The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1922-01-12
6SAW OPIE SHOOT
SOLDIER, THEySAY
Fired Bullet into Troopers
Ba,k, PrObsrS Told.
ALL HAhGIHGS REPORTED
Colonel Bethel Tells Senators Com.
plete Records of Executions Were
CabIed to Washington.

Washington, Jan. 1l.-Testimony
that they had been eye-witnesSes Of
the shooting Of a soldier by Major
Hierome l.. Opie, of Slaunton, Va,
while the latter was in France in 1918
with the 10th infantry, was given by
six separate witnesses before the sen
ate committee investigating charges
Of illegal executions in the American
expeditiOnary forces.
The witnesses who testified in turn
that they saw the officer shoot man
down We're Charles f. Fox, of Rich
mOnd, Va; Stonewall Jackson Aibin,
of kernStoWn, Va; James +. Carlton,
Richmond. Va; William u. Chile, of
Richmond, Va. D.; John r. Leedy. Luray,
Va, and Dewey u. Hester. Of Marion,
Va
Fox placed the incident lac described
as back of Verdun in 1915 Albin
and Hester did not give the location
of the alleged shooting and the others
agreed that it occurred in October.
1915"
Called as witness for Major Opie,
Frank II. Bondurant, Of Norfolk, Va,
machine-gun officer with the third bat
TALON of Optics regiment, declared
there was no truth in statements that
the major had killed a machine-gun
sergeant on October 8 or g.
Il know, because as machine-gm
officer | accounted for all of my men,"
he said. Il was constantly with Major
Opoe on both days and he shot no
enc"
He saw Major Opie shoot d pistol
into the air or ground, he said, add
ing that there was retreat and Opie
was trying to halt, reform and get his
men started in the other direction.
Each of the witnesses against Major
Opie referred to either "a runner or
"a running man." Leedy testifying
that the man he saw shot down was
running toward the rear of the Ameri-
can lines.
i was on my way to see Major
Opie,' said the witness, when l saw
man running, with Major Opie or
dering him to halt. My first feeling
was that the soldier was trying to
run from the field.
My opinion at the time was that
the man was DESERVING" said Leedy,
who testifeG he had been gassed and
shell-shocsS d, but did not think that
after Major Opie had denied all part
in any such shooting"
What do you mean by that?" Sen
ator Overman asked.
Il thought Major Opie may have
been justified in some degree, bur
since he says he did not shoot him I
contend he was not justified, for I din
see him shoot"
Fox, in his testimony, said he had
seen Major Opie shoot the soldier in
the back.
THE man shot was wearing the
American uniforrA," said Fox. I was
$50 feet away. AS the boy was shot
he threw his hands in the air and top
pied over. 1 do not know If the man
died. Sergeant Kane also saw the
shooting"
Fox declared that the soldier was
within six feet Of the major when the
shooting took place, that he had ap-
preached the officer and was moving
of.
Euart tombstone. of Winchester
county; Va, captain of company L,
116th infantry, testified he was with
Major Opie the day Floyd Cunning
ham was accidentally killed. Major
Opie had testified at an earlier ses:
sion Of the committee that he was first
to rush to Cunningham's side and that
stragglers seeing him might have
started the report that he shot him.
1t was Major Opie's theory that this
may have led to rumors connecting
him with alleged killings.
Colonel Walter A Bethel, assistant
judge advocate in the army, another
witness, testified that records in the
cases of American soldiers hanged
after court martial in France were
cabled Immediately to the war depart
ment
Colonel Bethel had been pressed by
Senator Tom Watson, whose charges
in the senate that soldiers were put
60 death without trial led to the ap-
pointment fthe committee, as to why
no reports Of legal executions Were
made public until long after the ar
mistice.
"We sent the department the name
IF the man hanged, the fact Of the
execution and the offense," said Colo
mel Bethel. II do not know how soon
the department made the facts public"