Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-01-10
SAYSMAJ.IOP|ES SHOT
SOLDIER IN BACK
Witness Before Senate Com
z, mittee Testifies to Charge
| Against Virginia Officer.

| against virginia OlliCeIs
Charles z. Fox Of Richmond. Va,
testified today before a Senate inves-
tigating committee that he saw Maj.
Heroine 1. Opie of Staunton. Va.
shoot a soldier in the back north of
yerdun in 1918.
The man shot was wearing the
$50 feet away. AS the boy was shot
he threw his hands in the air and
toppled over. l do not know il the
man died; Sergt. Kane also saw the
shooting"
Fox declared the soldier was with
in six feet of the major when the
shooting took place, that he had ap-
preached the officer and was moving
Off
Men Afraid. Witness Said.
do you know opie% Chairman
Brandegee asked.
II was positive it was Maj. Opie.
There was much talk in the company
Company b. 10th Infantry. The
men wondered why the boy had been
shot, but they were afraid to ask
about it,
You made no complaint
mo. sir: 1 was afraid"
Asked why he did not report the
case to Lieut.. Moring of Richmond,
Fox said: That guy would shoot me;
he wouldn't take any foolishness."
Fox gave Chairman Brandegee a
letter from Moring. written from Cas-
per. Wye, saying he was Sorry to
hear about Maj. Opie."
Fox did not want all the letter read.
saying 1t contained some rough
stuff
IT am used to rough stuff in this
case" the chairman said.
Gives Advice to Fox.
The letter quotes Moring as saying
he had heard the soldier was running
away and that Opie had a right to
shoot, and advised Fox not to say
ANYTHING about the case unless you
actually saw the shooting" adding
that rumors did not stand up in court.
Banging the table, Fox shouted
that he saw Opie shoot.
Il saw it with my own eyes"
From Mornings letter he believed
that Opie was justified" said the
chairman.
swell. don't" Fox declared.
Verbally Assails Lawyer.
When John A. Cutchins of Rich
mond. Va, counsel for Mai. Opie. took
the witness. Fox went right after the
y lawyer.
II know what you want to do" he
exclaimed. shaking his finger. You
are trying to make a fool of me.
You can't do it,
Cutchins tried to fix the exact day
OF the alleged shooting.
How do you know so much about
this?" Fox shouted. You were back
at headquarters, thirty miles away"
Il was where duty sent me-" said
Mr.. Cutchins. who was attached to
18th Division headquarters. why
We're you behind your lines that
morning."
by orders. I had been ordered to
get back and destroy grenades."
Another Witness Accuses Opie.
Stonewall Jackson Albin Of Kerns-
town, Va, declared he saw Mai Opie
blood"
The runner. who was shot. was
running toward the major" said AL
bin. Il saw him hand the major a
piece of paper. which Maj. Opie glanc-
ed at. Then the runner turned his
back and started to walk away when
Maj. Opie shot him. Opie gazed at
the fallen man for a few minutes and
then moved on"
Albin declared 100 or more persons
could have seen the shooting The
witness was gassed in the war and
has been unable. to work, he said
While testifying Albin. pointing to a
spectator. asserted that the man had
tried to persuade him not to testify
against Maj. Opie.
Records in Cases Reported.
Complete records in the cases of
American soldiers hanged after court
martial in France were cabled imme-
dfately to the War Department., said
Col. Walter A. Bethel, assistant Judge
advocate general in the Army. Col.
Bethel had been pressed by Senator
Watson. democrat. Georgia. whose
charges in the Senate led to the ap-
pointment of the committee, as to why
no reports of legal executions were
made public until long after the armi-
stice.
I'VE sent the department the name
of the man hanged. the fact of the ex-
ecutIon and the offenSe," said Col
Bethel. II do not know how soon the
department made the facts public"
Names of men hanged were not Civ
en- to the press out of consideration
Tor relatives. the witness said.
One Case IL Cited.
Touching on the case of Benjamin
King of Wilmington. n. c., who, ac-
cording to previous witnesses, was
killed by orders Of "Hard-boiled"
Smith. an officer in charge of prison
guard. Col: Bethel reiterated that
available War Department records
indicated" that King was killed in
action or died of wounds. No evil
dence. he said. has been obtained to
support the charge that King was
murdered. and information to this
erect has been conveyed to his
family.
Questioned by Chairman Brandegee,
Col. Bethel declared notices of execu-
tions were published overseas in gen.
eral court-martial orders and were
sent to all organizations with the ex-
peditionary forces.
Probably most of the enlisted men
did not know about the cases." Col.
Bethel added, but the Army en-
deavored to have everybody informed
about executions"
WAS any effort made to keep hang
Ing news from being sent to this
country"
mot at ALL"
There were several references to
Frank H. f"Hardboiled") Smith, who,
Col. Bethel said. had been sentenced
to three years imprisonment for
cruelty to prisoners. He had recon-
mended that the term be reduced to
eighteen months. Col. Bethel added.
would war correspondents have
been permitted to send the news o.
the legal executions?" Senator Willis,
republican, Ohio, asked.
Il would not attempt to answer that
because I know nothing about the
actual working of the press censor
ship" the colonel replied.
Senator Watson asked that Repre-
sentative Johnson, republican. South
Dakota, who had stated in the House
1t probably was true that soldiers at
the front had been shot by their off,
GERS because they had become de-
mented or showed cowardice. be sum-
moned.
Col. Bethel said that while he had
no personal knowledge of such shoot
Ing. "it may have happened"
az can fenagine circumstances where
an officer would be justified In shoot
ing a man to prevent a stampede"
he added. such a shooting would
not be for punishment but to proven: