The New York herald., 1921-11-08
Haley Impersonated Jones,
Who Had Deserted, and
Went to Leavenworth.
TWO BUDDIES IN FRANCE
Jones Had Saved Life Of Other
Left Army When Wife
Became Ill.

Special Despatch to THE New YORK HERALD.
FORT LEAvENwoRrH. Kan, Nov. T.
Harry w. Haley. who served in the
war in the British army in France
walked out Of the Government prison
here to-day a free man, released on
special order OF the War Department
after he had served part Of a six
months sentence for desertion, i'm
posed so the court-martial in Fort
Slocum, N. Y, thought. upon Thomas
G.. Jones. But Haley, because Jones
had saved his life In France had taken
Jones's name, impersonated Jones at
the trial and had been sent to Leaven-
worth as Jones.
Haley and Jones were in the British
army before the United States entered
the war. They were buddies In the
same squad and always together,
whether on the firing line, the rest
billets or the little estaminets In the
back areas. Ttsv slept together, ate
together and the. fought together. and
hey shared everything they had. from
ene little bundle of biscuits given them
at the Y. NJ. c. A. huts to the polish
they used to shine their brass buttons
The authorities here do not know
what fronts the two men were on, but
they do know that one night a search
ing machine gun sent a bullet into
Haley's leg. 1t was not a serious
wound. but it was enough to fix him so
he couldn't walk. There was heavy
artillery fire that night, and a helpless
man was almost certain soon to be a
dead man. and Haley was helpless But
Jones was not hurt. He dragged Haley
through the artillery bombardment and
the harassiIg fire OF the German ma
chine guns back to n funk hole along
side road and dragged a piece of sheet
iron over them both. Then he waited
until the bombardment had subsided.
and after that he carried Haley on his
back to first aid station and turned
HIN over to the doctors.
Haley returned to his company even
tually. but Jones' an American. was
transferred to the United States forces
after this country entered the war.
They never saw each other again until
a few months ago. when Haley ran
across Jones In Canada. Jones was
frightened. He told Haley he had de-
serted at Fort Slocum and gone into
Canada because his wife was Ill and
needed him. But he was afraid the
American Army authorities would find
him and put him In prison.
The next day Haley crossed the Ameri-
can border and surrendered at the near
est army post. He said he was Thomas
c. Jones, producing papers to prove
his identity and declared he had deserted
at Fort Slocum. He said he wanted to
be court-inartialed. and he was under
the name of Jones. and on the records
It went that Thomas G.. Jones had been
sentenced to six months for desertion.
Haley intended to serve the six months
as Jones and then Jones could return to
this country. But a soldier reached
Leavenworth who had known Jones. and
he knew that Haley was not Jones.
Haley refused to admit for long time
he was not Jones, but he did finally,
when the prison authorities said they
had compared his fingerprints with those
OF the man the army really wanted.
And so to-day the War Department
ordered Haleys release. and Jones must
hide because he is a descrter.