New-York tribune., 1919-07-21
missing ngg'Reporto g OIL
Army Cruelties is
Semitic Washington
Col. kincaid, Of 27th Diyi-
sion, Reveals A liege G d
BrutaIities in Camps,
Accusing the Regulars
Special Correspondence

Special Correspondence
SYRACUSE. n. V, July 20-Lou- !
tenant Colonel J. Leslie Nincaid. for
mer Judge advocate Of the 9th Divi
sion. has forwarded to Secretary Of
War Baker q copy Of the "missing" re-
port made by himself and Colonel J.
Mayhew Wainwright alleging brutali
ties to American soldiers temporarily
held in American army priscA camps.
1t is expected that this report viii
be injected into the investigation OF
alleged cruelties now being conducted
by a special House committee. Colonel
Kincaid found the report among otheH
army documents in his possession. Il
is q copy Of the one forwarded to tAa
War Department, but which apparently
never reached there, or has been mis-
placed. 1t is believed the report viii,
furnish a clew that will assist the
House committee in locating the orig
inal.
The report contains affidavits made
by nom commissioned officers and pri
Yates, who asserted they suffered cruel
ties at the hands of prison guards in
the Bastle in Paris and at the much
discussed prison farm No. ., where the
officer in charge was Lieutenant Smith,
who has been referred to in testimony
as Hard Boiled" Smith.
National Guardsmen Taunted
Numerous allegations were made
against the guard of regulars at both
the Bastile and prison farm No. 2. 1t
is charged that the regulars applied
vile epthets to National Guardsmen,
and said that the 9th and 3Oth d.
visions were no good, adding that was
why those divisions were brigaded
with the British soldiers, isolated and
refused to the right to communicate
with friends. Prisoners were forced to
drilr before the muzzles of machine
guns and automatic rifles, it was
charged. Prisons were ovcrcrowded
and not sanitary, and official decora-
tions, treasured trinkets and keepsakes 8
were stolen. Conditions at prison No.
2, it was declared, rivalled Siberian
prison camps. There, according to the
affidavits, soldiers were beaten by the
fists Of officers and guards at the
slightest provocation, often without
apparent reason.
Colonel Wainright in his report
speaks of the arrest Of certain men in
Paris as ill-advsed and unreasonable
lie tells of taking a statement of three
men in writing and says: at was
deemed advisable for obvious reasons
to omit q considerable portion of their
stories. The extraneous matter would
have made no stronger case against
the individuals who are specifically &C
cused Of brutality, but would have
tended to show most deplorabe con-
dition which should be given more
comprehensive and searching invcsti-
cation than can be made here"
Officers Believe Charges
After saying that conditions report
ed rivalled those Of Russian and Ger
man prison camps. Colonel Wainwright. Z.
declared that the men making the
statements are above ordinary lntclli-
gcnce and that the investigating Off
GERS "believe absolutely and in total
the statements made by the soldiers.' .
He concludes "that such brutality and
inhumane treatment can exist in any
institution under the control of the
Americans is unbelievable, but the evil
dcnce Ia ovcrwhc Inning"
A letter from Major General O'Ryan,
division commander, accompanies the
report that Colonel Kincaid sent to
Washington. General O'Ryan saws that
he had requested that the matter be
brought to the attention of General
Pcrshng, and urged that "vigorous
measures" be taken to remedy condi-
tions. Colonel Kincaid's report fur
ther gives the names of number Of
soldiers who were held prisoners in
camp No. and who can be called to
Washington as Witnesscs