New-York tribune., 1921-12-21
e els Of Seeing
Twelve A. f. f.
Men Hanged
SEN-aArsny Man, a, Watson
Inquiry, Admits He Was
Injured and Cassed: Can't
Give Names Of Soldiers
Lynching Parties Charged
Another Witness Asserts
Major Killed a Sergeant
Rctrcating Under Orders


WASHINGTON. Dec. 20.---Testimony
Was given to-day before the Senate
special committee which is Investigate
ing the Watson charges OF army brutal
tiles hy George P. Taylor, Of Philadel-
phia, that he had witnessed the hanging
of twelve American soldiers IN France
The Official figures of the War Depart
ment as given to the committee show
there were eleven executions in the A.
e. f.
Taylor is vocational training bone
ficiary, and served overseas as mem
ber of the military police. He was sta
toned from January to June. 1919, at
Is~SurTilie, France, and it was there,
he said, that he witnessed the execu-
tions.
Taylor told the committee he had
been injured while in the service by
being hit on the head by rock, and
that he also had been gassed and was
subject to attacks of epilepsy. Under
the circumstances. the committee will
take steps to go into his record care
fully and seek to satisfy itself as to
just what weight should be given to
his testimony Taylor, at the request
OF the committee and of Senator Wat
son, who questioned him, told details
of each Of tho hangings which he al
legged he saw.
Tells of Negro's Execution
lie said the first execution was in
February, 1919. and was that of u negro
whose name he did not know. The
order. for execution, the witness said.
came from Colonel Ham, commander of
the camp. His command, he said, was
posted at attention within eight or ten
feet of the gallows.
Hc said he did not know whether the
negro had been tried by court martial.
The second hanging, Taylor said, was
week later. The man hanged in this
case was d negro whose name he did
not know, but he had no reason to be-
iieve that he was hanged without court
martial
Taylor then told of the hanging of
white sergeant from Detroit. He said
this man had been tried by French
court martial. The charge was assault
on French woman. Taylor said the
condemned. man declared he had not
The same day, in the afternoon, Tay-
lor said he saw the body of negro
soldier hanging from the gallows, bat
ne knew nothing of the case. He fol-
lowed with testimony to the effect that
on April %. 1919, three men whose
names he did not know were hanged
at Is~SurTille. lie also said he had
witnessed the hanging of five other SOL
diers on g gallows erected in the rear
<<E I'll L.
rot able to say whether any had been
hanged without trial
Taylor said he could give the names
OF twenty eight comrades who could
substantiate all the charges.
Says Soldier Was Lynched
The next witness was Robert A. Har-
rison, of Wilmington, N. c.. boiler
maker. He said that in the fall OF
1917, when acting as a mounted bat
TALON courier. he had seen through
field glass about thjrty-five or forty
officers and men hang soldier from
the limb of tree.
According to the information given
me-" he said, sit was case of getting
rid of this man or else certain officers
would have been cashiered."
Harrison said he witnessed an exc
cution in the rear of prison stock
ade not far from Paris. He said he
and about ten other men were absent
without leayc-this was after the ar
mist &C. in December. 191S-and they
were arrested s.,d taken to this stock
ade. One of the prisoners, he said,
was Benny King, Of Wilmington, n c.,
whose parents still live there and
whose grandfather is a preacher in
that district Hard Boiled" Smith
commanded this stockade, the witness
said.
King, according to Harrison, when
registered at the prison, asked for ii re-
! ceipt for his money, following which one
| af the prison officers beat him over the
| head with the butt OF a rifle. Three
/ days later King again tried TO get his
/ money accounted for, and as a result
1 os the row that followed King, Harri-
/ son declared, was taken TO a tree near
/ the stockade and hanged. Hard
/ Boiled Smith, he said, was present at
/ the hanging. The soldier, he said, had
| no trial of any kind, and was listed on
/ the record as wounded in action
Clifford n Neer, of Atlanta, reporter
for "The Atlanta Constitutions who
took the picture OF the gallows al
Gievres. said he had never seen a mar
hanged there or elsewhere
Testimony concerning the shooting
cf Akron, Ohio. Company II, l16th In,
9aatry 29th Division. He testified that
he saw a Major Oplcy' shoot and
kill two enlisted men on the battle
front, fifteen ,nilcs from Verdun.
the conaittce went over the mass
of letters asd clippings 4 statement
of William Gow,es. OF Minneapolis, that
the picture a.. t;icyrcs purporting to
ae g2l!ows was in reality crane
Tor hsadling gasoline, was presented.
Colonel Waiter Bethel, Judge advo-
cate e General PcrShing's forces, was
asked Witch it was
Il DON'T know. II looks like gaI.
lows. bi.t never saw a gallows in nv
:fe,' replied Colonel Bethel.