North Carolinian Tells Committee of Illegal Hangings. . . Testifies That He Saw a Dozen Strung by Neck. . . Lynching After Armistice by Hardboiled Smith Is Part of Testimony. . . Had Wrists Broken. . . Senate Committee Resumes Probe of Charles Made by Senator Watson
Washington, Dec. 20—George H. Taylor of Philadelphia, who served as a national army man overseas, told a Senate committee today that he saw with his own eyes 12 American soldiers hanged around Is-sur-Tille, France, from April to June 1918, but was unable to say whether any of them had been convicted by court-martial.
One of the soldiers hanged, he declared, was tried for assault on a French girl by a French court-martial at which one American officer was present. Taylor gave the name of the soldier and said he was a sergeant from Detroit, Mich., but the committee later decided to omit the name from its records.
Robert A. Harrison, of Wilmington, N.C., testified that in 1917 he witnessed the lynching in France of a soldier. The victim was a Mexican from El Paso, Texas, who was charged with a crime against a woman and not tried.
“I was told that the man had to be hanged to save some officers from being cashiered,” Harrison declared.
Through a pair of field glasses, Harrison said he saw the lynching in which 30 men took part.
“It was a nice little necktie party,” he said. “I saw the body later with a rope around the neck.”
Called as the first witness in support of the Watson charges, Taylor declared he saw two executions.
The first was on April 1, 1919, at Camp Wilson, he said, and the entire command was ordered to the gallows to witness it.
“They had a double line of soldiers at the gallows,” he said, “and Major Ross was in command. The man hanged was a negro. A chaplain went on the scaffold and prayed and then they hanged him.”
“Was the man hanged by court-martial?” Chairman Brandegee asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Was any announcement made to that effect?”
“No.”
The second execution, a week later, he said, was precisely like the first.
Taylor did not know if the victim of the second hanging had been tried.
“What became of the bodies?”
“They were taken to the hospital.”
Identifies Photograph
Taylor also told the committee he saw the body of a sergeant who had been hanged but h did not witness the execution. Proceeding, he identified a photo of a gallows at Is-sur-Tille on which, he said, three soldiers were hanged. Taylor said one of the three men was a sergeant of Detroit, Mich.
Questioned by Senator Watson, Taylor said the Detroit sergeant was tried by a French court-martial at which only one American officer was present. The evidence against him, the witness testified, was given in French, but an interpreter was in attendance. The crime was rape.
“Was the man allowed counsel?” Senator Brandegee asked.
“One American officer was there. He asked some questions.”
After the hanging, Taylor said he saw the man’s heart and brain removed “to see if he was crazy.”
“Who did that?”
“A major in the American medical corps.”
“Know his name?”
“No.”
There was some confusion in the minds of the committee as to how many men Taylor actually saw hanged. He was pressed closely by members.
“From April to June, 1918, I saw 12 men hanged, altogether,” he declared.
The witness did not know if any or all of them had been convicted by court-martial.
“Was the Detroit sergeant allowed to tell his side to the French court?” Senator Watson asked.
“No, sir, he wasn’t asked to testify, but he did say he wasn’t responsible for the death of the girl concerned in the rape charge.”
Harrison told of another lynching after the armistice which he declared was directed by “Hard-boiled” Smith.
“This wrist of mine,” said Harrison, living his left arm, “was broken while trying to save myself from Hard-boiled Smith and a couple of his sergeants.”
The witness said he saw men taken to the firing line without gas masks or guns as a form of punishment.
Pressed as to the cause of the lynching, Harrison said the victim had been ordered by Smith to sweep the stockyard with a tooth brush “and they had a little party when he refused.”
“Were you court-martialed?” Senator Overman, Democrat, North Carolina, asked.
“Yes. The colonel cursed me and I cursed him back and he had me sent to the firing line after trial. His name? Colonel Holdbrook. If I ever get him, I’ll make him remember me.
“They would not give me a gas mask and my trouble today is due to gas, the medical records shows.”
Clifford L. Near, a newspaper reporter of Atlanta, Ga., called by Senator Watson, said he knew of no illegal executions in France. A guard, whose name he did not known, told him at Gievres, he said, that 21 soldiers had been hanged there.
Major Kills Sergeant
Henry L. Scott of Kenmore, Ohio, testified that he saw Major Opley, third batallion, 116th infantry, shoot a sergeant 15 miles north of Verdun on October 9, 1918. There was no court-martial, he added.
“Why did the major do it?” Chairman Brandegee asked.
“He just lost his head,” Scott replied.
A few days later, he declared, Major Opley stopped a private carrying a message.
“Opley told him to let him see the message,” said Scott, “and the soldier refused, saying the message was not for him. Then Major Opley drew his 45 and shot the man in the back, killing him. Nothing was done, the men were afraid to protest, and there was no trial.”
Questioning Scott about his identification of Major Opley, Colonel Bethel said there was no “Opley” on the army lists.
“I could not swear how the name was spelled, but that was the way it was called,” Scott said.
Col. Bethel Recalled
Col. Bethel, General Pershing’s Judge Advocate General in France, recalled by the committee, declared that in time of war court-martial death sentences did not require approval of the President.
Questioned by Senator Watson, Col. Bethel said that after was conditions had ended, the Government directed that all sentences be forwarded to Washington for review.
Colonel Bethel denied it was his inference, as suggested by Senator Watson, that executions were continuing.
Before going into testimony, the committee listened to the reading of scores of telegrams to and from witnesses respecting their attendance. In many of them, former service men telegraphed that they were without funds and in these cases arrangements were made to provide transportation.
Several of the men summoned replied that they could not come for $3 a day subsistence, the Senate allowance.
“We’ll come for $7 a day,” said one former soldier and another demanded the same rate, said the Veterans’ Bureau paid $4.50.
The statements of William Cowles of Minneapolis, that the Picture at Gievres purporting to be a gallows was in reality that of a crane, was presented.
Colonel Bethel reiterated that American soldiers charged with crimes against French nationals were not tried and could not be tried by French court-martial or civilian courts.
Colonel Bethel was shown a picture and asked if it was a gallows or a gasoline crane. He replied:
“It looks like a gallows, but I never saw a gallows in my life.”
The case of a conscientious objector named Fry, who refused to carry his pack and who was killed by order of the guard, was brought up.
“The man who killed the soldier was tried and acquitted,” Colonel Bethel testified.
“It is our contention,” said Senator Watson, “that Fry was killed by a sergeant who drove a bayonet through his heart.”
“Does the record show that?” asked Senator Overman, Democrat, North Carolina.
“I think not,” Colonel Bethel replied.
From the front page of the Charlotte News, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 1921
