbas lost to the Chicago Cubs, 11-3 at Washington Park in Brooklyn. The Superbas became the Dodgers in 1911, then the Robins for manager Wilbert Robinson from 1914 to 1931, and then the Dodgers again.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-0 at Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. Tully Sparks allowed just 1 hit.

* The Cleveland Naps beat the Washington Senators, 3-1 at League Park in Cleveland. The Cleveland team was named for their manager and 2nd baseman, Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie. When he left after the 1914 season, they became the Cleveland Indians. Lajoie went 0-for-4 in this game.

* The Boston Americans beat the Detroit Tigers, 5-4 at Bennett Park in Detroit. Cy Young was the winning pitcher. Ty Cobb, 19 years old and in his 1st full season, did not play. The Americans became the Boston Red Sox in 1908. Bennett Park was torn down in 1911, and the ballpark that would eventually be named Tiger Stadium was built on the site.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the St. Louis Browns, 8-0 at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Rube Waddell pitched a 6-hit shutout. This was the 1st game of a doubleheader. In the 2nd game, the Browns won, 5-1.

* And the Boston Beaneaters and the St. Louis Cardinals were not scheduled. The Boston team of the National League went through several name changes, before settling on "Braves" in 1912 -- and even then, they tried "Bees" from 1936 to 1940, before going back to "Braves," and then moving to Milwaukee in 1953 and Atlanta in 1966.