The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-07-21
Wants Gen. PerSf1i1lg
 Brought to Trial for
 Gross InCOnlpetenCy
GEN. O'RYAN BACKED COMPLAINTS RELA- TIVE TO CRIMINAL TREATMENT OF
 AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN FRANCE

Ieged to have resulted in their tor ture, death and suicide, James w. Becknlan of this city, formerly serEeant-major in the A. E. F., yes terday made public letter he has sent Representative Frederick w. Dallinger in Washington urging that tho officers upon whom he says the responsibility lies, be brought to trial. The charges have already been the subject of Congressional tn- vesJiEation.
 "I urge" says Beckman in his let ter. that Brig.-Gen. Hart. President Wilson's former aid and the officer in chaarEe of the mllitry administration of Paris. be brought to trial on the charge of mnslaughter, inasmuch as he is responsible for these crimes which were committed over period of a year or more under his com mand.
 Also that Gen. Pershing be brought to trial for gross incompe- tence and negligence that amounts to criminality, because the crimes of the Paris Military Police wers committed right under his nose, and there is no excuse or defense which he can make for not having known of them or not having them stopped, and be- cause similar atrocities were the rule at several other places in France. '"The case against the military ad- ministra ton of Paris which I pre- sentcd to you for your action and which has been proved through your patriotic efforts. and now admitted by the officers In charge, is only the first Of n series of cases which I will pre- sent to you to bring before Congress. i have the evidence to prove each | case as the first one was proved. some of these cases involve Gen. Pershinr directly and others indirectly as the commander in chief of the American Expedidonary Forces re- sponsiaIe for the hideous Prussian system which he permitted to develop in the American E>peditionary Forces and disgrace the good name of Amer lea and American democracy in the | eyes of the world"
 Assistance to the special committee of the House now Investigating all ! legged cruelties to soldiers at disci- binary barracks and prison farms in France, both before and after the ar | mistice, was furnished yesterday by Lieut.-Col. J. Leslie KincaiI. formerly Judge Advocate of the Twenty-sev- enth Division, who sent to Secretary | Baker for the use of the committee a copy of a report made by himself and l ILieut--Col. J. Mayhew Wainwright, division inspector. Shortly after the | iTwewty-seventh Division returned to ! New York with stories of the alleged brutalities practiced by the men the General Stafr at Washington issued a denial that the original report had ever been received by 1t.
 l Col. Kincaid explains that the orig | inal affidavits made by non-commis-
 stoned officers and privates were sent
 in with the original report. which was
 made Decemberr 26 and forwarded by l the two officers to Major-Gen. John F. l O'Ryan, the division commander. He
 in turn transmitted 1t to the Adjutant | General of the A. E. F. in Paris from whom through military chan
 nels 1t was supposed eventually tc
 have reached the General Staff ir | Washington.
 The report by Col. Wainwright and
 Col. Kincaid, now forwarded to Sec.
 retary Baker, follows:
 "1. 4 number of soldiers of this | division, returning from leave, have | been detained by the military police
 in Paris. For the purpose of thi!
 report, 1t is assumed that their deten
 tion was authorized and reasonable
 and no question is raised on thi
 score, although in many cases thu [ ClECu HIS SLdnCeS IneSe ar
 rests appear to indicate that the ar rests were unreasonable and i'll ad
 vised. if not entirely unauthorized.
 Three of the soldiers concerned
 all of whom are men of high order O
 intelligence with considerable stand i ing in the neighborhood in whicl
 they reside, have made sworn state
 ments in the matter. Steps are nov
 being taken to have the statement of other men taken. This was no
 done at Divisional Headquarters yes 2 terday as the men had reported t, , their respective commands, with tn
 exceptions above noted.
 , Tn reducing the statements o :. these three men to writing, 1t wa . deemed advisable, for obvious req I sons, to omit a considerable portion !. of their stories. Tho extraneous mat . ter would have made no stronge
 case against the individuals who ar y specifically accused of brutality, bu f would have tended to show q mos 1 l doplorable condition which should b
 the subject of a much more compre 6 hensive and searching investigatio V than could be made here.
 l.. '2. The Investigating officers de n sire, however, to call to the divisio
 commanders attention, informall = and conidentially. certain of thes = statements. The soldiers complat
 that at the Petit Rouget, commonl 7. known to the men the 'Bastile,' i
 Paris, the whole atmosphere, an . spirit of the institution, as evidence ], by the profanity, vulgar and obscen
 l epithets used against the prisoner 6 appears to be a spirit of intense ha 9 tired and hostility against the Nationa ,, Guard.
 t Repeated statements were made { n these men by guards, who claimed {
 be regulars, reflecting upon the Nf '. tional Guard as m institution and
 a fighting organization. While no a . tempt is made to quote exactly tt
 phraseology used, the following il
 cludes substantially some of the el pressions errployedi Several unprin 7, able explosives follow.) The Twent, ! seventh and Thirtieth Divisions al e no damned good and that is the ret D son they were sent up with the Bri