The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1922-01-26
ROPE AROUND NECK
OF DEAD SOLDIER
EVIDENCE OF HANGING CAR
RIED TO THE GRAVE-KING
CASE INVESTIGATED.


sentation of testimony by way of
Genial, War Department records sub
raitted today to the Senate committee
Investigating charges that American
soldiers had been hanged WI
trial in France, showed that on the
bodies of two men @ug up in the
little cemetery at Bazoilles the ropes
and black caps in which they were
put to death on the gallows had not
been removed prior to burial.
Edwin E. Lamb, of Hartford, Conn.,,
a colonel overseas, testified that in
the case of one of the men hanged
the body was placed quickly in a
coffin, and so far as he recalled, the
ripe and cap were left just where the
hangman had placed them. But in
both cases, other witnesses declared,
they were removed before the bodies
were prepared for shipment home to
relatives.
Senator Watson, Democrat, Geor-
psa, whose charges concerning IL
legal executions, led TO the investiga-
ticn, sharply attacked the burial OF
men hanged for "unmenhonabie
crimes" alongside of soldiers who
fell in battle. Asking witness II
white men and negroes were buried
in the same part Of the cemetery,
the senator was told that they were
that all were soldiers.
Taking up the charges of former
service men that bodies shipped here
from France were handled in helter-
saelter fashion, without proper efforx
to establish identity, officers and men
attached TO the graves registration
service, declared there wes no founda-
tipn for such assertions, and insisted
that not one body was brought horne
until Identification had been positive
" established.
Turning from burial methods, John
Sebastian, a sailor, of Jacksonville,
IA, told how, when prisoner al
Geivres, he saw the bodies Of two
negroes lying face lown on the ground
and was informed by the guard that
The two negroes had been lynched.
He was unable, however, to say
whether the bodies were those OF the
men put to death by o soldier mob.
Through the insistence OF Senator
Overman, of North Carolina, the COM
mittse of which he is member, Is
determined to find out how Benjamin
King, of Wilmington, N. c., soldier
with the Thirtieth division, met death
n France. All Of the evidence thus
far, and War Department records
show that he was killed in action.
His body was never recovered, and
rsan who were near him at the time
declared he was blown to pieces by
q shsll. Sent out in command OF
hall q dozen men, King, a machine
grn corporal, still was with his COM
mand when two privates were killed
according to witnesses.
Sometime ago, however, the story
GAINED circulation around Wilmington
that King had been lynched by Of
fcers under orders of "Hardboiled"
Smith. who later served a prison term
for cruelty. Robert Harrison, Of VIII
nington, testifying early in the IN
quiry, brought forward the first re-
port at the hearing about the alleged
lyrching of King, and since that time
both Senators Overman and Simmons
have been trying by every means at
the disposal of the War Department,
to get at the facts.
Called before the committee today,
yarney E. Wells, Of Wilmington, de-
dared with great positiveness, that,
while he had no direct proof on the
subject, it was certain, to the best of
his knowledge, King was killed IN
action. Giving the young corporal
the highest record. Wells declared
there were other North Carolina men
with the platoon who could furnish
evidence, and they will be summoned.
Senator Watson sharply criticized
Wells for failure to tell Kings moth
er earlier than a week ago, that re-
ports of the alleged lynching were
without foundation. But it was not
until after publication of the Har-
rison testimony that the talk became
general.
Satisfied in his own mind that
King was not lynched, Senator Over
man indicated that he was determined
TO clear away all doubt, regardless
of how many witnesses it might be
necessary to call.
Cotton Campaign Now On.